"My ski friend summed it up perfectly by saying : 'There is no wasted mouthful at this restaurant. ' The reunion of my ski gang at Alton Towers this weekend gave me the perfect chance to introduce them to the 2 Michelin star wizardry of Sat Bains ' cooking As we were a party of 6, they offered us the Kitchen Table experience, which was new to me. On arrival, I was surprised to find that we were immediately led out of the main building, past some rabbit hutches (we were assured they were pets, not part of the dinner menu! and into the cool development kitchen at the back of the property We were introduced to Canadian Dan, who would be our chef for the evening and he helped us feel at home immediately. The kitchen has some great kitchen technology on show as it 's a working kitchen (Henkelman vacuum packer, anyone? and the 6 seats are arranged at the counter with a great view of everything going on in the kitchen. As you can guess, this was heaven for me and Dan was very happy to indulge all my food geek questions Dining in the Kitchen Table means that you get a £99 8 course menu (the other dining areas get either a 7 or 10 course menu . There are optional courses of Sat 's 62 degree egg which shot him to fame on the Great British Menu TV program and cheese. The sommelier was great at advising on wine choices and despite not being in the main dining area, we were well looked after in all aspects of service The menu is meant as a surprise, so there was nothing to guide us except Dan announcing each dish as it was served and of course, my prying eyes trying to guess! Amuse bouche 1 horsseradish ice cream sandwich, lovage tuile A lovely amalgamation of disparate flavours which worked well together Amuse bouche 2 wild garlic soup with horseradish chawanmushi The chefs go foraging and the foraged ingredients, like the wild garlic are all found within 100m of the restaurant. Lovely soup but the set custard could have done with a little more horseradish flavour Some yummy treacle bread and sourdough was served with Lincolnshire poacher butter and their own butter made at the restaurant, both with 3% salt. Let 's just say we asked for and received extra treacle bread! 1. Seared scallop. scallop tartare, compressed watermelon, samphire, caviar Lovely to see how to cook scallops perfectly though I loved the scallop tartare more, which was dressed in homemade soured cream 2. Duck liver muesli Such a simple name for my favourite dish on this menu. Basically, the main component are cold pebbles of liquefied foie gras, which have been solidified by dropping them into liquid nitrogen. The most amazing rich intense flavour emerges as they melt on your tongue and match the crunchy toasted oats, cranberrynad other sweet components in the dish 3. Salmon, oyster froth/broth, pickled cucumber, plum sauce, puffed wild rice The salmon had been brined for 10 minutes and then sous vided for 10 minutes at 42 degrees, coming out almost like sashimi but with more flavour. Again, perfectly matched with the other ingredients for flavour, texture and temperature 4. Shallot, thyme, thyme granite Seriously, how can you get a baked shallot to be so sweet and have so much flavour? Then, the thyme granite lifts it and makes it light. Genius 5. Roasted roe deer, venison tartare, mushroom ketchup, seared mushroom, pine mayonnaise Roe, a deer, a female deer. Sorry, couldn 't resist!. Back to the food in this dish, they paired the deer with stuff like pine which they would eat. Again, the tartare was my favourite component with great gamey flavour. The flavours were enhanced by some pine heated up in a mini pan to give the aroma of pine! I spied some purple powder on the plate and asked Dan what it was juniper berry powder. The attention to detail is mind boggling 6. Lolly stick of beetroot ice cream , white chocolate freeze dried raspberries Great palate cleanser 7. 'Tiramisu ' A base of white chocolate which had been aerated in a Pacojet topped with other deconstructed components of the Italian dessert classic. Very clever, great fun and yummy 8. 'Strawberries cream ' Another delightfully judged dish with sweet and acid flavours of strawberry mixing with comforting unctuous creaminess underneath I think what Sat excels at is to add the surprise dimension of temperature to that of flavour balance and texture. Every mouthful is a delight and I have to re quote my friend that there is no wasted mouthful at this restaurant!"
California Sandwich
