As usual, we'd left it a bit late to book a Friday evening meal out, but as I was flicking through the Eating Out West Guide, I came across a place we'd been meaning to try and was pleasantly surprised when I rang and they had a table. The Muset is a nearby restaurant that's been there for ages, but we'd never been to, partly because it's a bit tucked away and we always forgot about it. It's recently been taken over and revamped though and is now called The Muset by Ronnie. It's got a fairly ordinary interior and a simple, relaxed atmosphere, but the menu definitely pushes it into the 'fine dining' slot.
Straight away, it passed the 'bread test' with some delicious, fresh, warm fig and walnut bread. To start, I chose Jerusalem artichoke soup - it arrived as a big dish with an arrangement of pickled mushrooms and brown shrimps in the middle, then the waiter poured in the soup from a little jug. The flavour was just as impressive as the little flourish in the service!
For my main, I went for roast canon of lamb which came with pearl barley (I think), leeks, olives and anchovies. I was a bit thrown when the lamb really didn't taste like lamb at all! When I asked about it, apparently it's a cut of lamb that's particularly lean, so doesn't have the same fatiness and texture that lamb normally does. It was really interesting to have something completely different, but I'm not sure I really liked it and together with the slightly bitter flavourings of the barley and olives, it just wasn't my thing. I'm not going to let it put me off the place though, because there was really nothing wrong with it, just the wrong menu choice for me. And what with excellent service and lots more on the menu to try, I think we'll be going back.
No comments:
Post a Comment