The second meal on my trip to Warwickshire l. The Cross at Kenilworth is owned by the same person who used to own Simpsons in Birmingham before it closed (in fact, Simpsons used to be in Kenilworth before they moved to Birmingham)
They have had a star for a number of years now, and it shows. Polished service, good food without anything blowing you away. The type of Michelin star restaurant you'd go to celebrate graduating or with family for a birthday I reckon
Tasting menu cost £125 per person, plus £15 for the cheese course
Snacks
Cheese croquettes with smoked mayonnaise and gooseberry puree
Warm and cheesy, nice subtle smoke on the mayo, sharp zing from the gooseberry
Bread
Sourdough with homemade salted butter
Fairly standard bread and butter, nice but nothing to write home about
Course 1
Tomato salad with pine nuts and goats cheese
Good quality tomatoes, added herb dressing and goats cheese. A lovely summer start to the meal
Course 2
Smoked salmon roulade, fromage blanc, fennel salad
Lightly smoked salmon, not too overpowering. Worked well with the crisp fennel, again quite subtle. Grapefruit cut through and the fromage blanc was nice to see being used
Course 3
Ham hock and chicken terrine, quail egg, mustard dressing, celeriac remoulade
Really well made terrine, great flavour from the ham hock. Dressing added bite, and remoulade texture and additional depth of flavour. Lovely dish, right up my street
Course 4
Stone bass, saffron orzo, lobster sauce
Bass cooked nicely, orzo worked well, as did the courgettes. Star is the lobster sauce, packed full of flavour. The stand out dish for me
Course 5
Duck, fondant potatoes, beetroot, cherry puree, duck and white pepper jus
Beautifully cooked duck breast, beetroot and cherry both worked well. The white pepper in the jus elevated it and left a nice lightly spiced finish
Course 6
Raspberry sorbet, raspberry sable, white chocolate cream, fresh raspberries
Almost Eton Mess like, with the cream, fruit and meringue elements. The sorbet was nice and sharp. A really tasty, summer dessert
by TheYorkshireSaint
3 Comments
It’s always nice to see different restaurants on this forum. The menu and dishes look very conservative to me, but it all seems pleasant enough. Thanks for sharing!
looks like a decent one star not trying too hard
Excellent. I used to live in Kenilworth and have a great fondness for the place. For its size, it’s got some great food options (and a wonderful castle. Much better than Warwick’s IMV). I lived there when Simpson’s was Simpson’s, and we really enjoyed that. I’ve been to the Simpson’s in Brum, and I really rate that as well.
I used to be a fan of Mallory Court (not too far away, near Warwick), but it sadly went off a few years ago and became seriously overpriced. However, I’ve heard good things about it more recently, and I’m looking forward to trying it again soon.