It’s becoming a fixture! This time, it was for an MPhil re-union, and I was taken along to enjoy first of all a drinks party in the relatively new Mathematics Faculty. The building in which we sipped wine has a grass lawn on top and a giant canteen as the centre point not only of this building, but of the complex as a whole. We were sipping on Baron de Rothschild’s Sauvignon Blanc (very cheap, and uninteresting).
The dinner was far more grand, in the bricked hall of Robinson College. A large dining area was set aside for us, and we presumed that there was another event on that would fill the hall later. We were wrong, however, and had sole occupancy of the hall all evening.
The starter was a brilliant smoked wild salmon, which came with mint and dill and some lemon juice, alongside a lemon mayonnaise. The salmon was sliced thickly, and clearly directly as a cross-section of the fish. We were served two wines with the meal, and the white was taken first. It was fruity, but not so complex, with a slightly sharp edge, and therefore my guess is a French Sauvignon-blanc, but I never got a look at the bottle.
The main course was lamb, beautifully roasted, although rather chewy, with very nicely done new roast potatoes, mashed carrot and mange tout. I had the red wine with this, which I reckon was a French Merlot, as it was rather smooth and fruity, without much in the way of tannins or spices.
I only nibbled at the dessert, which was a lemon and mint chocolate tart, very nicely layered, and well deserving of a photograph, although I didn’t have my camera. A toffee sauce accompanied it, as well as some very nice black coffee, and a brief speech which was very geeky, because it was a mathematics re-union. We all retired to The Red Bull pub and had another before heading off into the night.