 |
| oil balsamic vinegar and fresh bread / porterhouse sharing steak / grilled Garlic lobster tail / cheese board / blood orange cheesecake |
In the seven years Hubs and I have been together, we have never ever gone out for a Valentines meal, or for that matter, never celebrated an anniversary. Our pre-wedding anniversary date was 1st January, so we were always too hungover and as for V-day it’s our working hours that have got in the way.
This year, it being our first married V-day we thought we’d start as we mean to go on and indulge in this holiday. As a treat we went to Coal Shed, I’d been dying to go for a while as we had heard such great things.
When we arrived we were taken to our table towards the back of the restaurant and presented with an extensive drinks menu filled with aperitifs and wines, there were even suggestion of which wine to have with which course/meal.
After we ordered we where given bread to dip in oil (which I love) and started to enjoy our wine of choice. Unfortunately I was so eager to taste the starters that I completely forgot to take a photos until we had finished them. I went with the Seared Scallops with Truffled Jerusalem Artichoke Purée & Crispy Pancetta – the scallops were cooked perfectly, the artichoke purée was divine (I LOVE ARTICHOKES) and the pancetta really completed the whole dish.
Hubs chose the Smoked Duck Terrine with Foie Gras, Pineapple and Brioche, I know Foie Gras is a controversial dish, but we felt we should try it once. The whole dish was great, Hubs even liked the pineapple and he is a bit of a fruitaphobe.
For the main we decided to chose the Porterhouse sharing steak and made it a Surf’n’Turf so I could try Lobster for the first time accompanied by Beef Dripping Chips, Peas and Bacon and Peppercorn sauce, Hubs chose the Chimichurri sauce. My first experience of Lobster was a great one, it was grilled with garlic butter and taste amazing and also not half as hard to eat as I thought, I will definitely be eating it again. As for the Porterhouse steak, it was huge and beautifully cooked. I am a big steak eater and I can only think of one other steak I have had that possibly rivalled it.
On to the desserts, Hubs was always going to go for the Cheese Board, he loves cheese and is more of a savoury person. He really enjoyed the cheese, biscuits and the spiced chutney (which surprised me as it was quite chunky and that usually puts him off) unfortunately he wasn’t keen on the Walnut and Raisin bread that came with it.
My dessert choice came as a bit of a dilemma, as you may or may not know I used to have a cheesecake addiction, I’m not exaggerating it was a real problem, well more of a compulsion. After toying with the idea of going with the Home Made Doughnuts with Strawberries, Honeycomb and Chocolate Dip or the Blackcurrant & Vanilla Sundae I relented/relapsed and chose the Blood Orange and Ginger Cheesecake with Honey Ice Cream.I sometimes get cheesecake anxiety, will it be good? If I don’t chose it will I miss out? Despite this I wasn’t necessarily keen on the idea of a Blood Orange cheesecake, I’m more of a New York Vanilla sort of girl and had visions of a Clementine cheesecake I had from Tesco once that gave me nightmares. But I could not have been more wrong, I have never ever had a cheesecake as delectable as this one.
On top of the amazing food we had, the service was second to none, our waiter, Aiden, was attentive without being suffocating and was helpful and funny.
I know that we will be returning again one day.
What did you get up to on Valentines day?
Like what you see? You can follow me here:
Love Lilla xx