Wednesday 5 February 2014

Hartnett Holder Hubba Hubba...

I'm a huge Angela Hartnett fan and have been meaning to check out Hartnett Holder for an age but I can barely be arsed to go round the corner for a pint of milk in this weather, let alone voyage to Hampshire for lunch.  However book three features a road trip to the New Forest so I figured what better excuse than research....

Seriously, a spectacular lunch and the best £20 I've spent in 2014.  (Is it 2014?  Good grief, I just had to Google what year it is.  Being a full time writer makes you go a little doolally at times.)

Anyway, the arancini alone were worth the trip.  I always have a lot of love for these golden balls, but the white onion and rosemary ones were exceptional.
Then a starter of smoked salmon with caperberries and lime creme fraiche
And a salad of beef with rocket, parmesan and a stunning lemon oil vinaigrette
Then a perfect squid pasta with celery
Hake with red peppers
and a show-stopping black cabbage, garlic, cream and caper side dish with chilli, that I could have eaten ten times over - gutsy and spicy and creamy and entirely more-ish.
Killer puddings of rhubarb, cream custard and hazelnut crunch
and chocolate parfait with pistachio ice cream
Petit fours...
£19.50 before service, and that includes coffee!

Exceptional quality ingredients, perfectly executed - a damn near flawless meal.  The memory of that cabbage dish, even now eight hours later, is keeping me in good cheer.