Where to go for a foodie weekend

The eagerly anticipated St John Hotel is open for business . Where else might you have a fabulous foodie weekend? Our reporters went looking for the best hotels and destinations • Part two: Skye to the Isle of Wight Hotel du Vin at One Devonshire Gardens, Glasgow There was a time when staying at the very posh One Devonshire Gardens required a rather un-boutique-hotel-like dash out of the front door and along the tree-lined street to the adjoining townhouse for breakfast; my cousin Carolanne reminisces about doing this in her slippers. (You might ask why she’d go to the hotel dining room in her slippers in the first place. You’d regret it.) The hotel is made up of five converted Victorian houses and the last remaining apartment owner refused to sell up for years. He’s gone now, so the stroll through to breakfast is comfier, if duller. The hotel is a pleasing mix of antique furniture, all solid dark wood, oak-panelled walls and stained glass windows, deep colours and thick carpets, mixed up with contemporary pieces and Scottish art work (which at one stage has me contemplating a slightly disconcerting oil painting of Robert Carlisle). I’m pleased to see Stornoway black pudding – and even haggis – featuring on the breakfast menu, but thanks to a far-too-enjoyable late and leisurely meal with the aforementioned cousin in that dining room the night before, I’m not quite up to either and opt for pancakes, fruit, yoghurt and maple syrup. The previous evening’s dinner started with an incredibly fresh razor clam salad with cucumber fennel and black olive for me, and a cool lettuce gazpacho with king prawns, blow-torched for that unmistakable flame-thrown smokiness. As you’d expect given that the place is now owned by the Hotel du Vin group, there’s an excellent choice of wines and an amiable sommelier, sussing my timidity over punchy numbers, brought me an incredibly smooth 2008 Chablis Domaine Bernard Defaix which, light as it was, really stepped up when combined with the clams. A succulent little tower of chicken came with foie gras, caramelised shallots and a scattering of haggis that was perhaps a little too subtle for my liking – but then I’m wilder than most about haggis – and the dish did work well. This time, a slightly weightier – and immensely enjoyable – K Naia Verdejo (2009) from Reuda accompanied the food. I had a pleasant banana souffle to end with but it was as nothing compared to the stunning dessert wines that came out; Willi Opitz Beererauslesse to pair with the souffle, while the chocolate dessert called for a glorious deep red 2007 Maury by Jean Marc Lafage. If you get the munchies, room service (up till 11pm) includes a bacon bap with HP sauce and, joy of joys, beans, or cheese on toast. Bliss (although at £7.50 a bap, it should be). • Double / twin rooms start from £150, book on their website . For more information on places to eat and stay in Scotland, check out Visit Scotland Out and about If you’re staying in the West End of Glasgow for a few days, you’d do worse than to stop by the Ubiquitous Chip, an old favourite of locals just off Byres Road whose much-loved owner, Ronnie Clydesdale, died last year . I didn’t eat there in his time so can’t compare standards, but had a decent, if not perfect, meal. Scallops came fat and juicy, though I couldn’t detect the advertised garlic compote accompanying them so much as some wonderfully sharp and sweet pickled leeks. Galloway roe deer venison was beautifully cooked, meltingly tender and deep red, kailkenny croquettes, tiny cubes of beetroot and a pleasant Drambuie peppercorn sauce complemented it better than the mound of spinach purée in the centre. I had ordered a side of courgette, sugar snap peas, carrot and broccoli, and these, cooked to crisp perfection, were a much better match, though it’s a shame to order them as an extra. Staff and surroundings are pleasant. Legendary Indian restaurant, Mother India is also nearby; they do some very fine things with lamb. Susan Smillie Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham The approaches to the Restaurant Sat Bains are not that encouraging. You turn off a roundabout and down a side road by an industrial estate on the outskirts of Nottingham. And then, suddenly, you’re in some other world, quiet and rural. The place describes itself as a restaurant with rooms rather a hotel with a restaurant, and it has its idiosyncrasies. Lunch is only available at The Chef’s Table from Tuesday to Saturday if there are between 2 and 8 of you. Dinner is more flexible, and, mind you, after one of Sat Bains’ tasting menus, you don’t really want to go further than the nearest bedroom. These manage that clever balance of comfort with fashionable design which is not always the case. Mr Bains’ cooking is clever, beautiful, occasionally witty, sometimes challenging, always a delight to the eye and to eat. He has also built up a formidable list of local suppliers, who provide him with cured meats, game, salads and vegetables. It’s not cheap, but such dishes as mackerel with lardo, beetroot & horseradish; salt baked celeriac with truffle juices; pearl barley with belly pork and pickled turnip have put Sat Bains wholly in the vanguard of contemporary British cooking. • Rooms start at £129 for a double but there’s currently a mid-week offer for a room plus seven-course tasting menu and breakfast at £120 to £140 a person, selected dates in April. Book through the website Out and about Emporia such as the Cheese Shop and JT Beedham & Sons where the fabulous Johnny Pusztai, master sausage maker, maestro of the air-dried ham, mans the counter, light up the streets of Nottingham. If you’re not quite up for the full Sat Bains experience, you might like to try Harts hotel and restaurant . And while you’re there, you are about equidistant from Melton Mowbray for pie-lovers , and Burton on Trent for the National Brewery Centre . Matthew Fort The vegetarian option: Cafe Paradiso , Cork Dennis Cotter may well be the best vegetarian cookery writer in the world, although the man himself would be far too humble to claim such a title. But his three books, Cafe Paradiso, Paradiso Seasons and Wild Garlic, Gooseberries and Me offer warmth and wit, wonderful recipes and unusual detours – as does his restaurant Cafe Paradiso, on a quayside in Cork. Having enjoyed Cotter’s writing for the best part of a decade, I’d long wanted to visit the restaurant in the flesh – to use a phrase singularly inappropriate for a vegetarian restaurant – and it certainly lived up to its billing. Cotter is a huge fan of Irish cheeses – Knockalara sheep’s, Bluebell Fall’s goats and the famous Cashel blue all feature on the menu, and much of his produce is locally sourced. There are touches of Asia – a vegetable sushi with tempura, for example – but the menu is hearty – this is emphatically not the healthy vegetarian option. Parsnip gnocchi with maple-glazed oyster mushrooms were belt-looseningly filling and the chocolate silk cake was indeed silky. Luckily for those who plan to overindulge, there are two B&B rooms upstairs which can be booked as part of a package with the restaurant. The one I stayed in was huge, kitted out with a sofa, fridge, books and a CD player. And while dinner was excellent, the breakfast the next morning was truly superb – the fluffiest, tastiest pancakes with fresh berries I’ve ever had. And I like my pancakes. Out and about There are plenty of other options for vegetarians around Cork. Cotter gets much of his produce from the Gort Na Nain farm, where you can also stay in the B&B guesthouse. And heading to the southwest coast we found the Good Things Cafe in the lovely town of Durrus – not a vegetarian establishment but one with plenty of veggie options – where we were extremely well-fed, and ate a glorious meal on the sunny lawn. Though my fond reminiscences of the food may be slightly tinged by the fact that it was about the only time in 10 days in Ireland where the rain stopped. • Cafe Paradiso: dinner and one night B&B €100, more info and packages on their website Gort Na Nain B&B rooms from €60 Kate Carter The fishermen’s huts on the beach , Whitstable Received wisdom has it that we should flock to Whitstable for the oyster festival in July – great for seaside weather, less so, as mollusc fans will know, for sampling native oysters whose season starts in September. Go in springtime when the weather’s warming up but the hordes have yet to descend. And if you’re in pursuit of seafood (and why else have you come?), the phenomenally popular, famously tiny Wheelers Oyster Bar is without rival. They offer take out (they only do 14 covers), best eaten on a quayside or shore. The well reviewed Pearson’s Arms has been taken over and reports of the restaurant food have since been hit and miss. It’s a lovely pub though, and you shouldn’t go wrong lounging in front of the fire with wine, oysters or some dressed crab. Samphire restaurant, popular with local food lovers, deserves to be better known, as does William and Brown tapas bar. More famous is the much-loved Jojo’s meze , which has moved to bigger premises out in Tankerton. If you can’t do the seaside without fish and chips, visit VC Jones’s . I’m the fussiest chip eater in the world and these more than passed muster on the crisp-exterior-soft-interior factor, and the 50s style dining room has its own charm. I wandered into David Brown deli , a little gem on Harbour St, and bought some phenomenally tasty sausage rolls I’d heard about from locals. Buy coffee here, for heaven’s sake, rather than the Costa coffee down the road. A few miles west, in its own league, and in very much its own peculiar setting, is The Sportsman run by the affable Stephen Harris. Catch him and he’ll rhapsodise about his beloved location, for the melancholic romance of the place, and the environmental peculiarities that inform the ingredients he uses, the salt marshes that feed the lambs on Monkshill Farm along the road, the sea air that sweeps across the landscape, the estuary full of fish, the seaweed on the shore. The Sportsman attracts punters from all over the world clutching press cuttings about the chefs making their own salt, but it’s as unpretentious a place as you’re likely to find. Book the tasting menu if you’re superorganised, preorder the sample tasting menu if you’re only a bit of a planner. Or, if you’re hopelessly disorganised, as am I, enjoy something from the daily menus chalked on the blackboard. We had steamed wild sea bass with sprout tops, a rich bisque-like crab sauce, and roast chicken, unfussy and big on flavour, from the farm up the road. Along with the home made breads, hand churned butter (with that famous salt) and roll mop herrings, it was all splendid. Oh, and whatever else you do, make sure you scarf some pork scratchings. Where to stay Forget your fancy hotel rooms, the best spot in Whitstable is in one of the former cocklers’ huts on the shore by the oyster fishery, where you can while hours away at low tide watching oil-skinned collectors pick oysters from the beds out front. They’re right in the heart of the town, a two minute stumble from the pub, just round the corner from many restaurants (and wine merchants Magma’s if you fancy getting cosy with a bottle and some oysters). A memorable place to stay. The Fisherman’s Huts have full kitchens and bathrooms, televisions and DVD players in the bedrooms and range from £130 a night to £225. Breakfast at Hotel Continental, a brisk 10 minute walk along the seafront, is included. • Book through Hotel Continental . Upcoming guide, Discover Thanet , co edited by local foodster, Marina O’Loughlin is packed full of tips for eating out in Kent (follow them now on twitter ) Susan Smillie Lords of the Manor , Upper Slaughter, Gloucestershire The immodestly named Lords of the Manor country house hotel is what was once the Rectory of Upper Slaughter, a village of honey-coloured stone in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds. In common with much of this remorselessly picturesque part of the world the setting makes it easy to imagine yourself living in a gentler age, and here are rich pickings indeed for the historical day-dreamer. In the first half of the 18th century the rectory was once home to Rev Francis Witts, not a particularly well-known man while he lived but almost famous today as the author of a series of diaries spanning almost 60 years and published as The Diary of a Cotswold Parson . As you might expect, the hotel is a handy base for country pursuits like horseriding, shooting and fishing, or if you just fancy a walk for working up an appetite, wellies are available. And it’s well worth the effort, for the heart of this hotel is its kitchen. Under the leadership of executive chef Matt Weedon, the restaurant has held a Michelin star for the last three years and his menu of well-conceived and impeccably presented modern British dishes is complemented by an award-winning cellar boasting some 700 wines. Sommelier Fabrice Bouffant prides himself on the range of wines matched with the food and available by the glass, not just by the bottle. After an entertaining canapé of fish, chips and mushy peas, and a surprise amuse bouche of pea velouté and coconut foam, a dinnertime starter of lightly smoked breast of wood pigeon and braised Kelmscott pork pastilla with salt baked beetroot was matched by a 2008 d’Arenberg shiraz from south Australia, the familiar fruity Aussie bounciness balancing the salty elements, and lurking tannins picking up the smoke in the pigeon. To follow, the pepper and leather of a Crozes Hermitage 2005 drew out the red wine sauce gracing a main course of alluringly pink Longhorn beef rib and a braised ox cheek with Hereford snails, parsley, cep confit and pommes anna. A dessert of prune and Armagnac soufflé was perfectly matched with a sticky 2001 vin santo del Chianti classico, tasting exactly like (you guessed it) a prune and Armagnac soufflé. If the wine list demonstrates a truly global reach, the origins of the ingredients are positively parochial; vegetables come in from Lower Oddington, Burford Brown eggs from Great Barrington, and bread from pastries from Shipton-under-Wychwood, all within 10 miles, to name but a few. Most locally of all, Simon Weaver supplies brie style cheeses (the blue is particularly fine) from his creamery at Kirkham Farm less than a mile up the road. In fact, all the cheeses on the impressive trolley (a roll-top glass affair the size of an oil drum) are from the UK. Out and about There’s plenty in the area to keep you occupied in between meals, too. A very pleasant meander of a mile and half takes you to Lower Slaughter, a champagne truffle in this chocolate-box locale, where you can saunter round the recently restored water mill (entrance to the small museum is a heady £1.25) and its souvenir and retro-clothing shop, and enjoy homemade ice-creams or a cuppa by the mill pond. In the other direction a stroll takes you to Kirkham Farm where you can buy cheeses from the creamery door. The staff at Lords, a interesting mix of European nationalities, are all encouraged to eat out locally so they can advise guests about places they might enjoy. Following their recommendation, I had a very good lunch at The Fox Inn in Lower Oddington , a pleasant, family-friendly pub down the road. The only thing missing was more time to explore. • Book via the hotel’s website . Rooms start at £195, a two course dinner costs £65pp and the 6 course tasting menu is £85pp Rick Peters • More foodie hotels tomorrow: Isle of Skye, Isle of Wight, Buckinghamshire, Lancashire Food & drink Hotels Food and drink Matthew Fort Susan Smillie Kate Carter Rick Peters guardian.co.uk

Posted by on April 5, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.