In those days it was a typical country house hotel, with a spectacular avenue of trees which led to a traditional Georgian mansion house. There was a perfunctory spa, which was really held up by the quality of the staff, especially by Diane, the manageress... I used to enjoy going to Lucknam in those days, but gradually hotels like Cowley Manor, and Babington began to sing their sweet charms to me (I'm sure a direct result of my increasing family size).
In our recent dinner at the Greenhouse, one of our chums said that he'd just been to Lucknam on a conference - and he sang the praises of the newly refurbished spa - indeed he would have preferred the spa to the conference facilities... Newly refurbished spa? A quick check on-line revealed a very Cowley'esque pool, with plethora of steam and sauna suites of differing functions, and a new brasserie in place of the old pool. In addition the hotel now had a Michellin starred chef. Well, it seemed only polite to return, for old time's sakes you understand...
We had a very nice room, thank you (although I'm wondering why all of these top-class hotels use the same incredibly soft mattress? You spend all your time struggling to stay need the edge of the bed, rather than roll into the centre of the bed - it kills my back! A problem I've suffered everywhere from Chewton Glen through to the Bath Priory recently).
We had a quick look around the main house, which I have to say didn't appear to have changed much at all in the last decade. The new spa, pool and brasserie, however, are architecturally modern. With their gleaming stone and muted natural colours, they sit very well in the beautiful gardens.
We decided we would eat in the main restaurant on two nights, and in the brasserie on one. The main house suffers, in my opinion, from that insanely dated habit of shuffling you between rooms whilst they give you a menu, a drink and some nibbles... I am perfectly capable of sipping a glass of something lovely and assessing the menu within 10 minutes. To draw the process out to 30 minutes whilst everyone tries assiduously not to look at each other is really rather tedious.
Our amuse were little risotto balls, bread sticks with twiddles of parma ham, parmesan etc. They were decidedly average, and given that they seem to be the same nibbles offered to Giles Coren in February 2009 (!), perhaps it's time that they were revisited. In fact the Hubby felt my own repertoire was more original, which wasn't terribly encouraging...
Once we had been allowed to move to the dining room, we were presented with another little dish of foamed potato and haddock... Yes, you read that right, foamed potato... Now I have a foamer at home, and I'm pretty sure it's impossible to foam potato, unless you are actually foaming the liquid you cooked it in. It came out like an insubstantial mash, with haddock flakes. Not to be repeated. Yet the following night it was a pea foam, with little flakes of ham hock - intensely green, salty and sweet - one of the yummiest things I've eaten for an age...
As my first course I had a little grouping of langoustine, with a gribiche sauce, and oscietra - my God it was good - good enough for me to eat two nights in a row! The gribiche just punctured the sweetness of the langoustine, and contrasted well with the salty crunchiness of the oscietra - perhaps not umami-like perfection, but not far off. However the Hubby felt his pressed fois gras terrine was decidedly predictable (and certainly not a patch on any number of restaurants, including the peerless Gascon offerings).
For my first main course I had a very 'nice' sea bass dish, which I hate to say I don't remember much, *clearly* not memorable (and I can recall dishes I ate at Pierre Koffman's restaurant 20 years ago!). The Hubby had a loin of lamb, with an accompanying cannon, which he thought was superb.
The following night was a completely the reverse for me - we both had the pork belly, which was just one of the nicest things I've ever eaten! I have always resisted pork belly because of the fatty layers - I'm just not the kind of foodie who gets off on eating fat and skin - it just doesn't appeal to me... However this little roll of unctuous deliciousness left me foraging in the layers for every last scrap of the pork, which had hints of either fennel seed or caraway, and made you just sigh...
And there lies the rub - the food is soooo hit and miss as to be unfathomable. I assume the kitchen is divided into stations, in which case someone in there has an inspired palate, and someone else either doesn't have the passion or the palate. Food was either delicately contrasted both in terms of texture and taste, or was leaden and decidedly average. When combined with rather an old fashioned dining room, I can think of many places I'd rather eat. (Also, whilst I can hear you say that, of course the kitchen was divided into stations, I'd like to remark that given how few people were actually in the restaurant, it wasn't a given!)
On a plus, the young sommelier was very accommodating, pulling out older bottles he thought would suit our palate, and giving us the sort of detailed background to the vineyards that only a passionate sommelier can recall. And he had Antonori's Cervaro della Salle in stock in half bottles, not something you see very often!
The Brasserie by contrast is light, bright, clean, and inviting. The food was very good at all times of the day, whether the sweet potato and yellow fin tuna I had for lunch, or the very good poached eggs for breakfast. The Hubby said the full English was very good! Service was prompt, cheerful and polite too. When we did have dinner in the Brasserie, we couldn't help noticing that the few diners in the Park Restaurant from the previous two nights were also there - who was left in the main restaurant I wondered? I shudder to think of all those ingredients waiting, desperately, to be eaten....
We had cheese on the room service menu after one of the dinners - the cheese board is really very good, and having explained our preferences, matched our request perfectly. (You can apparently also order anything from the Brasserie menu as room service).
The spa is also very good, and I was very happy to find Diane still at the desk, albeit in the role of Receptionist. Continuity in the form of a welcoming smile is always to be desired - in the form of an ageing and archaic dining room, it is not.
