However after my recent stay at Ox Pasture Hall (my review here) located a few minuets drive from the centre of Scarborough, my views have changed a lot. As expected for a secluded boutique hotel you are limited to food choices and the best option for convenience is to eat in the hotel it's self. However despite this, the food is actually out of this world and has even been llisted as a recommended restaurant in the Michelin guide on numerous occasions.
After a glass of prosecco in the hotel bar area and a chance to ponder the menu we was shown to our table and the wine was poured. I always seem to get excited whenever I get a floor standing wine bucket holder, just feel a little fancy and it's the little touches which make the most difference. If I'm honest at this point the restaurant already had top marks from me as they had my favourite wine on the menu. It's Torres Vina Esmeralda, a fruity Spanish white wine which seems impossible to find except for online! There's something about buying a case of wine on online which seems to cross a boundary for me, unless I move out, host a dinner party and become middle aged, I think I'll leave the online wine clubs alone for a good few years.
We were given an appetiser of red pepper and tomato soup and offered a choice of breads. I choose a slice of the cheese and chive bread which had a lovely subtle taste.
For the starter I had the ham hock terrine which was served with breaded quails egg, pea puree and the classic Yorkshire accompaniment of piccalilli. Jess opted for the duck, which I believe was a duck pate, open duck springroll and a cherry sorbet.
The main courses were just as exceptional and the starters and I opted for the beef and Jess the pork. The beef was served two ways one a slowed cooked brisket of beef on a bed of mashed potatoes and the second was a fillet of beef cooked to my choice, which I opted for rare which was served with mushroom duxelle. The pork was also served two ways with an accompaniment of red cabbage and black pudding.
Everyone who knows me knows I'm not a desert person at all...in fact I may tell you this in every post. For me it's all about the cheese at the end of a meal and although Jess didn't take much convincing to partake in the ordering of a cheese board we did also check out a desert.
The desert was a Caribbean theme of mango rice pudding, coconut panna cotta and a cheeky pina colada. As it wasn't too sugar heavy I actually enjoyed this. I did feel it would of make more sense for a mango panna cotta and a coconut rice pudding but after tasting it did seem to work well.
I'm not fully sure of the cheese selection but there was a good balance of a hard goats cheese, a blue cheese and a wensleydale.
Overall the food was truley amazing and so much attention to detail has clearly been put into the menu. The service was flawless (never used that word yet to describe resturant service) and I would love to find an opportunity to visit here again.
Sammie