Coworth Park Hotel

This is my second post focussing on my recent stay at Coworth Park Hotel in Ascot. If you haven't read my first post on the spa and wonderful afternoon tea you can have a read here. 

Entering the driveway to Coworth Park you really do feel like you are leaving the city behind. The 240 acre parkland is beautifully tranquil and the grounds are stunning. 

We spent many happy hours over the long weekend walking in the grounds. 

Coworth Park Hotel is part of the Dorchester collection but has more of a country house feel inside compared to their other hotels in the UK collection.

On checking in we were shown to our hotel room which was stunning and had beautiful views over the grounds. 

The copper bath above made for a wonderful relaxing soak.

It is not often we get to actually relax, we spend our lives running around so having some quite contemplation time was very welcome. I would never tire of this as a view.  

For the Saturday evening the other half had booked us for a birthday dinner at Coworth Park restaurant in the Mansion House. As a foodie I was expecting great things as the restaurant prides itself on modern British dishes, using the best seasonal ingredients and locally sourced produce. Something you know following my blog is very important to me. 

We are warmly greeted and shown to a table near the windows. The first thing I notice is the setting of the restaurant which is beautiful, with copper leaves decorating the high ceilings, autumn coloured leather seats and floor to ceiling windows looking out over the landscaped gardens. 

The menu offers guest two choices the option of a tasting menu (£85 per person) and À la carte menu (£70 per person). 

Knowing from experience how filling taster menus are we opt for the À la carte menu. This receives a rather strange response from the waiting staff as though our option is the less favourable choice. 

For starters I chose the heritage carrots, Watts farm nasturtium salad, sweet wine and caraway dressing. What arrives at the table is a visual feast for the eyes. 

The orange and purple carrots with the nasturtium salad were the perfect sweet and peppery combination.  

The other half loves fish so his choice is easy, home cured west coast halibut, Watts farm beetroot, blood orange and fennel. 

This dish also is a feast for the eyes. The halibut, beetroot and orange is a wonderful taste explosion. 

This however is where the praise well and truly stops and I more than anyone am so disappointed. The food and service seriously went downhill from here. 

For mains I opt for loin and belly of Hunstman farm middle white pork, butternut squash, burnt baby onions and sage.

Now I should start by saying I love belly of pork, secondly as you know I would happily eat any food. So when I tell you that the pork and sauce was absolutely tasteless and that I did not finish the dish you might have some idea of how bad the dish was. The breaded stick in the middle of the dish was dry and inedible and the pork was flavourless had a soft and rubbery crackling. 

Things don't improve with the main meal, roasted Windsor Estate venison, Kohlrabi fondant, spinach, pearl barley and toasted pine nuts.  

The meat was perfectly cooked and beautiful in taste but considering the ingredients that had been used in the dish which are numerous the rest of the dish is flavourless.  

I am not sure what went wrong with the dishes, did the chef leave the kitchen? Was it an off day? Who knows but when you are charging such a 

premium for food you have to deliver on quality and taste. 

I am pleased to say that with dessert they managed to redeem themselves. 

The lemon curd mousse, gin and tonic sorbet and botanical dessert was wonderfully refreshing. The bitter lemon and biscuit crust was just what I needed to pick the meal up. 

The forced Yorkshire rhubarb de-constructed cheese cake was also a hit.   

During the meal we were made to feel rushed, that our personal choice of À la carte was not an acceptable one and there was an air from staff serving that they were more important than guests. Thus with the issue of the flavourless mains, overall a rather disappointing meal and one that I certainly would not repeat.

Luckily the hotel, spa, afternoon tea and The Barn restaurant all make for a wonderful and unforgettable stay. Coworth Park Hotel really is a wonderful place to stay but they do need to quickly resolve whatever issues they are experiencing with the restaurant as this seriously lets what is a truly luxurious hotel down. 

My top tips for the perfect stay would be:

1.Book a massage in the wonderful spa in advance as weekends can be busy. 

2.Opt for a room that has views over the gardens which are breathtaking.

3.Make sure you have breakfast which is a treat to behold.

4.Book yourself in for afternoon tea which is superb and certainly one of the best that I have experienced.

5.Don the wellies or walking boots and walk some of the food off in the beautiful 240 acres of land.

6. Before heading off make sure you eat Sunday lunch in The Barn. It is the perfect place to enjoy fine food and watch as the horses and riders trot past. Did I mention that you can also bring your own horse to the stables?

www.dorchestercollection.com

Coworth Park

Blacknest Rd,

Ascot, 

Berkshire 

SL5 7SE