Review: The autumn menu at Hotel du Vin, Cambridge
The new autumn menu on offer in the bistro at Hotel du Vin, situated within a grade II-listed building on Trumpington Street in Cambridge, features some seasonal favourites with a twist.
These include French onion soup and ham hock and parsley terrine, as well as a selection of grillades (three steak options and one chicken) all served with pomme frites. There are also other French-inspired staples from confit duck to pumpkin and sage gnocchi.
Converted from old university buildings, the hotel maintains impressive architectural features including exposed brickwork and restored fireplaces. The bistro is noticeably light and spacious with soft lighting, courtesy of some beautifully-designed, low-hanging lamps, dark floorboards, eye-catching art and comfortable chairs.
The ‘nibbles’ ranged from olives and sourdough baguette to French-style dry cured sausage and beetroot houmous, but we decided to go straight for a starter, opting for soupe a l’oignon (classic French onion soup - me) and chicken liver parfait, served with brioche toast and raisin chutney (my wife).
French onion soup is my favourite of all soups and obviously it doesn’t always taste as good over here as it does in France. This one, however, most definitely did, the submerged cheesy bread adding a gorgeous kick. My wife enjoyed her chicken liver parfait too. Other options among the starters included snails and tiger prawns.
For my main course, I chose the steak haché, described on the menu as “the posh hamburger of France”. It came with petit salad, peppercorn sauce and chips and was delicious. I don’t remember having had steak haché before but I would certainly have it again. The other steak sauces on offer are béarnaise, red wine jus and garlic butter.
My wife went for the sirloin steak, which also came with chips, and we shared some lovely cauliflower cheese. She very much enjoyed the steak but felt rather full afterwards, meaning that for pudding she just had some mango sorbet (one of the three sorbet options - there are also a couple of flavours of ice cream), while I had the temptingly named ‘pot au chocolat’ (chocolate mousse), which came with a very nice yoghurt-y sauce on top.
If you fancy a bit of French food in Cambridge this autumn, I would definitely recommend the varied selection - and service - that can be found at Hotel du Vin. For more information, visit hotelduvin.com/locations/cambridge/. The hotel also has a special Feast, Fire and Fall offer if you book by October 31 for stay dates until February 28. For more on this, go to hotelduvin.com/offers/room-packages/hdv-feast-fire-fall/.
