www.waterside-inn.co.uk
When you enjoy fine dining as much as I do, it isn't long before you start to set your sights on the cream of the British restaurant crop, the 3 Michelin starred restaurants. As those of you in the know will know, in England this isn't even a list of restaurants, there are 4. Although I have visited a handful of 2 Michelin starred establishments, my visit to The Waterside Inn, was my first 3. In fact such an expensive meal warranted an occasion, and we visited to celebrate our engagement. In order to to further relieve us of our money we also opted to stay in one of their rooms. I must admit to being skeptical about this, as I had viewed their rooms on the website and found them rather unappealing. I may even have mocked the "garden furniture" in one of the rooms and I certainly found their decor a little too reminiscent of the 80s/90s crossover years.
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| The village view from our room. |
Arriving in Bray, the renowned restaurant town (due to its two 3 Michelin starred restaurants), was an experience it itself. Coming off the hectic M4 only miles from London, one arrives almost instantly in this countryside idyll. Right before your eyes the modern world disappears and you find yourself on the set of Midsummer Murders. It is a wonder to me that this little town of so much acclaim could remain here untouched. Well, there is one thing, the wealth. You know you are in a chocolate box village near London when you see all the driveways and streets crawling with mercs and beemers, new ones.
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| The view at the front of The Waterside Inn. |
Anyway, it was a warm late afternoon as we approached the restaurant, a Tudor style country spot on the river. The first thing that you notice is chefs. Chefs here, chefs there, chefs everywhere. How do I know they were chefs... easy the tall hats. Anyone who has been to Oxford knows how the place crawls with intellectual student types, and you just know they 'go to Oxford'. Well, here it was the same, but with chefs. Outside in the daylight, carrying things to other buildings, standing around chatting, having a fag-orette break.
The place seemed lovely and calm and it felt very much like we were somewhere special. The place did seem a little dated in style, but everything was ultra sharp and clean. Our room was small, and the decor as predicted, but the details were right, and nothing was tired. There were Roux cook books and magazines that served to remind just what a special place you were in.
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| Our Room Key. |
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| The bedroom. |
There was no mini-bar, but we were shown to a kitchenette down the hall that boasted an 'Honesty bar'. For those unfamiliar with this notion, an honesty bar is an unmanned bar where you pour your own drinks and write down what you have so they can charge you accordingly later. This is a lovely idea in general as it implies they trust you and that you can make your gin and tonic as strong as you like. However, when the cost of a G&T matches the price of a whole bottle of gin in the supermarket it makes you feel more like they do not trust you in any way.
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| The kitchenette, complete with complementary tea and coffee. |
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| Price list for the honesty bar. |
We sat outside overlooking the river for a pre-dinner drink and canapes. We were lucky that it had been warm enough for this as it was so wonderful out there. We then made our way in to a corner table for our meal.
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| Where we sat for our drinks. |
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| The view at night. |
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| The canapes. |
One thing you did notice was that it is not a huge place, and the sheer number of staff was incredible. In fact, if you count the chefs and kitchen staff there is a more than good chance that the guests were outnumbered! The service was also super attentive and faultless. It is also fair to say that there was not one member of the waiting staff that did not come and say hello at some point in the evening. Surprisingly perhaps, I was not overwhelmed by it, and I am the type who does not like to get too 'involved' with the waiters, I like a bit of space and I do not like to feel like I am being watched.
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| The view of the room from our table |
The room itself was nice enough, it had that lovely soft glow and warm atmosphere. The decor, chairs and china were again outdated but not tired. The menu was classic French without a doubt and without apologizing for it, as was the very extensive French only wine list. To me it served only to reinforce the fact that the food must be phenomenal, or they would not get away with it.
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| A wonderful Chestnut and champagne veloute with foie gras dumplings. Delicious. |
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| Flaked haddock souffle. |
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| The runny hidden egg in the souffle. |
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| The best plate of food I have ever eaten. Rabbit with fondant celeriac, glazed chestnuts and armagnac sauce. I cannot begin to understand or explain the flavours. This was the highlight of my night. |
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| Venison Wellington. I tried this and it was superb. The venison was beautiful and the surrounding substance was unexplainably delicious and perfect. |
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| Chocolate Fondant with clementine sorbet. |
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| Assiette of desserts. |
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| Caramel almond. |
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| The cheese trolley. |
By the end of the night, it felt like the restaurant had been there forever, protected in a bubble of its own exquisiteness. An old world charm, unchanged by the advances in modern gastronomy. The food had truly been mind bogglingly faultless, and there had been no theatrics. A simplicity in it's delivery that really, for the price, was brave or even cocky. However, the complexity of the flavours on the palette were enough to make you want to cry about your own cooking. I trust these people with my food.
As we were so full we opted to have coffee and mignardises taken to our room. They were happy to oblige.
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| Coffee & Mignardises in the room. |
Breakfast could only be had in the room. So that is where we had it and it was of the caliber you would expect. We checked out and coughed up over £700 for the dinner and room. We were given a Roux signed book at check out as well. Before driving away we wandered round the back to see the view of the river.
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| A view of the terrace where we had had our drink the night before. |
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| The river. |
All in all, it had been an expensive night. The room is not worth the £230 price tag, but that is the premium you pay for staying here. The staff were lovely and the food outstanding. It was certainly a special experience, and something everyone who loves food should try once.
I managed to leave with mixed feelings though, this place is old fashioned and out dated and there was no sorbet or pre-dessert. You got what you ordered, and there were no extras or surprises, but what you did get was sublime! I can see why the Roux family dynasty have an established place in history with their contribution to classic cooking.
