Little Seeds five-course set Saturday menu, it’s more than just a meal; it’s a dining experience where you can ignore the outside world and go on a mouth-watering journey.
Having recently launched their five-course set Saturday menu, it was a pleasure to be invited along by Sophie, Jake and all the team at Little Seeds to experience it. Although we were invited along, our opinions in this piece are purely our own and haven’t had any input from the Little Seeds team.
Little Seeds is one of the jewels in Stone’s food and drink scene; opening in 2016 the Radford Street eatery features some of the best locally sourced and seasonal food around.
Each week the set Saturday menu varies, and for our visit on the 8th of October, this was the menu available. The menu had a mixture of vegetarian and meat/fish-based dishes.
To fully appreciate the entire menu, my wife and I decided to have one vegetarian menu and one meat/fish-based menu so that we could sample the full range of food on offer.
Now right off the bat I’ll hold my hands up and say that I’m no fish lover. From a child, I wouldn’t eat fish at all, but in recent years I’ve revisited my food choices and now will try anything. This mindset is definitely a benefit when you go into set menu/tasting menu scenarios, as you’re never going to know the menu until you arrive and see the various courses.
The set menu costs £30 per person, or £50 per person if you would like to have paired wine alongside the food. Although we didn’t take this option, you can see from the menu above the pairings that were made on the date we visited.
First Course – We started off with the selection of dishes shown here and split them between my wife and I so we could each give our opinions and provide each other with feedback.
When each course came out, the front-of-house team member told us details about what was being served, a real feat when you start talking to them before they’ve finished telling you. There’s evidently a great rapport between the chefs and the front-of-house team, and you know none of this has just been served from a pre-made catering supplier.
With this course, there were no issues splitting; we had two of each dish, so my wife and I had one each. All 3 dishes were delicate, delightful and delectable, they certainly got our tastebuds fired up for what was to come.
Second Course – The second course was simple but still gave my wife and I something to talk about. The warm malt bread and cultured butter lived up to its name and had a rich and indulgent feeling to it.
Third Course – Next up it was time for some fish; in this case, line-caught mackerel with some smoked eel. The vegetarian option was a tomato-based dish with ricotta and a surprising basil sorbet. I say surprising on the sorbet as I’d forgotten about it from the menu, it was only when I popped it into my mouth that I recalled the ice-cold topping!
We tackled half each and then swapped; as I said at the start, I’m no fish lover, but the mackerel and eel were incredibly tasty, and I had no problem in clearing the plate and savouring every mouthful.
Fourth Course – Things had been stepping up with each course, and it was now time to bring out the big guns. I’ll be honest, whilst waiting for the fourth course, I looked at the menu again and wondered what Jacobs Ladder was. Not wanting to look like a fool, I did what any man would do and kept quiet and waited for it to come out. In my opinion, the pacing on each course coming out was perfect; you don’t feel rushed from one course to the next, nor were there big gaps when you were wondering where is my food?!
Once again the serving staff did a brilliant job of explaining each of the dishes to us, and at this point, I learnt that a Jacobs Ladder was beef!
The second dish on the fourth course was gnocchi, and this time my wife and I drew sides, I love gnocchi, and she loves beef, so we each ate the majority of our own dishes before granting the other party a “taste” of what we each had.
The beef was a thick, tender – melt-in-your-mouth affair – the picture doesn’t do it justice in fairness. The gnocchi was perfectly cooked, crispy with a tasty centre.
Fifth Course – The final course on the set menu was the dessert course – a rich and flavourful fruity delight! The care and effort that has gone into each dish throughout the menu can be seen laid bare on this final course. The layering, placing and blending of flavours meant every mouthful you were tasting was an oral sensation.
Treats – We were at the end of the menu, but there was still more to come! We ordered tea and coffee to be served with our treats and waited to see what was in store.
These final treats were the icing on the cake of an excellent set menu, just the right amount of sweetness and richness to cleanse the palette one last time – bravo Little Seeds.
Conclusion
A set menu like this is very much about the experience; set aside a couple of hours and enjoy the pace that the food comes out, chat with your dining partner and enjoy!
£30 per person will definitely be a lot for some people, however, we felt that it offered very good value for money when compared to the prices you’d pay for a standard 3-course a la carte meal at a similar standard of restaurant.
We thoroughly enjoyed our afternoon at little Seeds and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their set menu.
Website – https://www.littleseedsstone.co.uk/
