Fantastic foodie night in Winchester – The Black Rat and The Black Bottle

So – last year for Mr P’s birthday we were lording it in 5* luxury in the middle of a desert. This year I had it all to do to try and match that treat – I needed to find a perfect birthday dinner as we didn’t have holiday planned this year to coincide!  Thankfully Winchester has just what was needed and is en route home from London to where we live and was a real treat for us both!

A perfect birthday night out

I have eaten at the Black Rat a number of times with work, but as I said to our waiter, it’s rare we appreciate it as much when in a group setting!  The Black Rat has a Michelin Star and when I realised that I was even more excited for us to go there!

The Black Bottle – quirky, homely and most importantly there is plenty of fine wine!

The owner of the Black Rat has a number of Winchester properties – so en route to dinner, we visited the Black Bottle.  This is a wine bar, but no ordinary wine bar.  The setting is much like a home, with lots of different lounges – it doesn’t feel like a wine bar at all, very relaxed.  It was quiet when we were there and the manager gave us the full tour – I’m already working out when we can hire a room there for a party!  The next bit of the excitement is how drinks are served.  If you want wine then at the bar you hand over your money which is put onto a card with a chip.  There are then wine dispensing machines in each of the different lounges – 2 machines for red and 2 for white.  It’s great fun and the card system means you can try a tasting glass amount for a smaller price before going for a full glass.  The surroundings are lovely – rustic chic and very comfortable, with a multitude of books about wine.  They also serve meat platters, but we were heading on to our next stop…

Such a treat hidden behind a simple sign!

The Black Rat is also set out in a former home, with a number of dining rooms.  The furnishings you would expect to find in a country house – very homely and rustic, it creates a lovely ambiance.  We were there on a quieter mid-week night however everyone was dining in the same room, so there was plenty going on. In the room we were in there was a gorgeous waist level fire place.   A lot of thought has gone in to every last detail – it all fits together but everything is quirky: take the retro-style champagne glass; or the antique bone-handled cutlery; and compare it to the very modern crockery!

Charming surroundings

The menu – well I had been dubious about this as I can’t eat dairy products and knew the menu could be quirky which often means difficult.  But when I phoned to book I had mentioned this to them and after we’d had our arrival drinks one of the waiters carefully took me through each item on the menu and how it could be prepared slightly differently so that I would be able to eat it without issue. Probably the most thoughtful service I’ve come across – especially with complicated dishes!

Licking my lips reading this now!

While we were waiting for our food we enjoyed the bread – fantastic, of course.  Mr P enjoyed the butter even more, he even asked for extra!  It smelt divine – it was butter that had been fried off with extra salt and then left to set.  Doesn’t sound so good – but apparently it was!  We’d chosen to have wine by the glass on arrival (mainly as I wanted fizz, this being a special occasion), but for main course there were some perfect demi-bottles to choose from which worked well given it was a work night!  The owner was also wandering around chatting to guests with a marvellous bottle of Cabernet Merlot that we all enjoyed – mmm, need to get our hands on some Yarra Valley at home now!

Starters – mmmm.  Mr P went for the cod cheeks and I had the egg salad (further detail in the photo of the menu above).  Really tasty and really rather clever and certainly not a problem with portion sizes. The descriptions of the food some might think are fussy, but they work well and it’s ‘proper’ homely food even though it is creative!  No plates of foam here!!  Starters can so easily be disappointing and these were anything but!

Main course and dessert

Although it wasn’t a busy evening for the restaurant, there was a sensible length of time between courses.  There was no rush whatsoever.  Our main courses were another triumph – I had opted for the pork and Mr P for the beef. Both looked fantastic – I even took some (blurred) pictures (I normally wouldn’t, too self-conscious) – and tasted even better.  Tastes, textures and pairings – all very clever indeed!

Pudding is rarely a course that I take part in, going heavy on the bread instead! But Mr P enjoyed his pudding – complete with candle.  It was a carrot cake, but no ordinary cake as it came complete with paired desert wine and creamy little mini-mountains and buttery icing sugar snow!  It looked fantastic and I’m told it tasted even better!  Certainly not what I had expected when he ordered carrot cake!!

A fantastic evening, I don’t think we’ll leave it too long before we go back (in fact I have just found outside dining booths that are crying out to be tried)!  Having Michelin starred dining on our doorstep and in such unpretentious and homely surroundings is very fortunate indeed! The other properties that we didn’t see were just round the corner from the restaurant – The Black Boy pub and The Black Hole B&B.  Both will need investigating soon.  The owner has definitely catered for all tastes, and very cleverly too!  Each is run separately and has its niche which is why the set up works so well!