There are few dishes that reward patience quite like a traditional shepherd’s pie. This slow-cooked lamb version is stripped back to its essentials — two days, one pot, and a handful of good ingredients that build quietly into something remarkable.

Often, shepherd’s pie was a way to use up leftover roast lamb — simple, thrifty cooking at its best. In this case, we’ve gone all in from the start, braising lamb shanks for depth and richness. Both approaches are preferable to the shortcut of mince, which can never quite replicate the texture or flavour of true slow-cooked lamb.

The dish has its roots in the rural kitchens of the British Isles in the late 18th century, when the potato became a staple and leftover meat needed a second life. Whether from England, Scotland or Ireland, the idea was the same: nothing wasted, everything transformed — and few comfort foods speak so directly to home cooking.

I made this during a rare weekend off from coaching girls football, be assured, this Shepherd’s Pie is incredible but not nearly as good as my football team!

The post Thirty-Hour Shepherd’s Pie | Recipe appeared first on National Dish.

I want to make this review short and punchy, but Emily Scott, of Cornwall in England, has such a great story.

Let’s start with ‘where’ – Emily’s restaurant is in the cool, beautiful and surfing haven of Watergate Bay, Cornwall. It started as a pop-up in 2020 in the failed Jamie Oliver Fifteen Cornwall restaurant – before they were turned into luxury sea view rooms for the Watergate Bay Hotel. In 2020 the Watergate Bay Hotel launched The Watchful Mary, a bar overlooking one of the finest beaches in Cornwall if not Britain – that bar, in 2021, has now been taken over with a permanent residency by Emily Scott – who started life, as a caterer.

So – caterer, pop-up restaurant, permanent restaurant and then, Emily Scott was asked to cook for the 2021 G7 summit leaders at the Eden Project in Cornwall followed by TV appearances. So is Emily now at the top of her game…I don’t think so, there even more to come.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by E M I L Y S C O T T (@emilyscottfood)

This restaurant certainly has the views, the chef has the reputation but does the food, experience and value match up?

You have to know before you continue, that this location, these views and the accolades come with a hefty price tag – this is an exclusive experience. It’s like surfing at Watergate Bay, if you’re not careful you’ll get into a spot of bother, same here with your bill and the RNLI won’t be able to save you.

The Restaurant only opens Wednesday to Saturday which is smart thinking bearing in mind Jamie Oliver’s’ Fifteen Cornwall bombed (and I actually liked it there).

There were 6 of us for Dinner – 3 adults, two teens and one 10 yr old – families are welcome, but I would advise against going too young.

The bar and staff are excellent, very well made cocktails, I ordered off menu – no problem. Grab a cocktail whilst you take a look at the intentionally small food menu. Some people like a big menu, and with that comes risk of poor food quality. Emily is clearly an astute business person, limited menu, carefully selected ingredients and focus on the final dish – a good combo.

You can grab some nibbles whilst you wait such as Nocellara Olives (Jamie Oliver’s favourite ironically) or whipped cod’s roe or lump in at £40 for some Exmoor caviar.

Starter wise we went for Sashimi of Scallops with Yuzu Ponzu (a citrus soy sauce) and Tempura Turbot in masala sauce. I’ll focus on the Scallops, which are are great fun. Yeah, it’s sliced raw Scallop, but the Yuzu and sesame really lift it, served in the shell and it looks great too. A good start.

Now, I did slag off the bill a bit, but our drinks bill wasn’t cheap, and that’s on us. After our £10+ cocktails we ordered some Billecart-Salmon which you don’t see often on menu and it is premium, but it’s a cracking champagne and in a seafood restaurant, that looks this good, in Cornwall, you just gotta.

Moving on to the main – no meat, just two fish options or a single vegetarian. Both fish dishes were selected and the price is going to come up again I am afraid. Either a small Lobster at £48 plus sides or Butterfly Mackerel roasted over coals with salami and green olives.

Let’s be honest, the Lobster is just Lobster, it does come with Seaweed Butter which I am fairly sure I saw a junior chef collect from the beach that day (that’s cool), burnt lime and some salad. We spent £4 on New Potatoes in Pesto.

The mackerel, one of the cheapest and most abundant fish in the sea took more cooking and flair at £25. Just because it’s cheap and easy to catch, doesn’t mean it’s a poor ingredient. Smoked Mackerel, in a packet found in your supermarket is poles apart from fresh Mackerel – when fresh the meat is white and fluffy, almost Bass like – wouldn’t think it from such an oily fish, but take my word for it, when fresh, it’s insane.

Carrying on with the bar tab, a bottle of Chablis (two actually) at £42 went with these guys nicely – fresh fish, sunset and Chablis.

The kids food by the way made them happy, normal stuff you’d expect for fussy little palates. They did try one of the desserts, and Lemon Almond Cake with Limoncello Cream for £8.50.

We visit Watergate Bay every year, cause I’m such a shit hot surfer (when I manage to stay on the board that is) and we will go back. Emily is an exceptional chef and the kitchen benefits from that. The front of house weren’t always 100% sure on the dishes when I asked probing questions, but they were so lovely, it didn’t matter.

But if I am honest, it would have taken a lot to ruin this experience and that’s with the pricing – the views soften everything, you sit and just let it take you. The worst thing about the bill…just means that it’s over!

Emily Scott’s Restaurant in Watergate Bay is the real deal and getting a reservation will be a big deal, huge.

PRICE: £££

WEBSITE AND RESERVATIONS: emilyscottfood.com

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1637 818184

EMAIL: reservations@emilyscottfood.com

LOCATION: On the sea wall, Watergate Bay, Cornwall, TR8 4AA

The post Fresh Fish, Sunset and Chablis | Emily Scott Watergate Bay Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

Now, when writing these things, reviewers try to lead the reader through to the end of the article, tease the verdict. They may or may not achieve that, but in this case, I am forced to drag it out, because my friends made such a fuss. Don’t worry, it’s not an essay.

Where

The Larder at One Bayshill Road, Cheltenham opened in July 2020, which they had to delay from the original launch in February because of the Coronavirus Lockdown. They, are two local girls, Hetty and Lucy, who also run the catering company Box Fresh Street Food. One Bayshill Road is actually a retirement apartment block, a very swanky one at that. The Larder was originally a residents only eatery, but, it has been opened up to everyone, which is a very shrewd move.

It’s a very grand looking building therefore The Larder has benefited from nice interior design. It’s relaxed and soft with a suitably contemporary feel to it. The lighting, delivered by teardrop pearl like shades, is a little bright, giving the dinner service a bit of a daytime cafe feel. I am a little fussy about lighting though. The Larder is also rather small, in an intimate way, with only 30 covers situated around a very open kitchen – it works. There are also only a few services at the moment, partly Covid but also because it’s new and the situation is slightly different. You can dine Thursday to Saturday and then a very nice looking Sunday Lunch service. You don’t need me to tell you, you;; need to book.

The staff are stand out nice. I had been briefed that Hetty and Lucy were lovely, other reviews on TripAdvisor also echo that, they really are a lovely team and you’ll be looked after. You can see that they genuinely love doing this and maintain a wonderful balance of professionalism and informality.

The Food

Similarly to the restaurant, the menu is also small – always a good thing. Any menu too large is defrosting a dump load of food – no thanks. I love restaurant with a tight menu. The Larder also has a surprisingly good balance of vegetarian options. The wine list is short and sweet also, favouring old world with a few new worlds thrown in – they have the Most Wanted guys on there.

Of the four starters available I went for a Black Pudding Scotch Egg, with only one thing on my mind, the same thing that should be on anyone’s mind when ordering a scotch egg in a restaurant. Will the yoke be runny? Take a look.

The celeriac remoulade was a nice touch, I ate the whole. This thing is nice. By the way, if you’re a bit weird about Black Pudding, you’re a loser.

The others went for a Mackerel Pate and a very fun looking Roasted Beetroot and Goats Cheese Risotto. The portions are actually pretty large and the price very reasonable, around £6.50. Everyone was happy, I tried some of the Pate – smokey as hell.

[huge_it_gallery id=”5″]

I made a surprising choice with my main, on offer was Sri Lankan Prawn Curry (my choice), Slow Braised Beef Bourguignon, Chicken Schnitzel on Linguini, Roasted Vegetable Vegan Tartlet (meh) and a Root Vegetable Tagine. The Confit Duck Leg had been gobbled up. They did hit us with a special, Lambs Liver.

The Curry and Schnitzel were to main choice. My Prawn Curry looked beautiful, but was a little cold and I think could have been spicier. The plate could have been hotter maybe. The latter is my problem, as a coconut based curry, it was never going to be kick ass hot. I am not sure that I ordered well – which is unusual. It was creamy, it was deep but left me slightly wanting. With is came a couple of small Onion Bhaji’s, they were really good. The prawns were perfect and the best poppadom I might have ever had.

We went for a range of desserts. The guys kept on about the Eton Mess, which as actually rather tidy and pretty. I went for the toughest Sticky Toffee Pudding ever, I couldn’t get through it with a spoon – it was so chewy, was great – not sure how intentional that was. It was served with Walnut Ice Cream – now that was a thing to eat! The final one was a Lemon Curd creme Brûlée – looked really nice served in a coffee cup.

[huge_it_gallery id=”6″]

Summary

The Larder is a super relaxed cafe come restaurant that isn’t trying to fine dine you or charge for it. The food is homely and will suit pretty much everyone. I am confident that Sunday Lunch would be really good. It’s a really nice place to spend some time and the folks that work there are lush.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

PRICE: £

WEBSITE AND RESERVATIONS: www.thelarderrestaurant.co.uk

TELEPHONE: +44 (0) 1242 388 246

EMAIL: thelarderrestaurant@outloook.com

LOCATION: One Bayshill Road, Montpellier, Cheltenham

The post The Larder, Montpellier, Cheltenham | Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

Blink and you’ll miss it – I’ve lived in Cheltenham for 5 years and had to look hard to find it, follow your feet not your nose and it appears, nestled in a regular Cheltenham basement. Down some rather tight steps, and you’re already like, ohhhhh, that’s why it’s called Petit Coco.

The entrance is cute, in you go to a atmospherically lit, umm, French Bistro. It’s so cute, very few covers in a couple of small rooms with a shabby old French Dresser (an exact version of which I actually own) and everything fabulously un-fancy – leading you to believe that this place is gonna be all about the food and rude – just like France, brilliant!

Had a cosy table near the door, squashed in between the wall and a rather dramatic fireplace. Tables were close but not too close and the atmosphere had gentle music and quiet conversation, this is a supremely intimate place.

Friendly, to the point, but really friendly waitress appears with the wine list – red please, I’m driving, so a carafe of house Merlot between us and some water – lovely. The menu, if you can call it that, is delivered to the table written on to a small table top blackboard. There are very few dishes on it – and in my mind, that means quality, not big chain, poorly cooked/defrosted quantity.

Two courses a piece – here’s how it started:

Lambs Kidneys à la Moutarde £6.35 (mustard), which arrived in a small cast iron skillet, a half moon pastry sat atop plenty of Kidneys bathing in a lovely mushroom coloured sauce, smelling of piss. Now, I feel bad about saying that, because they are kidneys after all, and they are the body’s piss processing plant. I’m a foodie thought right? I had to eat them, and glad I did – even through the subtle taste of urine. I can’t say that I loved them, for obvious reasons, but I know they were good.

I asked the waitress how they were cooked and more specifically in Sherry, like my grandmother used to. With a shrug of the shoulders I realised that the food, whilst wonderfully artisan and clearly centre stage – these guys weren’t going for stars – and for that, I loved it even more. This is a question I ask every time – it’s a good indicator of their vibe.

Comté Soufflé £6.95 – went for it! Will it or won’t it? Do you think everyone says that when they order stuff like that, you know, like a Chocolate Fondant, “ooohhh Nigel, but will it still be runny inside”? I literally don’t know anyone called Nigel – no idea why I used that name, Nige it is though.

It arrived, was puffy, wobbly, grilled cheese colour covered in a cheesy sauce – fork in hand, eyes wide open, a gentle plunge. I’m bigging this up far too much, it was ace, really soft, perfect Soufflé in texture, structure and flavour – nailed it. Nige would have pissed himself, hopefully not over the Kidneys…again, it’s a joke, they were good…jeez, chill-out.

Here’s how it continued:

Poitrine de Porc £17.95 – pork belly (slice), served in a skillet again, on mash with wilted greens AND a grilled sausage – oh, with gravy. It was good, real good. Now, I am a pork fiend, without doubt the finest beast one can eat – I myself am a little piggie, so is Nige. I think what you’re looking for when ordering any pork belly dish is something so soft you can eat it with a spoon, plenty of char colour, bit of crisp to it and the inevitable sweet salt kick – I was happy.

Magret de Canard £18.95 – you know this, Duck Breast. You’re in a similar territory to pork belly here, you want colour and crunch, but hopefully with nice pink duck breast. They did enquire as to how we wanted it cooked, but in a “are you ok with medium rare”? Of course we were. Now, this came with Gratin Dauphinoise Potato, served in it’s own little baking paper pouch. When I make them I tend to slice the potatoes rather thin and layer up. These guys did much chunkier slices, with slightly less sauce, but it was rammed, and I mean packed full of cheesy, creamy and garlicy flavour. We were slightly concerned it might be a little dry, but the flavour dealt with that – was different though, which is a good thing. The duck was great, good portion and the sauce, silky and smooth – very good.

It ended with a look at the dessert menu – with which we were too full, nearly, very nearly shared a reasonably priced Apple Tart Tatin (£5.95) – but, out of room I’m afraid.

The bill arrived, bear in mind we didn’t have much alcohol, not even a full bottle or dessert, it was a pleasant £63.15. Which for two happy people makes for a good night. Overall, I would say the pricing is on a par and reasonable, not cheap, but not overly expensive.

Who is it for? Romantic couples for sure, your folks would love it too – rowdy mates, probably not and not built for kids. The verdict, you gotta go – Petit Coco Cheltenham is top ten on TripAdvisor and rightly so.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £

WEBSITE: petitcoco.co.uk

TELEPHONE: 01242 257343

The post Petit Coco Cheltenham Restaurant Review | What’s it like to eat at Petit Coco Bistro Cheltenham appeared first on National Dish.

It’s famous for being the centre of the West End social scene and lets be honest, complete and utter wanky bollocks. Originally that meant celebs everywhere, people like Vivien Leigh, Marlene Dietrich, Ant & Dec… You’ll probably only get a table if you’ve polished an Oscar. But you already knew that and most reviews you’ll read will want to provide you with loads more of that – here’s a link to the wiki page, fill your boots.

In short, big brand restaurant in London famous for being cool is acquired by some clever people, they invest in opening a load more outside of London. Are they any good though or just tricking us out of our hard earned cash by passing off? The anticipation has been very real and I think Cheltenham feels rather honoured to be have one of it’s own.

Bear in mind, whilst The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie Cheltenham is owned by the same company as The Ivy, it’s not strictly a sister restaurant. The ‘Grill and Brasserie’s are a separate chain of regional restaurants and at the time of writing there are 15, in places, amongst others, such as Bristol (my home town), Bath, Harrogate and Edinburgh. There are a further 7 planned in Dublin, Cambridge, Guildford, Winchester, Birmingham, Leeds and Brighton. The Ivy Cheltenham, I hope, is a good indicator of the rest.

Firstly, you have tip your hat to the building, the Rotunda in Montpellier was pretty special before they nabbed it off Lloyd’s Bank, but they’ve decorated and it now has to be one the finest looking dining establishments anywhere, not just Cheltenham. I hope they used Farrow and Ball – they’ll get found out around here.

The entrance, leading to a small vestibule (more like an air lock) adorned with the traditional Ivy stained glass hosts the maitre’d and cloakroom, you can’t see the main restaurant, raising your excitement levels. The expression ‘if your name’s not on the list you’re not coming in’ applies, so make sure you book. A gentry looking chap tried to shoot past to the bar, no chance – they politely, friendly and professionally asked him to book. It certainly made those of us with bookings feel extra special.

You’ll be led through double doors to the restaurant via a short corridor flanked by wings of intimate tables and then in to the centre piece itself, the rotunda. It’s not like when you walk in to Twickenham for the first time, but your neck will be craning to grab a look, it’s stunning. The dome loops itself around the bar, walls adorned with…horses, obvs, and it will be the area that most people request a table for, but don’t dismiss those wings, they look wonderfully private, comfortable and a great place to get some privacy.

Tables are ever so slightly close together, there can be a bit of bumping, mainly from the front of house guys, but as you’ll learn, that’s fine. This is my segue to the general vibe of The Ivy Cheltenham.

They’re famous for a vibrant social scene, that’s what it is. Don’t think this is Michelin Star fine dining, all stuffy and ONLY about the food. This is a lively and active cocktail bar and restaurant. The front of house are friendly first and foremost, they are knowledgeable about the menu and what’s behind it. I did ask, just to sense check the culture, if there was a sommelier, my guy didn’t know what that was – so what? The place was unexpectedly relaxed…to its credit.

Couple of cocktails to get going, they do have their own local signature cocktail English Spa Royale which is a Kir Royale created with Sipsmith sloe gin, Briottet Rose liqueur & hibiscus topped off with Champagne, had one of these at their pre-opening evening – they went fast. Tonight was a Pitsville Collins and a Buttered Manhattan, the latter being the best of the two.

A few of the cocktails have a local angle, which is a nice touch. The Pitsville Collins is a long vodka, elderflower and cider based drink with plenty of ice, cucumber, apple and lime. The voddie is Wyborowa, which is Polish and owned by the Absolut guys, I get that. But I was a little disappointed that the cider couldn’t be local, it was Aspel from Suffolk. I really like Aspel, but we’re in the west country, cider is a way of life. If it needs to be dry, Stowford Press, just 45 minutes up the road from Cheltenham would have done just as good a job, if not better.

In a tumbler over rocks arrived my Buttered Manhattan, which is really good, outstanding in fact. Its like a vodka earl grey tea with a touch of orange, almost lady grey without the spice. It’s dry with a smashing colour and great to sip whilst you look at surprisingly large menu of primarily modern British greats – I would call this traditional fair.

You can get their famous shepherds pie for £13.50 or a burger for £14.25, even fish and chips for £14.50. See what I mean, the food is incredibly British and traditional with only a few exceptions and priced quite reasonably? You can spend more on steak should you wish, topping out at £27.95 for a bone in rib-eye to which you can add a sauce for £2.75. I’ve forgotten the last time I got a sauce as an option included in the price. The point is though, you can spend lots or not – making the Cheltenham Ivy incredibly accessible.

Whilst you’re looking I recommend a bowl of Zucchini Fritti, they’re real good, Zoodles in tempura.

The bill was £144 for two people, 3 courses, with nibbles, sides, cocktails and a bottle of wine. I think that represents great value. I would normally save the price for the end, but it sets the tone for the whole experience. Here’s what you can get for the money:

Nibbles

• The bowl of Zucchini Fritti with the cocktails – there was a lot of em, enough for four people, tried not to eat too many, they were too good though.

Starter

• Took the Steak Tartare (featured image) for a spin, which was perfect, served with a nice bright egg yolk, couldn’t fault it – you gotta order this.
• Tuna carpaccio was another success, sliced super fine with a Japanese ponzu sauce with sesame flavour galore running through it. The little dollops of avocado gave it another little angle. This is one of those things that just worked.

Main

• Main course one was half a roast chicken, neatly removed from the bone in one piece. Could have done with a little more of the gremelata (like a salsa verde) and rosemary jus, but it was quite a large dish and couldn’t eat it all anyway. This was pure gold.

• Slow roasted lamb shoulder, which is unusual for me to order as I like to try different things, but if cooked well, should be great fun. I didn’t need a knife, just a fork, it fell apart. It came with the sauce on the side, in a little copper saucepan and it was gorgeous, had some carrots in there too, nice little surprise. The sauce allowed me to ignore the creamed potato it was sat on which was a little dry.

• Had a couple of sides – Truffle and Parmesan Chips, which were OK and green beans with almonds, which were a welcome to cut through all that meat and carb.
• Washed this down with a bottle of Malbec

I did ask my friendly waiter for his choice of main and he went for the duck curry, I felt bad for ignoring him so I let him pick desert and I’m glad I did.

Dessert – if you get this far

• Flourless cappuccino cake  – how great does that sound? It’s very light, almost mousse like, rich in coffee and very sweet. Big enough to share between two.
• My man arrived with his choice and a little performance. Apple Tart Fine, a baked apple tart with vanilla ice cream and Calvados flambé, the little show off. Once the flames had died down and the audience had dissipated, I got stuck in. It’s almost Tarte Tatin, the pastry was sublime, which after everything I’d eaten was dangerous, I could only manage about a third of it.

All in all, the atmosphere, reputation and the building makes this place and it doesn’t disappoint. The food is well executed in both flavour and presentation without being too over fussy, it is traditional stuff, but The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie Cheltenham pulls it off.

You can and should book up in the knowledge that you are coming to an exclusive restaurant which is incredibly laid back and not as expensive as you might have thought. Don’t worry about airs and graces, unless you want to, you can have that type of night if you like or you can just get your mates together and go out for a laugh, good food and cocktails.

It’s definitely pretentious, but in a good way.

[huge_it_gallery id=”3″]

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £ £

WEBSITE: theivycheltenhambrasserie.com

TELEPHONE: 01242 894200

Upcoming Ivy Restaurants:

• THE IVY CAMBRIDGE BRASSERIE, 16 Trinity St, City Centre, Cambridge CB2 1TB
• THE IVY VICTORIA QUARTER – LEEDS,Vicars Lane, LEEDS, LS1 6BB, West Yorkshire
• THE IVY WINCHESTER BRASSERIE, 103-104 High Street, Winchester, SO23 9AH, Hampshire
• THE IVY DAWSON STREET DUBLIN, 13-17 Dawson St, Dublin Southside, Dublin, Ireland
• THE IVY CASTLE VIEW – GUILDFORD,Tunsgate Square, 98-100 High Street, Guildford GU1 3HE
• THE IVY TEMPLE ROW BIRMINGHAM,67-71 Temple Row, Birmingham, B2 5LS
• THE IVY IN THE LANES – BRIGHTON, 51a Ship Street, BRIGHTON BN1 1AF

All prices correct at time of publication.

The post The Ivy Montpellier Brasserie Cheltenham Restaurant Review | What’s it really like? | National Dish appeared first on National Dish.

– we’re not 100% sure where this dish might originate.

I accidentally made it up, but that’s not to say it doesn’t exist. So in actual fact this could be a South East Asian ‘influenced’ English dish – Changlo food! You saw it here first.

Anyway, I fancied sweet and sour chicken, but wanted to add lots of chilli and forgot to buy pineapple, so used some mango I had – hence…

It’s really good – I also knocked up a cheats Mushroom Chow Mein on the side.

The post Sweet and Sour Chilli Mango Chicken | National Dish Recipe from South East Asia…maybe appeared first on National Dish.

The Bottle of Sauce Cheltenham has been open for nearly year, celebrating it’s first birthday this Christmas, but is it still any good – that’s assuming it once was?

I didn’t go ‘The Sauce’ when it first opened, everyone was talking about it – which for some reason put me off, I’d normally be well up for something new. Anyhow, I thought it was time to take a look and see if it still lived up to the hype.

From the outside you’re entering an old corner boozer, step through the doors and the first impression is very cool, not a place for fuglies. It’s like a giant Banksy expo, almost every wall has been thoroughly muralated.

A large bar greets you, with plenty of pumps, optics and of course, those taps on the back wall hosting ‘the craft’ drink selection.

It’s a building of many rooms, a real rabbit warren. There are some tables in the bar areas, some private rooms, a good sized courtyard located next to another building, aptly named ‘The Canteen’.

The whole thing is about as urban as you’ll get in Cheltenham – Centre for the Cotswolds.

The music and atmosphere match the aesthetics, and you can either just use it as a bar or go to eat – either formally or informally. It’s almost American but absolutely not, it’s still executed in a very English way – they’ve done well.

Lower priced drinks and cocktail are often available at happy hour, between 5pm and 7pm – The Bottle of Sauce really wants you to visit after work, and often will incentivize you – following them on social media is a good way to keep abreast of any opportunities.

My visit was was with a small group for lunch. I was being ultra healthy and went for some Carb Free, Gluten Free spicy as hell, Angry Chicken Wings – Wing Sting Hot Sauce – Jalapeño. The Bottle is very much in to modern thinking when it comes to the food offering, very aware of health and allergens – that really is a good thing.

The guys mostly went for burgers, which if I’m honest, is the staple diet here. The serving method is fun though, all the sides come out first and the the burgers follow on a baking tray – and then it’s every man and women for themselves.

I literally couldn’t take the picture fast enough and only caught the last one, gannets.

All in all, the food is great, it’s not complicated food, but that’s not what you want in this environment – but the quality of the food itself, is superb.

the setting is really cool, I mean ultra cool. I’ve been there again since this visit, in the evening and it was heaving, so we went in to the courtyard, I’ll grab a new pic next time – it looked great at night.

I’d have to say, you should go here at least once, you’ll probably go again, which for me, is tomorrow…

We paid the bill to keep it real.

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

 

PRICE: £ £

WEBSITE: thebottleofsauce.com

TELEPHONE: 01242 256156

The post What’s it like at The Bottle of Sauce Cheltenham? | National Dish Restaurant Review appeared first on National Dish.

The Hotel du Vin Winchester is a well established favourite, I have been a number of times and this visit made it worthy of review.

My co-eaters were 7 well oiled ‘guys’ on a stag and following a competitive Go Karting session we felt lunch at Hotel du Vin Winchester’s Bistro would be more appropriate, than dinner – you’ll see why below.

The building is a rabbit warren of rooms and corridors, the decor is intentionally distressed, like an old smokey gentleman’s club, with large sash windows of the period.

Heading to the bar, a bright and more modern room, we were met with the first of a series of incredibly helpful staff, upon requesting a Monkey Shoulder Whisky Sour, I was greeted with a happy knowing smile, followed by a superbly made ‘man cocktail’.

Lunch was a rather obvious affair, for which I don’t apologise, steak galore – choice of rib-eye, Chateaubriand, Fillet, Porterhouse and Onglet Steak (Hanger Steak). Some had starters and others opted for dessert, I went for the former. Asparagus soldiers and a runny duck egg with Brown crab mayonnaise – super healthy and great fun to eat – nice combo.

We ordered a mix of rib, Hanger and two went for it, Chateaubriand – all came with fries, I swapped out for Haricot verts a la Nicoise and then we shared various sides.

The steaks were cooked very well, mine inside was rare and hot, but it could have been cooked on a far hotter grill, it was lacking the char-grilled colour and therefore flavour. The Haricot verts a la Nicoise was bonkers good, I’ll make that and add to the site – stunning.

The others’ held a lot more colour, beautiful and perfectly cooked and the sides were each like a mini dish in its own right, rather than a side for sides sake – big enough to share between two of you if you have one each.

I skipped dessert, those that didn’t all ordered Creme Brulee – arrived in a large shallow dish rather than a ramekin and all were happy.

I’ve touched on it already, but it has to be said, the front of house at Hotel du Vin Winchester is exceptional. Service for large tables can often be challenging, they nailed it and everything in between.

Sunny weather in southern England took us to the hotel’s spacious courtyard garden, adorned with comfortable furniture and a small coy carp pond for a couple more drinks, when a most extraordinary thing happened.

As our waiter took payment, this happened:

This guy was awesome – thank you to the #beatboxwaiter and for that Hotel du Vin, Winchester gets a rating of:

National Dish Rating:

Atmosphere
Food
Drink
Staff
Value
Overall
Average

Price: £ £ £

Website: www.hotelduvin.com/locations/winchester

Telephone: 01962 896329

A bit about Winchester

Winchester is a stunning and perfectly small city, once capital of England and previous winner of ‘The Sunday Times Best Places to Live’.

Located in Hampshire, which in itself is famous for Watercress, dining out in Winchester is a quality affair, with many small artisan restaurants and bars dotted throughout the city centre, all within walking distance.

You won’t find a rowdy nightlife, despite what you may have seen in our video, but it’s only a short train journey to Southampton or less than hour to London, if you need to take your evening to the next level.

Living in Winchester can be reassuringly expensive, but then it was declared as a capital city by King Alfred the Great – a statue of the Viking stopping monarch can be found loud and proud in the city.

The post What is it like to eat at Hotel du Vin, Winchester? Actually, you won’t believe our Restaurant Review #beatboxwaiter – VIDEO appeared first on National Dish.