Machine House - Rossett, Wales

The Machine House is a Michelin guide listed restaurant in the picturesque town of Rossett – just over the Welsh border / a short drive from Chester.

Housed in a former agricultural machinery repair shop, the kitchen has recently been taken over by Head Chef Kevin Lynn (formerly of the Belle Époque in Knutsford).

A few points of “constructive criticism”:

·      It would be helpful to put on the website the fact that the Tasting Menu (£55) is only available in the evenings. I wouldn’t have driven for an hour if I’d known that only the lunch menu was available (3 courses for £22:50).

·      Portions are very small – thankfully I ordered an additional dish (but still left feeling unsatisfied). I do have a healthy appetite but throughout 500+ posts on this blog I don’t think this is something I have ever felt the need to comment on previously.

·      The tables were set with side plates and butter knives but no bread was forthcoming – when I requested some, the waiter wasn’t sure if they had any and had to “check with the kitchen” before a couple of slices where rustled up.

·      A few technical issues – the brown crab meat “emulsion” lacked the expected smack of crabby flavour; the “compressed” was more like a compote and the rhubarb dish as a whole lacked any of the expected sharpness.

Other than these “niggles”, the food showed a lot of promise and I’d certainly recommend the Machine House as “one to watch”.

Flaked Welsh crab meat, crab emulsion & sea herbs

Potato and truffle mousse, woodland mushrooms & wild garlic

Breast of Welsh lamb, celeriac, sweetbread, lamb fat potatoes

Compressed forced rhubarb, rhubarb sorbet, sable crumble

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