This time it was the hotel and restaurant combination that made us book. We were choosing between Linthwaite House, where Henrock is Simon Rogan’s restaurant, and Gilpin. Linthwaite is a Leeu Collection hotel and we have already stayed at their properties in South Africa. So why not Gilpin?
We sat in the smaller dining room, which had just five tables. It is cosy, with an almost Nordic feel. Music playing from the loudspeakers, actually a good mix, no rave, no experimental jazz, and at exactly the right level.
We went for the shorter ORIGIN menu, three courses with choices, and added the cheese as a supplement. So probably more a taste of what the kitchen can produce than the full picture.
A glass of white and one good bottle of red, Vega Sicilia Valbuena 5º 2013, still young. The Canadian sommelier made a faultless decanting, a rare sight these days, and it opened up beautifully in the glass.
Her service was excellent. The whole team was good.
The water was Velleminfroy Pétillante, new to us. One of the most heavily mineralised waters in France, and it tastes like it. Chalky, slightly bitter, and it got in the way of the food rather than clearing the palate.
A strange choice for a restaurant at this level. We will not be drinking it again.
But, and here it is again, but. The food.
Two snacks arrived before the starter.
The starter, Agnolotti, Cep, Enoki, Black Truffle, was too mushy, almost gooey. OK for me, not for my wife. Then came a dish plated old school, Cumbrian lamb with bone marrow on top and frankly too much going on. Pieces here and there, and the dish did not come together.
I never understand how to eat this kind of dish. What goes with what? A tiny bit of that with a tiny bite of this. Next time I will ask.
Ollie Bridgwater, the chef whose name is on most of what you read about SOURCE, left in the spring. Kevin Scanlan now runs the kitchen. That, and the short menu, is probably a fair part of the explanation.
Still, it is what we were served.
The dessert was, I think, Scottish Strawberry, Olive Oil, Basil. I remember nothing about it.
We ended with a British cheese selection, five pieces, presented with the names and a short text in its own little menu. A nice touch.
The sommelier gave us more to admire than the kitchen.
Afterwards we moved to one of the cosy sitting rooms, where the petits fours arrived.
I ordered an Irish coffee, which was, interesting. Whisky, cold coffee, cold cream poured in and stirred. I was not expecting a whisky milkshake.
Out it went and I ordered a straight whisky instead. Somehow the milkshake still ended up on the bill at check-out the next day.
Seventeen pounds.
Not every dish makes the review. The rest ends up on Instagram →
Almost every restaurant we have visited, in one list → The Restaurant List
