Truffled eggs at Raymond Blanc’s Michelin-starred Le Manoir restaurant
It's winter fare only in Oxfordshire where this eternal French crafter of culinary masterpieces is recovering from Covid
After eating at Noma in Copenhagen, the late great A. A. Gill wrote of having had a “palate-tattooing dinner”. You don’t need to go that far. There’s similarly indelible dégustation in the village of Great Milton in Oxfordshire. There has been for years.
Just as we all should eat our five fruit or veg a day, so too should we all eat at least one truly world-class dinner in our lifetime, and the Cristiano Ronaldo of the culinary world is but a 55-minute drive from Golders Green.
Going now feels like going deep into extra time, long after the 90 minutes is up, not because the wielder of its two long-held Michelin stars – Raymond Blanc – is tottering and decrepit, but because he only narrowly survived Covid. After a month in hospital on oxygen, he is now back in the kitchen, yet very nearly wasn’t.
Sadly, his beloved mother – Maman Blanc, in later years even more famous than he – did not survive the pandemic, passing aged 97. It is to her that he dedicates much of his cooking, so it is to her that we give thanks as we tuck in.
These days, Mrs O eats for two. Our visit was delayed by three months to let the morning sickness pass. Over seven courses, baby-to-be got the best introduction to the wonder and variety that is food. See, already good parents.
Seasonality is central here, hence the name: Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons. Even the cheese that a sharp-suited bow-tied serveur unveiled, unwrapped, fondled, dangled, then finally dropped into our cups of French onion soup is seasonal, a meltingly good Vacherin Mont d’Or only available for a few months of the year, produced between 15 August and 15 March.
The changing bounty of the seasons still acts as the menu’s creative director, with Le Manoir’s gardens its chief supplier. Many a dish has a carbon footprint of about 30 feet. A highlight course – truffled hen’s egg with wild mushroom tea (yes, tea.) – owes its success to the morels, shiitake, and wood blewit oft to be found in the hotel’s shaded mushroom valley.
This, in part, is why people pay what they pay to stay and eat here, and what turns it from a ‘dinner’ into an ‘experience’. Twelve hours after the three-hour seven-course tasting lesson, en route to breakfast, you wander past the bronze sculptures alive in mid-morning light to survey the herb borders, potager, and vegetable beds from whence last night’s dishes came.
For guests like us who want to unwind, the Japanese Tea Garden proved a first-rate heartrate lowerer, just as the bench by the water was the perfect place to discuss our new palate tattoos.
Did we really just eat and enjoy a dessert comprising milk chocolate, soft caramel, and parsnip? Wasn’t that coconut and ginger the perfect eulogy to that Cornish Turbot? And do you think we could recreate that blood orange carpaccio at home?
No, we couldn’t. Not in a million Sundays. Even if we got close, it wouldn’t have the magic. Credit to Belmond Hotels and Monsieur Blanc for taking those classic ingredients – luxury, tradition, charm, atmosphere, flair, and passion – to create the perfect dish.
One down, three more seasons to go.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
