Christmas Eve: York to Edinburgh and The Pompadour

Windmills on the way to Edinburgh

So yesterday was Christmas Eve over here, and to start off the day, we finished off our travels - another four hour trip, from York to Edinburgh where we are staying for the next two more nights (that makes 3 including last night). This trip wasn’t as bad as the last, though I slept on and off for the first two hours J. The weather was beautiful for the majority of the trip, strangely however, there was one patch where the rain belted down with hail and icy rain-no snow though L. 

My (very fancy) room
with a view of the castle

So finally, at about 1pm we arrived in Edinburgh and checked in to our hotel before braving the strong winds to find some lunch. We ended up at a place called ‘All bar one’, a chain restaurant-café place. After lunch we headed back out into the wind (and now slight rain) and back to our hotel rooms. Yes room-s, I have my own room! It is very fancy, and its awfully strange not sharing a room with Braden and Lauren…makes me miss everyone even more. 

The canapes

So after warming back up from freezing our butts off outside, Andrew and I headed down to the gym where I ran on the treadmill while Andrew puffed like a steam train on the bike J. At 7:30 we headed down to the restaurant, ‘The Pompadour’. This place was insanely fancy! Andrew and Sonia are definitely spoiling me and I don’t think I will ever be able to see restaurants in the same way after all Andrew has taught me about their service J. So, we got to the restaurant and Andrew decided that we would be having the tasting menu…another one!

To start we were given canapés, beetroot and wafer sandwiches, parmesan choux puffs and a crunchy, creamy log (sorry about the bad description, it wasn’t actually described on the menu). Next we were given breads, and then the actual tasting menu began. 

First course was a white onion panacotta with pork croquettes. The panacotta was lovely and light, not too rich, and the mini croquettes gave a really nice textural difference. I really enjoyed this dish, though neither Sonia or Andrew thought it really stood out.

Roulade of Foie Gras and confit duck

Next we had a roulade of Foie Gras and confit duck, this was served with a fennel puree and a mini salad which had frisee lettuce and candied cashews wrapped in thinly shaved pineapple. Although I didn’t think I would like the Foie Gras, it was really nice because there wasn’t too much. This actually turned out to be one of my favourite dishes because of the contrast of the richness of the roulade and the fresh salad.

Rabbit

Our third dish was Stuffed loin of rabbit wrapped in cured ham, with quinoa, spiced squash and pomegranate, and a red wine vinaigrette.

This dish was again, delicious though I don’t think it was my absolute favourite.

Monkfish Bourguignon

For the fish course, we were served ‘Roast Monkfish Bourguignon’ this was monkfish, with the elements of a bourguignon-mushrooms, baby onions and a red wine sauce around the plate, as well as a really delicious celeriac puree. Delicious again!

Beef, sirloin and shin

For our 5^th dish, we had beef sirloin, served medium rare, wellington of braised shin and a truffle mashed potato. This was deliciously smooth potato and the whole dish was very yummy, although very rich.

Cheese course

Next on the menu was the cheese course-not my favourite part of the meal in the places I have had cheese courses-which after today totals three. All evening Sonia had been eyeing up the cheese trolley, which was not actually on the tasting menu. So Andrew asked if Sonia could switch out the cheese course on our menu for the trolley. They were very happy to do this for her (with a supplement of I-have-no-idea-how-much). For a cheese course, this was my favourite so far. The cheese wasn’t too strong and when eaten with the apple and walnut salad, and cracker, it was quite nice. (And that’s saying something for someone who isn’t a huge fan of just eating cheese J). 

Pre dessert cheesecake

Next we were given a pre-dessert, not written on the menu but delicious all the same J. This was a cheesecake log with crushed up pistachio biscotti and macerated prunes. I really liked this, not too rich and I loved the prunes with it.

Actual dessert-chocolate and Mandarin
bombe

For our final course, we were served up a mandarin and valrhona chocolate bombe with a ginger and white chocolate ice cream. This was amazing! It was a cool dome with a flocked chocolate layer over top. When you cracked open the dome, out flowed a yummy mandarin goo-much needed to cut through the richeness of the chocolate. The chocolate and ginger ice cream was also really nice and took away some of the richness of the dessert. 

Petit Fours to go with coffee

To finish we had coffee and petit fours - Chocolate truffles, a chocolate macaron and a passionfruit jelly. Overall the meal was delicious, and rather rich. A lovely but very different way to spend Christmas eve J.

After dinner it was back up to the rooms and into bed, while everyone in New Zealand was having their Christmas day. Merry Christmas everyone!