Grace & Savour
My previous review of Smoke gives a bit of detail about Hampton Manor, the location for
Grace & Savour. Yes, we stayed here for two nights and had two knock-out fine dining meals in a row including a wine pairing here. Yes, the next day on the way home we did feel just a teensy bit over-indulged. Worth it.
Grace & Savour occupies a purpose-built dining room on the edge of the Victorian walled garden, and inside and out the whole thing is just beautifully and thoughtfully designed. I loved dining here before I’d eaten a mouthful. It’s an open kitchen with a bit of counter seating, but most tables also have a good view. The team are super-friendly with no fuss, and love talking about their food and drinks. Grace & Savour is very strong on careful, local provenance – it comes across as deeply authentic, at a time when frankly every other restaurant is touting this mantra as a selling point.
Jerusalem artichoke shells
Fifteen splendid courses, so I’m going to have to stick to highlights! The first tiny intro, a lovely nugget of baked swede and crisp reindeer moss in a lake of very deeply comforting venison broth, was a real statement of intent. Lots of love went into that broth. The second bite might well have been my favourite dish: a Jerusalem artichoke skin, hollowed out and fried to crisp perfection, refilled with a j’choke cream and topped with tiny disks of tart apple. It was the sweet, caramelly, crispy texture of the skin that nailed it.
Oh, there was an absolutely splendid piece of stuffed partridge, packed with juicy game flavour, paired simply but effectively with red currants and spinach. I’m simply not smart enough to know how and why this fairly pared back combination was so very good, but it’s probably all in the quality of the bird and then how well it was kept and how carefully cooked.
Partridge
The two seafood dishes are excellent. Scallop is very delicately done, sweet and soft with a distinctive honey flavour, with a lovely mussel broth. I’m trying to think if I’ve ever had scallops with honey before but it’s a really smart combination with the pungent sweetness of the honey adding complexity to the scallop meat. Then a chunk of cod is cured in some seriously umami grain ferments and nicely seared, served in a rich and smoky butter sauce; another good contender for dish of the day.
The venison main is simply a delightful piece of meat, flavourful and meltingly tender, with the richly dark venison gravy echoing back to the broth at the very start. I will confess to having lost focus a little on the desserts (wine pairing hitting home!) but the palate cleanser of sheep’s milk sorbet and rhubarb with shards of meringue was bright and fragrant, both flavours crystal clear. And… yeah… you (and the chefs) will have to forgive me. After a pre-prandial cocktail and eight drink pairings I tend to hit a wall somewhere in the desserts. It’s why I often don’t pick the wine pairing if I want to write a review! Let’s move along.
Epic cod
The menu, and indeed the whole experience, at Grace & Savour is well worth the £155 price tag. We enjoyed faultless cooking of stunning ingredients over a leisurely evening in a great setting. They have a passion for natural wines in keeping with their overall ethos, and all the pairings were carefully considered and truly delicious. On a final note, if you do come and stay at Hampton Manor to enjoy meals at Smoke or Grace & Savour (or both, like us!) then they offer the chance to get closer to the team, with a wine tasting and a walk around the walled garden, bakery and kitchens. Lovely touch and a true sense of hospitality.
Venison
