Le Manoir Oxford Review

A short review; Le Manoir, Oxford. 

One of the best christmas presents I’ve ever received, it was a taste phenomenon for 4 hours straight. Presented with a glass of champagne on arrival my mother and I sat in a homey yet outstanding room with a roaring fire. Our amuse bouche, four delightful canapés were bought to us. They looked like they had been carefully placed together with the most delicate preparation. Each texture complementing the other beautifully, a quenelle of goats cheese, with truffle honey on a crispy melba toast allowed your teeth to melt through the cheese followed by a satisfying crunch.

We were shown to an eye opening, bright room with closely lined tables, but not so you felt you like you were sharing your meal with the people next door to you. Waiters appeared as if by nowhere just when you needed them, before you even had a chance to summon one. A dropped bread roll was immediately replaced, complete with a new knife, napkin and plate. This all happened before I even leant down to get it. 

To begin a shot glass of foamed warm pumpkin soup with Kirsch giving it a good kick and slight heat as it travels down the esophagus. Towards the glass was a small, almost magical, trail of ground hazelnuts, as though Hansel and Gretel themselves left it. Next came a melt in the mouth sensation of duck liver parfait with prunes and cinnamon. To my surprise this wasn’t served with a type of bread of brioche, but some indian poaches apple cubes. The refreshing apple cut through the rich and smooth parfait, also adding a beautiful crunch. The apple truly was a taste explosion, as it tasted apple like and crunchy at first, but once bitten into with the duck livers it gave off a mind blowing indian scent, marrying with the duck perfectly. Liver parfait can sometimes be overwhelmingly rich but I could have polished off that course a good few more times! 

A somewhat bitter and unique tasting watercress puree sat at the bottom of my bowl, topped with a poached hen egg. Around the edge of the plate some Jabugo ham adding saltiness and texture that the dish was craving. Almost nothing can compete with the astounding joy of cutting into a poached egg and seeing the golden middle set free and spilling onto the plate. This was a glorious poached egg with a mindbogglingly crispy top as it had been put under the grill. The yolk oozed into the watercress puree subtracting from the bitterness and becoming smooth and salty. Once again, to my pleasant surprise there was nothing overwhelmingly rich about the dish thanks to the sharp puree. 

Next three small cubes of the most breathtakingly tender duck that it practically fell apart when I put my fork into it. The sauce made from morello cherries and cinnamon was very sweet, but married with the duck perfectly. As well as this sweet sauce with whole cherries there was a creamy smooth almond puree that added a whole different taste dimension to the dish. This was the largest dish of the meal, although everyone of them was faultlessly portioned, the courses began to get smaller again. The next dish was a truly astounding bowl of smooth goats cheese with truffle honey, topped with fresh grated black truffle and two slices of dense walnut bread. As every other blameless dish in this fantastic meal, there was of course an accompaniment to cut through the richness of the cheese. Served with this was a some stewed celery, however the celery was fresh and crunchy, but not veiny like raw celery. This was everything you would want from celery without the undesirable part.

 At this point during the most amazing meal of my life I was just beginning to feel full. The wondrous kind of full when you’ve filled your body with only the best foods. However we were only just over half way through the meal and I was worried about how much more I could fit in. Luckily for me a palette cleanser was on its way and I suddenly felt light as air again. An exotic fruit ravioli was placed in front of me, coated in mango filled with pineapple and passionfruit. The gorgeous bright orange colour of the ravioli contrasted with the clean white coconut sorbet like a shining sun in the middle. This is the sort of dish that transports you to another country entirely. The exotic fruits making you think of gorgeous white beaches and the smooth slightly Malibu tasting coconut sorbet lightened my stomach and refreshed me entirely, like a cool breeze. I was then ready for the final course of poached pear in caramel. This was served with vanilla creme chiboust ice cream, topped with gold leaf. The pear had underlying tones of licorice which was pleasantly surprising, this did not taste like the sort of licorice you dread eating as a child, but subtle and sweet. 

This meal was indescribably delicious but I have tried to share with you an experience more than a meal. Faultless.