Eighteen

Castle Hotel, High Street, Windsor

When we arrived at The Castle Hotel in Windsor we were instantly taken back by the grandeur of the building and it's location. With a secure (and free to guests) car park that is just a two minutes walk from the main gate of Windsor Castle makes this hotel perfect for exploring Windsor and all it has to offer.



 After arriving a little early for dinner we decided to get comfortable in the big leather sofa's of the hotel bar, enjoying a relaxing drink while we perused the menu presented to us by the friendly and polite staff.  With so many delicious choices it took us a little longer then usual to make our decisions, but once we had ordered we were asked to continue enjoy our drinks in the bar as we would be called to our table when our first course was nearly ready.

Once seated we were brought a pre-starter of Fois Gras Terrine which was smooth, soft and melted on the tongue, totally dispelling any initial perceptions which we had of the dish.
We then moved onto our starters selected from the menu; I had chosen the Goats Cheese Fondant with poached baby pears and cherry syrup (£7.50), the goats cheese was rich with a smooth buttery taste. My partner went for the Seared Atlantic Scallops served with Granny Smith apple purée, pancetta and black onion seeds (£8.50) the scallops were plump, perfectly cooked and tasted delicious with the apple and pancetta.

Our waiter then spent some time with us discussing the wines available and offering for us to taste a couple of options which he would recommend and thought we would enjoy.

After a brief break to soak up the atmosphere of the AA Rosette restaurant, we moved onto our main courses. I opted for the Pork Wellington served with apple purée, baby apples, pancetta and red onion marmalade (£17.50) the pork was cooked to perfection  and the combination of the light buttery pastry with red onion marmalade and apple purée was glorious. My partner chose the Sirloin steak served with plum tomato, field mushrooms, thick cut chips and hollandaise sauce (£18.50) our fantastic waiter discussed the cut of steak with us and could even tell us the Scottish farm which the meat was sourced from. The dish was well seasoned and the steak was exquisite, perfect in texture, taste and appearance, rivalling steaks I have had in top steak and grill restaurants for a fraction of the price.

We then moved onto our desserts, to which I indulged in the Praline Opera butter cream made of chocolate sponge and crème anglaise, served with a pistachio ice cream (£6.00), where as my partner decided to go for the Vanilla Creme Brulee, served with a buttery viennese biscuit and a sweet mango coulis. As stuffed as we were the whole experience was so fantastic that we decided to spend the rest of the evening slowly enjoying a delightful Cheese Board and Cappuccino.

We felt truly spoilt during our evening at The Castle Hotel and would highly recommend a visit to anyone looking for a really special evening, in fantastic surroundings and at more then reasonable prices.

''How to Feed a Man'' by Stasha

With a title like 'How to Feed a Man' this cookery book will no doubt ruffle a few feminists feathers, but try not to take it too seriously. This Fun and quirky collection of recipes, poems and photos makes for a great light hearted read.
Different from many of the cookery books out there today, Stasha features ingredients in her recipes that you are likely to currently have stashed in your kitchen cupboards, putting an end to searching the supermarket aisles with a long list of inaccessible ingredients. The recipes are delicious, simple to make and all with relatively short preparation times. For those inexperienced cooks this book will show you how to make some simply yummy dishes, and receive those ohhh and ahhhs around the dinner table that you are looking for.