Restaurants in Lincolnshire: The White Hart, Bailgate
One of Lincoln’s most renowned chefs is now leading the team at Bailgate’s White Hart Hotel, and his plans include the launch of a brand new tasting menu to sit alongside an already excellent à la carte offering. This month we’ll enjoy revisiting one of the city’s most well-respected hotels
At the time of writing it’s three years since the White Hart Hotel, on Lincoln’s Bailgate, temporarily closed its doors to guests to undertake a huge refurbishment. Reopening in October 2023, the results were very successful indeed.
The upmarket feel of modern interiors, 49 fresh new bedrooms and a brand new restaurant, named Antlers, were matched by exceptional service from a team led by General Manager Paul Noble.
Lincoln businessman Andrew Long had taken on the hotel and invested a huge amount of time, effort and capital in transforming a building that dates back to the 14th century, carries a Grade II listing and is located right in the centre of Lincoln. It’s permanently hustling with locals and tourists keen to visit the twin landmarks of Lincoln Cathedral and Lincoln Castle, to which the hotel is pretty much equidistant.
It was a development not for the faint-hearted, but the results justified the effort with the Gibson Bar evoking a gentleman’s club of the 1930s and the Colonnade Cocktail Lounge providing a swish space to meet friends.
Antlers, too, was an immediate win with a very light restaurant courtesy of a large skylight and its sociable banquette seating, its elevated coffee lounge and bar plus a private dining room too.
The restaurant’s menu was an instant success as well, with a range of comfort food classics plus some upmarket à la carte dishes. Whilst it has evolved a little in its ethos, and changed seasonally over the past couple of years, fundamentally Antlers’ offering of food was well-conceived, well-executed and very popular right from the start.
That fact was underwritten when the White Hart was named Lincolnshire’s only AA 4 Silver Star Award Hotel, and accepted into the Good Food Guide. The White Hart was also named Lincolnshire Pride’s Restaurant of the Year, as voted for by our readers.
And now, with the arrival of its new Head Chef, Billy Frost, the White Hart is about to become even better… three months ago, Billy was asked to join the team. If his name sounds familiar, it should, since the chef has worked in many of the better restaurants in Uphill Lincoln… and he trained at The Ritz in London!
Billy is keen to maintain the ethos of quality and consistency in the kitchen, and takes his customers’ satisfaction as the most important metric of success. It’s not unreasonable to predict a second rosette for the restaurant in the future, but Billy, Paul and the team are happy to maintain a reputation that is based on happy customers, rather than awards.
One introduction that will take the White Hart’s dining into the Billy Frost era, though, is the introduction of a new tasting menu which will sit alongside its existing à la carte dining options.
Daytime diners enjoy a prix fixe menu at £24 and £28 for two or three courses respectively, and is served exclusively in Antlers, with Colonnade having a dedicated bar menu comprising sharing platters, hot and cold sandwiches, salads and small plate dishes plus a range of burgers and pizzas.
Evening diners are able to choose from seven starters, five Classics, three grill/steak options and five à la carte dishes plus a range of snacks, sides, and four desserts plus a cheese board of artisan British examples, not least among which is Lincolnshire Poacher.
The new taster menu will be available for £80 and will offer five courses with an additional supplement for a cheese course and optional flight of wine for £50.
Billy is keen that across the White Hart’s provision of food, the hotel’s menus express respect for the quantity and quality of local producers and suppliers. It’s (more or less) a 30-mile menu, although the team make concessions for more specialised ingredients, or for consistency and quality.
Meat is sourced from Wards of Ruskington, with lamb supplied by Gelston and pork from Lincolnshire’s Redhill Farm, with Fosters of Lincoln also providing the locally-reared beef for which they’ve been renowned now for six generations and over 130 years.
Fish arrives courtesy of Sailbrand via Grimsby’s markets and freshly made bread is delivered each day to the hotel via Lincoln’s Vines Bakery, justly renowned for the quality of its traditional sourdough.
Also worth mentioning is an exceptional Sunday lunch, the centrepiece of which is black treacle-cured rump of dry-aged beef, with Stilton and mushroom rarebit, goose fat Yorkshire puddings, and clotted cream mash, with Lincolnshire Poacher cauliflower cheese and Merlot gravy. To say it’s recommended is somewhat of an understatement.
Also recommended is a refreshed afternoon tea offering which allows Billy and the team to show off their skills in the patisserie section. Our tiered afternoon tea came with Billy’s trademark Battenberg and a white chocolate and raspberry dome with tempered white chocolate dome, sablé biscuit and caramelised meringue. Afternoon teas are served daily so there’s no need to book either!
The White Hart is seriously excellent in the presentation of the premises, from the gentleman in the bowler hat greeting guests as they enter through the hotel’s revolving doors, to the smart bars and lounges and a very light and beautifully appointed restaurant.
Add to that attentive service from an assiduous team as well as exceptionally presented and delicious dishes elevated further thanks to Billy’s presence. The White Hart is clearly entering a new and even brighter era for its customers… one that we highly recommended you enjoy, very soon!
The White Hart Hotel, Bailgate Lincoln LN1 3AR. Call 01522 526 222 or see www.whitehart-lincoln.co.uk.