Review of Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons in Oxfordshire
by Andy Hayler
Food Rating: 9/10
Last visited: April 2007
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I have been going to Le Manoir for a long time (indeed, we had our wedding reception there) and it is nice to see it return to form after a (relatively) poor patch in the mid-late 90s. Le Manoir is in a beautiful setting in a carefully restored manor house. Wisteria bloomed spectacularly on the walls today, and on a sunny day like today this must be one of the most attractive restaurant locations in England. There is a large lawn and
tables for drinks or coffee on the terrace, while a stone wall separates the main gardens from view. As well as further ornamental gardens behind the wall, extensive use is made of the land to cultivate vegetables and herbs used in the cooking here. As anyone who has ever compared the produce in a Mediterranean market with New Covent Garden can observe, getting really top quality produce in the UK is a challenge. No such problems here, and this shows through in the tremendous freshness and quality of the
vegetables. The dining room has a section inside the house and also a large conservatory, which now sensibly has blinds added (it used to get quite hot in summer). The conservatory has several tall plants and a trellis work of climbers inside, and one solid wall on which hang a few watercolours, though on two and a half sides of the room is the view over the terrace and lawn. The tables themselves have cream linen tablecloths, while comfortable classic wooden chairs have low backs and brown upholstery.
There are two tasting menus (we had "discovery" at £110 each), a short à la carte and two nice touches: a full vegetarian version of the tasting menu, and a children’s menu at £18. The menu draws heavily on seasonal ingredients and generally has an almost Mediterranean lightness of style. It is fairly classical, though steadily evolves e.g. one of the dishes today was just added to the tasting menu this week. The wine list is 42 pages long, and naturally enough covers France thoroughly. Recent changes have seen an extension of the coverage of the "lesser" regions of France, for example we see wines like Chateau Simone from Provence. International coverage is patchier. Italy gets two pages but Germany has just six wines, Austria three, and Argentina and Chile three wines each. Spain fares better, with classics such as Torres Mas la Plana 1999 at £85 (around £23 retail), or at the top end Vega Sicilia Unico at £455 (around £125 a bottle retail if you can find it). It can be seen that mark-ups are pretty high, though they do vary. Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2004 is £76 (around £23 retail) while Au Bon Climat Chardonnay is price more reasonably at £51 (around £21 retail). Etienne Sauzet Les Perrieres 2003 Puligny Montrachet is £158 for a wine that can be bought retail for £36 a bottle. There is a page of wines by the glass, and some astute choices within these e.g. the excellent Mas de Daumas Gassac red. Half a dozen dessert wines by the glass include Coutet 1999 at a really steep £18 a glass for a wine that you can buy a bottle of for just £17. There is no house wine as such, and although I spotted one obscure Italian white at £23, there are few other wines anywhere near this price.
We were presented with a few nibbles while perusing the menu. A little piece of tuna on a sesame tuile had high quality tuna (8/10), while mozzarella and tomato on a cheese biscuit base had very fresh tomato flavour, alongside a ball of crispy Parmesan (8/10). Better was a superb cod brandade with superbly delicate texture (9/10) and a little sliver of foie gras terrine with a little pear chutney had plenty of liver flavour and smooth texture (9/10).
A real strength here is the selection of breads, all made on the premises. You can choose from rolls of potato bread, bacon bread, pecan nut and raisin, wholemeal or country bread, ciabatta or slices of superb sourdough. The breads are uniformly magnificent, nearing perfection in texture and seasoning, with well controlled flavours. The sourdough is as good as I have eaten anywhere, with just that hint of acidity that the best sourdough should have. I have to think back to meals at Marc Veyrat and Louis XV in France (i.e. the very best) to find bread that is comparable with this (10/10 bread).
Our menu began with a dish of very fresh Cornish crab, carefully picked over (so no stray bits of shell) and bound together with just a little mayonnaise. With the crab was extremely ripe mango puree, tiny cubes of mango and a little grapefruit jelly segments served on the side on a sliver of toast. This simple dish was refreshing (the grapefruit providing acidity to balance the slight sweetness of the crab and mango) and had terrifically fresh ingredients (9/10).
Next was a confit of Landais foie gras, served simply with a little pile of rhubarb puree. The foie gras had silky texture and good flavour, though I have had versions with even more intense flavour. The rhubarb was again extremely fresh, and the natural acidity of the rhubarb well under control and balancing the richness of the liver; this was served with a toasted slice of the sourdough (8/10). Stella had a superbly made cheese soufflé made from Vieux Lille cheese, served with a salad of walnut and apple with a Parmesan sauce. The technical execution of the soufflé was excellent, the salad leaves extremely fresh, and an apple and chive garnish given a tartness that nicely offset the richness of the Parmesan sauce (9/10).
This was followed by was a single diver-caught scallop from the Orkneys, served with a puree of cauliflower, a few dried slices of cauliflower and a few drops of curry oil. The puree was excellent with great depth of taste and the scallop fresh and of high quality, but for me it was cooked just a fraction too long; the curry oil flavour was subtle and did not intrude too much (8/10).
Next was a simple dish of two spears of white asparagus from France. These were cooked very well and had excellent taste (though you can find even better white asparagus in Germany right now) and were served with a coddled hen’s egg topped with tiny slivers of bacon and Parmesan on a bed of wilted cabbage. Though the egg was pleasant enough, I can’t really see what it added to the dish (7/10).
Next was a fillet of halibut from Iceland, grilled to just the right consistency and resting on a bed of fregola (Sardinian pasta made from semolina) and wilted rocket, served with a red wine and star anise sauce. The fregola was remarkably good, extremely delicate and flavoured with citrus, while a smear of tapenade had great depth of olive flavour (9/10).
Next for me was Gressingham duck, two generous pieces of breast cooked pink, served with a superb garlic and shallot puree, tender bak choi (grown in the garden here) a red wine sauce and caramelised chicory. The duck was excellent but again the vegetables and the great technique with the puree were even better (9/10). Stella had stunning tagliatelle of summer vegetables (ultra fresh peas, broad beans, asparagus, morels and broccoli) with a frothy Parmesan sauce. Only in the very few finest restaurants in France or Italy would you be able to find vegetables better than these, while the texture of the pasta was just about perfect (10/10).
Desserts began with a carpaccio of blood orange topped with a scoop of blood orange sorbet. The sorbet was technically perfect, the fruit of very high quality (9/10). An exotic fruit "ravioli" was dazzling, with remarkably fresh passion fruit, papaya, mango and grapefruit held together with gelatine, on a froth tasting of pina colada. This was served with an intense coconut sorbet that extracted every last bit of flavour from the coconut, while having fabulous smooth texture (10/10). The final dessert was a coffee panna cotta on a crunchy hazelnut praline base (which seemed to me to have a slight hint of marmalade flavour), served with an ice cream of coffee and star anise (8/10).
Finally we had excellent coffee (and no problems getting as many refills of espresso as required without supplement). This was served with delicate lemon macaroon, an excellent piece of nougat, strawberry on a light, moist pistachio sponge base, ice cream of hazelnut and chocolate, a chocolate and orange sablé, a fine chocolate truffle and a little rhubarb with wild strawberries and mascarpone in white chocolate (9/10 petit fours).
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Below are notes from a 2004 meal, for comparison.
The place is like a well-oiled machine now, producing top-notch food on one recent visit even though neither the head Chef nor Raymond Blanc were there. As well as the fine setting, the service is exemplary, and the quality of ingredients superb. The attention to detail shown towards the incidentals (coffee, bread) is a characteristic of a restaurant that is striving for the best. The only problem is the bill - £285 for two, with half a bottle of wine (plus two glasses of house wine) and only one pre-meal alcoholic drink, with the cheese course at a little matter of £17 (one person only). This must be the most expensive place in the UK now. Here are notes from a recent meal.
These days there is a large car park with a separate driveway, as well as the gravel drive down to the front of house, as this is a large-scale operation. The gardens are as immaculate as ever, and on this perfect summer’s day we had drinks on the lawn. The manor house itself has attractive climbers – wisteria, clematis and others, growing up its elderly walls. The pace is certainly leisurely: we arrived before 13:00 and our starter arrived at 14:28, while we finally left at 17:00, so nobody could be accused of rushing. The menu is elaborate, with plenty of emphasis on the perfect vegetables that are grown in the gardens here. One minor quibble is that, of six meat main courses, two were for two people minimum (tricky when one of us does not eat meat). The wine list is 38 pages long, closely typed, so no difficulties with choice here, though finding value is another story. The list is mostly French, though with a respectable smattering of bins from elsewhere e.g. Thelema Cabernet Sauvignon 1995 from South Africa at a full £39 (I remember drinking it at the vineyard at £2, though this is not a fair comparison). One example of the high mark-ups in the UK can be seen with the classic 1981 Vega Sicilia Unico – I drank this great wine at the 3 star Michelin El Raco del Con Fabes in Spain last summer at £140, but here it is £355. Fortunately there are some cheaper choices e.g. from Alsace. Water is Hildon, Perrier, Badoit or Evian, all at £3.50.
We sat in the conservatory today, which suffered from an air-conditioning unit that was taking it easy, and eventually the staff gave up and opened the windows to avoid completely suffocating. The conservatory has been extended since I last came here, and has dark wood floors, lots of natural light supplemented by directed spotlights hanging from a metal frame, and canvas blinds. Each table has cream tablecloth and napkins, while the chairs are covered in the same cream-coloured cloth. Crockery is Villeroy and Boch. Each table had a display of kolanchoe, with salt and pepper in an open wooden dish. Various large plants give some colour to the conservatory, in addition to the view over the gardens. Service was extremely capable, with bread and wine topped up faultlessly, and the New Zealand waiter we had (ex the Ivy) a bit more friendly than some of the staff here. This seemed to be a Chef’s day off, as on the next table was Michel Bourdin of the Connaught, and on the other side was the manager of Kensington Place – Raymond Blanc was similarly absent from the premises.
The nibbles were first rate – a perfect salt cod (10/10), a little goats cheese on tapenade (9/10) an excellent escabeche (8/10), a delicate crab tartelette (9/10) and a tomato and olive tart with melting pastry (10/10) as well as an anchovy stick (8/10). Instead of nuts on the table, there is a dish of little bread-based biscuits (8/10). When we were seated at the table we were greeted by a further complimentary dish: a superb gazpacho with very intense tomato flavour (though maybe it could have had a little more pepper to give some bite) that had small-diced aubergine and courgettes. I had a fine terrine of suckling pig, the jelly very clear and with excellent carrots to supplement the meat (9/10 for the amuse guele). Breads are very good here, though the dazzling country bread I had a few months back was missing. Today’s offerings were bacon bread, beer bread, wholemeal, raisin, rye, pecan and baguette. The breads are made fresh and are of a very high standard, served cold but with very full flavour, great texture and the right degree of saltiness (breads are 10/10).
Stella’s starter was a confit of salmon, shaped into a parcel sitting on flakes of salted cod, atop a layer of mouli, an Indian vegetable that has some resemblance to horseradish and so gave an excellent foil to the salmon, as well as a little slices of cucumber. Around the edge of the plate were baby cauliflowers and an artistic smear of horseradish sauce that was very, perhaps too, subtle. Still, the wild salmon had great depth of flavour and the vegetables were perfect (10/10). I had macaroni in a truffle jus, the macaroni heaped into the centre of the plate with a pile of superb asparagus and courgette pieces. Around the central pasta tubes were three beautifully cooked langoustines, while there were generous shavings of black truffle on top of the pasta. The flaw in this dish was the pasta itself, which was distinctly harder than it should have been. Otherwise the vegetables were again magnificent, and the langoustines very tender (9/10).
Stella had roast monkfish, which can so often be chewy but here was delicate and full of flavour, served on a rectangular plate in two pieces, framed at either end of the plate by a scallop on a ring of courgette, atop a led of potato puree. The monkfish was accompanied by a magnificent watercress puree, the whole sitting in some of the roasting juices and a beurre meunière, supplemented by further diced vegetables. The scallops were exquisite, sweet and delicate, of the highest quality, perfectly timed. This was very impressive cooking, with the elements of the dish working well with each other, while to make watercress taste this good takes talent (10/10). I had poached breast of Landes chicken, topped with a sliver of truffle and served with a slice of perfect pan-fried foie gras. The chicken rested on a nage of vegetables – peas, baby broad beans, asparagus, carrots, green cabbage, baby turnips and broad beans, with a simple white wine sauce. The chicken was delicate and had that taste of chicken that seems to elude most of its brethren these days, while the vegetables were again stunning (9/10).
The cheeses were all French, and I tried Picodon de l’Aideche goat, Rouelle du Tarn, Brie de Meaux, a slightly below par Reblochon (not quite ripe), an excellent Tomme de Vache and a good Bleu de Bresse. Apart from the Reblochon these were very good indeed, in excellent condition (8/10). A trivial service slip was that they forgot to offer any bread with the cheese, but this was soon remedied. This is the most expensive cheese-board in Britain, though.
I went for a familiar classic for dessert, the ice creams and sorbets arranged on a palette biscuit, with a spun sugar brush. I just went for a chocolate ice cream and passion fruit sorbet rather than the wider choice, and both were utterly perfect. The passion fruit sorbet had perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, faultless texture and intense flavour, while the chocolate ice cream had great velvety richness combined with smooth texture; the biscuit palette was also lovely (10/10). Stella had a caramel dish with caramel ice cream (fine texture) resting on a superb tuile, with a magnificent crème caramel of striking delicacy; so far so good. On one end of the dish was an apple tarte tatin, which had a caramel topping but had apple that had not been fully caramelised inside. The kitchen used a dessert apple that had descended into a mush, which did not help matters. The tatin element was really only 4/10, though everything else was around 9/10. Overall 8/10 for this dish.
The coffee here is very fine indeed, an example to others. Dark roast arrabica beans are brewed to perfection in both the filter and espresso versions. Accompanying the coffee were petit fours: a pistachio sponge topped with strawberry (10/10), a frozen chocolate with almond ice cream inside (9/10), orange jelly (8/10), a choux bun with rum-flavoured crème patissiere (10/10), a lemon meringue pie topped with redcurrant (10/10) and a perfect chocolate truffle (10/10). Overall I’d give these petit fours 10/10; hardly anywhere in the UK produces ones of this standard.
The bill, hardly small, is left with the credit card slip open. Moreover, if you ask for a copy of the menu, you are told you may buy one for £7.50. This is just sheer greed, and leaves a sour taste in the mouth after such fine cooking
There are two tasting menus (we had "discovery" at £110 each), a short à la carte and two nice touches: a full vegetarian version of the tasting menu, and a children’s menu at £18. The menu draws heavily on seasonal ingredients and generally has an almost Mediterranean lightness of style. It is fairly classical, though steadily evolves e.g. one of the dishes today was just added to the tasting menu this week. The wine list is 42 pages long, and naturally enough covers France thoroughly. Recent changes have seen an extension of the coverage of the "lesser" regions of France, for example we see wines like Chateau Simone from Provence. International coverage is patchier. Italy gets two pages but Germany has just six wines, Austria three, and Argentina and Chile three wines each. Spain fares better, with classics such as Torres Mas la Plana 1999 at £85 (around £23 retail), or at the top end Vega Sicilia Unico at £455 (around £125 a bottle retail if you can find it). It can be seen that mark-ups are pretty high, though they do vary. Ata Rangi Pinot Noir 2004 is £76 (around £23 retail) while Au Bon Climat Chardonnay is price more reasonably at £51 (around £21 retail). Etienne Sauzet Les Perrieres 2003 Puligny Montrachet is £158 for a wine that can be bought retail for £36 a bottle. There is a page of wines by the glass, and some astute choices within these e.g. the excellent Mas de Daumas Gassac red. Half a dozen dessert wines by the glass include Coutet 1999 at a really steep £18 a glass for a wine that you can buy a bottle of for just £17. There is no house wine as such, and although I spotted one obscure Italian white at £23, there are few other wines anywhere near this price.
We were presented with a few nibbles while perusing the menu. A little piece of tuna on a sesame tuile had high quality tuna (8/10), while mozzarella and tomato on a cheese biscuit base had very fresh tomato flavour, alongside a ball of crispy Parmesan (8/10). Better was a superb cod brandade with superbly delicate texture (9/10) and a little sliver of foie gras terrine with a little pear chutney had plenty of liver flavour and smooth texture (9/10).
A real strength here is the selection of breads, all made on the premises. You can choose from rolls of potato bread, bacon bread, pecan nut and raisin, wholemeal or country bread, ciabatta or slices of superb sourdough. The breads are uniformly magnificent, nearing perfection in texture and seasoning, with well controlled flavours. The sourdough is as good as I have eaten anywhere, with just that hint of acidity that the best sourdough should have. I have to think back to meals at Marc Veyrat and Louis XV in France (i.e. the very best) to find bread that is comparable with this (10/10 bread).
Our menu began with a dish of very fresh Cornish crab, carefully picked over (so no stray bits of shell) and bound together with just a little mayonnaise. With the crab was extremely ripe mango puree, tiny cubes of mango and a little grapefruit jelly segments served on the side on a sliver of toast. This simple dish was refreshing (the grapefruit providing acidity to balance the slight sweetness of the crab and mango) and had terrifically fresh ingredients (9/10).
Next was a confit of Landais foie gras, served simply with a little pile of rhubarb puree. The foie gras had silky texture and good flavour, though I have had versions with even more intense flavour. The rhubarb was again extremely fresh, and the natural acidity of the rhubarb well under control and balancing the richness of the liver; this was served with a toasted slice of the sourdough (8/10). Stella had a superbly made cheese soufflé made from Vieux Lille cheese, served with a salad of walnut and apple with a Parmesan sauce. The technical execution of the soufflé was excellent, the salad leaves extremely fresh, and an apple and chive garnish given a tartness that nicely offset the richness of the Parmesan sauce (9/10).
This was followed by was a single diver-caught scallop from the Orkneys, served with a puree of cauliflower, a few dried slices of cauliflower and a few drops of curry oil. The puree was excellent with great depth of taste and the scallop fresh and of high quality, but for me it was cooked just a fraction too long; the curry oil flavour was subtle and did not intrude too much (8/10).
Next was a simple dish of two spears of white asparagus from France. These were cooked very well and had excellent taste (though you can find even better white asparagus in Germany right now) and were served with a coddled hen’s egg topped with tiny slivers of bacon and Parmesan on a bed of wilted cabbage. Though the egg was pleasant enough, I can’t really see what it added to the dish (7/10).
Next was a fillet of halibut from Iceland, grilled to just the right consistency and resting on a bed of fregola (Sardinian pasta made from semolina) and wilted rocket, served with a red wine and star anise sauce. The fregola was remarkably good, extremely delicate and flavoured with citrus, while a smear of tapenade had great depth of olive flavour (9/10).
Next for me was Gressingham duck, two generous pieces of breast cooked pink, served with a superb garlic and shallot puree, tender bak choi (grown in the garden here) a red wine sauce and caramelised chicory. The duck was excellent but again the vegetables and the great technique with the puree were even better (9/10). Stella had stunning tagliatelle of summer vegetables (ultra fresh peas, broad beans, asparagus, morels and broccoli) with a frothy Parmesan sauce. Only in the very few finest restaurants in France or Italy would you be able to find vegetables better than these, while the texture of the pasta was just about perfect (10/10).
Desserts began with a carpaccio of blood orange topped with a scoop of blood orange sorbet. The sorbet was technically perfect, the fruit of very high quality (9/10). An exotic fruit "ravioli" was dazzling, with remarkably fresh passion fruit, papaya, mango and grapefruit held together with gelatine, on a froth tasting of pina colada. This was served with an intense coconut sorbet that extracted every last bit of flavour from the coconut, while having fabulous smooth texture (10/10). The final dessert was a coffee panna cotta on a crunchy hazelnut praline base (which seemed to me to have a slight hint of marmalade flavour), served with an ice cream of coffee and star anise (8/10).
Finally we had excellent coffee (and no problems getting as many refills of espresso as required without supplement). This was served with delicate lemon macaroon, an excellent piece of nougat, strawberry on a light, moist pistachio sponge base, ice cream of hazelnut and chocolate, a chocolate and orange sablé, a fine chocolate truffle and a little rhubarb with wild strawberries and mascarpone in white chocolate (9/10 petit fours).