Christmas Goose on the Hispaniola
Picture this, sipping a glass of bubby in lovely restaurant with a view of the river by night, the London Eye and the Houses of Parliament. Where in London might this be?
A dining room with a view on the River Thames.
In London, there are many choices of restaurants with great views. Here is an option that is probably not on many people’s radar, The Hispaniola restaurant ship, which is permanently moored on the Victoria Embankment and has been recently had new management. James Bueno, the new GM, has been busy transforming this space into a charming fine dining restaurant. Together with their head chef Paolo, they are offering a special Roast Goose menu for the Christmas season at the Upper Deck Bar and Restaurant.
We were recently invited to sample this Christmas menu and who can say no to Roast Goose. For Christmas, I always prefer goose to turkey as the meat is so much jucier and tastier, you get lovely crispy skin and the vat of goose fat you get from the roast can be used for the roasties.
The Golden Goose Christmas menu at the Hispaniola looks like this:
APERITIF
Laurent-Perrier Brut NV (125ml)
STARTERS
Crayfish and Langoustine Cocktail, marie rose sauce
Roast Butternut Squash Soup, gruyere cheese, truffle oil
Beef Filet Carpaccio, Gorgonzola, wild rocket
MAIN
Wild Whole Roast Goose
Roast Chateau potatoes, brussels sprouts with pancetta,
Calvados-glazed apples, date & red wine sauce
DESSERTS
Tunworth Cheese, truffle & port stuffing
Christmas Pudding, brandy & orange butter
Treacle Tart, Cornish clotted cream
A glass of Laurent Perrier welcomed us and this was followed by a retro CrayFish and Langoustine Cocktail with generous pieces of shellfish drenched in tangy Marie Rose sauce.
The presentation of the enormous roast goose was quite an event. Our wild goose which had been roasted for 3 hours was brought out with all the trimmings. It looked and smelt wonderful.
Chef Paolo then proceeded to carve it for us. On the side we had brusell sprouts with pancetta, carrots, Calvados glazed apples and crispy roast potatoes of course. This was truly an abundant feast.
The locally sourced wild goose was moist, the meat was rich and not too gamey and the crispy skin was sensational. This is the perfect Christmas dinner.
To complete the Christmas meal you have to have some Christmas pudding. Here it was served with brandy and orange butter. There are a couple of other choices for pudding besides this too.
The Upper Deck is a bar and restaurant. You can drop by for a cocktail or two and emjoy the same view as the diners. In the summer, there are tables on the deck where you can enjoy the view of the river and see London from a different vantage point. The dining room is cosy but untimidating and instead of canned muzak, they have a singer on the piano who will sometimes take requests.
The Hispaniola is serving their Golden Goose Christmas Dinner for groups of 4 people or more but you do need to preorder at least 48 hours in advance, priced at £75 per person.
More details on their website: http://hispaniola.co.uk/christmas-nye/
The Upper Deck at The Hispaniola
Victoria Embankment,
London WC2N 5DJ
Tel: 020 7839 3011
Eat Cook Explore was a guest of the The Hispaniola
