It was my wife Angela’s birthday the Saturday before last and we decided to take the advice of a friend and book a local restaurant to celebrate. We live in Ascot where there is no shortage of good restaurants to choose from and we have our favourites, but this friend had been going on about a restaurant he frequents and we decided to take his advice, thanks Steve!
We booked a table at BlueBells in Sunningdale just a short drive, so very handy and lots of parking space too.
When you enter Bluebells you instantly relax, it has a very minimalist feel that is both tranquil and elegant. We were greeted and shown to our table and made to feel very welcome in a sincere professional way, the guy was knowingly looking forward to us enjoying our evening.
We ordered some drinks and then reflected on the menu, for a very long time. Good grief what a great choice, the only difficulty we were having was narrowing it down. As we often do, we decided to both order what each other would like a taste of whilst making sure our own choices were what we wanted.
While pondering the menu we were brought two hors d’oeuvres courtesy of chef, one goat’s cheese and the other crab, both on a very light pastry base and both equally sensational, with the benefit of hind sight these showed the way of what was to follow.
For starters Angela ordered ‘Spring pea and truffle risotto with baby spring vegetables’ and my choice was ‘Pan fried foie gras, grenadine poached rhubarb and toasted caraway seed brioche’.
The service is not rushed and while we were waiting for our starters we were offered some bread. Some bread…Now I may have been peckish but, the bread was just about the tastiest I have ever tried, mustn’t eat loads and spoil the meal I kept repeating to myself.
When the starters arrived they both looked like a photo out of ‘Great British Chefs’ (if you are not familiar with this website you should be if you are reading this). They tasted even better than they looked, Angela is quite selective about ordering risotto as she is a fan when done right and this was done very right. My choice was based primarily on the fact that I like strong tasting foods, the foie gras was distinctive and not lost by the rhubarb, an amazing starter I would relish trying again.
For main course Angela had ‘Ballontine of Label Anglaise chicken wrapped in pata negra ham, warm olive puree and caramelised onion mashed potatoes’ reads like a mouthful I know but…Once again when it was served it looked a picture and tasted even better. I chose ‘Roasted breast of Gressingham duck, pickled red cabbage, herb and truffle gnocchi and a caramelised pink grapefruit jus’. The duck was pink and cooked to perfection, the gnocchi was just superb and this was as good a main course as I can remember.
For dessert Angela ordered ‘Banana and vanilla cheesecake with a hazelnut and praline ice cream’ presentation 10/10 and taste can you do 10.5? I ordered the cheese board and here is our only criticism of the whole evening. I love cheese and the cheese was excellent, just too much for one, it should be for two to share.
So to summarise…
A very relaxing and comfortable environment that doesn’t try too hard.
Service that is sincere and exceptional.
And the food is just to die for!
I am not a food or restaurant critic, but through my job am very fortunate to get to eat in more than my fair share of fine restaurants, and rest assured BlueBells in Sunningdale is a fine restaurant.
If you have eaten at BlueBells, or if you do so in future I would be very interested to hear your views. Please post comments below.
Regards
Denis
Denis Sheehan
Publisher, Hospitality and Catering News
www.HandCNews.com
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The Bluebells website with details of location and menu can be seen here