The Restaurant @ The Hotel Portmerion

You know how sometimes you have great expectations, and then the disappointment when they're dashed is significantly greater than when expectations are low...well, that's how I felt after a recent experience at The Hotel Portmerion.

Oh, it all started off beautifully and my expectations climbed higher and higher...but then, a tumbling down I simply can't not share.

Each year a group of six of us travel to a friend's holiday home near Portmerion for a weekend of unashamed doing very little but read, watch chick flicks, eat, drink and get merry.  A highlight this year was a table for six at Hotel Portmerion's restaurant.

Upon arrival we tucked ourselves away in a super little side-room, ordered drinks and perused the menu.  All good so far!  A Welsh gin was the key component in my G&T, which I have to say was excellent. 

We decided to stick with the set menu for £38 for three courses, plus wine.  A fabulous wine list was presented, from which we chose a lovely, highly underrated, Sicilian Nero D'Avola (spelled wrong on the list, by the way!)

After being escorted by the charming Maitre d' to our table, we never saw the chap again.  Amuse Bouche were brought that really set our tastebuds tingling; a superb teeny shot glass of seafood chowder and a lamb ball with a mint dip that I would have begged for more of any day.

Starters were also very good, perhaps a little underseasoned, but still delicious.  The pork belly with apple puree was just the right balance of soft and squashy with the finest layer of crackling possible - quite a feat of culinary engineering!

Expections rose yet another notch...and this is where it all went wrong for me.

After a significant internal debate, which eventually was won by my waistline I chose the asparagus risotto, as did two of my friends.  I had debated whether or not to go with the duck, but as I say, the little voice sitting on my mummy tummy won out.  Should have gone with the duck.  The risotto was so badly oversalted it made my mouth burn. At first I wondered if it was just me being fussy, but no, we had all put our forks down.  Meanwhile the duck eaters were singing its praises.

I called over a waiter, who seemed at a loss for what to do. I suggested a manager would be the best place to start.  This lady immediately took the plates away and came back to tell us that: "The chef will make more, and this time he says he won't put any salt in." Sublime to ridiculous?  True to his word, the next plateful was unsalted.  It was also undercooked.  Badly.  Gritty and unpleasant, we barely touched our dishes.  When the plates were cleared though we weren't asked if there was a problem. 

After the same lady had leaned across two of us to pass a menu to the third, we gathered that our pudding orders were expected.

My friend Jacqui has rather a passion for souffle, and her dreams came true with the most glorious passion fruit souffle with coconut icecream.  A deeply satisfied silence descended over that end of the table, supported by the happy winner of the blueberry and praline macaroon, accompanied by a lavendar ice cream bees would have fought over.

It's such a shame when service and food quality is so mixed.  Do I recommend, or not? Do I go back, or not?

I chose to write to Dylan Hughes, the Operations Manager, and am pleased (and relieved) to say that his response was excellent.  Aside from the obvious, an aplogy, Mr Hughes detailed every action he'd taken with each member of staff, by name.

I believe that this indicates a commitment to customer service that, on the whole, maintains the beautiful surroundings and amazing cuisine you can discover there.

And as Portmerion Village is possibly one of the most fascinating little spots in Wales, with its architecture, luxury accomodation and televisual history, then I would recommend a visit - and a meal - to anybody. 

Just avoid large bouncing balls.

I will return...with my girlfriends, for our next annual getaway!



www.portmeirion-village.com/

Origins Plantscription SPF 25 Anti-aging Cream

In the ongoing fight against those depressing visual signs of aging ('cos we all feel 25 inside, right?) Origins offer a range that you should definitely consider for your arsenal.

Origins Plantscription SPF25 Anti-Aging Cream not only offers an SPF of 25, but works to soften and smooth out those pesky 'fine lines and wrinkles' that threaten to make you look like your mother.



I suspect a lot of people have chosen not to try Origins products because of their commitment to using all natural products - seriously, how effective can essential oils and a pretty fragrance be? Well, pretty damn effective by my own standards, and reading the reviews posted onto their own site, I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Origins may formulate their products using only 'natural and certified ingredients, and 100% natural essential oils' and leave out all the chemical nasties like 'parabens, pthalates, propylene glycol, mineral oil, PABA, petrolatum, paraffin, DEA and animal ingredients', but there's nothing of the happy hippy, home-knitted muesli about this business.  It's all about effective skin care, whatever challenge you're facing.

I love this cream.  It's deeply luxuriant, thick and creamy and glides onto the skin so well you actually feel like you're having a wee facial massage every morning!  A little bit goes a long way too, so face, throat and decollétage can all have a daily treat.

The SPF25 protection is a real bonus, as most creams rarely offer more than SPF15, which is not ideal during the brighter days of summer.  This higher SPF of course means that not only does this cream combat EXISTING signs of aging, but works to slow sun damage and reduce the rapidity of FUTURE signs of aging.  It's an all round good guy!

Origins.co.uk

Café Gourmand, Hale

Hale isn't exactly short of smart places to enjoy good food, so any additions to the collection need to be very sure they can tick all the right boxes - location, atmosphere, menu choice and price.

Café Gourmand is a new kid on the block, so your two little birds popped along to check it all out.

The location is spot on, within a very short walk of the train station and even closer to the car park behind Barclays Bank.

In terms of atmoshere, well, it's a café.  There's no getting away from this fact.  It's busy, not buzzy.  There is little room between tables and the space downstairs is almost wholly swallowed by the very large patisserie counter (more of which later!)  However, if you want fine dining or a jolly old pizza place - then go elsewhere.  What Cafe Gourmand promises, and on the whole delivers, is the French attitude to high street dining - good food, well cooked.

The menu is pretty extensive, with a daily specials menu as well as the a la carte options.  While BB and LB made their choice, a dish of endmame beans in a sweet chilli dressing was popped down in front of us as a complementary 'amuse bouche'.  How very Hale. 

LB opted for Thai Fish Cakes and a side of Potato Wedges (naughty!) and BB dithered between Soup of the Day and a filled Baguette, finally opting for both, with the clever 'Soup and Half a Sandwich' option.

The fish cakes were clearly home made and hand shaped.  Packed with fish and flavour, avoid if chilli isn't your thing! Chili is clearly LB's thing, as she cleared her plate.

BB's Soup of the Day choice was Celery & Cream Cheese, accompanied by a Caesar Salad Baguette.  The soup was fabulous, the filling of the Baguette was perfect, but the bread part was disappointing.  For a café that claims to model itself on the French take on café fare, this was a bit of a shocker.  The  baguette was dense and bland and pretty tasteless to be honest.  I ended up peeling it apart and transferring the filling to the rather more delicious (dark and soft and chewy and mmmm...) rye bread that accompanied the soup.

Now - back to the Patisserie counter.  It's impossible to go within 10 meters of this and not start to salivate.  It's simply packed with the most delicious looking cakes, tarts and puddings.  The only thing that differentiates them from the ones to be found in a real French patisserie is their size.  They're enormous!  Your Little Birds, ever conscious of their waistlines, opted for a Strawberry Tart to share.

Died. And. Gone. To. Heaven.

There are no words to describe the reality...but here I go: sweet, sharp strawberries topping a creme patissiere (a wonderfully deep one!), all packed into a light and crisp pastry case Mary Berry herself would be proud of.  No soggy bottoms here.

Overall, Café Gourmand offers a very competitive alternative to the usual suspects of Hale's dining choices.  In terms of value for money, it scores serious points.  The menu is extensive, the options varied, the quality good and the portion sizes generous. The atmosphere is as you'd expect from a café, it's neither a place to linger for hours chatting the day away, or a fast food joint.  The service is brisk, requests are dealt with quickly and there's always a smile. 

BB and LB will return - those Strawberry Tarts are screaming our names.  As is the Chocolate Tart. Oh, and the Lemon Merangue is begging futher investigation.  The Brownies looked good too...

Carluccio's, Spinningfields

You'd think that with a brand name like Carluccio's, and 45 restaurants around the UK, this popular chain would be able to get the basics right, and indeed the not so basics.



But no, disappointment all round, and I won't be going there again!

It was a beautiful evening in Manchester, sunshine all day long, so Spinningfields, and its many bars and restaurants, was buzzing.  We had booked a table for four, at a relatively early time of 7.15pm.  The tables outside were busy, but inside was quiet, perhaps 20% full.

We stood for quite some while, wondering if anybody was going to come and seat us, and eventually flagged down a harrassed looking manager.

We ordered wine, olives, bread and water and perused the menus.  The olives are fab, no doubt about it.  The bread really less so - for four people one piece of foccacia, 3 pieces of rather dry french stick, two breadsticks and a flat, tasteless thing, plus a tiny dish of olive oil with balsamic vinegar.  Shame on you Carluccio's!

I chose the mozzarella and tomato salad; hard to get wrong, and they didn't, as such.  It wasn't great though - it had clearly had a dusting of salt, but the olive oil was boring, not fresh, peppery and fruity like it should be, and I had to ask for black pepper.

My main course however was a disaster, start to finish.  I LOVE calves liver.  Hubs doesn't though, so I only get my chops around it when we're out.  The menu description of pan fried calves liver, with red onion jam and sauté potatoes called out to me, and I answered.  Unfortunately the chef clearly doesn't have the same regard for this dish as I do.  The liver hadn't been prepared properly and was almost impossible to cut through, with the outer sheath left on and a few minutes too long in the pan.  A generous helping of potatoes didn't make up for this, nor did the rather glutinous onion jam.  A side order of courgette, red pepper and aubergine in tempura batter blew my recommended daily allowance of salt out the water for a week - I am not averse to a generous sprinkling of sea salt on crispy battered veggies, but I think the chef used a winter salt shovel on this occasion.

At this point, to be fair, I have to refer to the experience of my fellow diners: two started with the Arancini, which were fabulous (see this recipe, I'm going to give it a whirl!) the steak was 'good' and the veal was 'wonderful', testified to by two clear plates.  The Carbonara however was underseasoned (perhaps I got hers?) and the pancetta untrimmed and undercooked, leaving big white fatty strips that are horribly unappetising.

I spoke to the manager, who had been racing around like a mad woman all night (staffing issues?) and she dealt with my disappointment calmly and admirably - no debate, just an immediate apology and stripping the cost off the final bill, with puddings for all as recompense.

It's a huge shame when businesses take their customers for granted, selling themselves on a name and a history of success.  I'll never go back there, and I suspect I'm not alone.  I'm not hard to please, but I do expect a certain level of quality and service, both of which were missing.  It's easy to rely upon a great location and ever changing clientele, but laziness and complacency will eventually lead to disaster - time to get your act together Carluccio's!

carluccios.com