{"id":220,"date":"2018-06-18T14:00:49","date_gmt":"2018-06-18T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland\/?p=220"},"modified":"2018-06-19T11:16:28","modified_gmt":"2018-06-19T11:16:28","slug":"dining-out-at-rushton-hall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pridemagazines.co.uk\/rutland-and-stamford\/food-and-drink\/dining-out-at-rushton-hall\/06-2018","title":{"rendered":"Dining Out at Rushton Hall"},"content":{"rendered":"

There are bad days. There are good days. And then, there are days like this one. Rushton Hall days. It\u2019s Friday, prior to a Bank Holiday and I\u2019m being paid – actually commanding a salary – in return for the privilege of visiting Rushton Hall. Please, nobody let onto my publisher, but I\u2019d work for free… in fact, I\u2019d pay him to do this!<\/p>\n

Trickling through the towns of Stamford and Oakham with their limestone architecture, then onto Uppingham and eventually Northamptonshire, with their changing architectural vernacular of ironstone, I\u2019m minded to explain to readers why we\u2019re featuring a dining out recommendation situated neither in Stamford nor Rutland. Short answer; it\u2019s well worth the trip of the half an hour it\u2019ll take you to travel there from anywhere in this magazine\u2019s catchment area.<\/p>\n

We hope you\u2019re not – since we\u2019ve recommended the place before – but if you\u2019re still a Rushton Hall virgin, there\u2019s never been a better time to pay your first visit this month. That\u2019s because the paint is still fresh and the fine linen tablecloths still starchy on a brand new fine dining restaurant in the hotel. The Grade I listed building dates back to the 16th century and was the former country pile of Tresham – he of gunpowder plot fame.<\/p>\n

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A beautifully presented fish dish.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Its grand hall was the inspiration for Miss Havisham\u2019s Satis in Dickens\u2019 Great Expectations, and, set in 25 beautiful acres, the place looks lovely. It would probably be successful even if it served rubbish food… but it doesn\u2019t. It serves amazing food, as evidenced by its three AA\u2008rosettes and our enthusiasm.<\/p>\n

Rushton Hall has invested for the future, spending about \u00a310m on its new Orangery adjacent to the hotel. To ensure its food remained up to the same impressive standard, the hotel spent another \u00a31m or so on a brand spanking new kitchen in a purpose built area in a former courtyard, with mod cons including induction hobs, and \u2018virtually water-free\u2019 dishwasher (witchcraft; it uses \u2018granular disks,\u2019 apparently…?).<\/p>\n

Alongside Rushton\u2019s biomass boiler, the investment not only makes Rushton one of the most eco-friendly kitchens in the area, but also gives its 12 pampered chefs somewhere really luxurious to work their magic. Those investments have allowed Executive Head Chef Adrian Coultard to change the hotel\u2019s provision of food, and create a new fine dining restaurant. A new more relaxed menu is now served in the former restaurant, branded 1593 Brasserie.<\/p>\n

And in the area which used to be the kitchen, the hotel has created a brand its new 25 seater Tresham Restaurant, which takes Rushton\u2019s already impressive dining to another level. Whilst daytime dining is available in the brasserie, and the hotel\u2019s beautiful afternoon tea remains available during the day in The Great Hall, the Tresham Restaurant is only available to diners in the evening from Tuesday to Saturday evenings.<\/p>\n

This, Adrian says, gives his fine dining brigade time to recharge their batteries and survive the punishing regime of hospitality with their morale – and their creative enthusiasm – intact. There\u2019s just one menu, with five starters, five main courses and four desserts plus cheese option. Canap\u00e9-style pre-dinner \u2018snacks\u2019 are thrown in and the menu is offered on a prixe fixe basis, for \u00a360\/head with no supplements, specials or sides. Simple. Just like the food.<\/p>\n

For all its fancy presentation, Adrian\u2019s cuisine is not a bombardment of flavours, but more a single ingredient allowed to do its thing with little or no other flavours creating unnecessary noise on the palate. Bread, sauces, petit fours; in house, in house, in house. All of it made by the brigade with skill and commitment.<\/p>\n

The wine list; a veritable encyclopedia of inebriation. All is as you\u2019d expect from one of the area\u2019s most assuredly fine dining experiences, it\u2019s just… lovely. Rushton Hall has 51 room (they\u2019re beautiful, too), plus a spa and its grounds are as fabulous as its architecture.<\/p>\n

You could enjoy afternoon tea in the central courtyard, or the hotel\u2019s new brasserie menu… but… no. If you\u2019re going to do Rushton Hall, don\u2019t miss a trick; do it properly and enjoy Adrian and his brigade at their best. Sample his new fine dining restaurant. And whilst I\u2019m dishing out the advice, choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life again!<\/p>\n

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