MFWF: Mountains to the Sea

Gastrology recently attended Mountains to the Sea, a one-off, wine matched dinner event at Circa The Prince which highlighted Robin Wickens' (Royal Mail Hotel) and Rhys Blackley's (Circa) culinary interpretations of St Kilda and Dunkeld.

The dinner comprised a six course menu, with each chef drawing inspiration from their restaurant’s home.

We enjoyed Circa's two seafood dishes in honour of the restaurant’s location by the sea. The Eden Bass grouper with smoked cauliflower, shiitake and lovage was a winner. The Eden Bass grouper was served in a beautiful sea of seafood emulsion. The fillet had been cooked to perfection - its flesh was extremely delicate and communicated many of its natural flavours..

Royal Mail Hotel's two meat-based dishes, utilising beef and lamb produced on the Royal Mail Hotel’s own farmland and produce from the property’s acclaimed kitchen garden were each lovely. We particularly enjoyed the dish of Royal Mail hogget. The accompaniments of zucchini, luxurious squash blossom puree and heady dehydrated goats cheese were magnificent.

For the finale, a creative cheese course of Brillat-Savarin served with strawberry, olive and basil got us in the mood for a very rich finish of Dark chocolate ganache that tasted wonderful with tart passionfruit and refreshing nasturtium ice cream.

Mountains to the Sea was a very memorable evening by the bay where guests experienced the best local ingredients from our coast and our countryside.