John Campbell at Coworth Park

[Brownbear]

You can polish a turd by the way...............................if you varnish it 1st.

[marcusjames]

You can polish a turd by the way...............................if you varnish it 1st.

Essence of turd; encapsulated varnish. There's a new dish and technique in there surely?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

FWIW, detailed written description is more informative than a photo stream or photos accompanied by sloppy or purple haze description. Even when stunningly presented, a plate of brown protein can be any one of a dozen pieces of as many kinds of animal, its contrasting sauce or foam equally puzzling.

Precise captions, please.

[david goodfellow]

FWIW, detailed written description is more informative than a photo stream or photos accompanied by sloppy or purple haze description. Even when stunningly presented, a plate of brown protein can be any one of a dozen pieces of as many kinds of animal, its contrasting sauce or foam equally puzzling.

Precise captions, please.

This photos, no photos debate has taken place on here on a number of occasions, and guess what? Time and again the consensus of opinion is for, not against. Only a tiny minority seem not to want to embrace this new media.

From a personal point of view, (and it has been touched on before above) a picture is worth a thousand words, and indeed saves me waffling on with prose that may or may not be appreciated. I sometimes become bored reading some food blogs full of overlong descriptive waffle, so try to keep it short and too the point.

Btw, After visiting your profile I could not help but notice that you posted on Youpala Bistro. A post that included multiple photos.

Double standards?

[Matthew Grant]

I think Margaret was arguing for photos with "precise captions". As she says, a photo alone tells you nothing about the food, any restaurant can turn out pretty food, the trick is to make it taste nice as well

[RDB]

I don't think its a photo no photo's debate, the issue is boycotting a restaurant because one is not allowed to take photos, and the sheer lunacy of such actions.

[MaLO]

It was more or less a year ago I first planned on eating here. It was newly opened then and the days I hoped to get a table were fully booked. I went to the reasonably nearby Pennyhill Park and less nearby Harrow at Little Bedwin instead.

This time I had no problems with getting a table. I have eaten John Campbell’s food a couple of times before, lunches at the Vineyard and enjoyed some good food.

Lunch at Coworth Park is currently priced at £25 and offers two choices over three courses.

We ate:

Two types of crisp flatbread came with foamy dips, one hummus and one of light garlic. These were quite good. Light and fresh flavours.

Next came a bowl of parmesan crisps. Almost poppadom like in appearance and robustly cheesy; they did not last long.

Amuse of artichoke soup featured a dice of apple, quenelle of iced artichoke to which the waiter added a hot creamy artichoke soup. It was good. Hot and cold with some crisp bittersweet apple for texture. Not the greatest soupy thing I have ever eaten but enjoyable.

Starters: I ordered wild mushroom, crispy egg and beetroot. I enjoyed this. I like eggs, beetroot and mushrooms. These particular items, some crunchy, some cooked came neatly arranged either side of a nicely cooked egg. The earthy vegetables lightened with a delicate use of pickle, along the lines of a la Grecque if you like.

The other starter was ham hock, smoked eel and macaroni. This came as two slabs of terrine featuring and brightened up with the inclusion of some vegetables amid the porky goodness, this came with some very good crackling, a little pasta with the smoky eel, a couple of salad leaves and a tasty blob of something sweet and fruity.

Mains were a choice of beef cheeks or Plaice. I took the beef. It came with good smoked mashed potato, bacon and shallots in the form of a puree and entire and a meaty rich sauce. It was more or less beef bourguignon. The beef was tender and the flavours of the accompaniments well established. The richness was cut by some ribbons of pickled carrot and parsnip; it fitted the autumn day well.

The plaice was a much lighter plateful coming with fresh pappardelle, a thick, herb crusted fillet of fish, a vivid slash of beetroot and some sweet potato. The addition of some tiny cauliflower, again pickled, added some extra zip.

To finish was the choice of a plate of cheese, in this instance Barkham blue and Berkswell coming garnished with apple, perry and elderberry and the dessert option was Apple, cobnut and vanilla. We took one of each. Both were good. The cheeses were good, and the assorted garnishes tasted and looked fine too.

The apple came with cobnut crumble, apples roasted and iced and other bits and bobs. None of either remained.

Coffee and petit fours were included. The hotel apparently has a chocolatier on site and they make some very fine chocolates. We finished with a couple of double espressos, a selection of said chocolates and a pair of fine macaroons.

Also included was a cocktail. Gin and grapefruit; it was nice. This came at the end of the meal. I am not sure why it came then. I don’t suppose it goes so well with the food and I suppose it was best at either end of the meal. A glass of wine or champagne would probably have been more appropriate.

Service was good. There were only three tables taken. For £25 it is decent value. The wine is not cheap. I think the least expensive glass was £10 and champagne was from £14. You could obviously spend significantly more money on a few glasses of wine than on lunch. I was driving so I drank water and a little of my cocktail but we did order a glass of champagne.

I would go back.

[david goodfellow]

I simply doooonnnn't believe it (Victor Meldrew voice)

You were clearly discrete of course, and no one said anything?

This reminds me of my experience at Danesfield House. Bloody receptionists, what do they know.

Still thanks for that review, its their loss though, I have no intention whatsoever in giving them my hard earned cash.

They can stay in the wilderness as far as I'm concerned.

[Gary Marshall]

Really wanted to go to lords of the manor after reading campbell's book formulas for flavour, he moved on too soon after but left quite a legacy, two young chefs featured in the book who were working with him at the time, Nathan Outlaw and Anthony Flinn.

Just don't mention the camera next time eh david?!

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Just don't mention the camera next time....!

There's an old saw that seems to apply here:

"It's easier to receive forgiveness than permission."

And I would suggest one of my mother's favorites:

"Don't bite off your nose to spite your face."

If you are still or in the future become interested again in Campbell's Coworth food, just paste on a smile and go.

[Country]

Just don't mention the camera next time....!

There's an old saw that seems to apply here:

"It's easier to receive forgiveness than permission."

And I would suggest one of my mother's favorites:

"Don't bite off your nose to spite your face."

If you are still or in the future become interested again in Campbell's Coworth food, just paste on a smile and go.

Maybe someone at Campbell's Cowarth has been reading this thread and reservations will be hard to get?

[Matthew Grant]

Any restaurant that doesn't allow photography gets my vote

[Country]

Any restaurant that doesn't allow photography gets my vote

Same here.

[rjs1]

You can polish a turd by the way...............................if you varnish it 1st.

Essence of turd; encapsulated varnish. There's a new dish and technique in there surely?

Not entirely new; I was served something along those lines at John Burton-Race at The Landmark at least ten years ago, if memory serves.

[MaLO]

http://www.caterersearch.com/Articles/07/11/2011/340974/John-Campbell-and-Coworth-Park-announce-end-of-consultancy.htm

[Chef Hermes Blog]

The consultancy ending has been sometime coming. Mr Campbell was originally full time staff but moved to consultancy in April, which was when the departures started.

Whilst Coworth park may trot out the line that there will be a re-branding of the restaurant, Dorchester Collection have a habit of bringing in stellar names to their properties.

Ducasse - London Dorchester

Wolfgang puck - 45 Park Lane

Ducasse - Plaza Athénée

Yannick Alléno - Restaurant le Meurice

Wolfgang Puck - Hotel BelAir

With a rumour that a 3M* Italian chef is being brought on board for one of their european hotels.

It will be interesting to see what will happen accolade wise.

Mr Meredith is a good chef but overseeing 40+ chefs & multi outlets is a bit different from gaining a M* at the samling (tiny country house hotel in cumbria)