The ultimate degustation menu at The Vineyard's Chef's Table Gourmet Festival

Degustation menus

I firmly believe there’s a time and a place for tasting menus. Often I only want to sample one or two dishes, which instantly leap out from a menu. I don’t necessarily want the waiter telling me exactly how many degrees each component of the menu has been cooked at nor whose nephew-in-law foraged for the chickweed whilst the dish in question is visibly wilting and cooling to below tepid. Apparently at Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York, it is now only possible to order the dizzly priced $250 degustation. Keller’s justification is that it is important to experience the entire experience, otherwise he says diners are doing the equivalent of leaving at play at the interval and not getting the whole plot.

I know John Campbell of The Vineyard at The Stockcross elevated earlier this year to 2 Michelin star is a Keller devotee. I loved the prospect of his approach to putting on the whole razzmatazz show as a week long “Chef’s Table” gourmet festival extravaganza whilst still serving his stunning a la carte in the restaurant. Though dinners with Angela Hartnett and Mark Edwards of Nobu were tempting I opted for Campbell himself and was blown away.

There was a real sense of playfulness about his menu besides a strong commitment to sourcing locally. I loved the deconstructed “room service” classics served as amuse such as a blt of lettuce espuma, tomato confit, crispy bacon and breadcrumbs and fish and chips with ultra-light whip of fluffy potato, scallops and sprinkles of salt and air-dried malt vinegar in twists of newspaper.

Plasma screens strategically placed around the dining room ensured we could see exactly how each dish was constructed and meticulously plated at the pass without experiencing the sweat of the kitchen. It has to be one of the calmest kitchens anywhere. Rather than mini soliloquies between each of ten courses, Campbell was simply beamed up on screen to introduce the menu from the start. Highlights for me included cleverly deconstructed piccalilli flavours: a cornichon, carrot, tiny turnip with stunning suckling pig terrine, awesome sweetbread ravioli of fabulous rich intensity accompanying veal rump and cheek; and two quirky cheese courses: beetroot ravioli stuffed with English goat’s cheese and delicate swatches of summer squash and a shot class of ultra light cream cheese, carrot and orange jellies plus a bon bon sized spicy carrot cake.

A consummate treat, and I know now to plump for the sweetbread ravioli on my next return to the Vineyard.