Archive for February, 2010
Valentines & Chinese New Year at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, Oxford, England
After a 45 minute drive from The Grove, we arrived safely at Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons, a very picturesque country house just outside Oxford, England. We decided to celebrate Valentines Day and the first day of Chinese New Year here so we checked into one of their 32 rooms for the night. Dinner was booked at the two Michelin-starred restaurant by Raymond Blanc. It was their 25th Anniversary last year and the last time R was here was during his university days, so it must have been on their first or second anniversary!
We stayed in the Orchard room, located on the first floor of the Main House, which was a nice comfortable 242 ft2 (22.5 m2). Accommodation was not cheap, at £520/US$790 per night, but it was V’day after all and hey we had free Wi-Fi! The cottage style environment was a nice change from the boutique or chain hotels that we were used to. They even had two huge bows behind the door to indicate Do Not Disturb (red) or Make Up The Room (green) by hanging the appropriate one on the other side. Very cute.
We arrived just in time for afternoon tea and sat down for traditional scones with clotted cream. Wow, you’ve got to come here just for the scones. Freshly baked and paired with the clotted cream was heavenly. The best we’ve had anywhere.
For dinner, we chose Raymond Blanc’s Menu Découverte tasting menu (£125/US$190) and ordered a bottle of 2000 Léoville Barton. This St Julien wine was very drinkable and didn’t need much time to breathe. From such a stunning vintage, however, I’m sure there are a few more years before we enjoy the most from this wine. The dinner, on the other hand was a bit disappointing. I guess there was too much expectation. Although a nice touch was the small version of the tasting menu that was given to us at the start of the dinner for us to follow each of the courses as they were served. It also made a good souvenir.
The first dish was a cold tartare of Scottish langoustine chopped into small pieces on top of a Japanese custard. Just like the Japanese steamed egg – smooth. The confit of “Landais” duck liver that followed was very soft and buttery, but we didn’t care much for the rhubarb compote on the side. The plancha-seared “Loch Leven” Scottish scallop was very fresh and cooked to perfection. By this time the dinner sort of peaked. The free-range hen’s egg was runny, but a bit bland. Then the John Dory and the roast quail were both overcooked.
Luckily the desserts woke us up. The carpaccio of blood orange and its own sorbet were very refreshing. For C, the cheese trolley replaced her dessert and there were plenty to satisfy her palate.
Breakfast the next morning was in L’Orangerie (the greenhouse) with a huge buffet serving a wide variety of fruits, cereals and lots of freshly baked bread. C ordered a scrambled eggs with smoked salmon on a toasted muffin, which was delicious. A good start to our journey into London.
At Le Manoir, food is only part of the experience. The environment, the rooms, the walk in the vegetable and herb gardens make up for a great weekend getaway. Oh and the scones scored some major points too.
– 18/20 (accommodation)
– 15.5/20 (dinner)
– 20/20 (scones)
– 18/20 (overall)
Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons
Church Road, Great Milton
Oxford, OX44 7PD
England
T: +44 1844 278881
E: lemanoir@blanc.co.uk
W: www.manoir.com
100214 Le Manoir - Gates to the Main House
100214 Le Manoir - Main House though the Lavender Walk
100214 Le Manoir - Front door to the Main House
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Review – The Grove, Hertfordshire, England
We stayed at this hotel, golf and spa resort as a middle stop before our drive up to Le Manoir aux Quat’ Saisons in Oxford. Having played the Old Course in Scotland, we had hopes of playing their championship golf course, The Grove, which was host to the WGC-American Express Championship in 2006 (won by Tiger Woods). Unfortunately, the British weather set in…cold, damp and raining. Oh well, maybe we’ll just enjoy a nice brunch and take a peek around the course.
We stayed in a Deluxe Room in the West Wing, which was a good 365 ft2 (24 m2). The room even came with a huge 42″ LCD TV!!! There were also nice design touches everywhere, from “Hee Haw”, the stuffed donkey, on the desk to the transparent tables in the hallways stuffed with all sorts of things – feathers, rubber ducks, chicks, you name it. Very chic. In one corridor, even the internal piping were “framed” as artwork.
The Sequoia Spa was a relaxing break for R while waiting for C to arrive from Hong Kong. He was lucky to get an empty slot as it was the Valentine’s weekend. Don’t know if it is as busy on normal days, but we would definitely book ahead next time to avoid disappointment.
We were pushing our luck with the weather. It was the same if not worse the next day. We asked the attendant at the pro shop and he kindly let us walk the back nine before the early players made the turn. The course was very well manicured and it was a shame that we weren’t able to play. We’ll definitely have to come back one day. Their signature hole is the Par 3 13th. Although with the elevated teeing ground, the hole plays longer than it seems and with bunkers protecting the green, par would be a good score here.
Brunch was at The Stables Restaurant, so named as the space was actually horses’ stables under the previous owner. We ordered the Stables fish & chips and an Eggs Royale (Eggs Benedict with smoked salmon). Being in England we had to have fish & chips, but this was HUGE! We thought we were in the States… There was some water probably due to condensation that made the bottom a bit soggy. The Eggs Royale however, were superb – runny, just the way we like them. Paired with salmon, it was a perfect match. We could tell as C wolfed it down in an instant.
We’ll be back soon, hopefully in milder weather.
– 18/20
The Grove
Chandler’s Cross
Hertfordshire
WD3 4TG
United Kingdom
T: +44 (0) 1923 807807
E: reservations@thegrove.co.uk or tee.time@thegrove.co.uk
W: www.thegrove.co.uk
100213 The Grove - West Wing Deluxe Room
100213 The Grove - "Butterfly" artwork in the room
100213 The Grove - West Wing Deluxe Room
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St Andrews, Scotland
We just spent a week (five days) in St Andrews, Scotland…in February??? Yes. R attended the R&A’s 20th annual Referees School at St Andrews. I didn’t think we would be able to play, so I was just looking forward to try out a restaurant or two. Unexpectedly and definitely unusual was the calm weather that greeted us upon our arrival. Not much sun, but that was already a bonus. We headed out to town for lunch at The Seafood Restaurants at St Andrews (review). The R&A Rules exam was on Thursday, so studying was the main activity on the agenda.
On Tuesday, we thought we were dreaming when we saw the sun shine brightly out our hotel window. But we had an exam coming up and studying was on order…or was it? A sunny day in St Andrews and we’re confined to a hotel room studying??? You must be kidding. We debated whether to try our luck to play the Old Course or stay in the room and study. It didn’t take long to decide that it was an opportunity too hard to pass. So we called the pro shop at the Old Course and since it was winter, they said just come on down and it shouldn’t be any problem getting us on the course. We hired a caddie and had a very memorable round at the Old Course (review), especially with The Open to be held here in July this year.
We met tons of great friends during the Rules School and the R&A’s hospitality was excellent. We hope to come back soon…
Thank you R&A and St Andrews.
Review – The Old Course, St Andrews, Scotland
You won’t believe it. We didn’t believe it. When we first knew we were going to Scotland in February for the R&A’s Referee School, we expected rain, snow and freezing weather so we didn’t even bother bringing any golf gear along. But in the back of our minds, we had a glimmer of hope…maybe with all this global warming stuff, it might be sunny and warm in Scotland in February. Yeah, right…dream on.
Even when we arrived on Monday, it was cloudy with a few showers now and then. Well, so much for that glimmer of hope…anyway, R did need to study for the rules exam. But we woke up on Tuesday to what was a picture perfect sunny day. It must be cold outside, no? It was a bit nippy, but the sun did warm things up a lot. Shall we study or go play golf? Study? Golf? Study? Golf? Such a hard decision. We studied till 11:30 when we had to make a decision, otherwise it will be too dark to finish all 18 holes. Well it was a once in a lifetime opportunity, WTF. Off we went to the St Andrews Links Clubhouse. We hired a set of Callaway clubs, shoes and a caddie to guide us on our journey. We were able to walk in as there weren’t many people on the course. Sure beats the ballot system they have during the regular season. And hey, the £64 green fee is half the high season price of £130. Enough said.
Since it was winter, we had to hit off mats when we were on the fairway, but standing on the first tee and soaking in all that warm sunshine, we knew we made the right decision. Many bunkers were also roped off as GUR in preparation for The Open. We were fortunate to avoid all the dangerous looking pot bunkers, but maybe we should have entered one just for the experience of getting out of one, or trying to get out of one.
John White was our caddie for the day and he was the most enjoyable company one could ask for. Very cheerful and boy did he have stories to tell. Lucky that we had him as our guide, otherwise we would definitely have gotten lost and possibly ended up on the New Course! (John, if you see this, please drop me a line below so that I know you have seen this).
We’re not very familiar with links courses, but the fact that we are standing on the Old Course, absorbing all the history at the Home of Golf is just out of this world. We were fortunate that the wind was mild that day and a score of 92 was respectable by our standards.
The most memorable undoubtedly was the 17th Road Hole. “Aim for the left church tower” John said. “That far left?” “Yes, the wind will carry it to the fairway.” Well, OK and off I went. Landed five feet inside the edge of the right fairway. It’s a stunning hole with the Old Course Hotel right next to us. This is not where you would want to slice the ball. I’d stay away from the corner suite in this hotel if I were you. Before we teed off, John took us to the tee boxes they built for The Open later this year. It’s very far back and across the path to the driving range area and very intimidating. This lengthens the hole by at least 80 yards, so if the wind is against, it will be interesting to see how the pros reach the fairway on this one. We hit a decent shot to the front bottom tier of the green. A good lag putt got it hole high and one putt to finish with a par, which is a birdie for this hole.
We experienced a part of history and we will tune in closely to watch The Open this July with a different perspective.
Thank you John for a great time and hopefully we’ll be back very soon.
– 20/20
The Old Course
St Andrews, Fife
KY16 9SF, Scotland
T: +44 (0) 1334 466666
E: enquiries@standrews.org.uk
W: www.standrews.org.uk
100209 St Andrews - St Andrews Links Clubhouse
100209 St Andrews - The Old Course
100209 St Andrews - Scorecard (Par 72, 6,721 yards)
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Review – The Seafood Restaurant, St Andrews, Scotland
We arrived at St Andrews, Scotland today and we were surprised to see fairly calm skies, just cloudy. No rain or snow here in February? Maybe it’ll be sunny enough to play some golf? Dream on… Well we headed out to one of The Seafood Restaurants – the one at St Andrews naturally (they have another one in St Monans). We came across this place from Home of Golf TV and the setting looked spectacular.
It turned out that it is just located behind the British Golf Museum, which is just next to the Old Course at St Andrews! Perched on top of a small cliff, there are stunning views of the West Sands beach. Unfortunately, the car park next to the museum blocked some of the natural scenery. Nevertheless, the restaurant setting was very clean and simple with large windows to “soak up” the expansive St Andrews coastline, even on such a cloudy afternoon.
The restaurant emphasizes sustainability of the seas and makes every effort to source sustainably caught fish. That’s why every dish on the menu lists the origin of the seafood.
We were highly recommended the Winter Menu, which was a bargain at GBP14.95 for three courses. First on was a Smoked Haddock Rarebit (from the North Sea) – the crust was very crispy, definitely not the dry and hard type. A tad salty, but nothing the Chardonnay couldn’t fix. The fish was very soft and moist, confirming its freshness.
Our main course was the Salmon (Farmed on Loch Duart) – we normally don’t go for salmon because it’s always overcooked and dry. But this was highly recommended by the waiter and he wasn’t kidding. Very juicy with the skin cooked to perfection. The risotto that accompanied the dish was very al dente, which was nice. The garlic butter added a lot of fragrance to the dish. We felt that there was just a tad too many peas in the risotto, but that’s just a small blemish in an otherwise great dish.
Then the surprise for the day. The Black Forrest Gateau – this was to die for. And boy we didn’t expect this. And in Scotland? Definitely not your typical Black Forrest cake! This was no doubt an updated and enhanced version. The brandied cherries and dark chocolate took it to a new dimension. That hit the spot dead on.
The location couldn’t have been better. With the Museum, Old Course and numerous souvenir shops nearby, there was plenty to do after lunch. Maybe you can even walk over to play the Old Course!
– 17.5/20
The Seafood Restaurant
The Scores
St Andrews, KY16 9AB
Scotland
T: +44 (0) 1334 479475
E: info@theseafoodrestaurant.com
W: www.theseafoodrestaurant.com
100208 The Seafood Restaurant - Views of the West Sands
100208 The Seafood Restaurant - Open kitchen
100208 The Seafood Restaurant - Salt & pepper
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