Emma 
Celebrating The Honours at Glasgow Malmaison
We were invited along to The Honours at Malmaison, Glasgow to The Honours Uncovered event to celebrate the new restaurant’s first birthday. After mingling in the bar area over a glass of fizz, we wandered into The Honours restaurant to be escorted into the kitchen to meet Martin Wishart and watch him prepare a couple of dishes. After that there would be some wine tasting and then a spot of lunch.
Martin talked us through two dishes, scallops en croute with spaghetti of vegetables and monkfish, savoy cabbage, Noilly Prat and clams. We were given the instructions on recipe cards (we’ll soon have these online for you to try yourself). Martin is a lovely chap. Very laid-back and softly spoken but he has confidence in running his kitchen. He is the kind of chap that if he was your dad and you did something wrong he probably wouldn’t shout and scream but give you that look of disappointment. I feel that if he made you dinner and you didn’t at least try a bit, he would actually be sad. No mockery intended, he’s passionate about food, cooking, and passing a little knowledge on.
He was open to all questions and we weren’t made to feel stupid asking all our…stupid questions!
After our visit to the kitchen it was time for some wine tasting. We were guided through three wines. These were from Germany, France and Italy. Having the sommelier and the rest of the table around to guide and talk about the flavours, aromas and colour was helpful as well as finding three more wines that we like!
The wines were:
2015 Riesling, Prinz von Hessen, Rheingau, Germany.
2012 Dolcetto D’Alba, Paolo Conterno Piedmont, Italy
2011 Maury , Domaine Jean Marc Lagage, Langedoc-Roussilon, France
All three were delicious and are available from the restaurant, in fact we had them alongside partnered dishes below.
The menu for The Honours Uncovered sounded delicious, and of course it was! After watching Martin in the kitchen make it look so easy I’m almost tempted to try some of the dishes at home but I think I’ll just play it safe and come back to the restaurant at a later date!
Foie Gras mousse with pear foam, sweet and sour reduction and rye bread. So smooth and light. The pear foam worked really well with the meaty foie gras mousse. Would like to attempt this at home. However I’ve no idea how to make pear foam!
Loch Fyne crab marie rose with white radish, espelette pepper and wheat cracker. Another delicate dish with the espelette pepper providing a slight heat to the marie rose sauce.
Aromatic braised short ribs with honey roasted parsnips and crisp potatoes. This dish came up and gave you a slap in the chops after the two preceding delicate dishes. The beef fell from the ribs it was so moist and tender. Honey glazed parsnips that were almost chip-like in their texture and packed a punch with their seasoning. The potato crisp was as if a yorkshire pudding had been concentrated and caramelised.
Valrhona dark chocolate tart, white chocolate and vermouth sorbet and chocolate scarf. Crisp pastry base filled with thick dark chocolate and topped with what seemed like popping candy. The sorbet sweetened up the tart with the chocolate scarf bringing another layer of bitter/sweet taste. A real mixture of tastes and flavours here.
After all that food it was time for coffee and some pistachio nougat. Phew!
We had a lovely day at The Honours within Malmaison, Glasgow. Being able to see Martin at work as well as the ability to ask questions, get guidance from the sommeliers on the wine list and then settle down to some delicious lunch is not something you can do all that often!
Keep in touch with The Honours and Malmaison on Twitter to read about future events or to book for Valentine’s Day on their website here.
