Chocoholics Weekend at Three Ways House
Grab a cup of tea - and a biscuit (you'll need that) - and nestle down into a comfy spot; this is a long one!
To celebrate surviving our first year of marriage Mr M and I decided to go away for the weekend. The typical deliberation happened over where to go and, naturally, we took to the internet. It didn't take me long to hunt down the Chocoholic Weekend in the Cotswolds.
The weekend takes place at Three Ways House in Mickleton, home to the Pudding Club, and the weekends are a rare breed taking place only a handful of times throughout the year. Three Ways House hotel is The Pudding Hotel and celebrates this with themed rooms. If you're lucky enough you can get your hands on a Chocolate themed roomed, or even the Sticky Toffee room. Unfortunately, we missed the boat on these rooms and ended up booking ourselves a Superior room to make up for it.
I'm going to spare you the soppy ooey details of the weekend but give you all the of the gooey (in the form of Chocolate....of course!)
We arrived in the early afternoon after stopping off for lunch with Mr M's cousin Mrs W, and after a very seamless check-in by the incredible staff we were shown to our room. Which was gloriously cosy and had a brilliant view of the garden. Resting on top of the fresh crisp bedding was the best sight....a box of Liquor Chocolates and some chocolate soap.
Once Mr M had dragged the luggage to the room like a true gent we shuffled into the chairs and did a bit of house shopping.
Turns out house shopping is exhausting work and we soon needed a pick me up. So, we hunted down the arrival drink with "a little extra something" that we were promised. We settled on taking it in the lounge in which was a roaring fire......and board games. Ideal for the hard to keep entrained...like me! It was supremely cosy, with the fire roaring and wing back chairs scattered around.
The arrival drink was, of course, a Hot Chocolate, the little something extra was not what what we expected at all......we assumed it would be a small chocolate....a truffle or two maybe....but then this arrived:
It was colossal in every sense.
Roughly half way through unglamorously stuffing our faces the realisation that we would be eating a full three course meal in a matter of hours dawned on us.......needless to say we opted for a time change!
Once the profiterole was demolished we turned our attention to a good old fashioned game of Monopoly. I love a good game of Monopoly!
After a few hours of getting completely destroyed at Monopoly (damn you Go To Jail square!) I admitted defeat and we headed off upstairs to get ready for the centre piece of the weekend: the meal.
I very quickly got distracted by the amazing lit up mirror....not quite showgirl chic!
Once suitably suited and booted we headed down for the meal.
Mr M had arranged a little extra surprise to see us into our second year.....
Perfection!
As it's a Chocoholic weekend there 's a special set menu which features chocolate in every course. You're not restricted to this menu though, you can order from the standard menu too.
Naturally, I went for the full chocolate experience!
To start I had Pan-Fried Mullet with Spinach Risotto in a White Chocolate Butter sauce, and not being a massive fish or risotto fan Mr M had the Game Terrine.
I'm not always a big fan of fish but the mullet was good. I normally tend to stick to the "non fishy" fish like cod or haddock but the mullet was cooked beautifully. I felt as though the white chocolate taste was lost amongst the mullet and risotto....it could stand some more, but then I have got an extremely sweet tooth.
Moving on to the main Mr M join me back on the Chocolate menu for Roast Rump of Beef Pave with creamed Kale and a Dark Chocolate Jus.
Oh. My. Word.
This dish was to die for. The beef was cooked to perfection, I went against the grain and asked them to keep mine cooking for just a minute longer, but it was just perfect for both of us. The sauce was insane. The chocolate worked so ridiculously well and it enhanced the beef's flavour beautifully. Not for the faint hearted though...with the cream on the Kale and chocolate in the jus it was incredibly rich. This is not a meal for those watching their weight!
I really thought they had topped out at the main course and it wouldn't get any better. When I had read the dessert option I was a little disappointed: Trio of Chocolate Desserts, Warm Chocolate Fondant, Chocolate Ice Cream and Chocolate Creme Brûlée. It sounded ok, but not being a fan of creme brûlée I thought it was going to be an anticlimax.
Oh boy was I wrong. People, this is called the pudding club for a reason, I should never have doubted them. It was immense!
Each element of the dessert was big enough to have warranted being called a dessert in itself. The fondant oozed perfectly, dancing the line of bordering on too warm, it was divinely rich and ticked every chocolate box.
The chocolate ice cream was white chocolate and came nestled in a perfectly crunchy Brandy Snap basket. The vanilla-y cold sweetness almost felt like a palette cleanser before the piece de resistance of the puddings....that's right, the Creme Brûlée hater has been turned.
The Creme Brûlée was AMAZING. Once the topping demolished with a very satisfying crack of the spoon it revealed a perfectly set, silky filling which was layered with a hidden layer of chocolate at the bottom.
The food was, far and away, the crowning glory of this entire weekend!
Needless to say after this we could barely move. Full of chocolate, steak, and bubbles we waddled into the lounge and attempted to distract ourselves from our bursting seam lines with a game of Gin. With the fire in the corner and with tummies that were more than satisfactorily full we soon waved the white flag at our ability to stay awake and made our way up to bed where we sank into the most crisp, cosy hug from the bed.
Predictably I took too many photos so I'll tell you about the morning after the night before later.....now, where did I put that damned biscuit?!
To celebrate surviving our first year of marriage Mr M and I decided to go away for the weekend. The typical deliberation happened over where to go and, naturally, we took to the internet. It didn't take me long to hunt down the Chocoholic Weekend in the Cotswolds.
The weekend takes place at Three Ways House in Mickleton, home to the Pudding Club, and the weekends are a rare breed taking place only a handful of times throughout the year. Three Ways House hotel is The Pudding Hotel and celebrates this with themed rooms. If you're lucky enough you can get your hands on a Chocolate themed roomed, or even the Sticky Toffee room. Unfortunately, we missed the boat on these rooms and ended up booking ourselves a Superior room to make up for it.
I'm going to spare you the soppy ooey details of the weekend but give you all the of the gooey (in the form of Chocolate....of course!)
We arrived in the early afternoon after stopping off for lunch with Mr M's cousin Mrs W, and after a very seamless check-in by the incredible staff we were shown to our room. Which was gloriously cosy and had a brilliant view of the garden. Resting on top of the fresh crisp bedding was the best sight....a box of Liquor Chocolates and some chocolate soap.
Once Mr M had dragged the luggage to the room like a true gent we shuffled into the chairs and did a bit of house shopping.
Turns out house shopping is exhausting work and we soon needed a pick me up. So, we hunted down the arrival drink with "a little extra something" that we were promised. We settled on taking it in the lounge in which was a roaring fire......and board games. Ideal for the hard to keep entrained...like me! It was supremely cosy, with the fire roaring and wing back chairs scattered around.
The arrival drink was, of course, a Hot Chocolate, the little something extra was not what what we expected at all......we assumed it would be a small chocolate....a truffle or two maybe....but then this arrived:
It was colossal in every sense.
Roughly half way through unglamorously stuffing our faces the realisation that we would be eating a full three course meal in a matter of hours dawned on us.......needless to say we opted for a time change!
Once the profiterole was demolished we turned our attention to a good old fashioned game of Monopoly. I love a good game of Monopoly!
After a few hours of getting completely destroyed at Monopoly (damn you Go To Jail square!) I admitted defeat and we headed off upstairs to get ready for the centre piece of the weekend: the meal.
I very quickly got distracted by the amazing lit up mirror....not quite showgirl chic!
Once suitably suited and booted we headed down for the meal.
Mr M had arranged a little extra surprise to see us into our second year.....
Perfection!
As it's a Chocoholic weekend there 's a special set menu which features chocolate in every course. You're not restricted to this menu though, you can order from the standard menu too.
Naturally, I went for the full chocolate experience!
To start I had Pan-Fried Mullet with Spinach Risotto in a White Chocolate Butter sauce, and not being a massive fish or risotto fan Mr M had the Game Terrine.
I'm not always a big fan of fish but the mullet was good. I normally tend to stick to the "non fishy" fish like cod or haddock but the mullet was cooked beautifully. I felt as though the white chocolate taste was lost amongst the mullet and risotto....it could stand some more, but then I have got an extremely sweet tooth.
Moving on to the main Mr M join me back on the Chocolate menu for Roast Rump of Beef Pave with creamed Kale and a Dark Chocolate Jus.
Oh. My. Word.
This dish was to die for. The beef was cooked to perfection, I went against the grain and asked them to keep mine cooking for just a minute longer, but it was just perfect for both of us. The sauce was insane. The chocolate worked so ridiculously well and it enhanced the beef's flavour beautifully. Not for the faint hearted though...with the cream on the Kale and chocolate in the jus it was incredibly rich. This is not a meal for those watching their weight!
I really thought they had topped out at the main course and it wouldn't get any better. When I had read the dessert option I was a little disappointed: Trio of Chocolate Desserts, Warm Chocolate Fondant, Chocolate Ice Cream and Chocolate Creme Brûlée. It sounded ok, but not being a fan of creme brûlée I thought it was going to be an anticlimax.
Oh boy was I wrong. People, this is called the pudding club for a reason, I should never have doubted them. It was immense!
Each element of the dessert was big enough to have warranted being called a dessert in itself. The fondant oozed perfectly, dancing the line of bordering on too warm, it was divinely rich and ticked every chocolate box.
The chocolate ice cream was white chocolate and came nestled in a perfectly crunchy Brandy Snap basket. The vanilla-y cold sweetness almost felt like a palette cleanser before the piece de resistance of the puddings....that's right, the Creme Brûlée hater has been turned.
The Creme Brûlée was AMAZING. Once the topping demolished with a very satisfying crack of the spoon it revealed a perfectly set, silky filling which was layered with a hidden layer of chocolate at the bottom.
The food was, far and away, the crowning glory of this entire weekend!
Needless to say after this we could barely move. Full of chocolate, steak, and bubbles we waddled into the lounge and attempted to distract ourselves from our bursting seam lines with a game of Gin. With the fire in the corner and with tummies that were more than satisfactorily full we soon waved the white flag at our ability to stay awake and made our way up to bed where we sank into the most crisp, cosy hug from the bed.
Predictably I took too many photos so I'll tell you about the morning after the night before later.....now, where did I put that damned biscuit?!
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