Bath Priory

[PhilD]

We have lived in Bath for over two years and had not ventured to our local Michelin starred restaurant. Average reviews, and the then chef, Chris Horridge’s mission to develop healthy menus using nuts and seeds were far too challenging for us. Late last year Michael Caines took over the kitchens and installed one of his top chefs from Gidleigh Park, the Priory’s sister hotel. After allowing a few months for the changes to flow through we thought we would give it a shot; it is really good.

The Priory is located on the outskirts of Bath in leafy grounds, a gravel drive leads up to a bath stone building, and inside it is archetypal “country house hotel” with flagstone floors in the low ceilinged corridors, and soaring 4 meter ceilings in the main rooms. There are lots of over stuffed sofas, and every wall is covered by a multitude of old paintings.

Canapés and aperitifs are served in a reception room that leads onto the terrace, and we opted for drinks on the terrace, which is very pleasant. First up were two canapés, a tuna tartar and a quail egg on a pea veloute. The egg was very good with the pea and egg working well together, a promising start.

The menu choice has a tasting menu at £90, ALC at £65 for three courses, and the lunch menu at £30 for three courses. We chose the lunch menu and had a choice of 3 starters, 3 mains, 3 desserts and a cheese course (for a £6 supplement).

After a couple of glasses of wine we were led into the dining room; it has a lower ceiling and is nicely formal with understated decoration, in fact quite a contrast to the other part of the hotel, due to it's simplicity. Tables are doubled clothed, and the glassware and cutlery is all good quality, with the slate plates of the Horridge days only reappearing for the petit fours at the end of the meal.

Four varieties of good home made bread are offered and then the basket is left on the table, a nice touch. We then start with an amuse of tomato consommé, lovely vibrant flavors, a great example of the dish.

My partner started with “Salad of asparagus and polenta; poached eggs and truffle vinaigrette” I chose “Pan fried brixham scallops; confit chicken wings, sweet corn, and chicken jus”. Both dishes are really good, excellent flavours and precise cooking, the presentation is meticulous, and we really enjoyed every morsel.

My main was “Breast of Creedy Carver duck; creamed cabbage, turnips, honey and five spice sauce” my partner chose “Roast grey mullet; chorizo puree, violet artichokes, and gazpacho sauce”. Again both dishes were immaculate, and we could have easily eaten them again.

Next we added a shared cheese plate, this came from an extensive but fairly tired looking selection on a trolley, however the five cheeses we tried were good, served with a good selection of breads (different from the ones we started the meal with). For desserts, a “Hot lemon soufflé; raspberry sorbet” which had the added surprise of a crème anglaise poured into the soufflé, and a “Sable biscuit, summer berries; vanilla mouseline, yoghurt sorbet”. Again both dishes are very good, although the soufflé had the edge. To finish coffee and good petit fours, including a really fine crème brulee.

Service was impeccable throughout the meal, very professional but also friendly. The young sommelier set us off very well by recommending the cheapest Beaujolais, a Brouilly at £31, that she had just added to the list. Given we were half way through a £45 Albarino at the time I thought this was a nice example of not pushing us up the list.

The final bill was £151 - £76 on wine, two lunch menus at £30, two coffees and petit fours at £4.80 and a cheese selection at £6. The cheese should have been £12 but we misread the menu and had taken it to be an extra course at a £6 supplement, rather than a substitute for a dessert at a £6 supplement. When we queried this on the bill it was reduced to £6 instantly, again faultless service especially as it was really our mistake.

We had a chat to our server about the chef changes, she thought business had really picked up since Caines had taken over; Horridge divided opinion with people staying away because of his evangelical healthy menu (we did). It was interesting to see how enthusiastic and happy she was when she spoke about Michael Caines and the kitchen team, clearly he has brought a lot to the Priory. The other notable person in the kitchen is James Nathan a Masterchef winner, we were told James is on breakfast duty at the moment, clearly he is serving a proper apprenticeship.

Edited July 13, 2009 by PhilD (log)