Harrowing times @ Little Bedwyn

The Harrow @Little Bedwyn

On most occasions it is sad to say Goodbye and this is certainly the case with the closure on Saturday 28th March of the Michelin starred The Harrow restaurant in Little Bedwyn. The Harrow has been one of the UK's most exciting restaurants – great food and service and a remarkable wine list. After 21 great years Roger and Sue Jones will be moving on to new projects. Understandable that after 21 years it makes sense to turn the page, while you are still on top of your game but it is still of course a big loss.

With so many good memories we naturally had to go one last time and managed to secure a table for three last Friday (28th February) for lunch. An occasion to go the whole hog, so we went for the top menu @£85 for eight courses and selected two fine wines to form a partnership.

2018 The F*****g Marvellous Chenin, Ken Forrester
Ripe and finely concentrated
a top South African Chenin

 

  

Fine bread with delicate tasty hummus

Foie Gras and Salted Caramel Macaron

Cured Kinglas Salmon, Wasabi Pearls, Crème Fraiche

Welsh Beef Tartare, Indian Spices

Shrimp Burger, Foie Gras, Black Pudding, 1927 PX Caramel– an amazing dish(not yet available thru Burger King.....)

2015 Kupe Single Vineyard Pinot Noir, Martinborough
by Escarpment. Larry McKenna 

Having finished Ken's FMC it was time to move onto Larry McKenna's lovely, complex and delicious NZ Pinot Noir from the southernmost part of North Island New Zealand. As Sue Jones said 'a classic NZ Pinot Noir'. 

Wild Orkney Skrei Cod, Champagne Beurre Blanc, Spinach

Guineafowl Ravioli, White and Black Truffles, Artichoke

Optional dish: Five British cheeses

Harrow's signature dessert dish:
soft meringue with mango sauce

Raspberry soufflé

All in all worth every penny!!

Still European and hoping for
EU Associate Citizenship – svp M. Michel Barnier !! 

2016 Chenin Blanc, The Jones Family Collection

 2016 Chenin Blanc, The Jones Family Collection 

During our excellent dinner in November at The Harrow, Little Bedwyn, Sue Jones very kindly gave us a bottle of their Jones Family Collection 2016 Chenin Blanc to try. It comes from the Stellenrust winery in Stellenbosch, South Africa. The 2016 is very typical good South African Chenin Blanc with rich tropical fruit and attractive texture.      

The Harrow, Little Bedwyn – another great dinner

The Harrow, Little Bedwyn 

Great treat on Friday evening – dinner with good friends at The Harrow, Little Bedwyn. We chose the Set 6 Course Tasting Menu. Having taken the precaution of ordering our wines in advance we were served the Wiston Estate Sugrue-Pierre "The Trouble with Dreams" English sparkler very soon after our arrival in the busy restaurant. Made from 55% Chardonnay, 40% Pinot Noir and 5% Pinot Meunier, this is a lovely fresh sparkling wine with mineral acidity in the finish.

 Langoustine bisque with grilled sourdough

 Citrus cured salmon & Torbay crab with Exmoor caviar salt

(this dish was especially good)

 Cornish line caught turbot with Dorset clams & leeks

2004 Bin 7, Riesling, Clare Valley

Leasingham 

Looking through The Harrow's wine list the 2004 Leasingham Riesling stood out. An Australian Riesling with 12 years bottle age and furthermore at a very reasonable price. I had no idea when I emailed Roger and Sue with my choice that I was ordering their last bottle of this wine. The screwcapped Leasingham certainly met expectations from the lovely evocative nose and flavour of lightly evolved Riesling – some lemon and lime, floral notes and peachy. Overall it was the purity of fruit and the wine's vibrantly fresh finish that was memorable. 

Back in 1999 tasting a Yalumba screwcapped Riesling from the mid 1970s was an epiphany. This 2004 is further confirmation that Riesling – Oztralian certainly – ages brilliantly under screwcap.    

 

 Northumberland roc venison,
black pudding (Charles Macleod from Stornaway), parsnip and morels

(above and below)

1996 Chinon, Domaine de la Noblaie 

Roger kindly invited to bring our own bottles along, so I chose to take on – this 1996 Chinon from Domaine de la Noblaie. It showed brightly with enticingly spicy aromas and generous soft fruit and a long balanced finish. Furthermore it turned out that the 96 Chinon and the venison were made for each other. 

The 1996 was made by François Billard, whose main job as the time was teaching oenology at Lycée Viticole at Montreil-Bellay. It wasn't until 2003 that his son Jérôme returned to the domaine after his studies and working in various parts of the world to take over.   

Selection of five English cheeses
– we shared this between the five of us   

 Boiled egg & soldier 

– very inventive pre-dessert

Orchestrated chocolate but 

including a cherry parfait  

The Harrow is highly recommended both the food and the wine list are wonderful. The service is very efficient, while being friendly and relaxed. A delight! 

The Harrow: "A foodie paradise in the middle of nowhere with an amazing wine list" The Sunday Times Top 100

 The Harrow

Press release: 

'The Harrow at Little Bedwyn climbed up to number 48 in the Sunday Times top UK Restaurants and was placed in the top 5 for the South West and for their Wine List.

Sue Jones; “ Today’s accolade in The Sunday Times together with retaining our Michelin Star for the 10th year in a row and recently winning The Harpers Best Wine List makes all the hard work that the team put in worth it. Our dedicated team of John, Marcin, Emily, Lee and Chris are passionate about their work and its great to share these accolades with them. Roger & I are also very aware that its the quality of our suppliers that get us to the top, and are of course so pleased to have such a great group of artisan suppliers behind us. We look forward to sharing our success with our great customers”. 

Note that The Harrow will be spreading its wings this January with a range of Pop Up Restaurants in South Africa, promoting The Tri Nations Wine Challenge, which will also go to New Zealand in February 2017.'

See meals here and here.

 

Two briliantly creative meals – part 2: Roger Jones@The Harrow

The Harrow in Little Bedwyn

As promised this is the second part of a double post on a couple of brilliantly creative meals we enjoyed in July: one in Lisbon at André Magalhães at his tiny Taberna da Rua Flores, Lisbon and this one at Roger Jones' The Harrow. 

Amuse bouche – olives, garlic cloves and 

the famous foie gras macaroons

2008 Chenin du Puy, AC Saumur Blanc, Frédéric Mabileau

(above and below)

Roger and Sue Jones kindly invited us to bring one or more bottles (BYOB). We took one – the 2008 Le Puy, Saumur Blanc from Frédéric Mabileau. Sadly we only had one bottle left as this one was delicious, very attractively evolved with honey and pineapple notes along with brilliantly clean acidity underlining what a fine vintage 2008 is for dry whites in the Loire. This was Frédéric's second vintage from his small plot of Chenin Blanc at Le Puy Notre Dame.

Pure Chenin this 2008 was picked in two tris – the first on 11th October and the second on 22nd October.     

We chose the six course menu for £50 a head 

Crab & pea cocktail 

(above and below)

Classy olive oil 

Sashimi of yellow fin tuna, caviar rocks, crème fraîche 

with a stunning beetroot sorbet with wasabi 

– dish of the evening against very tough competition.

The tuna was wonderfully fresh and Frédéric's Saumur 

was a perfect match

Memorable decanter for a memorable wine 

The Harrow has an excellent wine list reflecting the Jones' enthusiasm for the wines of New Zealand, Australia and South Africa in particular. The Pinot Noirs from Felton Road (Central Otago) are one of the specially featured estates. We chose the 2010 Block 3, Pinot Noir, which was delicious and finely balanced, silky texture and lovely complexity with good freshness in the finish.  

Line caught turbot, Périgord truffle risotto

New season Welsh lamb, Isle of Wight tomatoes 

Mango, passion fruit and clementine parfait 

After opting for a tasting plate of cheese, we finished the meal with this 

fine dessert - 'Berry' - based on soft summer fruits  

Not only was the food delicious, the service was impeccable, relaxed and friendly. We'll be back soon!!