Gerard and Nina Basset launch new fine-dining restaurant at Hotel Terravina
World champion sommelier Gerard Basset, and his wife Nina, have launched a new fine-dining restaurant at their award-winning Hotel TerraVina in the New Forest.
The Dining Room at TerraVina, which officially launched this week, showcases the talents of 2011 Acorn Award winner George Blogg, formerly sous chef at the two-Michelin-starred Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham.
The 18-seat dining room, which runs alongside the hotel's main 55-seat restaurant, is open three nights a week from Saturday to Monday and offers guests a nine or 12-course tasting menu comprising "dishes created entirely with foraged and fresh product exclusively from Hampshire and Dorset". The only exception on the menu is snails, which come from Aylesbury.
The menus are priced at £72 and £85 respectively. Menus can be paired with specially selected wines chosen by Gerard, sommelier of the year Laura Rhys and their team.
Some of the plates have been made from hollowed local bark and the cocktail sticks have been created from New Forest hawthorn branches. Dishes include pumpkin and Dorset truffle; turbot, tidal greens and cockles; and brambleberries, ewe's yogurt and sheep's sorrel.
The Dining Room at TerraVina is the latest restaurant in the 10 in 8 Group's collection, following a merger of the restaurant group, led by Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison, and Hotel TerraVina last May "to substantially strengthen both businesses".
Nina Basset, owner of Hotel TerraVina and managing director of the 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group, commented: "We feel very fortunate to have George] with us. He brings a passion and enthusiasm for food which is infectious and we love all of the forest foraged treats he is tempting us with. We are very excited by this slightly quirky, fun and interesting restaurant concept and so far those guests who have dined here have all been wowed by it."
Blogg, who joined the hotel as executive chef last October, added: "I am fortunate to be working alongside such a great team and in an area so varied and rich in its produce. Restricting the use of ingredients gives me a real direction and interest, forcing me to constantly evolve the menu and create dishes that reflect the region and its locally changing climate."
Acorn Award winner George Blogg appointed executive chef at Hotel TerraVina >>
By Amanda Afiya
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