Review: The Old Stamp House, Ambleside

I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about dining experiences, and how must expectation feeds into your enjoyment of a meal. I’ll be honest: I went to Core with so much buzz and hype about Clare Smyth’s restaurant having passed before my eyes that I was perhaps doomed to go “meh?” when I was treated to 7 courses of perfectly nice refined French cooking. Whereas I visited Ynyshir totally by chance, trying to pick somewhere to eat on a weekend walking break in Wales, couldn’t find any reviews about it, and so was absolutely blown to bits by Gareth Ward’s astonishingly original cuisine.

It’s tricky as a reviewer. You have to review your experience, but recognising where expectations have played a part in your response to a meal is kinda tough.

I think if I’d found The Old Stamp House by chance, got lucky with a table, and enjoyed their 7 course tasting menu then I’d perhaps be enthusing about a hidden gem in the Lakes. But since I’d already read a bunch of reviews wondering aloud “why they haven’t got a Michelin star yet”, I’m going to have to admit to just being whelmed.

Overwhelmed is when you are blown away by something. Underwhelmed is a distinct disappointment. So I figure “whelmed” must be just reasonably satisfied.

There were some tasty bites of black pudding to start, with Cumberland sauce jelly atop. A pile of brown shrimps in a sweet curry gravy made for a tasty beginning. Sous vide trout was kinda dull with an oyster emulsion and rather thuggish lumps of cucumber and ikura. The third dish, a good chunk of cod on a raunchy brown crab risotto and jerusalem artichoke puree was very satisfying.

The absolute stand-out dish, and I gotta applaud, was the Herdwick hogget main. Beautifully sourced and beautifully cooked piece of loin, the fat crisped lightly on the outside and having buckets and buckets of flavour. The blackened roast carrots added another great dimension of flavour, best carrots I’ve enjoyed in a while. And they plated up two other delicious elements alongside: glistening shreds of shoulder on a gooey potato puree, and a beignet of minced belly with an anchovy and mint mayo.

Spiced apple cake finished the meal well. But this was a £70 tasting menu, and for me there were just too many kinda familiar and just-nice dishes to be asking for that money. Service was perfectly good but not really engaging, and the dining room isn’t bursting with atmosphere, so really the food had nothing to hide behind. It’s good that the Lake District is getting so many excellent dining options, but my conclusion for The Old Stamp House is: good cooking, but not good value.