Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons

[yvonne johnson]

Last week we stayed one night and had light lunch and dinner at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons (nr Oxford). Raymond Blanc has been receiving accolades for around 16 years at Le M and I was eager to stay there. Le M has 2 Michelin stars.

I'll begin with the dinner. We chose the menu gourmand (95 pounds per person). We were seated at a table like the one here in the conservatory part of the restaurant http://www.manoir.com/ --click on Le M...then click on restaurant. To get to this part one walks though another dining room which felt stuffy and hot (that week the temperatures reached 90F), and we were glad to be in the cooler of the two rooms.

1. To start was a little cup of gaspacho soup, one of the highlights of the meal for me. It was chunkless, and very smooth, and glistened with an oil (though I don't think truffle) on the surface.

2. Salmon, at room temperature, sitting on some mouli (sp?--a big Japanese radish I was told) surrounded by dill and cucumber salad. Husband thought this was the tenderest salmon he'd ever tasted, and he guessed it had been slow baked. I found it a little bland--having neither the texture of raw salmon nor the flavor that I associate with this fish when cooked.

3. Sea bream with a crispy skin on top of very soft squid. Nice contrast in textures.

4. One ravioli inside of which was a quail egg at center surrounded by spinach. On top was wafer of parmesan and truffle flavor was very much throughout the dish. Mushrooms were scattered around the outside of the plate. Husband went ga-ga over this. I found it very, very salty.

5. A soup of peaches poached in champagne. The skins were left on the sliced fruit yet no stringiness evident and the juice was cold and a little sour. This was delicious.

6. Lamb chop (neatly trimmed) with peas (some pureed a little, some left whole), garlic cloves in their jackets and potato cake with a smattering of jus. Chop was delicate though not very lamb-y. The potato was way over-salted, and I thought there was little that united the dish. To me it felt like a bit of this and bit of that. The dish would have been a lot stronger if there had been more reduction to act as liaison.

7. Hot chocolate fondant with pistachio ice-cream. Chocolate desserts I'm not a great fan of and I found this combination very ordinary. The wine waiter suggested that we share a granache rose (I liked it, a little like a light port) and saussignac (a bit heavy for the chocolate I thought, but it would make a good match for a fruit tart).

8. Coffee and petit fours (I didn't have room for either).

Wines: 1/2 bottle Corton Renarde, and 1bottle Meursault Meix Chavaux, together around 130 pounds.

Sommelier was helpful, and the service at the table, especially that of our wine waiter, was excellent. There was one oddity about the tables. On every table, propped up against the flowers were postcards of le M and on the back were descriptions of up-coming events. A few minutes after looking at the post card of Le M while dining at Le M, I couldn't take it much longer and put the post card in my bag. I though the post cards hinted of tackiness.

And now that I've mentioned a low note, here's another. We went for pre-dinner drinks in the bar, a small room with around eight seats. We were the only people there, however the barman was obviously busy making drinks for others in the other lounges. He said he'd be with in a minute, but we must have waited for 10. During our wait a m'd offered us the menus to look at and noticed we didn't have drinks. She took our order which she relayed to the barman. We waited some more while he finished up other orders. Then came my dry martini with olives and my husband's glass of house champagne. Mine was the smallest (came just past the half way up the glass), warmest, least gin-y martini I've ever had in my life. I should have sent it back no two ways about it.

Light lunch on same day, a selection of sandwiches (smoked salmon, egg, cheese and tomato, ham) on the terrace was pleasant if you ignored the army of flies (several of the pools in the garden are at present stagnant, something the staff apologized for via a placard in the garden)as was a walk round the grounds and flower and vegetable gardens.

Accommodation was in the main house, and I see even though we asked a standard room, we were given a superior one for the same price.

A little fussy decor-wise, and a little warm--for some reason the central heating was on and could not be turned off--but our room had the biggest, regular, that is non-jacuzzi, bath I've ever seen.

Overall, staying at the Altnaharrie Inn (no longer) was much more pleasurable, and dinner at Gordon Ramsay (Royal Hospital Road) a few days later was superior--more later.

[Matthew Grant]

Overall, staying at the Altnaharrie Inn (no longer) was much more pleasurable, and dinner at Gordon Ramsay (Royal Hospital Road) a few days later was superior--more later.

Its been a little while since I went to Manoir but we found it disappointing. I felt that it lacked the quality of sauces that I think are necessary at this standard of restaurant. I'd also agree that the postcards on the table are tacky. Its also a little disconcerting if you are staying and find a coachload of tourists visiting for lunch, they disrupt the peace and quiet.

I noticed in the Sunday Times this week that Altnaharrie Inn is up for sale for £500,000 if anybody fancies it (See property section for more details).

[Bapi]

Yvonne , it's a shame you didn't enjoy your stay there. I took the wife there for two nights to celebrate our anniversary earlier this year and we had wonderful time and were thoroughly spoilt. One downside, was a slightly dodgy oyster eaten the night before on the coast, so I was not quite up to the Menu Gourmand on the first night. All the food we had was absolutely sublime, (I had the Cannelloni of langoustine with sevruga caviar - a wallet bashing three times, during my stay).

We stayed in the Mermaid Rose room (large bathroom at the top of a spiral staircase, with two free standing cast iron baths that face each other and large mural on the wall). Heartily recommended

The staff were superb and one particular highlight was being given a tour of their newly re-furbished kitchens. The chap who showed around was charm personified, articulate and genuinely enthusiastic at the interest we had shown. He took us to all the stations within the kitchen and explained at length what occurred at each of them. He explained about the long hours involved, the amount of food that was prepared each day and from where they sourced their produce. A top bloke, indeed, as we were in there a good 10-15 minutes, during service, so we must have been slightly in the way.

As to how the chefs stand it in there is beyond me, the temperature at the station where meat was being prepared was unbelievable, I thought I was melting and I only stood next to it for three minutes.

[g.johnson]

Ignore Yvonne. I had a great time and that's all that matters.

[peterpumkino]

I went there once with a cordon bleau chef from Philly would you beleive and, obviously, she knew far more of the mechanics of cooking (I only know what I like!) and she rhapsodied on and on about how much work went into this and how much care and attention went into that etc etc ad nauseam. In fact one vegetable took 48 hours to cook and prepare.

What's the moral in all this? I dunno, but the food was equisite.

[yvonne johnson]

Silly me. As I was writing the above, I was having fantasies about Gordon Ramsay, and I put the order of some of the dishes in keeping with GR. 4 should be 3 and 3 should be 4, and 5 came after 6--as it was not a palate cleanser, rather an amuse dessert. I'm glad all that's cleared up

Matthew, I'm glad I'm not the only one who goes for rich sauces. The lamb really cried out for more.

I forgot to mention, Blanc was definitely present. We spotted him in his whites.

[g.johnson]

The lamb really cried out for more.

Philistine. The dish was predicated on simplicity. Peas and beans with mint, lamb and pots with garlic. The highlight of the meal after the ravioli (raviolo?).

[sarah w]

hellooo, here are my thoughts on manoir

i have to say i enjoyed the whole package of manoir but wouldn't say the meal was one of the most memorable of my life, now saying this i also may be regarded as biased because i won the night's stay and menu gourmond for 2...

I won a competition in Food and Travel magazine for a week's cooking course but i couldnt take the time off and my boyfriend is a chef anyway so he didnt want to do it so i swapped if for a nights stay..A very good decision, We were given the Provence suite which was fantastic (have a look on the website) www.manoir.com.., the largest window i ever did see, beautiful bathroom, step to the bed etc, i could have cried..A bottle of chilled champers was waiting for us..

we went for dinner at 9pm, the food was of high quality and i had no complaints other than maybe a lack of excitement..This sounds awful but i cannot remember all the dishes, Jerusalem artichoke soup, Pigeon, Chocolate and pistachio dessert...

What i will say though is that as a destination for celebrations and treats it is a lovely place to go,eat and stay. the staff were lovely, we sat up for many hours chatting with the staff (spending our own money i add!!)

and remember to enter competitions as people do sometimes win.....

sarah xx

[cabrales]

For me, R Blanc's cuisine was only good-plus. However, the Manoir is a fairly attractive visual venue. As an alternative to taking in the aperatifs at the bar, members visiting the restaurant could, in the summertime at least, sit outside. There are wooden little benches with backs, with little accompanying tables, where one can begin the evening as well.

[AdamLawrence]

Despite - or perhaps because - it's relatively local, we haven't eaten at the Manoir for four years. The one thing that does stick in the memory from my last visit was the chocolate and pistachio souffle mentioned by Sarah W - I think possibly the best pudding I've ever had.

The ambience is lovely. Possibly the expansion of the last few years may have affected this, but one of the things I liked best was the relatively relaxed, un-stuffy feel of the place. I knew much less about wine then than I do now, but, on learning of my preference for syrah/shiraz-based wines, the sommelier steered me to an excellent, and relatively well-priced, bottle of Cornas.

Must go back soon. Perhaps for my birthday in October.

Adam

[cabrales]

I'd appreciate a description of R Blanc's tomato water. There was a BBC program involving Blanc advising a fan in part by phone on how to prepare a seared turbot (?) dish and an elaborate dessert with a caramelized sugar "cage" over white peaches. The appetizer involved tomato water, which Blanc assisted the dinner host in preparing while at Manoir and for which Blanc utilized a recipe in one of his cookbooks.

Johnsons -- Thanks for your report. I have never stayed the night at Manoir. When you have a chance, could you consider describing the residential common areas? Were they relatively traditionally decorated or more modern in conception?

[Jon Tseng]

dunno about blancs tomato water particularly, but generally tomato water is obtained by crushing and/or salting some tomatos, hanging them up in some muslin overnight and catching the drips. trick is not to squeeze the fruit flesh through - you just want the liquid which drips out naturally

you get a clear liquid with a strong tomato flavour; obviously quality of the fruit affects the quality of the flavour. a very useful and versatile ingredient for a variety of light summer recipes. charlie trotter uses it in lots of his stuff.

cheerio

j

[sarah w]

I do agree that the choc and pistachio was v.good but my boyfriend disagreed...i suppose that is down to personal taste and my love of chocolate...

As i mentioned before the food was very pleasant but i think after the year we'd had of "fine dining" incl: ducasse,verge,bocuse,chantecler-nice, etc etc i had become slightly less excited about eating out...Don't worry though I have since recovered !!

I just thought it was such a lovely place and as mentioned the Provence suite was out of this world.(can't imagine spending £750-825 on a hotel room though !).the communal rooms are pleasant and nicely decorated with a bang and oulfsen stereo and board games to play,photo books to look through.

We went last december, the weather on our arrival day was beautiful and made the building and gardens look even more appealing..On the morning after the night before it was a typical,foggy winters day but created a completely different atmosphere, i imagine at christmas it is wonderful..

I enjoyed walking round in the evening when there is a strange silence around the around the grounds despite a bustling kitchen and restaurant..

being so close...

One thing is will say though is if i ever have enough cash i would love to get married there as the milton room looks lovely, especially after dark..

sarah x

[sarah w]

and with ref to tomato water chat,

we have on several times made a variation on Tetsuya Wakuda's (from OZ and London restaurants MJU) Tomato and tea consomme, quite simple with stunning results..It ends up tasting like a clear heinz soup,quite intense..we just use fresh toms and mi cuit toms boiled in water....and then strain through muslin,the key is do not press through,let it drip !!...(we don't add tea normally but i believe he uses ceylon)

try it !!

[Matthew Grant]

In fact one vegetable took 48 hours to cook and prepare.

Peter, which vegetable supposedly took 48 hours to cook? A lot (over 5000) of Raymond Blancs recipes are listed on his website (Click here) and I would like to try and track this recipe down.

Excuse me for appearing sceptical but any vegetable requiring 48 hours cooking has got to be mighty special(or tough to begin with). If we are including the time taken to make the stock that the vegetable was cooked in, or marinating something for 36 hours, then maybe, but I struggle to believe that 48 hours is required to prepare any of the vegetables served at Manoir.

[Steve Plotnicki]

The kitchen at Manoir does not cook with the requisite intensity for its reputation and for the setting. The food sounds better than it tastes. Lackluster sauces, food served at room temperature, things like that. It just seemed to me that they don't care enough. But the place was nice and the photo of the room looks lovely. I wish the food was better. It doesn't surprise me that the Johnson's think the food at GR is in a diffrerent league. It is.

[peterpumkino]

Mathew.

Boy youre quick. Actually (if I recall correctly, it was a long time ago) it was not a vegetable but some kind of, I think, caramel mesh. I am sorry if I'm vague - I don't get into recipes it was just what my significant other mentioned at the time.

Is this the right toom for an argument!?

[g.johnson]

The kitchen at Manoir does not cook with the requisite intensity for its reputation and for the setting. The food sounds better than it tastes. Lackluster sauces, food served at room temperature, things like that. It just seemed to me that they don't care enough. But the place was nice and the photo of the room looks lovely. I wish the food was better. It doesn't surprise me that the Johnson's think the food at GR is in a diffrerent league. It is.

Of course. If you want the best food you should find a chef who grew up in the most evolved culinary tradition.

[Steve Plotnicki]

Or one who is not roasting on his laurels, regardless of naissance.

[Matthew Grant]

Mathew.

Boy youre quick. Actually (if I recall correctly, it was a long time ago) it was not a vegetable but some kind of, I think, caramel mesh.  I am sorry if I'm vague - I don't get into recipes it was just what my significant other mentioned at the time.

Is this the right room for an argument!?

Thanks Peter, I had images of some mysterious giant root vegetable requiring hours of par boiling prior to being slow roasted for 36 hours. Even then I doubt RB would have thought about putting a decent sauce on it! 48 hours for a caramel mesh! Brings us on nicely to Steve's point, it looks and sounds better than it tastes.

Steve, you summed up our experience of Manoir perfectly, I was so disappointed with the food that I want to go back to make sure it wasn't a blip (I had the Menu Gourmand so it shouldn't have been), however, at these prices I'm not prepared to take the risk again.

[Suzi Edwards]

has anyone been here recently?

[Andy Lynes]

A few of us visited for the American Food Revolution and some were lucky enough to eat the Daniel Boulud lunch (others were lucky enough to share a sandwhich and a joke with Jeffery Stiengarten in the press room). Its a beautiful building in lovely grounds but I can't comment on M. Blanc's food. I've always meant to try it, but the prices send a chill down my working class spine.

[balex]

has anyone been here recently?

I went there in August last year and

I went to le Manoir at the end of August; it was good but not great. Only one dish really stuck in my mind which was an amuse of gaspacho, which had such brilliant clarity of flavour and freshness I can still taste it now. Also: very good breakfast, good service, very comfortable rooms, quite close to London, a nice garden you can wander around.

Really good wine list (has a few bottles of Coche Dury which is always a good sign).

But for me a real reason to go there is for their vegetables, and we are coming to the end of the season when that is a real plus. And it's really expensive. But you can have a very good time there. The food is not wildly imaginative (IMHO a good thing), and is very accurately cooked; there was only one tiny flaw in the meal I had there which was a slightly intrusive use of lemon verbena in a pea puree. I've eaten there quite often over the past 15 years or so; it's still a very good restaurant, but maybe not quite as good as it was say 5 years ago.

[Suzi Edwards]

thank you! i'm going next weekend and was wondering what to expect. and of course i *only* trust an egullet opinion these days.

[tony h]

I spent a week at the cookery school a few years ago & loved every second - notes posted somewhere on the board.

I've been a few times since and when its good its astounding - but its only flaw is consistency - on one occasion I left feeling ripped off as the portions had shrunk somewhat. I'm sure its was just a bad day.

One major strength are the desserts - always triumphal.

The place itself is virtually perfect - so give yourself some time to explore the gardens. If staying over - lucky you.