Cotswold House relaunches fine dining restaurant

Cotswold House in Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire, this week relaunched its fine dining restaurant, which had been closed for two years.

The Dining Room has opened following a mild refurbishment in the space formerly occupied by Juliana's which closed in 2010. The move comes after Cotswold House and its sister property the Noel Arms were taken over by Bespoke Hotels earlier this year. The hotel's casual restaurant, the 60-seat Hicks Brasserie, recently relaunched as the Grill.

Head chef Dave Watts (pictured) is in charge of the 32-seat Dining Room, which offers a range of three-, four- and five-course tasting menus, giving diners the option to choose as many savoury or sweet courses as they wish.

Typical dishes include English asparagus, slow-cooked pheasant egg, smoked bacon crumbs; Cornish turbot, peas, broad beans, lettuce and brown shrimp butter; and almond custard, cream and mousse.

Watts, who joined Cotswold House eight months ago and previously spent eight years at Raymond Blanc's two-Michelin-starred Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, working his way up to senior sous chef, said: "The food is a modern take on tasting menus, letting the diner choose the number of courses and the type of courses they want to eat.

"We want to make Cotswold House renowned for food and create a destination restaurant with the Dining Room. We're not pushing for accolades but just want to run a successful restaurant."

Bespoke, which has a portfolio of more than 50 properties, acquired the lease of Cotswold House and the Noel Arms from Egyptian-based Concorde Hotel Management. Concorde bought the hotels in 2007 from Ian and Christa Taylor, who ran the properties for eight years and won three Cateys.

Juliana's was previously run by Roux Scholar and National Chef of the Year winner Steve Love, who left the restaurant in 2009 to set up Loves in Birmingham.

Bespoke Hotels takes over Cotswold House and Noel Arms >>

Steve Love relaunches Love's restaurant in Birmingham >>

By Kerstin Kühn

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