Hartnett Holder & Co: A place as warm and unpretentious as its chefs Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Sign in Welcome!Log into your account Forgot your password? Password recovery Recover your password Search Sign in Welcome! Log into your account Forgot your password? Get help Password recovery Recover your password A password will be e-mailed to you. YOU Magazine Fashion Beauty Celebrity Health Life Relationships Horoscopes Food Interiors Travel Home Food Tom Parker Bowles & Olly Smith A New Forest favourite and the best reds for roasts By You Magazine - November 8, 2020 One of Tom’s favourite New Forest destinations, Hartnett Holder & Co at Lime Wood, serves up a welcome tonic in troubled times. It seems a long way off now, the end of summer, a time when grown-ups were allowed to meet other grown-ups in scrupulously clean restaurants and pubs that fastidiously adhered to all those anti-Covid-19 measures. Before the rule of six and the idiotic 10pm curfew, which not only robbed places of the all-important second (and even third) sitting, but also ensured merry hordes of over-refreshed revellers poured out on to city streets at the exact same moment. First stop, the supermarket, or offie, to buy more booze before cramming on to public transport to continue the party at home. Yup, that’ll stop the virus. Stop it dead in its tracks. The perfect partner for a bone-dry martini? ‘Hot, salty arancini’. Image: Natasha Pszenicki Our Government, of course, says it’s following the science. But which science? Even the scientists are confused. Anyway, back to this post-lockdown, pre-curfew dinner, and life seems pretty sweet. We’re deep in the New Forest, at Lime Wood, one of my favourite hotels on earth, eating at its restaurant, Hartnett Holder & Co. The evening is soft, the lights softer still, and after the second sip of my second martini – bone dry and immaculately iced – I’m poised on the very edge of pre-prandial perfection. At this point, the world is filled with hope. And happiness lies ahead, as you’d expect from Angela Hartnett and Luke Holder, a place as warm and unpretentious as the two eponymous chefs, the sort of restaurant where you could order a plate of chips and a bottle of Lafite 82, and no one would even blink. There are hot, salty arancini, scented with saffron, to gobble with the last few sips of martini. And fat slices of good, chewy salami. Vitello tonnato, so often so fishily overwhelming, is more whisper than holler, the thin slices of veal warm, the sauce gently piscine. Chicken agnolotti, on the other hand, are surprisingly intense, the pasta straining to contain the rich, deeply savoury mix. By now, the light has taken on a gauzy, crepuscular warmth, helped, no doubt, by a bottle of handsome Riesling. A tranche of trout, just cooked, comes with braised baby gem, and a subtly curried yogurt sauce. Nothing is too much trouble here, and pudding melts slowly into Calvados. A full restaurant, open until the last punter skips out. It seems like a different world. Farewell for now. But good times will come again. They always do. Hartnett Holder & Co, about £45 a head, Lime Wood, Lyndhurst, Hampshire; limewoodhotel.co.uk Drinks Olly’ s best reds for a roast With roast beef, pour the best red you can – Bordeaux is the bullseye. With roast pork or roast chicken, rich oaky whites work well but as the thermometer drops, lighter reds such as Pinot Noir are perfect. I’m a fan of warming nut roasts, and spicy red blends featuring Grenache and Shiraz amplify their feelgood glow. And while Rioja with roast lamb is a classic combination, Portugal has impeccable reds to explore. SPECIALLY SELECTED CHILEAN GRAN RESERVA PINOT NOIR 2019 (14%), £6.99, Aldi. Good-value Pinot with power. Spot-on for roast pork or chicken. M&S CLASSICS COTES DU RHONE VILLAGES 2019 (13.5%), £7, Marks & Spencer. Silky, scented, spicy, plus the right richness for a nut roast, this is delicious. CHATEAU DES FOUGERES CLOS MONTESQUIEI ‘LA RAISON’ GRAVES 2011 (12.5%), £15, Tesco. Aged to perfection, this sumptuous savoury Bordeaux is beefy heaven. QUINTA DA ROMANEIRA RESERVA 2017 (13.5%), £48.95, leaandsandeman.co.uk. For a wine to wow, the spicy concentration in this stunner is as memorable as it is magical. Wine of the week THE SOCIETY’S PORTUGUESE RED 2019 (13.5%), £5.95, The Wine Society. Steal of the century. Easy, fragrant, juicy and joyful. Turn your roast into a rave. 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