Food Review
Crowne Plaza Resort Colchester - Five Lakes
Colchester Road
Tolleshunt Knights
Maldon
CM9 8HX
T: 01621 868 888
IT'S not every day you get to sample dishes prepared by four World Master Chef accredited chefs. So, when the Enquirer team were invited to Crowne Plaza Colchester Resort last month, we knew we were in for a tantalising treat.
With each course designed and cooked by a different top chef, the menu itself was an alluring array of dishes, from the confit of rabbit tirtelloni and spring vegetable broth right down to the sweet vanilla parfait, with rhubarb consommé, ginger jelly and poached rhubarb, you could instantly tell that each mouthful had been carefully catered for.
Currently touring their special menu to each of the four chef’s kitchens, the chefs hope to give diners at their restaurants the chance to sample new flavours and inspirational dishes – and at Crowne Plaza Colchester, they certainly didn’t disappoint.
Arriving at the resort’s Catch22 restaurant, we were greeted with lavish canapés before taking our seats in the contemporary and intimate dining area.
As well as the restaurant’s own James Parsons (pictured right), former chef to the Royal household, the team included Duncan Wilson, executive chef at the Brasserie at the Langstone Hotel, on Hayling Island, Brian Henry, executive chef at the Docklands Bar and Grill, at Crowne Plaza Docklands, and Stuart Hine, executive chef at Glaze restaurant, the Crowne Plaza in Marlow, each belonging to the elite most highly regarded and distinctive professional chefs in the industry.
First up was an ‘amuse bouche’, before we tucked into a succulent confit of rabbit, complimented with a large glass of Belvino Pinot Grigio Rosato delle Venezie. Eagerly awaiting the dish prepared by James Parsons – beetroot cured salmon with sake jelly, seaweed, ginger, wasabi and yuzu – the plate was certainly worth the wait (pictured below).
Served alongside a generous glass of 2009 Luis Felipe Edwards Gerwurztraminer, Rapel Valley, the flavours complimented each other perfectly.
Next was our favourite; smoked loin of pork with sage and onion bon bon, braised lentils, savoy cabbage, crackling and apple sauce. Prepared by Brian Henry from Crowne Plaza Docklands, the dish was simply delicious.
Finishing with the vanilla parfait before coffee and petit fours, the evening was certainly a treat.
Full of flavour, texture and tantalising combinations, the tour opened our eyes and taste buds to a new dining experience – one that won’t be forgotten.