Paris House

[david goodfellow]

Set in 22 acres and part of the much larger 3000 acre Woburn Estate, which of course includes the world renowned Woburn Abbey, Paris House is a bit of a treat. Originally from Paris circa 1878 the house was dismantled on the orders of the then Duchess of Bedford and shipped piece by piece and rebuilt on the estate, where it stands in all its glory to this day. Having been taken over in the last couple of years by Alan Murchison's company 10 in 8 Group it was awarded a much coveted Michelin star in this years guide.

Now this is a perfect spot to break up your day on a visit to Woburn Abbey or Woburn Safari Park and indeed with the beautiful weather we are experiencing of late a full days entertainment in clement weather is assured.

There are a multitude of menus and offers available. From table d hote through to various tasting menus plus a chefs table treat right in the heart of the kitchen, where you can if you wish interact with the chefs. What tempted us on our lunchtime visit was a six course tasting menu at £36.

An amuse bouche of frothy field mushroom velute arrived at the table topped with a perky cep powder.

Bread was nicely presented, consisting of Cheese and paprika rolls, Pan de Campagne and some pleasant buns, with a random smattering of raisins and hazelnuts within. I particularly enjoyed the Pan de Campagne.

Terrine of Ham hock, Pork belly and Braised shoulder

An excellent shard of crispy crunchy pork belly, and some pork belly crumbs added to the dish, which went down a treat

Next up was Linguini with poached shellfish

A generous helping of Mussels and Clams with some intermingling mouth popping sevruga caviar and trout roe. Sun kissed tomatoes, fresh tomato dice, a white wine sauce, and a herb which I did not remember are all part of the dish.

A very good eat.

My wifes choice Roast Rump of Lamb, Rosti potato, sherry sauce.

Terrific quality Lamb, tender as a baby's bottom. The morel's added a greater depth of flavour to the rich sherry sauce. Spring greens imparting some vitamin c, follic acid and fibre.

I was looking forward to my main course choice Pan Fried fillet of Bream

A great dish for a hot summers day, fresh, crispy topped fish, saffron infused fennel, with plenty of bite in it. Carrots, cucumber, shallots and buried deep within, a bed of sea purslane.

Thoroughly enjoyable.

A most welcome pre dessert of a couple of White chocolate covered Ice cream cones The ice cream was actually lime curd, and jolly delicious it was too.

My dessert in the shape of a mushroom, a perfectly shaped cep infact, was Marshmallow topped vanilla parfait around which was poured a hot chocolate sauce. I thought this to be very good until I tasted my wifes dessert which was even better.

Rum Baba, caramelized pineapple, pina colada ice cream had a lot more happening on the plate than that, mint and malibu was mentioned. My wife adored it, I begged to try another taste, and another, until she gave me the look of disdain that we blokes know when we are pushing our luck.

Ah well, you know what they say. If you don't ask, you don't get.

I asked if we could have a look at the Chefs table, which is right in the heart of the kitchen, by the pass. This crimson banquette seats a maximum of eight diners. As you may expect its for a special treat only, as its not cheap. Two hundred pounds per person will buy you fourteen courses with matching wines plus interaction with the chefs, you may even be invited to help with the washing up, but not with the cooking of course.

We had a chat with chef Phil Fanning who was delighted that they had won a Michelin star so quickly. He spent five years honing his skills working alongside mentor Alan Murchison but tells me that he is allowed to express himself fully on his menus. Indeed the menu that we chose from has just been introduced and in our opinion does not need any tweaking whatsoever.

Phil showed us the seven chickens out back which are not for eating, just for eggs. Clearly they buy in eggs also, as six or seven eggs a day will not go very far in this kitchen.

Well this is in my top three ways to spend a wonderful summers day. You may try to guess the other two if you wish.

The location is superb, I don't think it can really be much better. Its only forty miles from Central London. There is so much that you can do at Woburn itself, and the grounds of the estate are absolutley stunning. It really is a smashing day out.

Needless to say we enjoyed the whole experience. The mainly French staff go out of their way to make you feel at home. The daytime dress code is smart casual, indeed I think it is the same at night, so its not as formal as it may seem. I wore jeans and a jacket but all the other males were in shirts and that was fine.

The lunch tasting menu is very fairly priced especially for the quality of the food on offer. We had the two tasting menus, a glass of wine each, tap water no coffees, and with the service charge of 12.5% the bill came to just shy of £100. I'm happy with that.

We took a drive through the Deer park or at least part of it, as we did not have to pay.

The deer are so tame that you can almost touch them from your car.

In a way we were glad none were on the menu.