HG

had heard good things about HG and as we were already having dinner and breakfast at the belsfield, thought to venture out for lunch. to risk sounding really classist, it was rammed with posh southern types talking loudly, which didn't make for the most pleasant of dining experiences. didn't help that someone had latched the main door from the inside (???) so we were stuck on the stoop for a good five minutes in the hail as with frozen fingers i tried to find the contact number of the restaurant then the hotel (didn't work) and then when it did work was made to listen to the automated woman talk me through 27 (ok i exaggerate) options. no thank you. the best part was that this was in full view of some of the guests who conscientiously ignored us despite it being blatantly obvious that we were locked out. rang the door bell, rang the bell for night porter and only finally by chance a party was exiting the building and they'd to unlatch the door from the inside and kindly let us in. not fun! maybe funny in retrospect but not enough time has passed for me to see the humour. i've only just regained sensation in my extremities...

again not to sound like a complete spoilt brat (i am, the mister would be the first to acknowledge that he's frankenstein and i'm the monster) but wasn't blown away by the food. the experience was great. we were (eventually) met at the lobby and ushered to the lounge for aperitifs and petit fours, had time to look at the menu and place orders before moving on to the main dining. all very nice and civilised. had expected it to be more crowded but we were one of three pairs in the restaurant on a bank holiday sunday. hmm. corkage was £25 so we brought a bottle that my winemaker friend had gifted us on our wedding almost four (!!!) years ago. it was a lovely bottle and i'm so glad we finally opened it.

there was a parisienne waitress/somelier and a younger, less experienced french-accented waiter who seemed clumsy and kept dropping things. meal was punctuated by crashes every so often :/ parisienne waitress was wonderful, oozing french charm and sophistication. she complimented us on our english (!!!) and comp-ed the coffee, probably unrelated.

the food itself was so-so. mackerel in satay sauce might've appealed to some but it just made me crave proper satay. nothing mind-blowing, good solid food. modern british really doesn't appeal to me so hm i'm not the best judge.

mackerel with satay sauce and watermelon

ham hock

pork

beef cheek

the highlight was by far the wine from ming. he knows i'm partial to pinot noir and when he was working at flowers, they'd such a good year that employees were limited to six bottles each. and in the ming's wine pecking order, getting married bumped me up a few spaces and he kindly gifted us a bottle when we got married. been meaning to save it for a special occasion and hm almost-fourth wedding anniversary seemed like a good one :)