A meal at Fearrington House Restaurant

My wife and I enjoyed a delicious evening at the Fearrington House Restaurant on Tuesday. It was our first meal there.

We started off with these magnificent items (following two delightful amuses-bouches):

"Seared Scallops with Celery Root Purée & Black Oregon Truffle
Black Trumpet Mushrooms, Black Garlic, Crosnes"

and

"Seared Foie Gras with Spiced Cake & Maple Gelée
Sage, Orange, Spaghetti Squash, Pumpkin Seed, Pecan"

They were followed by our main courses:

"Roasted Lamb Loin with Root Spinach and Mint Sauce
Carrot, Goat Cheese, Apricot, Chick Pea"

and

"Seared Venison Striploin with Chestnut & Apple Risotto
Juniper, Port, Red Cabbage, Beet"

For dessert, we adored these two offerings:

"Warm White Chocolate & Banana Bread Pudding with Caramel Ice Cream
Maldon Sea Salt, Peanut Butter, Shortbread, Honeycomb"

and

"Hot Chocolate Soufflé
Hot Chocolate Sauce, Whipped Cream"

It is tough to say which was the best of the lot, but as the one eating the venison, I think I would nominate it.

We had a chance to chat with chef Colin BEDFORD and opted for the superbly-selected wine pairings from sommelier Max KAST. We enjoyed two Austrian wines with the first course, a French (from the Loire Valley) and California (merlot) red with the second, and ended with two magnificent portos from Portugal - one from the mainland and one from Madeira.

Phillip took care of our table in a very friendly and highly helpful manner.

It could not have been a more pleasant evening, sitting in front of the fireplace and enjoying a great meal.

My only suggestion is that I would like to leave with more of a remembrance of the selections we made, especially the wines, and it would have been nice to have been offered a record of those choices. That said, we are not likely to forget such a grand evening for a long time!