We arrived into Bastion bang on time for our 8:00pm slot. We were greeted by a pleasant member of staff who brought us to our table. The table can seat four but was all for us. Our waiter introduced himself and informed us that they don’t hand out menus but that the meal (which is stated on their booking page) will be an eight course taster. We were asked if we’d like a drink to start – Kir royals as usual, which went down really well, so much so, I ordered another one…
We had an amuse bouche to start which consisted of celeriac crisp with truffle and potato cubes and brioche topped with quail egg yolk and caviar. The celeriac was tasty and the brioche was not unpleasant but nothing special. This was followed by the first course of the evening – peas, served with a mint and basil sauce and pea sorbet. Two types of bread arrived to the table, a brioche along with a Guinness sourdough. There was treacle butter to go with the brioche and a caramelised onion butter for the sourdough, while the brioche was buttery and tasty, the treacle butter was sweet as you’d expect, the sourdough with the onion butter was fantastic.
Next, our fish course, turbot flavoured with saffron and summer vegetables which was very tasty. Charred broccoli followed served with ricotta cheese and a lemon sauce – certainly different, it was reasonably tasty but a little too simple. Cured prawns arrived served with apple and horseradish and a kombu dressing, easily one of the best dishes of the night, it was fab.
Suckling pork shoulder with nectarine and mustard was next to arrive and again, a fantastic dish, really well cooked and flavourful. Dessert was white chocolate with passion fruit, white chocolate ice cream and white chocolate meringue.
Finally, two more mini desserts, a tiny baked lemon meringue tart and a fruit jelly, both very tasty and washed down with a refreshing dessert wine.
We were happy we booked Bastion, there was some tasty cooking going on along with some really good ideas. The wines we tried were all very good and all recommendations by our waiter who was friendly and well trained with really good knowledge of the food and drinks as you’d hope from a Michelin-starred restaurant. While not all the dishes were to our liking and we felt some were a little too simple (the broccoli and feta) the overall experience was enjoyable, good food, great service, we’ll certainly visit again.
Until next time
C&J
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