Sorry about the absence of the important stuff but we came away bemused at the presentation and the tastes we had experienced over the last two and a half hours. We are still discussing them and are no nearer agreement We started with an amuse of a raspberry cocktail with (Valentin ??) whisky. What someone else describes as a raspberry gimlet. Then came the paprika wafers which were excellent and a contrast to the cocktail The tiny loaf with parmesan butter followed My wife's starter was described as fresh crab with ?? dressing and sprigs of basil Mine was the risotto of white onion with parmesan air (of which more later) An amuse of 3 tiny roasted cherry tomatoes wiith leaves and all sorts of things (do you regret asking me what we ate yet ?) My wife had the monkfish with asparagus and ....... mushrooms. Never seen anything like them before - they looked like almost like tiny, flattened, globe artichokes ( with flat scales). Don't think they were enoki. I had the saddle of rabbit with beetroot and raspberry, which, as Olga promised, was a feast of tastes in itself. An amuse of a raspberry mousse A complimentary glass of pink champagne My wife had the apple tatin and I had the white peach and honeysuckle, both followed by coffee and petit fours. A bottle of Hawkes Bay Sauvignon Blanc, which we've had once before and found delicious completed the meal. What will the lasting memories be ? 1. Next time we'll order two crab starters and try and smuggle one home. It would look great in our display cabinet ! 2. Next time we go I shall try to order the white onion risotto as starter, main and dessert. I thought it was unbelievable. It reminded me that we used to eat at the Box Tree at Ilkley, about (mumble mumble) years ago, when it was (supposed to be) the best restaurant in England. My overwhelming memory remains one of their potato cakes. Superb as everything was the other day, the risotto is bound to be the modern day equivalent of that potato cake. Which leads me to one final thought for your thoughts. They always say that you can't compare a footballer from the 1970's to one from the 2004's. Is it the same with restaurants? If you can - then Anthony's gets our vote over the Box Tree.
