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Reliable and courteous parking service for visitors to London Gatwick airport.
The faux-gothic arches that stand impressively over the eating area in Cloisters Restaurant harken back only a hundred and fifty years or so, although you could be forgiven that the Hunchback of Notre Dame himself could come swinging in your window past the dripping rain-sodden gargoyles as you break your bread. There's something quite eerie about eating in a churchy place, whispering in hushed tones, drinking copious top quality wine, but, hey, it's alright - its communion.
Q and I couldn't help taking up the offer of an all-night junior agent conference (ok - a hearty, virtuous soul took pity on us and offered an overnight babysit) and so we pushed the boat out, hired the best suite at Nutfield Priory and got the meal thrown in too.
The Cloisters gets two AA rosettes and its easy to see why. Service was discreet and supportive - bread immediately, a free starter of vegetable broth and a menu that mixed and matched the best of modern British and traditional French cooking. Q's scallops starter was utterly divine as was my fennel tartlet, but it was in the main courses that we began to differ. Duck is a notoriously difficult bugger in a restaurant. Q is very very fond of duck, but has pretty much universally failed to find any duck anywhere in any preparation that she has enjoyed. Maybe she just doesn't like duck. Here it was no different - slightly chewy and hugely disappointing. My fillets of Sea Bass were fantastic. Dessert was a selection of different puds and cake all on the one plate, but by this time I had pretty much given up.
An interesting location with sure-footed cooking and well worth a visit. M
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