Verveine Fishmarket Restaurant in New Forest

Having enjoyed lunch at Verveine so much in September we had, before we even left the restaurant, booked a table for dinner to celebrate my wife's birthday at the end of October.We decided to stick with the 6 course menu, opting for 5 fish courses and one dessert and, this time, with wine pairings. We were a bit concerned as to whether to do this for my wife, as she is not a great drinker and we thought that this might be too much for her. We were delighted to find, when we discussed this with our hostess, that they would do half portions of the wines for her. This really helped to make the evening.I won't spoil the surprises for people who haven't been here yet by describing each dish, but be assured that each and every one was absolutely excellent and, coupled with the ambience, the interesting way in which cutlery is presented, the enormous variety of beautiful and unusual serving dishes and the lovely staff, an evening at Verveine is just an absolute pleasure.I wish we lived closer to be able to enjoy it more often!

We booked for lunch here, well in advance, when we knew that we would be staying in the area at Lymington. I liked the look and sound of its blind tasting menus from previous TA reviews and its website. And, boy, we were not disappointed!!Diners were well socially distanced, which made us feel comfortable although, as with many other restaurants, we would have felt even more so if staff had been wearing masks or visors. The staff were, however, delightful and efficient.We both opted for the lunchtime 6 course tasting menu. I had a very nice glass of white wine but because, sadly, driving was involved, my wife had an elderflower presse , which was very nice as it was actually handmade at the restaurant.The food was excellent. There were a couple of amuse bouches before we set into 4 fishy courses and then two sweet courses to end. Everything about them was first class, with wonderful presentation and a flair for flavour combinations. The whole experience is excellent, from the way that the cutlery is presented, the novel dishes on which the courses were served, the explanations of each course, as well as the actual food itself.We were so impressed that, before we left, we booked for dinner on my wife's birthday in a few weeks time, so that we can have the full experience with wine pairings next time; and have booked to stay overnight locally, especially to facilitate this. We are really looking forward to it!!