The Elmore Jam | Taste of Wiltshire

If Russell and I aren't eating, we're probably spending our time planning what to eat next. The new supper club website Tabl has been grabbing our attention lately with their unique offering of quirky foodie events, so we were thrilled when they asked us to come along to one of their most popular supper clubs The Elmore Jam to enjoy the 'taste of Wilsthire' evening they were hosting.

 
We arrived at The Elmore Jam, based near Angel Train Station, to the sound of a 1970s juke box. As we entered the basement flat we were greeted by a truly unique space with an open kitchen. There we could see Jonas Lodge, a promising new head chef from The Bell at Ramsbury – a quintessentially English pub, which for 300 years has been the corner stone of village life in this picturesque Wiltshire village. Jonas has worked at a number of prestigious restaurants including the Fat Duck and the Hind's Head in Bray, and his European experience includes working for one of Spain's most respected chefs, Sergio Arola, at the Michelin starred Restaurant Arola in Madrid. Good food was certainly on the menu this evening...



We began our evening with a very strong cocktail and listened to live jazz whilst watching the food being prepared and plated in the kitchen. There's an extremely relaxed feel to the place, yet it had refinement that other supper clubs lack.




As we took a seat and admired the menus we noticed that each of us had been given an old ten pence to use in the juke box - with a set list printed on the back, this created a great talking point that broke the ice with our fellow dinners.

We started with an amuse bouche of cream of Marlborough mushroom soup, Stainswick farm truffle rapeseed oil & fresh Wiltshire truffle, which was extremely light but full of flavour. The truffle oil filled the air with a gorgeous aroma, and because we were sitting just a few meters away from the kitchen this gave dinners a buzz before we were served the dish.





To start we enjoyed The Bell's smoked trout, pagets farm beetroots and the honesty bakery’s granary bread, which was an absolute delight. Russell and I both thought the amount of trout we were served was pretty generous, and the beetroot gave a colourful playfulness to the dish.

This was followed by slow cooked Kelmscott pork belly, glazed cheek, braised red cabbage, sprouting broccoli & apple sauce. Not being big fans of pork belly, we enjoyed the glazed cheek more, which was rich a melt in the mouth. By now we were pretty full, but the best was saved for last...



We usually give dessert a miss, but we're glad we didn't this time as it was the star of the show. Bitter chocolate torte, Wiltshire grown parsnip ice cream and parsnip crisps is a dish that will stay with me. The salty crisps paired beautifully with the chocolate torte, whilst the subtle ice cream cleansed the palette and gave a savoury dimension to the dish. If you know of somewhere that sells Parsnip cream get in touch - I'd like to eat this over and over again.

If you're looking for professional chefs to fill your plate whilst live music fills your ears then you need to visit The Elmore Jam.



If you'd like the chance to visit The Elmore Jam yourself, the very lovely team at Tabl have given me two tickets to give away for Mr Pugstiff Blows Easter Over, which promises to showcase the best English flavours with an elegant modern touch.

To enter, all you need to do is favourite the tweet that is pinned to my profile here and follow both myself and @theTabl - the winner will be announced on Sunday 20th March 2016. Good Luck!