Le Talbooth is the restaurant associated with the Maison Talbooth hotel. All guests staying at the Maison Talbooth are able to book dinner at the Le Talbooth and get a complimentary car to take them to and from the restaurant. The restaurant is only 900m away from the hotel but it feels nice to be taken out for dinner!
Le Talbooth is located overlooking the River Stour, we only saw it in the dark but we can imagine it is truly stunning when the sun is shining. They have received many awards due to their great food & service and we cannot say we are surprised!
The restaurant is VERY popular so you will need to book in advance. We noticed that the waiters new some of the customers by their name, we got the impression that lots of them were regulars at Le Talbooth.
The restaurant is gorgeous on the outside and the inside for that matter, with beams and low ceilings that make it super cosy.
We decided to have a drink at the bar before sitting down to dinner, we sat in the cute snug area which had a roaring fire and comfy seats. We both went for a Hendricks gin & tonic served in gorgeous glasses and had a slice of cucumber, ice and tonic. There was so much to choose from, so many different gins, wines, champagne and plenty of other spirits some of which we had never heard of! There sure is something for everyone!
We also ordered our food and wine whilst sat here, although we would suggest waiting until at your table to order your food so you don’t feel rushed and can enjoy your time at the table more. We decided to go for three courses, because why not!
We decided to share a bottle of red wine with our meal we went for the house red which cost £22.50 this was definitely one of the cheapest wines on the menu, we did see one for £1671! We loved the glasses, you really cannot beat a huge wine glass!
The menu had lots of variety and it was hard to pick from the starters as we liked the sound of quite a lot of them! In the end Rach went for the Smoked Duck and Goose Liver Terrine, it was served with apple and vanilla jelly, candied hazelnuts and toasted brioche. The dish was served so beautiful and the attention to detail was perfection.
Annie went for the Poached Native Lobster with Claw Spring Roll. This was served with sweet corn, bacon and spring onions. This dish was SO delicious and I wanted to eat it all over again! When it arrived it was covered in a white foam which isn’t something either of us had seen before!
The waitress also served us a plate of bread and butter which of course we demolished! The butter was super buttery, our favourite!
For main, this was not a hard choice at all as we both knew we HAD to go for the chateaubriand steak which was for two people. This came with dauphinoise potatoes, greens, shallots, madeira jus and béarnaise sauce. We asked for the steak to be medium rare and to us it was cooked to perfection and we both agreed was the nicest steak we have ever eaten.
The waitress carved the steak in front of you, and dished up the potatoes and vegetables. We were then asked if we wanted the sauce and how much. We both opted for both of the sauces and loved the béarnaise so much we asked for more. Instead of just giving us another spoonful each they gave us the entire dish to share – we were in béarnaise heaven!!!
Again for dessert, there were so many options but we both had to go for the chocolate fondant. This was served with apricot ice cream, poached pears, and white chocolate & rosemary foam. The flavour combinations of these dessert were out of this world! The combination of the incredible melt in the middle chocolate cake, with the citrus/fruity ice cream, mixed with white chocolate and rosemary just married up perfectly and we both couldn’t stop talking about how amazing it was! It was the perfect way to end the dinner.
We also love looking at what everyone else had ordered and can hands down say that all the food that was served looked exquisite, the presentation was amazing and it all looked so yummy.
After dinner we asked to go back to the bar to finish our wine and the staff were more than happy for us to do this and took our wine and glasses over for us!
We also noticed the dessert plate that was served if it was your birthday! It looked so delicious and we kind of wished it was one of our birthdays!
As you can imagine the toilets at Le Talbooth were amazing and SO clean!
We honestly cannot rate this restaurant enough. The food was some of the best food we have ever eaten, we were totally blown away! The staff were unbelievably attentive and great at their jobs. If you are ever in the area or staying in Maison Talbooth then you MUST make a visit!
