Garden-grown food and nostalgic reinventions
Fine dining restaurants at luxury hotels can sometimes seem to merge into one big blur of pastel-coloured dining rooms, but the menu atSince chef Michael Nizzero took the helm, his experiencing spanning The Ritz and the three-Michelin-starred Waterside Inn at Bray , the menu has seen an innovative remix - bringing unique flavour combinations and presentation that wouldn't go amiss in a contemporary art gallery to this classical Georgian dining room.
The dining room is formal but has a surprising amount of atmosphere for a large space that has made a conscious decision to forgo background music. The tables are nicely spaced so you don't feel you're being overheard by the couple next to you whose own conversation had dried up. The most memorable aesthetic part of the restaurant though is the fact that it spans the gardens at the back of the hotel - four acres in fact. In the summer the windows are thrown open and the myriad of colourful plant-life outside feels as though it's leaning in, it too trying to get a glimpse of the colourful dishes. The modern classical French cuisine feels clean, fresh and thoughtful - there is nothing unnecessary or snobbish in the dishes, everything has a point, a purpose. The beef tartare starter is exquisitely, and playfully, presented sandwiched vertically in between the most delicate of crisp bread. Beside it sits a perfect pool of egg yolk, topped off with a little bit of caviar. Once you get over the precision of the presentation, you'll find that the flavours merge beautifully together, too. Hearty mains include dover sole with cauliflower, sea vegetables with sorrel, and beef fillet with a silky carrot purée, fondant potato and a red wine sauce. In summer and autumn, most of the veg will be from The Priory’s own kitchen garden, and the fish and meat are all responsibly sourced. Now, forgive me if I dwell here a little too much, but my choice of dessert spoke not only to my tastebuds, but to my sense of nostalgia. The entire table ordered the salted caramel fondant with banana ice-cream, and as we first dug the spoon in and tasted it, we all came to the same conclusion. It tasted like a up-levelled Whether's Original - like a Whether's Original had had a major 'glow up', and retained all the flavour but in various different textures. I can only describe the taste as akin to the feeling of your grandparent unwrapping that sweet for you, your mouth beginning to salivate at the thought of the intensely sweet piece of toffee. Or, even better, the first time you snuck one for yourself - when it had all the same flavour, but with the added deliciousness of doing something secretive, and risky.We adjourned to the lounge - adorned with paintings and antiques - for coffee and tea, played an aggressive game of Backgammon and then headed home. In short, this is a culinary journey that is worth travelling for. We discussed the dishes for several hours afterwards, and woke with the sound of smug spoonfuls of satisfaction still ringing in our ears.
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