Roganic

So, following the departure of Ben Spalding, the kitchen is firmly back in the hands of Simon Rogan.
Andy Tomlinson has been promoted to head chef and Simon has, in a very short space of time, changed the menus with perhaps up to twenty new dishes to choose from.
Our recent lunch had three menus to choose from. The three course lunch at £29 with an option of two glasses of wine for an extra £6, extremely good value and most tempting.
A six course at £55, and the one that we tried, the ten course at £80. Of course we all know that with Simon's generosity its always more than the stated, so even the lunch menu will have an extra course or two.

My apologies in advance. It would take me too long to describe all the dishes in detail, I shall show the photos and summarize later.

Amuse was an Onion biscuit and nettle cream.

Next up Smoked Pork and eel croquettes.

Bread, was a choice of three rolls each, Wholemeal and Ale, pumpernickel. amd onion and thyme. They were served with butter from Netherend farm in Gloucestershire whipped with Maldon sea salt

Grown up egg yolk from the golden egg, celeriac, sorrel and garlic cream.

 

The "egg" has chicken puree inside of it. Its a similar dish to one at L'enclume. It was explained the chicken puree is placed into moulds to set, then the egg is coated in a type of jelly. Hope I have that correct. This sat on a celeriac mash. Some celeriac crisps, and garlic mayo on top.


Spring Broth with carrot dumplings, sea kale shoots and pearl barley.

Raw Venison in coal oil, mustard, scurvy grass and onions.

Crispy seaweed mashed potatoes, wild leek and fennel.

Cornish Lobster, oyster, apple, pickled kohlrabi, and coastal herbs.

Five flavoured Monkfish, razor clams, vinegar and hazelnut.

Herdwick Lamb flank, sweetbread, salsify, hedge garlic and velvet caps.

Sweet cheese, water celery, artichoke and malt.

Rhubarb with meadowsweet, cream cake, sweet cicely.

And finally to end, White Chocolate bourbon ice cream.

Yes a bit of a marathon, but the type of marathon that we prefer these days.
So very much going on throughout the meal, many different tastes, textures, aromas.
The standout aroma of the meal was the lamb. The table next to us ate it after we did and the smell was just divine I wanted to eat the dish all over again. Apart from the aroma, taste wise it was also a stand out dish.

Needless to say we enjoyed all of Simon's food, no duff dishes here. Stand outs were (apart from the lamb) The Lobster, and the Venison. The crispy briney seaweed mashed potatoes were much relished, as was the monkfish.

Service here is very good indeed, assured, but relaxed and informed. Nothing is too much trouble. Sandia Chang was at her very best and will be missed, but the team will carry on reinforced with good spirit. It was nice to speak with Sandia's husband James Knappet who popped in at the end of service. We wish them all the very best with their new Bubbledogs venture.

We popped our heads into the kitchen to speak briefly with Simon, who's work ethic is much to be admired. Leading from the front, his team are pushing to maintain his very high standards.

So all in all for us a great way to spend a Friday lunch. Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination but we enjoyed the food here as much as, if not more than some other higher rated restaurants.
On the subject of value, the lunch menu with the wine is exceptionally good and whats more currently it consists of three of the dishes that we ate., the spring broth, the fabulous lamb and the pretty plated Rhubarb dish.

So yes this meal for us ticked all of the boxes

Team Rogan