The 3rd choice by Ingrid in the Michelin Club ended up with the 1 Star Michelin restaurant L’Ortolan in Reading since Ingrid’s 1st choice was not available.
Was the first time we went to a 1 star Michelin restaurant so was quite curious to see whether the standard would be a lot lower than we are used to. The first impression was really great since the restaurant is based in some beautiful surroundings in the country side. They also have a lovely bar area where we started the evening with some nice drinks and where they furthermore served us some different tasters to get us ready for dinner.
The food choice was easy since they offer the option of a Surprise menu, which we all thought was great and a bit exciting not knowing what you are going to eat. Ended up we got 10 courses each and only one of them really failed – since for the first time we got a course that none of us liked (something with goat cheese and beetroot). However as soon as we mentioned it to our waiter – they were very quick to replace the course with something different – so no complain here really the service was excellent. The highlight for me of the 10 courses were really the desserts – they were just beautifully served and tasted all really delicious.
We also had a really great Sommelier, who had a huge knowledge of the wines and gave us some excellent suggestions matching for us the unknown courses. Annette and Carl furthermore did the usual kitchen tour where we met the excellent staff behind the scene and got a chance to compliment their work.
To be honest this restaurant has only got 1 Michelin star but in many ways it easily lives up to several of the 2 Michelin stars restaurants we have visited previously. Ended up being an excellent evening enjoyed by all of us, which started and finished in the lovely bar area.
