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Rogan & Company


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I'll be at Rogan & Co in about an hour, so I'll be able to see what it is like for myself  :smile:

With regards to L'Enclume, is anyone in a position to say whether it is worth paying almost double for the Underground over the Tour? I think the former is around 25 courses and the latter 15. Can someone recommend which would be best?

Definitely go for the Tour first. Perhaps even go for the 8-courser if they still do that. There's a fair amount of padding in the UNderground (one of the courses is cheese n biscuits after all!), and there's little sense of the occasion that should accompany just an extravaganza (and such a name! You'd expect a separate room and be-jewelled houris serving...(why don't restaurants use houris anymore?))

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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Here is my first review, so I'd better apologise for it's poor quality to begin with.

Also sorry about the photographs being so awful, I'm not really sure they're necessary and I hope they don't put anyone off going. Really the pics don't do the food any kind of justice. Plus these photo's make the main courses look really small. They're not, by any standards. For me, and I have an unearthly appetite, they were spot on.

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Sausage of confit guineau fowl with white bean stew

and watercress

I began with this and each element was delicious. I wasn't really sure of what to expect before it arrived but I soon realised this was going to be higher standard that I anticipated.

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Wild mushroom and pine nut pithivier,

Madeira sauce

While I enjoyed my starter, I was lucky enough to have a taste of this. And blow me, it was stunning! The pastry melted in my mouth and the wild mushroom filling was beautiful.

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Grilled Plaice fillets with saffron mash,

chorizo and balsamic

Terrible photo, but I was in a rush not to be seen because everyone else seemed a tad too sophisticated for such shennanigans. But still, reports were strong, I listenend to a chorus of mms and ahhs, so apparantly it was nice!

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Organic chicken Fricassee, macaroni cheese

and buttered chard

Tiny micro vegetables made this fricassee more refined than ones I've made and it was nice to have the macaroni cheese served in a minature pan, which was different. Again it was all melt in the mouth stuff. Heck I'm really weak at reviews, I don't know what to write.

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Apricot Sablee, star anise mousse

and sauternes poached apricots

This desert looked so beautiful and came with an edible mint leaf, not sure what they did to it but it was every bit as nice as the rest, including two wafer thin shortbreads that encased the mousse and poached apricot. It was light as a feather and the perfect way to round off lunch.

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Hot chocolate mousse, pistachio ice cream,

caramel sauce

All ready been reviewed in this thread better than I can. The chocolate mousse oozed from the muffin when you put your spoon through it and was fantastic, so was the caramel that was drizzled round the plate. Look, you can see the edible leaf again.

The place itself is lovely, a perfect balance between cottagey oldness and modern decoration. The leather chairs look as fantastic as they are comfortable. What's strange is, after walking past L'Enclume, this place seems to look more the part as a posh restaurant, which confuses me slightly, it's such a nice place.

The staff were all lovely, friendly and looked after us perfectly. Service was well paced and all our dishes arrived together. The bill set us back around £60 including coffees and a couple of drinks during the lunch, which to be honest seems pretty good, though hardly the cheapest option in the village!

Cartmel is the perfect place to spend a lazy sunny afternoon, whether taking a stroll round the race track, meandering through the boutique shops or sipping beers in the pubs or gardens.

Sorry for wasting your time :biggrin:

Edited by SaladFingers (log)
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  • 2 weeks later...

Back from my week in the Lakes, the main meals worth reporting on were at Rogan & Company, The Drunken Duck and The Punchbowl.

In reverse order:

The Drunken Duck was poor and turned out to be the most expensive meal of the lot. Well, "poor" may be overstating the case a bit, but it was nothing special by any means. I can't remember what I had for a starter, my main was lamb, which just seemed fairly uninspired, and I can't remember what the dessert was, which pretty much sums up the experience - nothing to write home about. Remembering what it used to be like as a Lakeland pub, the whole experience just feels a bit wrong and trying too hard to be a table-clothed restaurant, but without the panache in the food to carry it off. This restauranty-ness is unnecessary in my book, especially all the way through the pub (I'd have preferred the option of a bar meal, but no dice). In the past, we've enjoyed the lunches there, so we went back a few days later. No better - I had mussels steamed in their beer, but when they turned up they were lukewarm at best, cold at worst. The side of chips I'd ordered where piping hot, but a little under cooked, so I can only presume the mussels were cooked first, then the chef notice the side order and held the mussels back to rush out some chips. Considering past experiences, they've really taken their eye off the ball and though I still really like their beer, it will take more than that to get me heading back.

The Punchbowl was much better, but still not knock-your-socks off great. My foie-gras and ham hock terrine starter was a little too fridge-cold to be top notch, and my gingerbread ice cream a little grainy, but the main was good (lamb with dauphinois potatoes, I think).

Anyway, skipping the rest of that to the main event and subject of the thread: Rogan & Company was superb. We enjoyed it so much the first time, we went back for lunch later in the week. Most of the dishes we had have been nicely summarised in the thread already, but I would add the following:

The mushroom pithivier was delicious - wonderfully light, melting pastry.

Sweetbreads - mm-mmm.

Braised lamb - wonderfully soft.

Chicken fricasee - precisely cooked, delicate meat, with creamy macaroni on the side.

Hot chocolate mousse looked a little underwhelming, but tasted spot-on.

The staff were friendly and relaxed - perhaps a little too relaxed as wine was just uncorked and left on the table unpoured, which felt a little wrong, but not a major issue - I do have hands for the pouring of wine.

My one complaint was that most dishes were a little underseasoned to my taste, but underseasoning is at least easily rectified by diner themself at the table.

We went back for lunch a few days later, and the same menu to the same standard was available, plus a few lunchtime specials, including a superbly well-done fish and chips. They also offer sandwiches and chips, which strikes me as a classic Brit pub lunch.

All-in-all, it's a great wee place. Judging by customers' accents, Simon's achieved his aim of appealing to the locals, which is nice to see, and it's not hard to see why - we came out of there on both occasions having had aperitif, three courses of fine food, wine and coffee for less than £40 a head. Great value for a single trip to Cartmel or an ideal second day meal after you've been to L'Enclume the night before.

PS

Edinburgh

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I wonder whether the menu will change much at Rogan & Company? I mean, it is all beautiful, there's a nice choice and specials but will it be a place I'd want to return to for a 5th, 6th, 7th time? Possibly, because I love it but I'd hope for new dishes to try.

Oh and I wouldn't mind hearing where else you tried, just for reference!

Edited by SaladFingers (log)
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friend of mine has a house in the lakes and is a fairly regular visitor to l'enclume, he had a meal at rogan & co and though it brilliant, his quote was 'anyone with half a gram of commonsense would go there rather than l'enclume' he saw it as perhaps a danger to their existing biz

you don't win friends with salad

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friend of mine has a house in the lakes and is a fairly regular visitor to l'enclume, he had a meal at rogan & co and though it brilliant, his quote was 'anyone with half a gram of commonsense would go there rather than l'enclume' he saw it as perhaps a danger to their existing biz

I'm not sure why your friend would make that comment. Surely you would visit L'Enclume for a completetly different experience to that of Rogan & Co.

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friend of mine has a house in the lakes and is a fairly regular visitor to l'enclume, he had a meal at rogan & co and though it brilliant, his quote was 'anyone with half a gram of commonsense would go there rather than l'enclume' he saw it as perhaps a danger to their existing biz

I'm not sure why your friend would make that comment. Surely you would visit L'Enclume for a completetly different experience to that of Rogan & Co.

Well thats what you'd assume. But L'Enclume, thanks to the layout and the service doens't provide much of an 'experience'. Something they need to work on. Providing 18 or 25 courses doth not an experience make.

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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I wonder whether the menu will change much at Rogan & Company?

Well according to a 5* review in the North West Evening Mail, they're already changing the menu, so I'll be back again with interest : )

Gary, you're lucky to have such open minded friends when it comes to food! There's no way I could ever convince a friend to pay anything like L'Enclume prices, unless like me, they were slightly obsessed.

And Bertie is right about L'Enclume? As much as I REALLY want to try L'Enclume, which I'll be doing next month, the place hardly looks like a 'venue', in fact it looks even less special than when the tables had cloths! Still places can have a transformative feel, once evening falls.

Edited by SaladFingers (log)
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Still places can have a transformative feel, once evening falls.

evening falls late in July! No, the food at L'Enclume is well worth it. I'm only nit-picking on what they need to do to move to stellar level, and agreeing with Gary's point over providing their own competition.

It no longer exists, but it was lovely.

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Gary, you're lucky to have such open minded friends when it comes to food! There's no way I could ever convince a friend to pay anything like L'Enclume prices, unless like me, they were slightly obsessed.

the retired rich are different :laugh:

ETA and he's really fussy so a vote for rogan & co really is a vote!

Edited by Gary Marshall (log)

you don't win friends with salad

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Oh and I wouldn't mind hearing where else you tried, just for reference!

Not much else to report, to be honest - we did a bit of "self-catering" with a load of local bread (Staff of Life bread is the best of the local bakers IMO), meat (Sillfield bacon is still superb) and cheese and chutneys - had some of Martin Gott's St James cheese, which I enjoyed, but it seemed quite odd - some bits of it tasted really young, others really ripe, all good though.

We had lunch/afternoon tea at Lucy's in Ambleside, which was okay - it's a decent enough place without any pretensions as far as I could tell. The Westmorland afternoon tea of scone, rum butter, huge chunk of fruit cake with Lancashire cheese and a massive slice of cake almost ended me. Also, Lunch/snack at Wilf's cafe in Staveley - good value, pretty basic, but aimed at walkers and cyclists, which it caters for well. And Sunday lunch at the Eagle and Child in Staveley - seemed very cheap, but good (for the price) carvery, massive slabs of Sticky Toffee Pudding to follow, good real ales.

I love the Lakes. Will be back as soon as I can...

As to R&Co undermining L'Enclume business - I wouldn't have thought so. The two are very different offerings. We weren't planning on visiting L'Enclume this trip as high-end dining wasn't really in our plans (we're more likely to do that as a shortbreak where we can stay at or very close to restaurant so we can both get battered, ahem, enjoy some wine with our meal), but on seeing R&Co open, we were more than happy to put in a couple of trips down to Cartmel. As noted above, it's excellent value, so likely to get punters who wouldn't dream of shelling out £100 ahead for a meal in and possibly whet their appetites for making the jump up to L'Enclume for special occasions. Plus, those who go for a weekend at L'Enclume can have a R&Co meal and a L'Enclume meal in the same weekend, rather than L'Enc and something else. I think it will do well - on the evidence of our visits, it certainly deserves to.

PS

Edinburgh

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just returned from l`enclume and visited rogan and co and was very impreesed with the new place and it does have a great feel to it, lenclume was better than all previous visits for me had a very enjoyable evening on the tour menu good to see it is still pushing forwad with new dishes, though i know its a very personal choice but i missed the clothed table service but i believe most people like it

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Went to Rogan and Co for lunch today. Thought about putting this in the "Whats the most you have paid for dinner" thread, my bill came to a whopping..........£12! Eggs benedicts and a caramalised pineapple tart with gingerbread ice cream, plus 2 cokes. Excellent value. I can see myself going more often now! Whether or not prices will stay low I don't know? I ate downstairs today, a couple of other people in.

Had lunch yesterday at the Dining Room in Rawtenstall, which was good too! Just thought I'd add that, not really worth its own thread (I mean that in the nicest way!)

Still looking forawrd to returning to yours Marc soon! But must also try L'Enclume again too.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When you say 'I ate downstairs', does that mean you 'had to'? We went yesterday and while the food was great again, we were disappointed that we had to eat downstairs as it just felt less of an ocassion. Wonder if that's a new thing for lunches?

The menu has changed slightly, mainly with just a few (welcome) additions. Eesh, I'm obsessed with the place.

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When you say 'I ate downstairs', does that mean you 'had to'? We went yesterday and while the food was great again, we were disappointed that we had to eat downstairs as it just felt less of an ocassion. Wonder if that's a new thing for lunches?

The menu has changed slightly, mainly with just a few (welcome) additions. Eesh, I'm obsessed with the place.

Ummm, I don't know. I don't think they were that busy to warrent staff running up and down stairs, it was a monday so only had a few staff on. I didnt mind eating downstairs, I guess if its busy enough they shove people upstairs too, if you want more a formal do.

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  • 7 months later...

Well, the winter menu is very limited but at 'buy one get one free' on 2/3 courses for lunch it's tremendously good value. Not to sound snobbish, but maybe the cheaper cost attracts a 'different crowd'.

We were unfortunate to sit next to a couple who moaned and over specified about every element of each course. They wanted haddock but couldn't possibly have cod, they wanted the (beautiful) skin on the chicken less crispy, they wanted quicker service, they looked at my dessert and decided they wanted theirs 'a darker colour'. I'd have literally thrown them out but the waitress was the most patient person in all the world.

Main course of chicken breast, polenta mash, greens and tarragon infused foam was probably more simple than previous dishes I've tried but it was delicious. Dessert was bread and butter pudding souffle with creme anglais in a kilner jar and was also spot on. £8 each? That's cheaper than the pub next door across the river.

Coffee was the strongest stuff I've ever had in my life. It was like eating a handful of cigars.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well we just had to try Rogan & Co,given that we had dined at L'Enclume the previous night.(this last weekend)

The first thing that we noticed, was, it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis.

It wants to be a restaurant, and be a bar at the same time.

Nothing really wrong with that, its very good business sense.

The problem, or part of it is, the passing trade. A large proportion of whom are ramblers and perhaps deem it too posh , and head for one of the numerous

pubs,a short stroll away.

I think that because the bar is perched at the rear of the room it also confuses.

However that said it was fairly busy downstairs, on the eating, and coffee-ing .(sunday lunch)

I did not see much evidence of drinking.(as in alcohol).

I like the space. A lot of money has been chucked at it,and it works.

The comfy settees and armchairs around the fire are much sought after.

With the right choice of table I could see myself dining here rather than upstairs.

The animation was quite appealing.

Upstairs in the restaurant proper was very quiet,with no more than a few tables occupied. Although after two, it started to fill up a bit.

We had a good table looking into the room.

We chose from the Sunday Lunch menu.Two courses £15.95 Three £19.95.

Smoked Haddock cake,shallot,grain mustard.

Yorkshire blue cheese tart, fragrant leaves,balsamic.

Roast Cumbrian beef Yorkshire Pudd,horseradish.

Roasted belly of pork, thyme potatoes, cider apples.

Now then,with the name Rogan above the door I think my expectation level was too high.

What we ate was pretty OK-ish pub food not dissimilar to what I could myself do at home.

The blue cheese tart was itself a lesson in simplicity.

It was ok but looked not dissimilar to ones that I have made using the far tastier(and more expensive ) roquefort.

The mains as I said were OK.

I cold nit pick but I won't.

Service was generally very pleasant and obliging,with just one slip.

Our waiter served the main course then disappeared.

We wanted some english mustard but no one came back to the table until I had finished my meal, and because it was quiet we could not attract anyones attention.

A very simple visit to the table midway through the meal could have rectified this.

This really is a welcome addition to the dining scene in Cartmel, with a very nice upmarket feel to it.

Whilst some of the above may seem negative, we would most certainly recommend it.

"So many places, so little time"

http://londoncalling...blogspot.co.uk/

@d_goodfellow1

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Well we just had to try Rogan & Co,given that we had dined at L'Enclume the previous night.(this last weekend)

The first thing that we noticed, was, it seems to have a bit of an identity crisis.

It wants to be a restaurant, and be a bar at the same time.

Nothing really wrong with that, its very good business sense.

The problem, or part of it is, the passing trade. A large proportion of whom are ramblers and perhaps deem it too posh , and head for one of the numerous

pubs,a short stroll away.

I think that because the bar is perched at the rear of the room it also confuses.

However that said it was fairly busy downstairs, on the eating, and coffee-ing .(sunday lunch)

I did not see much evidence of drinking.(as in alcohol).

I like the space. A lot of money has been chucked at it,and it works.

The comfy settees and armchairs around the fire are much sought after.

With the right choice of table I could see myself dining here rather than upstairs.

The animation was quite appealing.

Upstairs in the restaurant proper was very quiet,with no more than a few tables occupied. Although after two, it started to fill up a bit.

We had a good table looking into the room.

We chose from the Sunday Lunch menu.Two courses £15.95 Three £19.95.

Smoked Haddock cake,shallot,grain mustard.

Yorkshire blue cheese tart, fragrant leaves,balsamic.

Roast Cumbrian beef Yorkshire Pudd,horseradish.

Roasted belly of pork, thyme potatoes, cider apples.

Now then,with the name Rogan above the door I think my expectation level was too high.

What we ate was pretty OK-ish pub food not dissimilar to what I could myself do at home.

The blue cheese tart was itself a lesson in simplicity.

It was ok but looked not dissimilar to ones that I have made using the far tastier(and more expensive ) roquefort.

The mains as I said were OK.

I cold nit pick but I won't.

Service was generally very pleasant and obliging,with just one slip.

Our waiter served the main course then disappeared.

We wanted some english mustard but no one came back to the table until I had finished my meal, and because it was quiet we could not attract anyones attention.

A very simple visit to the table midway through the meal could have rectified this.

This really is a welcome addition to the dining scene in Cartmel, with a very nice upmarket feel to it.

Whilst some of the above may seem negative, we would  most certainly recommend it.

Having dined at Rogans on may occasions I just wanted to add comment to your observations. You mentioned that you selected the set lunch menu and at that price, I think what you actually get is a quality product made with the corresponding ingredients - a Yorkshire blue cheese tart would have been made exactly as it says on the tin......and not with a more expensive roquefort.

You could have selected the a la carte menu??

I think in this climate offering less expensive set menus is the only option for many restaurants/pubs.

"Point taken, however the food comes from the same kitchen,with presumably, Tom Kerridge and assists doing the cooking except using cheaper ingredients

As pointed out above,some chefs have the ability to put a bit of magic into their food,thats what makes them special"

I believe this was your post on the Hand & Flowers £10 lunch thread. Not only does Rogan's have to deal with customers being selective over price but they also have to cater for what is a predominately local market, completely the opposite to L'enclume.

Your comment about Rogan's above the door is a fair point but just because he has opened a casual drinking/eating establishment does not mean he is going to recreate a L'enclume 2 in the same small village, as that would definitely not make good business sense!

I don't want to nit pick over your post but I will be very interested to hear what you say about L'enclume.

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