Henrock

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"Chef handles lunches snacks & teas in the conservatory by day & Henrock in a seperate restaurant in the evening. This may possibly be too much to get the head round & meet Rogan/Fera type expectations.Serves tapas style starters. Being both adventurous & cautious at the same time I ordered just the sea urchin with caviar topping @ £24. A piece of jelly snadwiched in something crisp appeared on a white carboard stack by the side of my empty plate. I asked if anything else was going to be put on my plate, & the waitress, having a sense of humour, said no. With some hilarity we moved the cardboard & slid the wobbling 1" x 2" x 1" rectangle onto my plate. The caviar, unlike the picture on their website, was barely discernable. The sea urchin was the same, although the subtle flavour may have been swamped by the English champagne. It was the only European brut offering by the glass, & this particular one was rather thin & acidic. Talking of canapes, not as much as a cheese straw was offered with the uninspiring cocktails that we had before the meal in the conservatory. When I mentioned the need to have something to nibble on, in order to prevent an alcohol rush on an empty stomach (& hunger pains) the young woman who appeared to be in charge told us "we don't do that", like it was some sort of style statement. She was suprisingly pompous & she followed up agressively with "did you ask for anything?" I replied that no suitable options had been listed on the menu. We had quail for our main course. I'd say this had been cooked sous vide rather than on the bone. The meat was naturally, tender, but washed out & under seasoned. The "gravy" was overseasoned & tasted of lamb fat, bisto & cabbagewater with a trace of honey. I would suggest that the sous vide meat along with some pre cooked slightly charred endive had been heated up in the "gravy" & served. It was a dreadful mush. We ate everything, as by now we were very hungry. I had not ordered anymore wine due to the possible need for damage limitation. My husband had a glass of Medoc ordinaire. We then gave our comments and asked for the circa £150 bill. We were offered a complete refund in public, which was embarrasing for all concerned. Naturally, we refused. After all, we had drunk & ate everything. It wasn't "off" and we were not going to be potentially poisoned. The decor was nouveau chic & comfortable. The view from the conservatory bar in the summer would be very nice. The atmosphere was, however, too tense, due to the staff being stressed. To get on track they need some help. When the name Rogan is mentioned, people have high hopes & expectation. They may possibly be better served with a less high profile more basic quality offering, suitable for their hotel guests and a few visitors. On leaving, we talked to some arriving customers who had come to give it a try. They said that they'd been told there were teething problems. I had presumed that by the time we turned up, expected minor problems would be sorted out. Unfortunately, there was more to it than that."