We’d wanted to eat here for quite a while. Booked two nights as gift for other half. Really looking forward to it.
Its in a great spot - just on the edge of Whinlatter forest and has stunning views over to Skiddaw from the conservatory. Its small and cosy, though our room ( garden room ) whilst spotless, felt a bit dated and badly set out.
The real issue was the uninspiring food, though. We had two tasting menus over two nights ( with hindsight a mistake ).
The snacks did not bode well. A cracker, a tart and a cylinder. They all looked the same colour ( pale straw ) and the cylinder ( filled with cheese and quite sharp ) was not crisp - it just kind of broke in a semi chewy way in the mouth. Like slightly stale pastry. Ewww.
The next course was a shallot hollowed out and filled with goats cheese, I think. It was fine…but what I could not, and still cannot get my head around is the fact that on the second night we were served exactly the same snacks and first course. Exactly the same.
You cannot flog two night packages and do that. Can you ? Well, apparently you can.
The remaining courses came and went without incident. Fish dishes ( we had a good scallop dish on night 1 ) fared better than meat dishes. Puddings were especially poor and unaspiring. On night 1 we had a dish in which parkin had been deconstructed so it was essentially a bit of a gloopy/crumbly mess
and a weirdly heavy way to end the meal. On night 2 we had a pud which included beer which was lighter than the previous nights offering yet still felt heavy due to the strong taste of , well, beer. Tommy Banks’ chicory and potato masterpiece at Roots this was not.
On the first night we overheard the lovely lad who does front of house ( one of the owners I think ) telling another table that on Saturday one of her favourite dishes was on the menu ( bit odd saying that to folk who were just in on the Friday, but anyway ) - namely turbot. Ears were well and truly pricked up at that news.
So, the next night I was looking forward to that. Imagine my ‘delight’ when I discovered that I was not getting turbot only my other half ( who has a mushroom aversion ) was getting it. I was getting a mushroom and truffle dish instead. On what planet do you sub turbot for mushroom ? Or mushroom for turbot. “Annoyed” is not the vibe one is after when booking this kind of weekend as a treat.
There was one standout dish over two nights. It was langoustine taco. Not inspirational or novel, you might think. But it was fresh, zingy and you could literally hear people around the dining room discussing how lovely it was. That was the only time you heard such reactions over two nights. The server told us that one of their chefs is from Guatemala and it was his dish. Best put him in charge, pronto, I think.
Breakfasts were enjoyable ( certainly better food than we had for breakfast at Hrishi ) and you have the great view of Skiddaw to enjoy, weather permitting.
Overall though, I left with very mixed feelings. Great spot, dated rooms, friendly staff, but would we return, even just for food ?- probably not. I said to my other half as we left that I was surprised they had a Michelin star. Inspired by Harters’ annual updates I checked them out this morning. They have kept it but ominously the site says…
‘There has been a change of chef and our inspectors are currently reassessing the restaurant.’
The rope is fraying, I fear.
