Fencing and The Boutique Stone House

Bob and Habibi started putting the fence panels up today and got a long way this morning before time ran out. It’s already looking nice. Habibi will come back later in the week with his chap and put the rest up. It is very heavy stuff……

We spent the afternoon by the pool after that – weather is lovely.

Tonight we went up to the Boutique Stone House, the new b&b, restaurant in our village of Ilgaz. It’s where Hoots used to be. Wow. What an amazing place, we were all blown away by the food. It’s run by a young couple from Sweden and Slovakia. He is an amazing chef. Bob ordered one of the specials which was scampi in a tomato, fresh herb and wine sauce. Alan had Nduja Meatballs in a rich tomato sauce with parmesan. Lesley had king prawn risotto. I ordered two of the small plates: Mushrooms in a blue cheese, cream and wine sauce and King Prawns in a lemon wine sauce. Before they arrived we were served two amuses bouche courses. The first, a bowl of melon cubes in a basil, black pepper and olive oil dressing. This was a revelation and one I shall try to replicate at home. Then we had a big platter of bruschetta heaped with a garlic ricotta and generously topped with grated black truffle. Absolutely yummy. All the mains were outstanding. I could have just eaten the blue cheese mushrooms alone. Just fantastic. Lesley ordered the tiramasu for pudding and they gave us a big bowl so we could all try. It was a deconstructed-constructed tiramasu in that JB the chef came out and constructed it at the table. Very light and nice, much nicer than the normal in my opinion. Coffees at the end. We had wines and beer and water…. lots of bread. The entire bill with service for the 4 of us was 4200 tl ie about £50 per couple. It was outstanding value for what we’d been served. Especially in comparison with Sunday lunch yesterday which was the same price.