Purnell's: Bring on the mains!

The Roast Balmoral venison was a popular choice – once again when the dish was served it was so beautiful it was almost a shame to spoil it by eating it!

The waiter had stated that all the venison would be served medium rare.  Sometimes you just gotta go with the flow.  I know that two of our party would never order meat cooked medium rare – indeed one of the party had never eaten venison either.  Verdict – converted – on both counts.  The moral of this story is embrace the experience – take a leap into the unknown - you never know what might happen!

Now for my main.  I was asked when the booking was made and again on the day about dietary requirements and allergies in respect of my vegetarian main.

This is what I was served :

The dish is Carrots cooked in vadouvan, pickled & raw carrots, coriander & coconut emulsion, sweet carrot purée and dried coconut  and was served with puy lentils.  I also tasted the Indian red lentils served with the Monkfish masala – delish.

I said in the penultimate paragraph of A tick off the Bucket List! Mr. Purnell was in the kitchen, in charge of the lunch service.  Now it's not very often that I am lost for words, but was most definitely when I realised that the person dressing my main course was the man himself – a perfect day.  There was no circus, no fuss – he was pitching in, helping to serve and I just got lucky. It's probably as well that I couldn't speak – far less embarrassing than burbling rubbish.

By the way – for those who'd like to know, vadouvan is a blend of spices - a French “take” on a masala with added shallots and garlic.