Not much can beat a chic little getaway at a stylish countryside hotel, except perhaps a chic dinner at the stylish hotel’s restaurant.
Which brings me to my recent experience at the Lavender restaurant in the Weston Manor hotel. Situated just a quarter hour’s drive outside Oxford, it’s a venue that emanates grand country living and luxury. We all deserve this sort of indulgence from time to time.
I showed up just before dusk, and there down a tree-lined driveway I caught my first sight of the majestic old manor house in Cotswold stone, dating back to the late 16th century. Colour me impressed! Walking through a burnished wooden door into the manorial hall certainly brought me back a few centuries, even more so when I encountered the massive fireplace, brocade-covered sofas on flagstones, and elegant portraits around the walls. The lovely dining room continued the elegant theme: white table cloths, gleaming stemware and cutlery, and more of the period portraiture staring down at us. We were seated with a view of the garden and the terrace where wiser folk than me were lingering over a pre-dinner cocktail. Note to self: leave time for a drink before dinner. Even if the terrace isn’t an option when the
weather turns, you can cosy up in the bar by the entrance.
It’s the kind of restaurant where you might be inclined to dawdle, and I encourage you to do so if that’s your thing. But I’m always fully food-focused, so we quickly gave our attention to the menu, which offered two set options: 2 courses for £49 and 3 courses for £59. There was quite a wide choice of dishes, largely created around locally-sourced Cotswold ingredients, though rather limited for vegetarians. The wine menu was understandably less local and featured a great variety of wines with a focus on organic where possible. As you’d expect, the restaurant had attentive and knowledgeable servers, so with our orders placed we had some time to chat while anticipating the meal to come.
The kitchen really wowed us with our beautiful first courses, putting the ‘star’ in starter.
Honey and soy glazed duck (perfectly pink) was sticky sweet, and balanced nicely with a bed of bok choi and purple endive. The basil and mascarpone tortellini featured a tasty pesto tucked inside good quality pasta parcels. Even better, there was a clever play of flavours so that every bite included sweet carrot puree, herby pesto, sharp parmesan and buttery toasted pine nuts.
Our main dishes also hit some high notes.
The 30 day aged sirloin was wonderfully tender and flavoursome, especially with the accompanying mushroom puree and truffle potato. The second dish was a perfectly cooked piece of pan-fried sea bass atop a sweet cauliflower couscous and briny samphire. Plus another puree: I think the chef went a little overboard with these, though to be fair each one tasted
delicious. On the plus side, a sprinkling of pomegranate arils livened up the flavour profile enormously. I hesitated over ordering some bread on the side, but who was I kidding? When our plate of warm artisan bread with piped mounds of herby whipped butter arrived, we tucked into it with great gusto.
By this point I was all-in, so we went ahead and ordered two of the four choices on the dessert menu: an apple tartlet and a white chocolate and passion fruit cheesecake.
This final portion of the meal gets slightly mixed reviews. The tartlet itself was a hit – sweet flaky pastry contrasting with tart apple, but it was rather drowned in custard and seemed messy. The cheesecake looked and tasted great, but there were too many other flavours on the plate. While I liked the fruity sorbet on the side, the blackberry puree and the chocolate crumb seemed like overkill. In sum, the puddings made for a sweet end to dinner, but didn’t live up to the high standards of the rest of our meal.
Overall, the Weston Manor restaurant was well worth the trip from Oxford, and I appreciated my little taste of elegant country dining.
It’s priced for date night: the one that you are always promising yourself but if you’re like me never get around to. So suit up and head over, but don’t forget to book in advance.
Weston Manor
Northampton Rd, Weston-on-the-Green, Bicester OX25 3QL
Bitten were invited as guests, all views are our own
Leave a Reply