Tag: milton hill house hotel

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Selection of British Cheeses

benches and a field

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my main course I had the grilled pork cutlet, and then after that I had the selection of British cheeses which came with chutney, grapes, celery and water biscuits.

cheese and biscuits

I had three cheeses cheddar, stilton, and brie. I did wonder if this was Somerset brie, but brie is not really a British cheese, much more a French one really. I didn’t worry and I didn’t ask, as I like brie anyhow.

Compared to other times I have had cheese and biscuits, these were quite generous portions of cheese. I enjoyed the chutney and I even ate the grapes. I don’t eat celery, so that was left. I also found the water biscuits unappetising. They looked strange, guessing they were some kind of artisan water biscuit. Personally I would have preferred some Carr’s water biscuits, or some bread. So I ate all the cheese, the grapes, most of there chutney, but left the celery and the biscuits. Nice plate of cheese though.

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Grilled Pork Cutlet

Milton Hill House

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my main course I went with the grilled pork cutlet. This was served with salad and chips.

Grilled Pork Cutlet

The plate was served, so I dug in. The pork cutlet was cooked well, it was nice and tender. Wasn’t too sure about the butter it was dressed with, I am guessing it was a garlic and herb butter. For another £3 I could have had a sauce, I always think this is a bit of a scam. If your cutlet (or steak) needs a sauce, then serve a sauce with it. The rind on the cutlet was just chewy and not really edible. I am not sure if the cooking method would actually make it crispy. I would have removed it to be honest.

The dressed salad was nothing to write home about, but it was fresh and zingy. These were described as chips, and these were chips. Crispy on the outside and, for and fluffy on the inside.

In summary it was a nice plate of food. Though it did get me thinking about other pork chops I have had in the past.

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A disappointing Roast Pork Fillet

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my starter I had the pork and black pudding scotch egg with homemade brown sauce.

For my main course I had the roast pork fillet that came with a potato terrine, braised pig cheek, bacon jam, red cabbage, and pan jus. 

Overall it was quite a disappointment, it wasn’t bad, it was just disappointing.

The plate looked interesting, but the individual components didn’t really make for a great eating experience.

The focus of the dish should be the roasted pork fillet, which comprised of two chunks of pork fillet. Pork fillet with its lack of fat, can be quite difficult to cook well, and in this case the pork was tough and lacked flavour. I also think the way it was served exacerbated the dryness of the pork. These triangular blocks of pork weren’t that easy to cut and eat either. I think serving it either as medallions, or as a proper chunk of pork fillet would have been a better choice. The braised pig cheek was much better, it was tender and was quite tasty though it was quite a small portion, more a taste of pork cheek. I did think there was too much red cabbage, it did dominate the dish. I was not impressed with the potato terrine which felt like a rather dried out potato dauphinoise. I am guessing it was reheated from some prepared potato. I think if it had been cooked in butter, it would have been better. I also wasn’t too keen on the bacon jam, which I felt didn’t add to the dish. Finally it needed more jus, a jug would have been nice.

It was one of those times where I was inspired by the description on the menu, but the reality of the dish failed to meet my expectations.

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Pork & Black Pudding Scotch Egg

I was in Oxfordshire for work, attending a conference in Oxford. I booked to stay in the Milton Hill House hotel close to Abingdon. I would then catch the Park & Ride into the heart of Oxford for the event.

I had dinner in the hotel, and for my starter I had the pork and black pudding scotch egg with homemade brown sauce.

Pork & Black Pudding Scotch Egg

The scotch egg was well presented, sliced in half, with a spread of the homemade brown sauce. The egg had a soft yolk. The pork and black pudding was nice, not overpowered by the black pudding. The crispy coating was a little too crispy I thought. Overall though I did enjoy the plate.