Birthday treat

For my birthday treat, and because Miss P is with us and would appreciate the experience, we went out for lunch at a renowned restaurant in Ludlow. It is not just a good food experience but a drama and piece of art. Excellent waiters with Peter Sellers style French accents (I think they really are French, but you know what I mean: 'do you 'ave a rrrroom?') who are very attentive and even delicately refold your napkin if you leave the room.
There are three courses but also in between courses, for example, Chef's pre-dessert. Each course thus is dinky but still results in a happy tummy by the end. The bread accompaniment consists of six dainty rolls baked together, of three different flavours. The pre-starter nearly made me laugh out loud. A huge bowl with three teeny slices of pepper and a fragment of basil leaf (the waitress puts her hands together and carefully describes what is before you even though you can barely understand what she says). It reminded me of an Alan Ayckbourn play where one actor is presented with a single lettuce leaf and says 'is this all for me?' Then from a jug she pours on crab bisque and the flavours are heavenly. The list of ingredients for each course occupies two lines, and even though the waiter says 'and for you madam.........' you still aren't sure what you're eating because the menus have been whipped away. All great fun and such things as one would never cook at home. I think Swiss Son would love it.

My starter: salmon, something with celery and celeriac, a sorbet........

Main course: lamb shank, with pearl barley, salsa verde, winter veg

Dessert: apple and blackberry, and something with honeycomb crust.
All good value, but beware the wine prices unless you're a wine buff who appreciates what your getting. We had a 'glass of wine, which was like an egg cupful in a large glass.