carbon14 Blog

Melton's has long been one of my favourite places to eat in York, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to book into. I was very pleased to be able to book a small party in on Saturday.

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We booked for 7.00 and were asked to be out by 9.00, although they said that the table would be available earlier if we wanted a little more time. Unfortunately this restaurant is extremely popular and weekends in particular are always tight. In fact we were a little late leaving, but there was no pressure and we never felt rushed.

Despite having deliberately chosen to have the lightest of snacks at lunchtime, we opted to skip the starters and go straight for the main course. I chose the ‘Breast of Gressingham Duck with Spring Vegetables and Port Sauce.’ Duck breast is a dish I've eaten in many places, and usually it's served a little rare, pink in the middle, sometimes even red. But in recent times I've been lucky enough to have had duck cooked by more enlightened minds, and I think you'll find that it's often a much better dish when it's not rare at all. Here at Melton's it was just on the cooked side, with no pink showing through the light sauce, the fat was well cooked without being coloured, so it melted in the mouth and didn't need to be left at the side of the plate like discarded bacon rinds.

The spring vegetables included beans, baby leeks and asparagus, each one tender and full of flavour. And the starch was provided by a sumptous, almost velvety dauphinoise potato, standing firmly as a tian, and yielding to the fork to reveal a rich cream between the slices of potato.

Desert was the ‘Hot Chocolate Indulgence with Grand Marnier Sabayon.’ I don't think I've tried this before, but it's temptations were obvious. It's daunting to think of it now. We were all aware of the generosity of the main courses while we chose the desert, carefully weighing up what we could manage. I'm glad that I felt I had room to tackle this dish. The Chocolate Indulgence itself is a small sponge pudding, the shape of a pudding basin, with a thin, slightly resisting texture, bursting to reveal a ridiculous quantity of hot gooey chocolate filling, running out of the broken pudding shell into the cream coloured sayabon.

Instantly the sides of my mouth experience the prickling sensation of that extraordinary rich chocolate and the light frothy sabayon was a welcome addition, cutting the richness and adding a subtle orangey layer to the overall effect.

The complimentary coffee was served petit-fours that are to die for. Soft buttery almond shortbread and a chocolate brownie unlike anything you've ever tried before.

By the end of the meal our decision to forego the starters seemed to have been well-justified. Stuffed to the gills, we returned home much satisfied