Intense flavors mark the relaxed yet refined cooking at Holbeck Ghyll
Dinner at Holbeck Ghyll has everything you'd expect of a restaurant with a Michelin star, three AA Rosettes and an award as Cumbria's Restaurant of the year from the Good Food Guide- impeccable service, a good variety of dishes and courses, a few extra little treats, as is the fashion nowadays. About the only surprise is why Head Chef David McLaughin's ability to deliver such intense flavors has not won him even more garlands and prizes.Dinner began with drinks and a chef's selection of amuse buches (hors d'oeuvres)in one of the hotel's comfortable lounges, while I studied the short but interesting menu.
The Dining Room
Once the meal was ready, I was shown into the warm, oak-panelled and terracotta-colored dining room. Tables - each one different - are of bare, polished wood, protected with traditional English placemats. The glow of reflected candlelight on bare wood and the sparkle of crystal and silver are all round.Every dish is presented like a work of art - an arranged platter of hand made breads (I chose hot walnut and apricot), a tiny cup of richly flavored smoked chicken and celeriac velouté.
Essential tastes
A first course of salt cod panna cotta, surrounded by salmon beignets - thumbnail-sized fritters, light as clouds - came with humbly named "pickled vegetables" - slivers of not quite identifiable vegetables, each one creating a small, tart explosion on the tongue.My boeuf en daube, a sort of high class French pot roast, was the most intensely beefy flavored beef I've ever eaten, accompanied by a half-bottle from the award winning list of 280 wines.
And afters
Later over coffee in the lounge, I mingled with other guests of this discreetly friendly country house hotel, and satisfied my sweet tooth with a selection of beautifully made and presented chocolates and petits fours.
There was pretty much universal agreement that the distinguishing characteristic of the French-influenced, Modern British cooking was the remarkable concentration of flavor. A memorable meal, well worth repeating.
The basics for dining at Holbeck Ghyll, Windermere in the Lake District
- The restaurant serves lunch and dinner, daily, for both resident and non-resident diners.
- At dinner, the three-course set menu costs between £40 and £50 while a six to eight course "Gourmet" menu costs about £60.
- Lunch is excellent value, costing about half the price of the dinner menu, for two or three courses.
- Dinner, bed and breakfast rates are available for guests of Holbeck Ghyll Country House Hotel.
- Booking is essential for both lunch and dinner. Contact by:
- Tel: +44 (0)1539 432 375
- Fax: +44 (0)1539 434 743
- Email:stay@holbeckghyll.com
