The Wild Garlic

Fiona M. ( 30s, Female, United Kingdom )

We went to the Wild Garilc during a bank holiday of glamping & eating in Dorset, where fish featured heavily.

We were about half an hour late for our lunch booking as we were driving down from London and going straight to lunch in Beaminster. Being the bank holiday, traffic was woeful all the way south and we got stuck beind every caravan or tractor in England. We called the Wild Garlic in a tizzy to tell them we'd be late and asking them not to give our table away – they were a touch surprised and we remembered with glee “we're not in London anymore!”.

The restaurant is set in the pretty main square in Beaminster, and is charmingly simple inside – scrubbed table tops, fresh colours, lovely and airy. Within 5 minutes of arriving we'd forgotten all about the nasty A321 and the caravan-rage and were sipping on a lovely Chablis (the wine list is in reverse order by price, so the first thing I saw was a Puligny Montrachet – I got a bit over excited, but was persuaded that £79 a bottle wasn't a great plan as we were all expecting a long, leisurely lunch).

We had the onion tart tatin with fennel sauce and the chorizo and bean cassoulet for starters. All lip-smackingly good. The tart tatin was unusually presented – I expected the usual round flat tart with slices of onion, but it was an onion cut in half and wrapped in pastry, so a half globe on the plate. The onion was meltingly soft, and the pastry flaky and golden – yummy. I didn't notice the fennel taste, but perhaps I was too busy enjoying the chablis. The chorizo and bean cassoulet was earthy, gutsy and flavoursome.

For main course we had the whole lemon sole with seaweed, rocket and new potatoes, the whole plaice with capers, and the lamb, which I think came with a pesto and vegetables. The fish was super-fresh and super-tasty. The lamb was scoffed so quickly I didn't get a chance to taste any, but The Husband declared it “delicious”.

For dessert we shared a cheese board, and the dessert sharing platter. The dessert sharing platter was a sweet corn creme (very unusual and very tasty), a chocolate brownie (dense lusciousness), cardamom pannacotta (warm-flavored and creamy), ice-cream and a creme brulee. Everything on the platter was lovely, but I was a bit disappointed as I had expected it to include more of the dishes on the dessert menu.

Lunch was £116 a head for 3 bottles of wine, 5 starters, 5 mains, 1 cheese board and 1 dessert platter. I would definitely go back or recommend it to friends.