Last night we decided to go down to The Manor House in Quorn. I worked there at for a while back in the early 2000’s during my uni holidays. Its a great place with great fresh, locally sourced food and a nice atmosphere. We went straight to our table on arrival and I ordered a glass of ‘The Ned’ a Malborough Sauvignon Blanc. It was really punchy wine, not for the faint hearted but that’s how I like it!
 |
| Fillet of seabass, white wine & ricard braised fennel & sautéed new potatoes £14.50
|
In the past the menu has been criticised for being quite static, seeming to not change very often. However, we were faced with the summer menu featuring lots of things I’ve not seen at the Manor House before. There were of course, the ‘Manor House Classics’ on there too – Head Chef Carl’s fantastic braised beef pie being almost a part of the fabric of the building!
To start I went for a scotch duck egg and Dave went for a baked, stuffed field mushroom. Both were served quickly and tasted delicious. We usually have a thing where we say who’s won (ie who’s food is the best) and on this occasion it was me! The scotch egg was delicious, runny yolk and herby, rich sausage meat in a crispy breadcrumb outer. I’ll apologise in advance as my picture looks a little bit rude!! Dave’s starter was very rich, stuffed with Long Clawson stilton which comes from a small village not far from Melton Mowbray – very much a local cheese.
 |
| Warm scotch duck egg & homemade piccalilli £5.95 |
 |
| Baked field mushroom stuffed with roast red onions & long Clawson stilton £6.50 |
For main, I went for seabass whilst Dave was led by his belly and went straight for fish and chips from the classics menu. It looked more like a whale than a piece of haddock but suffice to say, he rose to the challenge and cleared his plate!!
 |
| Our famous beer battered haddock with handcut chips & mushy peas £13.95 |
|
| Fillet of seabass, white wine & ricard braised fennel & sautéed new potatoes £14.50 |
I’ve only recently fallen in love with Fennel and I have to say, it was soft, well seasoned and really tasty. My fish was well cooked with a hint of lemon about it. The sauteed potatoes were crispy and skins on which I love. My only tiny criticism really is that the white wine and ricard sauce was a little sweet when coupled with the fennel but I do have a real savoury tooth – a good crack of salt and black pepper sorted that out.
All in all, the Manor House is a great place to eat, reliable and always a high quality of food. I would definitely recommend it. Also, if you eat mid week, you can get 25% discount off your bill with a Gourmet Society card which means a midwk treat isn’t out of the question every now and again!