Six of us booked a table in the bar (best to keep it simple, see the previous review…) for 6pm. We were presented with both the bar and the a la carte menu, and decided to order from the chef’s excellent special menu – three courses at £19.50 a head. For my starter, I decided to try something I would normally avoid; chilled melon and mint soup with sorbet. I’m not a fan of “cold soup”, but I did want a light and refreshing starter, which is what I got. I found the best way to approach the dish was to view it as a scoop of sorbet served on a second, melted, scoop of sorbet. It was nice, a bit like a pudding really, but I probably wouldn’t order it again. Other starters sampled (and enjoyed) by my companions were the soup of the day – tomato, served with malted brown bread rolls – and crab and cod fishcakes, served with a fresh tomato and avocado salsa. On this occasion the vegetarian main option was Chickpea, bean and lentil chilli, almost exactly what I’d made for dinner the night before, so I went for the fish; seabass and king prawns with chorizo oil served on crushed potatoes, with asparagus on the side. On request, chef kindly omitted the chorizo oil from the dish, which was much appreciated. It was a lovely dish, the fish and prawns (two nice big ones) were perfectly cooked, and the whole thing beautifully seasoned and presented. Round the table my companions had the seven hour braised beef (a very generous portion of meat which my partner couldn’t finish) and the roast Inverurie lamb. Puddings all round; I enjoyed my warm raspberry and pistachio tart, served with ice-cream (Rizza’s, hooray!), while others had the selection of Rizza’s ice-cream (scoops of strawberry, raspberry and mint choc chip ice cream, and one of lemon sorbet), and tiramisu. All in all it was a lovely meal, beautifully presented and enjoyed by all, and the chef’s special menu makes it good value for money. The only realistic option (in my experience) for eating out in Huntly, and a very good one too. Front of house (who was totally on the ball; I wish he’d been there on our previous visit) could do voice-over/cinema trailer work, but that’s another story……..
www.castlehotel.uk.com
Visited Saturday 24 April 2010
