1861 is a restaurant between Abergavenny and Monmouth, I bought a TravelZoo deal for a 7-course taster menu here a few months back, and we forgot it, so had to use it this month.
The parking was across the road and there were only two cars in the car park when we arrived. There was a couple sitting outside – you could tell they would just LOVE this experience. We went in and sat in a little lounge area with some easyish chairs, and after calling me Mickey and saying my phone line was crap, she gave us some wine stuff, some cashews and some olives. And asked what preference we had – I hesitated, wanting to say no veg, but thought I can take what they throw at me.
After some time, we were taken into the dining room. Enough for about 10 tables of varying size, two small rooms, only the outside couple sitting down – she showed us to our table, out of the entire rest of the room she sat us next to the first couple – we were a few feet away, and on a bigger table, but right next to them. It was a little awkward to say can we sit elsewhere, and I should have, but being British – I didn’t.
First up was some water, then a bit of a loaf. This was warm, difficult to cut straight and had some great butter – it was nice.. After this came course no 1.
1. Courgette in Tempura batter with sweet chilli sauce with something else I didn’t like. Batter was nice, courgette is disgusting and the sauce looked exactly like the one you get from Tesco. Plain and I am sure I could have cooked it.
2. Vomit. (Actually beetroot rice pudding with Lavender). Awful. Warm beetroot has no place in the world, this was vile, the texture is hideous, the lumps made me gag, the beetroot didn’t work for me, and then there is the bloody lavender, you have that in a crappy scrunched up doily in your grandma’s cupboards and draws but not in a bloody dish of food. It was like liquid pot-purri with lumps. Hate.
3. Hake with Fennel. Or a postage stamp sized scraping of fish with a giant fennel, in an odd sauce that made everything taste like fennel, including the supposedly light taste of Hake. The size of the hake was exactly the same size as the piece of fish Mr Burns coughed up in the episode of the Simpsons with the three eyed fish. And I think I would have preferred the taste of that.
4. Strawberry and Champagne sorbet. Okay, small but enough.
5. The main event – beef, woohoo. A “presentation” of beef, one like a sausage – okay but over seasoned, one like tiny sliced fillet – not very tasteful and chewy, and finally either skirt or shin I cannot remember. Cooked well, fell apart on the plate, but had no taste what so ever. Even Mr Blands blandish dish would be more exciting. How can a (small) lump of welsh beef have zero taste. And there was no salt and pepper on the table.
Then we were asked if we wanted an “extra” cheese course – no mention of price, or even whether it was part of the meal or not. The table next to us had it and it looked okay – in so much as there was some cheese on a plate, but we declined.
6. Apricot fritters and honey ice cream – lovely. Just like being the Chinese, the fritters were small and crunchy then soft and fruity and tasty and hot and the honey ice cream was a perfectly cold accompaniment – only two tiny bits, but that was enough.
7. A selection of “berry” desserts. Crap, nice, okay, hot. A berry soup, a berry something, a berry crumble and a berry Creme Brulee. “Berry” seemed to mean a small berry like a blackcurrant but more horrible. The creme brulee was a revelation, I had never had one before and it was really nice. Luckily the portions were dolls house sizes so it didn’t make me too sick.
She came around and asked if we wanted coffee or tea, but we’d I’d had enough by then so we just said – no we are going to shoot off, and we put our napkins down and left. I do wonder if they wanted a tip..!
Wont return. Its too far away and I don’t think the chef really showed me anything “wow”, which is supposed to be the point of the tasting menu’s. It was his indulgence of stuff that they had cheaply from the garden. Nothing exciting or interesting, and most of it was barely nice to actually eat. If I had paid 50 quid each for that I would have been most annoyed.
3/10