Tasting Menu at Purslane Restaurant Cheltenham

The first Thursday of every month sees Purslane Restaurant in Cheltenham host their 'Taste' evening. For £45 per person, customers are able to take a tour of some of the options on the A La Carte menu, sampling five seasonal dishes plus a few added extras.

Despite always recommending Purslane, it had been ages since we'd actually eaten there ourselves (shamefully it was their special Lobster Night back in August 2014!). Armed with some vouchers given to us by Father Christmas, The Chap and I were very excited to be going along to the March event. 

With just a handful of tables, Purslane is an intimate space, though with decent lighting - none of that so low you can barely see what you're eating stuff here - and a tasteful grey and lemon yellow colour palette, there's a more friendly neighbourhood restaurant vibe about it. And being instantly greeted by the bubbly Parisian manager Stephanie, you get this impression as soon as you walk through the door. Coats are hung up, you're shown to your table, given menus to peruse, and relax; you know you're going to be well looked after.

Although the menu has a strong focus on seafood - all their fish are caught in Cornwall and served up the very next day - there are meaty dishes and veggie options too. The kitchen prides itself on sourcing as much as possible from nearby suppliers - vegetables from Vale of Evesham, an abundance of local cheeses and rare breed meats from the Cotswold Hills - and chef Gareth Fulford sure knows how to get the best flavours out of each and every one of them.

We began with homemade breads, taramasalata and seaweed butter. I'd remembered that their bread selection was good last time, and here we had slices of sourdough, treacly soda bread and a fennel seed roll. Serving seaweed butter instead of the straight up kind was a nice twist (and a good nautical nod); it had a fresh "green" flavour to it, whilst still having the saltiness you require from your classic bread 'n' butter.

The taramasalata was a dream too; not the blancmange pink kind you'd normally find in shops, instead, a desperately pale salmon colour, jujjed up with a pinch of paprika. Paired with a glass of Champagne, we were off to a fine start.

Our amuse bouche was an oyster, topped with saucisson and a green apple granita. I've had oysters in many forms, but none quite like this. Pork and apple, apple and shellfish, citrus and oyster; it all just worked, and kind of set precedence to our official first course.

Pressed suckling pig, black pudding, langoustine, celeriac and pickled pear. Although sounding quite hefty with double pig, it was wonderfully delicate and the langoustine wasn't overpowered. The creamy ribbons of celeriac and the sweet-sour pear kept it light, whilst the crackling added a welcome texture.

Our fish course was John Dory, monk's beard, sea kale, wild garlic and spaetzle. Monk's beard is all the rage right now; similar to samphire, but a lot less salty, I've seen it crop up in fish dishes all over town. And I'm sure that every chef is happy about the fact that wild garlic is just coming into its bountiful season too! Including it in this dish, along with the sea kale, made it like a foraged feast from both land and sea.

Of course, those were just counterparts to the beautiful fillet of fish and the buttery spaetzle (little noodle-cum-dumpling-kind-of-things - The Chap and I tried making them once...we don't talk about it now). With fish as their forte, it came as no surprise that this was a highlight, and Stephanie's pairing of un-oaked Chardonnay was a cracking choice.

Wye Valley duck, breast and croustillant, heritage carrots and chicory was our main course. Not only did it look incredible with pops of bright yellow carrot puree against its sultry orange, brown and green tones, but every mouthful was equally a joy to eat. The tender pink strips of duck draped themselves over the chicory - like a drunk uncle at a family wedding - being propped up by the more sturdy croustillant (confit duck in a crisp casing).

What we notice is that whilst we had root veg galore, there was no starchy-carb-overkill, which would have easily seen us roll home. And that's what I find so great about a tasting menu; restaurants aren't out to fill you up in three over-portioned courses, they want to excite and tease your tastebuds with a number of delicious dishes, leaving you feeling satisfied not sick!

Our wine match for the duck was a Fleurie, which was full of red berries and spice, and it had just the right balance of tannins and acidity in order to lift the dish rather than overcomplicate it.

Yorkshire rhubarb, white chocolate delice and rose meringue was our pre-dessert, paired with a tawny port. The rhubarb came in four ways - jelly, ice cream, poached and puréed - a sea of pink and cream in contrast to the black plate; it looked amazing. Sweet and creamy vs. cold and tart, harmonised by the strong floral crunch of the meringue. Out of all the options on Purslane's A La Carte dessert menu, this is the one I'd have picked, and The Chap said he preferred it to our final course too!

Hazelnut fondant, malt ice cream, salted caramel and milk stout jelly. Fondants are more often than not in some sort of chocolate form; get them right and they're great, get them wrong and they're unsalvageable. As a lover of hazelnuts, but not of Nutella, this really appealed to me - and it didn't disappoint!

Cutting into it, its lava-like liquid centre oozed out onto the plate, putting the toasty ice cream, bitter jelly and the tongue tingling salty caramel in their places. This is a dessert that means business, and with the spirity heat of a glass of Amaretto, Purslane's Tasting Menu ended on a high.

Tea, coffee and petit fours followed (after a much needed break I hasten to add), and The Chap and I both said that this was the best meal we'd had out in 2016 so far! Fresh and clean flavours, put together with flair and imagination; I'm annoyed at myself for not returning sooner.

The next Taste on Thursday is April 7th priced at £45 per person - you can view the menu here. The Tasting Menu is also available on Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the month, priced at £55 per person, and the accompanying wine flight - 2 glasses of fizz, a white, a red and two dessert wines/spirit - is £35; quite a bit cheaper than some of the other fine dining restaurants in Cheltenham!

Just make sure you book before visiting Purslane, having only 12 tables you don't want to be turned away!

Purslane Cheltenham // Bank Holiday Lobster Night

The August Bank Holiday seems like forever ago now *sigh*... But I sure haven't forgotten about the lovely foodie event that The Chap and I went to on that weekend.

Cheltenham's Purslane Restaurant, tucked away on Rodney Road just off the High Street, held a Lobster Night on both the 22nd and 23rd August to celebrate the last long weekend before the C-word. It also served as a sensational finale before their summer holiday closure, which only lasts two weeks - don't worry!

I've been to the restaurant a couple of times since it opened in 2012, and each time I've been wowed by the food. It specialises in the freshest, sustainably-caught fish and seafood from British waters, but there are other local offerings - meats, vegetables, cheeses - from nearby farms, which can be found on the menu too.

Head Chef Gareth Fulford delivers the most delicate dishes, packed with the purest flavor, served up in the most eye catching way. You don't know whether to just sit and appreciate your dinner's beauty, or dive right in because it looks and smells so bloody delicious... If you've ever been out for food with me - or if you've read any of my other blog posts - you'll already be aware that I nearly always do the first, slyly (probably not so slyly) taking a photo before doing the second, not leaving any morsel left on my plate.

When we arrived we were given a glass of organic sparkling Cremant de Bourgogne along with the menu to remind us of what we'd signed up for. All the details were available to view online beforehand, but not wanting to ruin the theatre on the night, I tried to avoid looking at it too much. If the lengthy list hadn't already convinced us, the selection of warm homemade breads with Netherend Farmhouse butter difinitely assured us that we were in for a good time. The soda bread, with a deep treacley flavour, was the favourite in both our eyes, and it's not often we agree!

One fizz down, we ordered a bottle of crisp Vinho Verde that would easily compliment each course, and out came our appetiser. Evesham pea mousse, mint jelly, goat's curd cream. Peas, mint and goats cheese are a classic combo; each layer had it's own distinctive flavour and texture to enjoy, but scooping up a spoon of them all together was a dream.

The starter was a Pressed pork shoulder and smoked ham hock, Discovery apples and Summer beans, not something I'd normally choose, which is what I find great about tasting menus. The pork was in no way fatty, it just pulled apart with ease, and the sharp apple puree cut through the dish wonderfully; I'd choose it again for sure.

Main Course was what the whole thing was about though,
and what could be more extravagant than lobster?! (well maybe caviar and foie gras.. but I'm not that keen on those)  Half a native lobster, grilled courgettes, samphire, gnocchi, lobster bisque.

From previous experience of 'half a lobster', I envisaged a lobster cut down the centre, grilled - still in the shell - with a shed load of butter, making it a pretty tricky and messy task trying to eat it. I should've known that wouldn't be the case, shouldn't I? Instead it was the prettiest dish of the night; a vibrant white and pink lobster tail sat on a bed of salty samphire (the rest of the lobster meat was pressed into a disc of deliciousness), charred yellow courgettes, pillowy potato gnocchi and a rich sauce. They meant business with this one.

A little break and we were brought out a dairy fix; A selection of local artisan cheeses with damson jelly, celery, wheat wafers and fig and hazelnut bread. One was a goat's (which I might guess was Ragstone - I can't remember, I'm going on what they have on their à la carte menu), one was a hard cheese (Burford?) and the last was an all time fave, Stinking Bishop.. Cheese.. Fruit jelly.. More good bread.. What's not to like?

At this point even greedy ol' me was getting full, but there is ALWAYS room for something sweet. Roasted Victoria plums, buttermilk pannacotta, almond sponge, plum sorbet. Each component was pretty straight forward, but that's often the key to desserts; when simple things are done well, there is no need to faff around. It had it all; a marzipan-like crumbly sponge, balanced out with the juicy jammy plum, mellowed out with the creamy vanilla pannacotta, and then the tart ice cold sorbet refreshed your palate to go again.. Can this be made into an endless dessert?.. Please?

The Lobster Night was priced at £50 per head, which included the glass of Cremant but not any additional drinks. Amazing value if you ask me, and their regular menu is just as reasonable should you wish to go check it out. (FYI.. See Jay Rayner's glowing review)

Purslane are having an Ayala Champagne Tasting night for their next event on Friday 17th October. It's £85pp, which might sound steep, but considering you have a glass of champers with each course (there's 6 of them) and then a cognac with coffee at the end, I'd say it's a deal worth doing!

Let's count those pennies to see if I can go..