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Published: June 22nd 2018
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So after an overnight flight we landed at Heathrow airport and promptly headed to Hertz to pick up our car, a Mercedes van. We show up to find about 25 people in front of us in line and a lunch reservation in about an hour. Grab phone, become Hertz gold member, go to gold booth and get our van and we are on the road. Now it has been 20 years since I have driven on UK roads and those around Heathrow are especially twisty. Couple wrong lefts in the roundabouts and voila! 270 degrees of turns and I am driving the right direction.
We head immediately to Oxfordshire for a lunch at Belmond Le Manoir aux Quat Saisons - two Michelin stars. A fantastically beautiful manor in the country serving some of the most amazing food. Lunch started with a chilled gazpacho followed by a sea trout with elderflower and yuzu jelly. A perfectly cooked hens egg over watercress followed by the main, lamb perfectly cooked two ways. Last was a strawberry dessert that featured strawberries at least 4 different ways. The second best dessert I have ever had (the first is of course a Michael Statlander
creation).
After lunch, we hoped back in the van and headed to Windsor castle. Having got the hang of British roads, we made it there without a hitch and just in time to make the final entry time. A sprawling beautiful castle where of course Henry and Meaghan were recently married. A couple pics below but most of the indoor displays are “no photo” so just scenery pics. A fantastic collection of crown history including a massive dollhouse that was used by royal children as recently as Harry and William.
We are now running about 5:00 and I am running on 2 hours sleep in the last 29 so we head to Bray where we will call home for the next three nights. Bray is home to one of the worlds most famous restaurants, the Fat Duck. While we are passing on FD this trip (some serious alcohol based courses that we were pretty sure the kids would not eat. Next best thing is Heston’s 1 Michelin stared pub across the street so the Hind’s Head it is for dinner tonight. 5 course tasting menu. Meal starts with a scotch eggs and ham and
pea soup. I am not usually a fan of pea soup but this was excellent. Fresh peas in a pea foam broth. Divine. And then there was the scotch egg. I have always wanted to try one of these but have resisted as I assumed anything in North America would be awful. It was worth the wait. Pretty sure I will be stopping in over the next couple days just for an egg (is it literally the building next door). Second was a smoked goat curds salad with beetroot and pear. Third was a earl grey tea smoked salmon that was wonderful. Main was a roast duck breast with a wild garlic purée and celeriac slaw that was the best bite of the meal. A course worth waiting for. Last was a chocolate moose with hazelnut ice cream that were it not for the strawberry dessert at lunch would certainly have ranked pretty high up my all time desserts.
Tomorrow we do a boat ride down the Thames and the Harry Potter tour of Oxford. And of course some more food!Tomorrow we do a boat ride down the Thames and the Harry Potter tour of Oxford. And
of course some more food!
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