It was my 31st birthday at the weekend and, as usual, my lovely lady spoiled me with awesome gifts, amazing food and epic cake (which I am currently eating a sizeable chunk of). The Birthday celebration really Kicked off on the Saturday evening when my lady took me out for a meal to The Junction, a local Bar/Restaurant well know for its high quality food and pleasant atmosphere.
All I can really say about the food is that, as always, it was amazing. I started with a terrine of locally smoke mackerel, dauphinoise potatoes and horse radish with a balsamic dressing and it was delicious, there was just enough acidity to the dressing to cut through the richness of the potato and the oily fish, without overpowering the dish. The freshness of the horse radish was evident and was just enough to lift the dish and provide a hint of heat on the tongue, it was an excellent counter point to the overall richness of the dish.
I washed the starter down with a very pleasant pint of Ringwoods excellent craft ale, Old Thumper and moved on to a main course of pan fried duck breast on a bed of stir fried summer vegetables in a hoisin sauce with spicy polenta chips. The duck breast was tender and perfectly pink in the middle, whilst having a lovely sear on the skin. The veg was al dente and maintained its own flavour well in the lusciously rich hoisin sauce. The overall flavour of the dish was suitably oriental whilst still maintaining an English aspect, from the choice of vegetables and simple, but very well executed flavour of the duck. My one criticism is the inclusion of the polenta chips, whilst very nice and having an interesting flavour of there own, they seemed entirely disconnected from the rest of the dish and were largely surplus to needs. I would have preferred to have seen a portion of deep fried rice noodles in place of the chips, as this would have better suited the dish and provided a bit of crunch and an interesting textural depth.
Kelly decided to forgo the starter and instead opted to go straight for a main course of a classic hand made steak burger, with triple cooked chips and a side order beer battered onion rings. The quality of the beef used to make the burger was apparent, it was tender, flavoursome and maintained the texture of the meat very well, something that is often lost when using beef of a lesser quality. The chips were fluffy, flavoursome and crisp thanks to the triple cooking process, they had been allowed to colour giving a very slight edge of sweetness to the flavour that worked well with a sprinkling of salt. The onion rings were crisp and the batter was light, the onion inside was not overcooked and as such had not taken on too much oil giving them a refreshing bite. It is very hard to criticise burger and chips at the best of times but when done with such a level of quality and consistency as is to be found here it is almost impossible.
Given the richness of my starter and main course I chose to follow these with a refreshing pale ale, this time in the guise of a pint of Boondoggle, a crisp citrusy blond ale, again, by the excellent folks at the Ringwood brewery. Having both had our fill from our main courses we decided to split a desert, Kelly made the excellent choice of a home made cheesecake & mango jelly with passion-fruit sauce. The combination of the richness of the cheesecake, sweetness of the mango jelly and acidity of the passion-fruit sauce made for an excellent palette cleanser and a perfect end to an delicious meal.
The remainder of the evening was spent in the company of Kelly’s parents sharing a few drinks and catching up. All in all and wonderful evening spent with good company and my amazing partner.
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