Drifting off.....

I'm in love. My palms are sweating. I can't stop thinking about it. It's like every song on the radio is about us. Ok the last bit is not true and I might be going a tad over the top but last night's meal at The Driftwood at Portscatho was possibly the best I've had there. It was a romantic treat to mark three years of me and the other half being together....and we left there more enamoured than ever...with the food.

You might notice that this is the first blog post I've done without photos. It all stems from the Word of Mouth Blog where they wrote about Giles Coren's article about taking photographs of your food in restaurants. To be honest I've never had a problem with it and have happily taken a few snaps of special meals. Maybe it was his argument about thinking about the chef or maybe it was the 'white and flabby' comment that got to me. Who knows? But I decided not to take a camera. So you'll have to rely on just my writing for one day only.

So this is what we had...For your information I am about to include every single thing I loved so if you can't be bothered to read on here's a summery. The Driftwood is great. Go there. Eat there. Be happy.

Here's the long version.

I love their gin and tonics. In long tall glasses, filled with ice. Keep in mind that while drinking it you're looking out right across the Atlantic. Imagine that it's 100 years ago...this view hasn't changed. Sea, cliffs, birds. The only thing that's different is that I have a gin and tonic in my hand and I wasn't married off at 15 with 17 children. Then the waiter brings a little tray of nibbles. I feel bad at this pointing saying a negative comment as I am gushing so much. But last time we got some really great little pastry bread stick things. This time it was just perfectly marinated olives and cheese. But I'll forgive them for that.

After being taken to our table the bread arrived. I could write a whole blog about the bread. Dried fig and hazelnut....warm from the oven. At this point I decided to ignore my dairy intolerance altogether and spread half a cow's worth of deliciously salted butter on it. Then we had a second. I could have had a third.

Every time I go I forget you are given an amuse bouche. (I hate that phrase, it's ridiculous). This time a celeriac and apple veloute with a tiny sausage roll. Have I used the word amazing yet? Probably. A few times.

Then...get ready...now it's time for the star of the show. Scallops and pork belly, cauliflower, sherry and toasted grains. God I miss that starter. I'm kicking myself for letting the other half try some. There is no plateful of food that can ever compete with that starter. The other half had asparagus, duck ham, a poached pheasant egg, orange and hazelnut. Good...but it was no pork belly.

By the time the waitress had wrenched my starter plate out of my hands our mains arrived. I had chicken, wild garlic spatzle, confit leg, morels and Madeira. I have no idea what a spatzle is. I'll look it up now.......(First minutes of internet searching happens) I'm no clearer. It seems to be something to do with a sparrow or a soft noodle and I'm pretty sure neither made an appearance on my plate.

Then came pudding which I am going to try and recreate at some point. Caramelised banana, gingerbread and salted peanut ice cream. It was so pretty I was loathe to eat it. But I did. And I don't regret it.

So that's it. Gushing over. Hopefully my many "amazings" and "delicious'" haven't put you off. The Driftwood is great. Go there. Eat there. Be happy.