Hart House: Supper Club!

Abundant with delicious restaurants, Fleet has a new gem in it's crown with the wonderful Hart House! One of Portobello Brewery's handful of pubs currently outside of London, the bar and restaurant is the perfect location for any event, big or small. Serving up their own Portobello draught beers alongside local craft beers, classic cocktails and plentiful wines to compliment delicious, modern cuisine from brunch, to bar snacks and amazing dining experiences all day.

I was absolutely thrilled when I learnt of the new supper club that was launching. It's a brilliant way to showcase the wonderful brigade of chefs fantastic skills through innovative dishes for diners to enjoy!

The theme for the inaugural supper club was 'Pub Classics' with a twist, with a standard & vegan option available. Plus the supper club includes a per course wine pairing as well! To be able to sample every dish, we selected one vegan and one standard menu. It meant I didn't miss out on anything and I tried all of the clever interpretations and twists!

The starter was one of my all time favourite pub classics - a scotch egg! This was definitely an elevated version of the dish made with a quails egg in black pudding casing, a pork scratching crumb and a fruity apple gel to cut through the richness of the dish. The vegan option featured veggie haggis bonbons and an olive crumb instead.

Both of the dishes were beautiful in their presentation and very well balanced. The crumbs provided texture and a saltiness to the dishes, whilst the main elements on both plates had a gorgeous fried crunch and soft centres. The egg was perfectly runny!  A glass of the French Les Violets Pinot Noir accompanied the dishes; a classic berry led, ruby red Pinot Noir that's great to start off the tasting menu due to it's lightness.

The second course was 'fish' which I always feel is a tough one for a good vegan replacement. Both dishes were superb and I actually ended up preferring the vegan twist! It heroed a breaded feta with pea puree and handmade lemon crisps - I honestly could eat these crisps by the bowlful! The breaded cod dish had the addition of a tartare foam which I've never tried before. This course was paired with a glass of French Duc de Morny Picpoul de Pinet, an ideal partner for fish dishes as it's elegantly fruity.

Delighted with our first two courses & wines it was fantastic to be able to talk with the wonderful head chef who came round each table. The atmosphere on the night was buzzing and it was a pleasure to give our compliments to the chef directly and chat to her about the clever twists we had seen so far.

For our meat course we were treated to a delicious lamb stack with a lamb loin, braised shoulder ragu on potato duchess and glazed carrots. The vegan option was also delicious with a beautifully prepared shepherdless pie topped with potato puree and glazed vegetables as well. Both of the dishes were full of flavour and perfectly married with the complexity of the Ontanon Rioja Reserva wine. It has great notes of oak, tobacco and dark berry fruits that really matched the dishes depth of flavours.

The evening had been such a joy, that unbelievably it was already time for our final dessert course and boy was it a good one. Firstly, a Bailey's bread and butter pudding with Chantilly cream that you could just taste a hint of the booziness in.

However, the vegan option stole the show for me, but it was one of my absolute favourites - rhubarb and custard! The jelly had plenty of rhubarb taste topped with a creamy custard and some crunch from granola. I am keeping all my fingers crossed that this makes it on to the main restaurant menu as I could eat this every time! The addition of a Sauternes dessert wine really topped off the evening wonderfully as well!

I had an absolutely wonderful evening at the first Hart House supper club. The food was delicious, and I enjoyed trying some real twists on some pub classics that I hope will make an appearance on the regular menu as I'd love to eat them again! The atmosphere was fantastic and I am already looking forward to next month's supper club to see what delights await us then!

Cost: £45 per person, inclusive of the wine pairing.

Nearest Train Station: Fleet, approx. 40 mins from London Waterloo. Hart House is walking distance/short taxi from the station. There is also parking nearby if you have a designated driver!

Website: Hart House

Date: May 2022