Staying at Sopwell House gave me the opportunity to lunch ... dine....and breakfast in situs and in doing so, enjoying the full spectrum offered by the kitchens.
Sopwell House has known several re-incarnations; there is no better place to see the architectural evidence of the past than in the formal restaurant rooms. Take the bow window, it was once an outside wall and now a subtle part of the décor.
Sopwell House has known several re-incarnations; there is no better place to see the architectural evidence of the past than in the formal restaurant rooms. Take the bow window, it was once an outside wall and now a subtle part of the décor.
In September 2014, Gopi Chandran, international chef, was brought in, to challenge perfectly acceptable but a little too safe menus. Changes are subtle but make a whole lot of difference. The Sunday lunch menu is still traditional British and European dishes but now with some arresting additions, the shaved Florence fennel, for example which pepped up my pan seared sea bass.
For Starters, he played safe choosing a gravadlax of salmon and I went for an adventurous king scallops with slow roasted belly of pork, citus oil, purple potato and paper thin bacon. Both were perfectly executed.
Gopi Chandran uses an abundance of fresh local produce and herbs grown on site. Since his arrival, he has challenged the house gardeners in several ways. Gopi's next project is to tie the produce with Georgian times and to make the kitchen as self sufficient as possible which will includes setting up beehives.
Pebble Soup's regular readers will know that neither he nor I are great fans of desserts. If I had my time here again I would definitely indulge in a Fresh fruit pavlova or a Bailey's cheesecake rather than selecting the cheese board which by the way was lovely but Sopwell House patisseries-chef and team are brilliant. No wonder that the afternoon teas are extremely popular.
The Brasserie is far less formal, no white table cloth here. Still all decorum is not gone, table decorations and white napkins over black table set a certain tone. There is an open kitchen and a view of the swimming pool which is rather fun. Dishes are straight forward, burgers, salads. Breakfast is served here too.
We may not think of hotels as restaurants and that is probably because "the big boys" in the industry stay away from the trouble of sourcing, preparing and serving food, I am glad that Sopwell house management has not chosen to follow suite.
Other recent review
My stay at Sopwell house
Olive Magazine reviews the restaurant
disclaimer: I was a guest at Sopwell House- words are my own and I was not asked to write a positive review.
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