"It is a big operation to run a country house hotel and a restaurant. Lots of staff required: They are there. It costs a lot to do that and do you put it on the hotel bills or spread it over the restaurant too? I...don't know as I am not in the business, but lunch would have been £150 for two without drinks and service if we had had two puddings and 3 courses each (we only had the one pud). These days that is not too out of line with top pricing, but was this up to scratch at that level? I think at £35 for a main you have be prepared to take the criticism, especially when your distant cousin in London (and it is a cousin, not a sibling, on this showing) is charging only a little more and rides the waves robustly. Ms Hartnett is everywhere – on the menus in the foyer. She may need to come and eat some more sample meals then. Bread platter had one slice of some quite nice focaccia, too much not particularly outstanding olive oil and some butter bean puree, a slice of mortadella with a radish for dec. Not sure what the puree is doing in there. Just a bit underwhelming and not a great way to kick off. Firsts were crab tart (pastry too thick and dry, crab pretty much au naturel), and agnolotti. Now in serious pasta dishes it should be all about the pasta not the sauce; Ms H knows that. This had a delicious game sauce but the pasta was, I don't know, slightly overcooked perhaps? It was not the star it should have been. Mains were cod in broth and red mullet. I am sorry to say it, but had I been paying I would have sent that cod back. It was tough and the broth was tasteless with some cockles floating in it. Really not on. The mullet was well cooked but had a strange creamy sauce with it that was over-rich and drowned other things out. Those other things included crab and purple sprouting broccoli. PSB is a tricky dish to get right: it must not be overcooked and ideally to get its unique flavour it should be picked and cooked in a space of 15 minutes. So if you don't grow your own and have runners maybe do something else. This was overdone and may have had flavour but I could not tell as the sauce swamped it out. Needed more acidity – maybe lemon, white wine, something. The pistachio and polenta pud cake coped with the challenge of the dryness here with another creamy sauce (custard). I just think the saucing needs attention all round. This was not a heavy lunch and I may have chosen badly but I did feel quite over creamed by the end. The view and intimate ambience is very lovely and the wine list is also, especially as it has some good half bottles and a good glass selection. We drank well (a half with 2 additional glasses) with good recommendations. Total cost was £300 so 50/50 drinks and food really. Service was willing and efficient but maybe a little brusque at times. Overall it is halfway between good country house hotel cooking and Michelin worth-a-detour land, but definitely inclined more to the former than the latter. I'd suggest a set lunch option and have a good look at the saucing and combos guys. However there may be a useful exchange to be done with Murano over the halves on the wine list. The hotel looks great, passing through."
