The longest ever tasting menu was created by experimental food artists Bompas & Parr, and consisted of 200 courses over 24 hours.
Spanish restaurant El Bulli, which had three Michelin stars, used to serve 22 or 30 course dinners, and, before it closed, threw a 50 course feast as a last hurrah.
Those are the ultramarathons of food. Usually, I prefer a sprint, but I was keen to try Cardinal’s offering.
That’s mainly because it’s owned by Tomás Gormley, who is one of the young co-founders of Edinburgh’s Michelin-starred Heron, and Skua in Stockbridge, both of which are excellent.
For £110pp, the newest venue offers an evening tasting menu that consists of, gulp, 16 courses, some of which, at either end, are canape or petit four sized, so don’t panic. They’re also offering a 13-course lunch menu, at £75.
Prepare your elasticated culottes. I skipped my afternoon snack, and buckled in for the three-hour long ride. These are the highlights.
Oyster, Alexander Lake Garda olive oil - this was course number two, and was a breezy palate-cleansing slurp, with a drizzle of green-tasting oil that was made on a staff member’s family farm. It worked beautifully to connect the bite of duck liver and beetroot croustade before, and the crisp Belhaven Crab tart that came afterwards.
Waffles, creme fraiche, fried chicken, caviar - this was number four, and was something more substantial after the first three bite-sized nibbles. We folded the shammy grid like a calzone, with the precious hot nugget and tangy salty condiments snuggled inside.
Cherry smoked Belhaven lobster, pink fir potato, Hollandaise, chive - this was as lush as Lana Del Ray’s eyelashes. It was an upmarket take on a prawn cocktail via Cullen skink, with tiny cubes of nutty potato and soft smoked lobster.
Iberico pork cheek, maitake, fermented girolles - I admit, I was hitting a bit of a wall at this point, as we were eight courses in, and had just taken delivery of a bread course of beremeal loaf and cultured butter, and another dish of taramasalata, egg yolk and ramson that came with a fist-sized doughnut. Still, I valiantly found space for this swooningly melty dollop of meat with those funny-looking maitake (or hen of the woods) mushrooms.
Market fish, vin jaune, Wye Valley asparagus - the fish of the day on our visit was a char-edged piece of turbot, turbo charged with a frothy light sauce and nibs of asparagus.
Free Co beef, peppercorns, tallow, shallot - this was a bit of theatre. We didn’t think anything of it, when a tea light arrived on our table, as dusk was falling. It turned out this was the tallow element, and, after the flame was snuffed, the Bordelaise sauce from this little dish was poured onto the slices of dry aged retired dairy cow, which came with sweet sheaths of shallot. Magic.
Neapolitan ice-cream - there are a lot of exciting goodies for pudding, including a DIY birch sap granita with a choice of subtle syrups (pine, flowering blackcurrant and lemon), but this was our favourite. There were three rochers of vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, each of which was the very best of its genre.
Lavender caramel - good grief, can I have ten of these? These cubes, which were served with ultra fruity hibiscus and rose pastilles, had the granular texture of treacle toffee, with a bit of salt and a floral hit that made me think that bumble bees would start to appear.
Sea buckthorn Jammie Dodger - almost too cute to eat.
My other half also had the paired drinks option, £85pp, and tried six incredible natural and biodynamic wines, including the Champagne Francoise Martinot Par Charles Dufour Bistrotage B17 Extra Brut and a funky-tasting cider, which made him extra merry. Each was presented, in a relaxed and non-reverential fashion, by their very knowledgeable sommelier.
I stuck to a cocktail – their pale green and almost savoury tasting Cardinal Sour (£12), with brandy, peach and citrus. We rolled out of this place feeling as if we had passed a finishing line.
I think it might even have woken my dormant love of tasting menus. Maybe food sprints are overrated?
