Christmas lunch: the Greenhills Hotel

Wore my new Monsoon dress today for Christmas lunch. (V vexing - it's now half price. Ah well, that's post-Christmas sales for you.)

It took hardly any time to drive to the Greenhills Hotel. I'm glad I looked it up first on Google Maps Streetview though - by the time you see the front of the hotel, coming from the direction I was, you've already passed the entrance! which is marked by two concrete pillars. They really should put some sign on them to indicate where that driveway is going.

Basically, apart from that, this was a lovely day. There was a good Christmassy feeling immediately upon entering the lobby (and it was great to get in from the cold), there was someone behind reception to direct us, and another immediately available to take our names, who led us to the cloakroom. Ok, already an improvement on last year, when there was no cloakroom. The guy there was nattily kitted out in a top hat, tails, and white gloves! Nice touch.. we were led into the reception area until our table was ready (we got there early), and champagne was available. And orange juice. And a bar, for those who fancied neither. And we sat and people-watched for a while, commenting to each other on the high heels, the outfits, and in one case, the tattoos..

It wasn't long before we were led to our table. As usual at these things, the small table for two was too crowded with all the Christmas paraphenalia - a candle and holly, crackers, side plates, cutlery settings. And the sign with the table number and our name. But we managed.

There was a decent choice. For starter, I decided that the turkey and vegetable broth sounded interesting, and was my way of having turkey on the day - so I chose that, and it was indeed delicious! My mother decided that, although she'd had melon last year and it was available again, she'd found it a bit tough - she went for the chicken and mushroom "bouchée in a puff pastry case" (vol-au-vent), which was so good that she wondered whether you could buy them ready-made.

For main course, she had salmon, of course, which came with prawns - but she didn't want those, and asked not to have them. I didn't want that, or the vegetarian option, so my choice was among turkey, duck, or beef fillet. I often find turkey dry, and figured it wouldn't live up to my turkey meal of a couple of days ago anyway - and I often find duck too rich, so decided on the beef. Which turned out to be steak. Interestingly, it came with potato gratin - not a good idea, in retrospect; the flavours just didn't fit. But the (fillet) steak was perfectly done. For dessert, she had trifle, I had a selection of ice cream in the now-ubiquitous wafer basket. And we were well fed.

The music was Christmas carols, piped just loud enough to be audible above the chatter. I must commend the service - it was executed with military precision. Our meal was constantly punctuated with people asking us how it was, and what we were now waiting for. And really friendly service, too. And when our dessert order was misplaced, it was quickly discovered, and the server couldn't be apologetic enough. I couldn't help thinking that their thinking was - if we serve 'em fast, they finish earlier and we can get away earlier. Well, other places could take note! I would be happy to eat here again next year - but you never know what hotels will even do Christmas lunch from year to year! This hotel didn't do it last year, the place where we went last year didn't do it this year - many hotels only do residential packages over Christmas.

Well! That's the main part of Christmas over. Might head to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty tomorrow (at last) - but more likely later in the week, my mother is keen to head to Flanagan's for a meal.