I wish all dining rooms were like this! (The Dining Room (Reigate))

Member Name: garymarsh6

Product:	The Dining Room (Reigate)
Date:	03/08/09 (228 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Excellent quality food.

Disadvantages: None

The dining room. Reigate.


The dining room is situated in Reigate High street Surrey and seats approximately 80 people. The head chef and co owner is Toby Tobin who gained his experience working in restaurants in London and other restaurantsand produces fine dining at a very reasonable price. The restaurants menu is certainly no where near as expensive as the prices charged in London.

The standard of the food is on par with that served in the capitals best restaurants. He has appeared on BBC's Ready Steady Cook and has created a wonderful ambiance where there is personal service and the waiting staff are very friendly and welcoming. It was a pleasure to dine at this restaurant. The service was efficient and unobtrusive. Tony also has another restaurant in Banstead just up the road.

They have an extensive menu which is quite reasonably priced what I am going to talk about in this review is the tasting menu.

We booked the restaurant to celebrate a birthday and opted for the tasting menu and each course was accompanied by wines specifically picked to compliment each dish. The set tasting menu is available for £42 or with wine pairing for £72 a head.

Although there are five courses they are served in small manageable amounts not too big and not too small but enough to have a wonderful taste of fine foods at a reasonable price.


1st course.

Pork & apple terrine served with Pickled walnuts apple caviar and cider caramel.

This was presented nicely on the plate and was very tasty. You could taste the apple in the Pate. The pate was nice and chunky and was served with bread. I chose the olive and tomato bread which was a great accompaniment to it.

The wine.

This course is served with a New Zealand white wine Tindall sauvignon blanc. This wine was quite fresh and certainly complemented the pate. It was described as being zesty and crisp with plenty of body and richness, ripe fruit and an ebullient character on the finish.

My laymens description. It was fresh crisp and there was a nice taste of apple which seemed to go nicely with the pate. It was quite tasty and refreshing.



2nd Course.


Warm Leek and Gruyere tart.

This tasted absolutely superb the subtleness of the leeks and the taste of the cheese was an excellent combination. The pastry was very thin and crispy and quiet delightful. Shame it was quite a small sliver

The wine.

Macia Batle Rosado, Spain in fact it comes from Mallorca.

Described as 80% Manto Negro grape & 20% Callet (white) the overall color is rose. Nose shows cranberry and other red fruits. In the mouth it has a mild acidity and has a soft texture. Flavors are primarily cranberry and raspberry.

My opinion : It was nice and fruity and cut through the fattiness of the cheese. It was quite pleasant and the vintage produced in 2004 produced many accolades.


3rd Course.


Seared Sea Scallops & smoked gammon steak, Crushed peas puree & Cider Reduction


The combination of pork and Scallops go together quite nicely and was really tasty. The apple and cider helped cut through the fatty taste. The crushed pea puree was tasty too. There were quite a variety of tastes in this dish.

The wine.

Tabali Pinot Noir, Chile

Described as a light, fragrant Pinot Noir with flavours of cherry and red berry fruits.

My opinion. This was a nice tasty smoked red wine which went nicely with the scallops and pork. I could drink this quite easily with any kind of meat as it was very nice indeed.


4th Course.

Best end of Lamb.
Onion, Morel, Sun blushed Tomato & Goat's Cheese Tart, Balsamic Jus

There was a nice well cooked piece of lamb accompanied by a tasty tartlet of mushroom tomato and cheese. The lamb was cooked beautifully slightly red on the inside and very moist. The balsamic juice was delicious and helped to cut through the fattiness of the cheese and lamb. It was quite tasty and very enjoyable.


The wine.

Poderi Colla Costa Bruna Barbera d'Alba, Italy

Described as appealing and forward, both charming in youth and cellar-worthy. Deep, intense ruby red with a vinous bouquet, heavy on the palate; well integrated wood matured in 225-liter oak barrels.

My opinion of this wine is that it was not to my liking at all and indeed a wine I would definitely not like to drink again. It was very deep red and probably the worst of the wines I had tasted so far. There was something not quite nice about its taste.



5th Course.

Passion fruit roulade.
This was a very pleasant and refreshing desert which was tasty cream and passion fruit with an fine outer meringue casing . A very tasty and refreshing dessert leaving a clean palate.


The wine.

Elysium Black Muscat, USA

Described as an off-beat dessert wine that's dark red in colour, with a medley of spice, blackberry and cherry pie scents. It is sweet and lively, with a citrus note on the finish.

This is one of my favourite dessert wines of all time and is unusual in that it is a dark red colour and has the most wonderful taste. This is a wonderful wine to finish off the meal with.

Espresso Coffee.

Petite fours.

A small lemon tartlet the filling was nice and sharp but the pastry was not very nice.
A hand made chocolate.



Capitelli dessert wine.

This is described as tasting of honey, peaches and apricots.

This was a beautiful tasting wine which was an ideal way to finish what was a superb evening.

My view of Tonytobins restaurant.


Some might think that at £72 this is expensive but when you take into account the ambiance of the place, the love and devotion in preparing each and every dish and the manner in which it is served I think it is a bargain. It is not pretentious and yet is a special place for a celebration or just as a treat. I would certainly return here to dine again. I would like to try his other restaurant in Banstead. I am loath really to recommend this restaurant because if it is too famous then it may become too popular and difficult to book.


You can have a look at the web site at the following address.


http://www.tonytobinrestaurants.co.uk/index.htm

Summary: A particularly nice place for a special occassion or just casual dining,