Father-in-law toast's birthday lunch was a great success. The menu at The Alma was wonderfully diverse, celebrating local and organic produce. The wait for the food was a bit longer than desirable, so we recieved some delicious freshly baked bread with soft farmhouse butter.
I love food and because I find large portions quite daunting (hence my feeder status), I decided to sample two starters for lunch. I went for trio cheese cauliflower vanilla soup, truffle mousse and the trio of potato croquettes with sweet pea puree and tomato coulis, along with a hot and spicy bloody mary on the side!
The soup was delicious, thick and intense in cauliflower flavour. It had a sweetness from the vanilla and the mousse sat as a square underneath the soup, providing an interesting additional texture and powerful cheesy flavour. The croquettes were incredibly light with a stringy melted cheese filling which was complemented by the sweet pea puree and tomato coulis.
Gipsy spread went for Blackmount estate Scottish venison pie, parsnip purée, blueberries, veal jus, crispy parsnips & red wine reduction. Venison is in season and is a sustainable meat and his pie was crammed full of the stuff to his absolute joy!
The table had a selection of desserts which included the classic
apple crumble with vanilla ice cream, which was very cinnamony, but could have had more crumble for my liking, to balance the amount of apple. The caramel tart with poached mixed berries in cognac had a light short pastry base and thick caramel filling that was creamy, but not over sweet, complemented nicely by the tart cognac boozy berries. The raspberry mousse with champagne jelly and honeycomb looked the best and after a round of "try my dessert" was voted the best of the three.
I would definitely recommend the Alma for the food and the friendly service, but the place is so popular on a Sunday that they need to have more than one chef, as we did not eat until 1.5 hours after arriving! This is a great quality local venue showcasing local, seasonal, sustainable and organic produce. This coupled with the inventive menu sets it apart from other gastropubs.
www.thealmapub.com
On another note, I was very excited this morning to see a selection of English red wines on Sunday Brunch on Channel 4 this morning.
In particular, I was very intrigued by the award winning Gamay to be served chilled. I am becoming a convert to chilled reds for the summer. I tend to switch to rose, but last year sampled some great chilled reds. Sadly I can't usually find them at my local Sainsburys, but Waitrose does have a good selection of them.
I'll be trying to get my hands on a bottle of the Gamay below. Watch this space for my thoughts!
http://scrapbook.channel4.com/bookmarkBar/517112e0e4b098f1a5588a41
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