Lords of the Manor: good food, the right balance

England does manor houses well and the Lords of the Manor in the Cotswold village of Upper Slaughter is another perfect example of the kind: an impressive Cotswold stone building, beautiful grounds running down to a stream, and charming bedrooms with exposed wooden beams and unique character.

But what's stand out about the Lords of the Manor is its culinary reputation which, for a long time now, has made it one of the leading dining experiences in the sizeable county of Gloucestershire. Accordingly, I have been wanting to go and my current UK wanderings seemed an ideal time to stop by and enjoy their offering.

Grand manor houses like these do face a food challenge however as we observed in our recent post on the Wiltshire based Manor House Hotel and Golf Club, the challenge being that your client base is varied, has a large tourist component and a mix of nationalities, all of whom are invariably older. Clients are wealthy for sure because it's not cheap, but in turn you can postulate with some confidence that the average diner is more traditional than avant garde. For an ambitious kitchen, getting the balance right then is tough.

The meal starts in the usual manor house way, drinks in one of their many lounges, a menu to peruse and some finger food amuses to snack on including today mini fish and chips where to their credit, they did capture the traditional fish 'n' chip shop chip perfectly (assuming that 's what they were trying to do). There's a duxelle tart with egg and a gougere and one other that I have alas forgot. 

Then it's down to business: select the menu, select the wine. After that, follow the smart waiter through to the dining room where another amuse, a leek and smoky bacon veloute is served. It's good, the favours clearly defined and little crispy bacon bits even adding some crunch.

My starter is the truffle ravioli of hens egg. The pasta made with truffle flour is very good indeed, thin, silky and delivering a very well balanced truffle flavour. The egg yolk oozes out covering the wild mushroom base and it's very clear that there's a high level of skill operating in the kitchen for it's undoubtedly a quality dish.

Ravioli of Burford Brown Egg Yolk and Truffled Potato, Wild Mushrooms, Artichoke, Parmesan

My next course was kindly sent out by the kitchen. Perhaps seeing a single male diner they thought I was a Michelin inspector (wouldn't be the only time this trip), or maybe they had got wind of my travels and wanted to show me more of their skills, or I might have just looked a sad case and they took pity on me, who knows, but my present was the pigeon.

I think this was possibly my favourite dish of the meal so I'm glad they sent it out. Bringing the pigeon together with the  acidity and freshness of raspberry and cucumber, and adding texture with granola and toasted nuts which also lent further depth to the dish, it was a nicely realised.

Squab pigeon 'Mi Cuit', Caramelised Onion, Cobnut and Raspberry Granola, Cucumber, Leg Pastilla, Bittersweet Veal Jus

The main was steamed wild halibut which came crowned with a simply enormous poached oyster and to add that extra touch, this oyster crown wore a jewel of Oscietra caviar. The ingredients give the emphasis to this dish which is more of an 'ahh' rather than a 'wow' affair but there's certainly nothing wrong with that and going back to what we said about manor houses, wild halibut, oyster and caviar, it fits the bill perfectly.

Steamed Wild Halibut, Poached Rock Oyster, Samphire, Oscietra Caviar, Champagne Veloute

For dessert, an impressively risen banana soufflé was joined by both a banana split and banana ice cream which was all very nice; this three for one approach made for a substantial dessert. Petit fours and a further couple of chocolates followed to round out a full and satisfying meal.

pre dessert: panna cotta with passion fruit and mango foam

banana souffle with a banana split and banana ice cream

petit fours

and to bed

Lords of the Manor has in my view achieved a good balance between the conflict of pushing with the food and recognising the demands of its traditional client base. Starters seems to be where they can push most and both those that I had were on the money. While I was a little obvious in my choice on desserts (I was very full up and thought the soufflé would slip down easiest, I hadn't bargained on the split), around the room I could see that a real effort had been made by the kitchen on desserts which had been appreciated with an often audible delight by my fellow diners. My main course displayed a degree of conservatism but that's broadly expected and eating alone, maybe other choices that I didn't see were racier. 

It little matters for Lords of the Manor does what you'd hope it would do, and from overseas tourists to closer to home anniversary and birthday celebrations, a meal here does possess a sense of occasion. I would imagine that most diners leave happy, which, I'm please to report, I did too.


Visit Lords of the Manor website

Previously I visited: Paul Ainsworth at Number 6 restaurant, Cornwall

Next stop: Lumiere, Cheltenham


Lords of the Manor location map