Out & About Spring 2019

a buttery sauce. Served on a gorgeous bronze-rimmed Villeroy and Bosch plate, both plate and food sparkled. The Taste of India plate had a fine tarka dahl, the lentils yielding with not a hint of hardness, and unusually topped with small potato disks. It was Indian dining flipped in a good way – the dahl was mild and mellow and the onion bhaji hot and spicy. A slab of rich, roasted aubergine, a pool of fragrant mango and lime sauce, a quenelle of pistachio, chilli and coriander chutney and a rosette of rich yogurt made it a lick-your-plate feast. A cheese plate to share – with Waterloo, Ragstone, Lincolnshire Poacher, Stinking Bishop and Welsh blue with quince jelly and celery – came with wheat-free biscuits and home-made regular crackers including heart-shaped charcoal variety. We had a glass of gorgeous smoky Taltarni Cabernet Sauvignon 2017 with it. Next came The Harrow’s signature dish – Boiled Egg and Soldier. And, dear reader, I am not going to tell you what’s in it. Unfair I know, you’re reading this to find out more. But it’s a surprise worth keeping – and I would urge you to you to join this secret egg club. I eliminated sugar last year from my diet, but there was no way I was missing out on dessert. My choice was Spiced Apple – a runway of a rich and sweet vanilla crème brulee, spiced apple balls with syrup and crumble topping which was tart and a sweet apple sorbet which was like apples on speed. My guest had an off-menu ‘Jaffa’ cake dessert, a blood orange gel, orange chocolate base, orange segments and orange purée topped with candied orange slice. She groaned with pleasure at every bite which got slightly embarrassing until some of the other guests in the room laughed. They knew what she meant. Among them was a couple there for the first time for a birthday who were overwhelmed with the quality of The Harrow and an older couple from Surrey who several times a year over a 10-year period have made the long trek, sweetly sharing the wine flights and declaring it their favourite restaurant in the world. Sue and Roger took us to the garden after coffee and even in the January gloom you could see how lovely it would be, with an unusual barbecue (“we can get about 18 lobsters on here” said Roger as I made a note in my diary to come back then) and they pointed out where they put a marquee for several summer events. The Harrow does lots of special events, from dinners to Mother’s Day, Easter treats to wine tastings. It’s worth signing up for alerts to see what’s going on. Normal hours for the restaurant are Wednesday to Saturday for lunch and dinner. There’s plenty of accommodation nearby that The Harrow recommends on its website, which brings me back to wanting to snooze after lunch and making another appearance for dinner. Greedy? No, just a downright good plan.

boiled egg

shrimp & lobster dumpling

line caught cod with cockles

taste of india plate

parfait of beetroot

‘Jaffa’cake dessert Pictures: Dijana Capan

The Harrow at Little Bedwyn, Little Bedwyn, Nr. Marlborough, Wiltshire, SN8 3JP, 01672 870871 / www.theharrowatlittlebedwyn.com

Out&About restaurant review 45