Olive Magazine Gourmet Mini Break at The Aviator Hotel

The outside of The Aviator Hotel

So I am finally writing about the Gourmet Mini Break at The Aviator Hotel that I won from Olive Magazine! It happened way back in May 2010, so sharing the experience nearly 20 months later isn't going to win me any awards for breaking news reporting, but it's a nice way to remind myself of the experience.

First of all I'll explain how I was lucky enough to win the competition. Basically I went onto the BBC Good Food website and I entered all the competitions they have available. I do this at least once a month and my efforts (if you can call filling in your name and address effort) paid off as I won this fabulous competition.

Here is what the prize included:

• Light lunch at leisure served in the Deli
• Group Chocolate Truffle Masterclass with Head Chef, Allan Pickett and a chance to meet the other winners
• Winners Champagne and Canapés in the Sky Bar
• Three Course Dinner in the Brasserie
• Overnight stay in a Sky Suite
• Breakfast at leisure
• Deli picnic hamper to take away

The Aviator is one of the leading hotels of the world by TAG and it's situated on the Hampshire/Surrey border so it wasn't too far for us to travel to, but we did get a bit lost and ended up at an airfield where the friendly security guard gave us a map to the hotel (we were obviously not the first people to get lost looking for the hotel). 

View from the top of the main staircase

When we finally arrived we were really impressed with both the exterior and interior of the building. The curves are really stunning and it feels very glamorous.

View from our Sky Suite - Farnborough Airport on a rainy day

The hotel overlooks Farnborough Airport where they hold the Airshow; an event I am very familiar with as my Dad used to work for BAE and he took me to the Airshow a couple of times when I was a child.

 Lounging area of the Sky Suite

Our room was a Sky Suite, which was located on the 4th floor and it was amazing! We'd never stayed in such a massive room before (55 square meters) with a super king size beds, walk in wardrobes and a separate area for lounging. We definitely felt very special and so lucky to stay in such a lovely suite. This did of course mean that any hotel we'd stayed in after this could not possibly compete and we would forever be saying "It's not as nice as the Aviator".

 There was also a TV in the cabinet near the end of the bed

    

Huge luxury bathroom

Shower big enough for 2 people - look at the size of the showerhead!

My first taste of a snuggly, luxury bathrobe

So after we'd had a good look around our Suite and swept our jaws off the floor, we went and had our lunch in the Deli.

Afternoon Tea - don't mind if I do!

There was a good choice of sandwiches, soups and salads, but we decided to share the Afternoon Tea as it was the most expensive item on the menu! We were presented with a very generous 3 tiers of sandwiches and cakes and a huge scone with clotted cream and strawberry jam. We didn't manage to finish it all, but we tried a little bit of everything and we particularly liked the little orange cakes.

After lunch we had free time before our Chocolate Truffle Masterclass. I was really looking forward to this part of the day and it didn't disappoint. The class was held by the Head Chef Allan Pickett who was incredibly friendly and we found out his in-laws live in the next road from us! Small world indeed.

Head Chef Allan Pickett

All the ingredients laid out for us

The hat made me feel like a pro!

Steve carefully piping his truffles

Getting ready to coat my truffles in either nuts, cocoa or chocolate strands.

The finished truffles!

The truffles were really easy to make: just mix good quality chocolate with heated cream and then quickly cool so that it is a piping consistency. Then you dip them in more melted chocolate and coat them with whatever you like. In fact they were so easy that it made me greatly wonder how chocolate shops can charge so much for them!

We met up with the other winners for Champagne and canapes in the Sky Bar, but we left very quickly as we don't like Champagne and we were more excited about what was on the dinner menu! Dinner was held in the Brasserie and overall I think we did enjoy the meal, although I made some bad choices and suffered serious food envy!

Steve's perfectly cooked Scotch Egg starter

Steve really liked his Scotch Egg as the yolk was still lovely and soft. I ordered a Duck Salad but it was drowned in sesame oil so I didn't enjoy it.

Steak with the works

We both had steak and I should have ordered the sirloin like Steve, but I ordered the bland fillet only because it came with dauphinoise potatoes! I never order fillet, because there's no fat on it to give it any flavour (my favourite cut is rib-eye) so I was obviously blindsided by the potato accompaniment. Looking back, I should have ordered the sirloin and asked for the dauphinoise to replace the chips. I think if I'd been in America this brainwave would have come to me much easier; as restaurants over there seem more willing to accomodate your choices.

Coffee crème brûlée, orange shortbread and an unappetising chocolate smear

Panna cotta with poached strawberries

Steve had the crème brûlée as it's one of his favourite desserts. We can't imagine why the chef would think that chocolate smear on the plate would improve appearances in any shape or form. I had the panna cotta and it's the  first time I'd tried this dessert. It was really nice and I discovered very easy to make; although I have only made it once and I should do so again and post a recipe!

Deli picnic hamper

This is the lovely hamper that we were given when we checked-out of the hotel. It was filled with a cold meat selection, cheeses, chutneys and other goodies.