Review: Moor Hall, Lancashire

This is our first big splash-out meal since lockdown began, and we’ve kicked off with a truly great one. But I want to start by applauding all the front of house staff in all the restaurants around the country. I hate wearing a mask for 30 minutes to do a supermarket shop. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to wear a mask for a whole, hot, busy evening service. And keep smiling behind it. Bravo. Seriously.

Moor Hall is a magnificent country house in a pretty random patch of south Lancashire. It looks an absolute picture, arriving at dusk with all the lights on, magical. And of course that ought to be a big part of the experience when you rock up for a 2-star tasting menu in the country; you want to feel just a tiny bit like you’re in a fairytale.

The food begins with a serving of four different home cured meats. This really sets out the stall. The powerful aged meat flavours of the braesola and the copa are about the best I’ve ever had and showcase just a really fierce level of care and attention to detail. This runs right through the many courses to the very fine piece of herdwick lamb in the main. Oh… and one of the appetisers, a bite of black pudding in crisp batter, it tasted like nothing more than a visit to a really good butcher shop.

I love sea buckthorn, and after enjoying it in a pre-prandial cocktail I also got to enjoy it in a dish of tiny baked carrots with sea buckthorn sauce and a very fine Doddington cheese that seemed to live somewhere between parmesan and pecorino. The sea buckthorn added zip but wasn’t overwhelming.

Some of the most standout dishes were somewhere in the middle, among the seafood. My absolute favourite was a great fat oyster, poached in buttermilk, served in a bed of beautiful white beetroot carpacchio and livened up with dill oil. Totally faultless. The cornish lobster with heritage tomatoes was just as epic. The tomatoes were almost chewy and intensely flavoured, and a rosehip gel added a fresh zing. The main fish was sea bass, excellent in a foaming mussel sauce with courgette and sea veg, just a very satisfying dish, perfectly balanced and a standout piece of fish.

The desserts were each delicious, albeit not such stars as the savoury courses. The gingerbread icecream with crisp “pine needles” of pastry was great. The peregrine peach was a bit disappointing, as the sole flavour was the strong (albeit nice) lemon verbena sorbet. Blackberries paired with the distinct country flavour of woodruff cream was a fine finale.

Moor Hall sits up there with some of the best meals I’ve had, and I think I’ll particularly remember the splendid setting. The wine list has good range, and their house cocktails (at least, the two we tried) are smashing. The menu is £155 although going up to £185 later this month. For me that’s getting a little steep, but that’s what 2 stars allows. You certainly can’t be disappointed by a visit to Moor Hall.