We were looking forward to dining at Wedgwood having read positive reviews, hearing good reports from friends and I was not disappointed. We arrived on Wednesday evening to find a packed restaurant, which is reassuring. We were shown downstairs to our table and I was worried that there would be no atmosphere in the “overspill” restaurant, but there were already 2 couples down there, and our group of 7 added to the atmosphere in the cosy room (possibly spoiling the atmosphere for the two couples!).
Diver caught Scallops
The Kiwi and I started with Diver caught king scallops with crispy smoked ham with a smoked garlic Caesar dressing (£8.95). I am a huge fan of scallops and tend to favour them when found on a menu, although these were tasty and I liked the way they had been prepared, I felt they were a little over cooked for my taste and not as tender as I have come to expect scallops to be.
Others at the table had Pan fried pigeon, haggis, neeps and tatties, rich red wine jus (£6.95) which was thoroughly enjoyed as well as Tian of crab, avocado and poached salmon with guacamole (£7.95).
A complimentary intermediate course consisting of ginger ale and raspberry cleansed the palate for the main.
Fillet of Scottish lamb rolled in cous cous, pistachio and black onion seed set on a gingered sweet potato puree with a cardamom cream sauce (£17.50) was the main for me, and the lamb was cooked to perfect pink and I liked the textures provided by the cous cous, pistachio and black onion seed and the cream sauce was delicious. I couldn’t detect the ginger in the sweet potato, but it was all thoroughly enjoyed nonetheless! The Kiwi had Wild border red deer creamed leeks, venison haggis, juniper jus (£21.95) which he couldn’t fault. Two in the group ate Trio of Scottish fillets, pork, beef and lamb pan fried with lemongrass, coconut and ginger, with wok fried asian vegetables and crisp flour pancakes (£16.95) to complete satisfaction. The Scottish fillet of beef served with Pont Neuf potatoes and pepper, brandy and haggis cream or Truffle jus (£21.95) is quite a plateful and worth having for the ‘Jenga’-like chips!
Trio of pork, beef and lamb
I love my desserts but this is where I was let down by Paul Wedgwood. Jasmine tea crème brulee with a caramelised rhubarb crumble (£4.95) did not hit the mark, the brulee was thick, heavy and verging on tasteless with no hint of jasmine tea apart from in the colour, but the rhubarb crumble was devine and I would rather have had a tumbler of that instead of the shot glass provided! Sticky Toffee Pudding was considered a hit, and the Kaffir lime and coconut tart with mango shake (£4.95) gave me menu-envy! The plates kept us amused – such an array of odd shaped plates and dishes you have never seen! My favourite was the glass, wave plate for the cheese board.
Creme brulee and cheese board
The service was polite, although our waitress seemed to be new to the team and was finding her feet, but was sweet, helpful and apart from pushing the cork into the bottle of red wine we ordered, left us with nothing to complain about. Each course was brought to us and set down correctly to the correct person without any “Who’s having….” which was lovely and is a sign of good service in my book.
When we emerged from the depths of the basement we were surprised to see a few diners still there at 10.30pm although the place was obviously winding up for the night. Despite these recessional times it was encouraging to see the place so busy in the middle of the week, and from what we experienced it seems justified as they are obviously doing it right!
Delicious dining – 29th October 2008
