The second Pod cafe special dinner that I've attended was all about mushrooms (with a meat main course option to keep the carnivores happy :))
The restaurant looked beautiful with really pretty candelabras on the main tables.
No live music this time but didn't really notice :)
My view for the evening
The appetiser was a mushroom soup with truffle oil served in a niccolo mug. Drank as is - was very tasty!
The entree was a collection of wild mushrooms (slippery jacks springs to mind, but I can't recall all the mushroom varieties despite being told. Definately not ones you'd find at the supermarket!). Served with a goats curd which was complimented the mushrooms nicely. The bread was a sourdough with beetroot (and apparently hazlenut?). Very tasty! Sourced locally.
Next up the usual palette cleanser
We then got a bit of a spiel about mushrooms from (I think Ben?) who was starting his mushroom business. Learnt a lot about the bad mushrooms to avoid. Unfortunately being in the corner I couldn't see the mushrooms he was holding up, but got some photos of his mushroom display. The guy did well with his talk as someone called out pretty early on that he was so cute, and a few other tables started their own conversation, probably because we couldn't really see him as he talked.
I imagine these are the bad ones!! They had some cool names though. The night cap and something angel.
For the main course there was a choice of two (made prior to the evening). Here's the beef wellington option, with the beef cooked to perfection, a paste of mushrooms and a tasty sauce. Served with baby vegetables. This definately filled me up! And I was glad that the mushrooms took on a minor role in this course.
Here's the vegetable option - which tasted creamy and very tasty. It contained mushroom, ricotta and asparagus and again the mushroom wasn't overpowering in this dish.
The next course was the cheese course. So so good. There were two types of cheese, quince, mushroom pate and muscatels (which tasted a bit crunchy for my liking - maybe I was going it wrong!). The cheese both had very distinctive flavours. Whilst we tried the mushroom pate, I think we'd had enough mushrooms and focused on cheese for the little space that remained in our bellies!
The triple cream cheese went superbly with the apricot (I think) bread, and I used the gluten free crackers for the other strong double Gloucester cheese (and pate). Was amazing the difference in taste when having the cheese on the bread as opposed to the crackers. This course defeated us (although we got through all the triple cream :)) There had been an option to try port with this course but I stuck with my two glasses of pinot noir.
Next up was chocolate truffles and the option of a coffee although we opted for a hot chocolate which tasted amazing.
And the hot chocolate (with varying designs on top of the drinks)
I think there was also a post-dinner whiskey option but I was so full I felt like I was going to explode.
It was a fantastic night full of awesome food, great service and great company. I even got chatting to my chair neighbour whilst my friend went off to the bathroom so it was just a great friendly atmosphere. I look forward to the next one :)
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