Four From Two

Four good years, folks. Yesterday was the four year anniversary for the wife and I. Who would have thought then -- way back when it all started -- that we would end up living on a hedge-lined, country road in England, post code 123 BFE? Not me.

We took advantage of the occasion to find a new place for dinner. Whilst out driving about in the Volvo with the in-laws a few weeks back, we ambled past "The Bell at Skenfrith", a small inn and eatery with an upscale look to it. I checked the Michelin guide and found it had won the "Michelin 2007 Pub of the Year". That's an award not to be taken lightly.

Just across the border in Wales (yes, we went to another country for our anniversary dinner -- top that, Yankee), The Bell sits almost directly across the road from Skenfrith Castle -- one of The Three Castles mentioned in an early blog. The winding Monnow River flows along side the road here and a small one-lane (by my standards, not theirs!) bridge crosses the river at the Inn. The Bell maintains its own garden that is used extensively in the food -- they are currently working on obtaining organic status. The wine list was the best I have seen in a restaurant outside of London -- it was over 50 pages.


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Dinner was great from start to finish. They started by serving drinks and some amuse-bouche as soon as we arrived. The amuse-bouche were a small crostini with bit of liver pate, salt cod croquettes, and a shot glass of foamy mushroom soup. All good.

Appetizers were creative. The wife had a simple duck and duck liver terrine with onion brioche. I thought that was just ok -- the terrine was solid (strong wild flavor, though) but the brioche was very dry. Mine was the highlight of my meal. here is the full description: "Home cured lamb bresola, piquillo pepper stuffed with bulgur wheat salad, aubergine puree, green olive tapenade, rosemary oil." Yes, that's all one appetizer and it was fantastic how well each piece went with everything else. The bresola -- usually made with beef -- is a salted, air dried meat -- sorta like a prosciutto but not really. These pieces were maybe a 1/4" thick, silver-dollar size, and not overly dry. Very mild but distinct flavor. I could go on and on about the appetizer but anyway...

For mains, we shared a "talgarth beef sirloin steak with truffle scented dauphinoise potatoes, wilted kale, carrot puree, port wine sauce" and a "pan roasted loin of welsh breed pork, homemade pork scratchings, colcannon mash potato, seared black pudding, fine green beans, cider and smoked bacon cream sauce." Both were excellent. All the vegetables were just-picked fresh, and perfectly cooked. The black pudding was the best I have had here -- but it was more like a hash then a sausage. The meats were cooked just to medium-rare -- a welcome change from the well-done most restaurants serve here. The sauce on the pork was divine.

To finish, I had dessert and the wife had cheese. For cheese, you could pick three from a list. One of the picks (golden cenarth -- an organic semi-soft cow's milk cheese) was so incredibly stinky it almost ruined my dessert -- it attacked me from across the table. That was, until I tried a piece -- it tasted much better than it smelled!

My dessert pick was easy. They were offering a sampler of Christmas puddings: mini Christmas pudding, mini yule log, stollen parfait, brandy butter ice cream, and mulled wine jelly. I don't know what went into the stollen parfait: I think it was an ultra thick spiced mousse that was then wrapped like a little gift package in a thin wrapping of marzipan. Wow. The other items were good, too -- but that parfait really stood out.

Price-wise, The Bell is on the top end of prices we have seen here but worth it considering the quality of the experience. This place joins The Wellington Inn and The Stewing Pot as my three favorite restaurants in our area.

Cheers!



“To be happy with a man you must understand him a lot and love him a little. To be happy with a woman you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.”
Helen Rowland (English-American writer, 1876-1950)