La Brasserie at The Chester Grosvenor

The Michelin starred Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor has for many years been considered one of the North West’s finest restaurants.

Which, is fitting as the hotel itself is also one of the region’s most prestigious hotels – it certainly has one of the greatest histories and pedigrees; thanks, in no small part, due to its ownership by The Duke of Westminster. 

Earlier this year, the brasserie at the Grosvenor underwent a major refit and menu overhaul by Simon Radley and reopened as ‘La Brasserie’.

What they say: La Brasserie has comfortable, black leather sofas and chairs, and the sleek granite tabletops help to create a relaxed, Parisian style ambience. One of the restaurant's hallmarks is a hand-painted glass skylight, which adds to the feeling of French sophistication.

What I ate:

Du Pain – a selection of artisan breads from the Chester Grosvenor bakery, made with locally produced Walk Mill flour. Barry the Baker’s breads are always one of the high points of meals at Simon Radley – these rolls too were excellent and beautifully served in wooden bowls on a bed of ‘straw’.

Crispy pig trotter – this was a phenomenally good dish. The sharpness of the paper-thin mouneyrac apple carpaccio with the sweet, seared scallops forged a fabulous synergy with the umami rich unctuousness of the pig’s trotter croquette – magnifique!

Following the excellent starter, the main was going to have to be something special… fortunately, it was: Rose veal escalope – an overall rich dish that still had light touches. The veal itself was absolutely sublime – excellent quality and cooked to tender perfection.

The salty Crudo ham; sweet, sticky baked figs; bitter rocket salad; earthy artichokes and fresh, clean tasting buffalo mozzarella all helped to make the dish something very special – impeccable brasserie cooking.

Hand cut chips – up there with the best chips I’ve eaten.

The dessert selection, including a small but well-appointed cheese board was wonderful. Unable to choose, I took the easy option by selecting the tasting plate of mini desserts and sweet bites with coffee - Café Gourmand.

To go with my choice of a Double Espresso, the selection included: a Chocolate & Raspberry Délice; a triangle of Turkish Delight; a Cassis Pâte de Fruit; a Pistachio & Walnut Macaron and a perfectly sharp Lemon Tart with Blueberries.

Food high points: I enjoyed the whole meal so much it’s actually very difficult to choose one high point but I think if I ‘had’ to eat one dish again right now, it would be the scallops and pig trotter.

Food low points: I find it hard to fault this meal… probably the best hotel brassierie I have ever visited. Perhaps be more generous with the chips?

Décor / ambience: like a proper Parisian brasserie only with more space and friendlier staff (not that all Parisian brasserie staff are unfriendly, of course). The central skylight is the real ‘pièce de résistance’ but it is the quality of everything the marble tables to the from the napkin linen and cruet sets that really shines through.

Service: service too was faultless.

Verdict (Would I return?): most definitely. Simon Radley remains the place to go for a special celebration by La Brasserie is the perfect place to treat yourself… why wait for a special occasion? 

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Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor, Cheshire

It’s been just over a year since I last posted about Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor – in that time, little has changed, so I’ll spare you the usual preamble and get quickly to the foodie bit (if you want to read my previous post with some information about Chester and Simon Radley – see here).

One thing that has changed is the reopening of a fully refurbished, second restaurant and The Grosvenor, called ‘La Brasserie’, which looked very impressive and will undoubtedly be getting a visit from me soon.

One thing that I am glad has not changed is the impressive breadboard by ‘Barry the Baker’ – to my knowledge, the best bread selection of any Michelin starred restaurant in the country* (please let me know of any better, and I am there!)

Service, as always, was excellent albeit very formal; some may think a little stuffy. Dining alone I did notice a lack of atmosphere, partly due to the lack of music (a live pianist or a gentle classical soundtrack would be welcome). At the beginning of the meal when the only other diners were a female couple, I could hear every word of their conversation – if you are looking for a wedding planner, I am now an expert on wedding dresses, flowers, marquee and pavilion hire.

Exhausted from having spent much of the day walking around Chester shopping and enjoying strolls through the parks, by the River Dee and along the medieval walls, I arrived early and ordered a cooling Bundaberg Ginger Beer (my new favourite tipple) and enjoyed a bowl of quality nuts and olives and a quintet of gougères: Salmon & Beetroot, Green Olive, Parmesan Cheese, Chicken Liver & Passion Fruit and Cheese & Truffle.

The days Bread offerings were (reading from right to left in the photo): a white and granary mixed loaf with White Onion & Lancashire Cheese; a soft, white Stoneground Farmhouse; the signature, moist, rich Mashed Potato & Boddingtons Beer Bread; a sweetly sour Sourdough, that had been five days in the making; a hearty Cottage Granary (in the hands of the waiter); a classic French Baguette; a sweet, heavy Red Wine, Fig and Walnut Loaf and, lastly a muesli encrusted Bavarian Rye – I only tasted six of them… all were perfect, so don’t ask me to pick a favourite.

Amuse – a wonderfully cooked Helford oyster, served in a crisp batter with Wirral cress and flowers; a beautiful dish in its conception and execution.

Melon & Prawn – not prawn as the menu suggested, but lobster subtly scented with ginger foam. The three different types of melon were served in tiny fruity, juicy cubes and most impressively as paper-thin sheets, giving the appearance of a raviolo.  

Ibérico – served with decorative pea shoots, the most delicious and perfectly seasoned brawn fritter at atop of a disc of hock jelly and a pea Chantilly with flecks of high quality Spanish Ibérico ham; in terms of out and out flavour, the best dish on the menu.

Mackerel – here, the fatty, charred mackerel loin with the lightly pickled belly was delightfully served on a sweetcorn blini, which had superb synergy with the buttery French Baeri caviar.

Gressingham – the meat main was the only dish of the evening that disappointed; this was definitely for reasons of personal taste rather than execution. The duck itself was roasted well but I found the accompanying pain d’épice, cassis berries, liver and fruit de pâté pastilles overly sweet.

French tart – this dish, a modern take on a classic pissaladière, came out billed as a ‘cheese course’. The pastry was light and flaky, topped with onion confit and a smoky Brezain cheese.

Melba – with golden peach, a creamy vanilla mousse, a plump, fresh raspberry sorbet and a flaked almond topping, this made for a tasty palate cleanser.

Peanut Manjari – ‘manjari’ is a Sanskrit word that means ‘a collection’; this collection of flavours and textures included, sea salt, bananas, burnt orange, crunchy toasted peanuts with snappy chocolate and sparkling gold leaf.

Another top meal by Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor – one thing I would say is for a tasting menu for £90, portions are very small, so fill up on the bread. 

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The Garden by Simon Radley at Oddfellows, Chester

Located on Lower Bridge Street, ‘Oddfellows Hall’ is a building with a rich history as a private house, a school, offices, shops and of course, as the meeting hall of the Oddfellows’ Friendly Society – nowadays, its dapple-grey neo-classical façade gives little hint to the quirky, colourful interior and ornamented baroque decoration found within.

Since becoming a boutique hotel and restaurant a few years ago there have been a few changes to both the chefs and the menus at Oddfellows; including some hoo-ha when Michelin accused the owners of “misleading” customers by claiming ‘Michelin starred’ chef Richard Phillips was in charge of the kitchens at a time when he did not hold a star.

Fortunately, that is now all behind them as Oddfellows have recently reopened as ‘The Garden by Simon Radley’ - a chef who does currently posses a Michelin star, a couple of hundred yards away, at the Chester Grosvenor.

You can read a little about Simon and Chester’s history in my Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor post (see here).

During my recent lunch visit, I appeared to be the only odd fellow present – the rest of the diners seemingly made up from ‘the ladies that lunch’ set: there were several female pairs or groups with just one mixed sex couple and of course, me, the only solo diner.

I even ‘recognised’ a famous ‘actress’ having lunch – ‘someone like’ Helen Mirren or Alison Steadman, but not either of those... to be honest, she may have been a newsreader - the point I am making is ‘The Garden’ seems very much the place to be seen in Chester.

I may have been dining alone but I entertained myself with a game of musical chairs (to a ‘chilltronica’ soundtrack).

‘Seat number 1: the conservatory’ - having felt that I made a 'mistake' at The Ledbury when opting to sit outside, I declined the hosts initial offer and took a conservatory seat looking out into the garden. The décor is what I would describe as ‘botanical, lepidopterist and ornithologist quirk’ - I liked it.

Having ordered a drink, I begun to peruse the menu, which reminded me that the restaurant is called 'The Garden'. I quickly decided then to move to ‘seat number 2: in the Garden’.

A good choice; especially in light of the recent glum weather as it seemed a shame not to make the most of sunshine that was trying so hard to break through the clouds.

The outside space is as funky as the inside - design features such as: oversized lampshade tables; and galvanized bucket light fittings; gnome seats: AstroTurf, turf and white picket fences all helping to make a well deigned, modern and welcoming space.

There are a number of secluded areas and private cabins - as inviting as they looked, dining alone, I felt that I shouldn’t take a whole cabin to myself and instead opted for a small table in an exposed patch of ‘grass’.

My starter, a Goat’s Cheese Pannacotta promptly arrived… very promptly. I understand that all the components are pre-prepared but at least go through some pretense in the kitchen. The menu description also listed 'fig, shoots and lavender honey'… there was no mention of the mustard in the dressing.

The unannounced mustard, I felt, generally bullied the subtle flavours of fig and cheese. Only with careful loading of my fork with enough of the Pannacotta could I temper its potency but even with this measure, the goats’ cheese was all but lost - a real shame as I deemed the Pannacotta itself to be very good.

I found the Bread and Oil to be very good.

Breast of Chicken with black pudding creamed potatoes and mustard sauce - Ever since I started keeping hens* at home (for eggs) I rarely order chicken; I was, however, swayed by the accompanying Black pudding creamed potatoes. (I have three hens: KiKi, FiFi and CiCi or KFC for short.)

The chicken breast, although not the best and most tasty of qualities was perfectly well cooked and moist. Despite my already high hopes, the ‘mash’ was even better than expected – generously mixed with tasty bites of pearl barley.

Fittingly for a restaurant called ‘The Garden’, I did notice other diners receiving their chips in dinky terracotta plant pots. It was about this point that I moved to ‘Seat number 3: in the shade’ - having spent the previous three days cutting a large hawthorn hedge that borders my property, I had already started to burn on the back of my neck, so when the sun eventually won its ongoing battle with the clouds the shady spot was welcomed.

For ‘afters’, I was initially torn between the Sticky Toffee Pudding with Butterscotch Sauce and the “Strawberry” Eton Mess. Selecting the summery option there followed an incredibly long wait… you'd have thought it was a soufflé.

Eventually, an impressive looking ‘mess’ arrived, garnished with a Nasturtium Flower and Pâte de Fruit. I took a spoonful and it was delicious… it was smooth, it was creamy, it was studded with crunchy and chewy meringue… it was raspberry!

Not a problem – I like raspberries; in fact I prefer them to strawberries but I know some (my wife, for one) would have been disappointed with the surprise switch of one fruit for another.

My few gripes aside… I liked Oddfellows and will definitely go back. 

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Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor

Chester, in Cheshire, is an ancient and beautiful city that is steeped in history. Tudor revival buildings and cobbled streets provide the town centre with its quintessential British charm. The ‘Rows’ that date from the medieval era (including what is believed to be the oldest shop front in England) are magnificent to walk along when browsing the town’s diverse range of designer boutiques and independent specialist retailers; the department store, Browns of Chester and of course, the big named high street stalwarts. 

Walking around the original city walls (the most complete example in Britain), you can see some prime examples of the town’s history from the last 2000 years: the Roman amphitheatre; the Norman castle; Georgian and Victorian buildings and canals as well as the wall itself; including the intriguingly named ‘Goblin’ and ‘Bonewaldesthorne’ Towers.

If you are interested in the Roman period of history, I recommend a visit to the Spudulike restaurant on Bridge Street. I am however, unable to vouch for the potatoes but here, in the basement, you can see an original Roman hypocaust system or ‘under floor heating’.

Although, do be careful if you are Welsh: an archaic bye-law states that any Welshman ‘loitering’ within the city walls after sunset may be shot with a longbow or decapitated. Following the Welsh Revolt, King Henry V passed the law, which was never repealed and still officially stands on the statute to this day (although it no longer provides protection against prosecution for murder).

The Chester Grosvenor

The Duke of Westminster and his ancestors have, for centuries, owned a substantial amount of land in and around Chester and the Duke’s family name of Grosvenor is inextricably linked with the city: The Grosvenor Museum, Grosvenor Park, Grosvenor Bridge and The Grosvenor Hotel are the more obvious connections. The hotel having been owned by the family since 1815 has always had a reputation for quality. The hotel’s restaurant, Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor, is one of only four in the country to have held a Michelin star for over twenty consecutive years (The other three being: The Waterside, Le Gavroche, and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons).

The restaurant was previously known as ‘The Arkle’ after a famous racehorse owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster but was renamed and restyled in 2008 in honour of the Chef that, for such a long period of time, has been so influential in its success. The legendary horse had a short but celebrated career in the sixties, winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times before retiring early due to injury. The equine connection can still be seen in the many works of art that decorate the restaurant’s comfortable Arkle Bar and Lounge area.

To learn more about the town’s history, the Grosvenor Museum, on Grosvenor Street, is a great place to head. As is, The Dewa Roman Experience, which has hands-on exhibits and a reconstructed Roman street. Naturally, being a foodist, I was keen to find out what the Romans ate: discovering that the food had many “similarities” to what we ate, that evening, as part of the Tasting Menu.

The poorer Romans mainly ate bread, soup and porridge. And after our tasty amuse bouche of White bean mouse with minted peas; Parmesan Gougères with cream cheese and spring radish; Ham hock jelly with crispy bacon and Grissini, which we ate in the lounge, we were shown into the dining room and presented with a trolley of the most fabulous breads that I have ever seen in a restaurant.

Poor people's small wooden or mud brick homes didn’t have kitchens. So they often took food round to the baker, to cook in his oven. Our breads, freshly made by ‘Barry the Baker’ (who, to me, sounds like a character from a Guy Ritchie movie) were excellent. The choices, which I greedily eagerly worked my way through over the first few courses were: Sourdough; French Baguette; Stoneground Farmhouse; Bavarian Rye; Lancashire Cheese and Onion; Boddingtons and Mashed Potato; Fig and Walnut and Cottage Granary. Sourdough is always a favourite of mine and this one did not disappoint. The real star however, was the Boddingtons (a nod to the Chef Radley’s Mancunian roots?) and Mashed Potato bread – beautifully moist with a subtle malty flavour.

Amuse

Although the Romans would have regularly eaten soup and salmon, from the River Dee, I am sure never with the refinement of the next course. Simply, with the Chef’s typical understated restraint, called Amuse - a clean tasting cucumber gazpacho, with delicately pickled salmon and a little crunchy texture from delightful miniature croutons.

Composition

For ordinary Romans, meat was a luxury, unless they lived in the countryside and could go hunting or fishing. The next course certainly was luxurious (and my favourite of the evening), called Composition - Native lobster, sweetbread bonbons, girolles and summer pea. The girolles had been pickled prior to cooking and added a lovely acidity to the dish. The batter on the ‘bonbons’ was delightfully light and crisp.

Micro crab

Two ingredients that people would not have had access to in the past are Hass avocado and the phenomenal Kalamansi lime (a flavour, I imagine the Chef became familiar whilst working in Asia) which were combined to great effect with Dorset cock crab to produce: Micro crab. One complaint I have, is that my wife appeared to have more of the Kalamansi jelly on hers (or maybe I just said she did so she would give me some of hers?)

Morue

The next dish was Morue - creamy salt cod ravioli with local nettles and flowers. Ancient Romans, despite their ‘Italian’ origins would not have had ravioli; Roman soldiers did however bring their own nettle to the British Isles. I don’t know if they ate them, but they did use them during long, cold and wet marches, to stimulate circulation on their tired and pained legs, using a practice called ‘urtification’. Personally, if they are going to be prepared with the skill and creativity of Simon Radley, then I’d rather stick to eating them.

Landaise duck breast

Richer Roman ‘citizens’ had food cooked at home in the kitchen by slaves. They ate dinner in late afternoon, with a starter, a meat course followed by fruit or nuts.  Our meat course was Landaise duck breast with Stuffed neck salami, crispy rillette, fondant liver, and olive. The neck salami was stuffed with pistachio nuts, which provided a great texture variance. The duck rillete kromeski was full of flavour and delightfully crunchy. My only criticism was the duck was a little too chewy for my taste. The lightly sautéd duck liver in olive oil was sublime.

We followed our meat course with cheese from the board as an alternative to the Crumpet - Fig and apricot, organic Cheddar listed on the menu. The cheese and condiment selection at Simon Radley is superb.

Trifle

Romans would serve lettuce at the end of a meal, believing it helped them to sleep. Fortunately, instead of a salad leaf, we were served Trifle.  A refreshing palate cleanser consisting of an elderflower jell, concealing a delicious plump gooseberry. The Romans certainly had gooseberries, as mentioned by Pliny the Elder in his book Naturalis Historia published circa AD 77-79 (around the time of the Roman’s arrival in Chester).

Forét Noir

The final offering on the tasting menu was Forét Noir - Caraibé chocolate textures, warm cherry. An imaginative and innovative take on the classic pudding – it was tantalising to watch the thin disc of tempered Caraibé chocolate melt and sink as the warm cherry sauce was poured on.  The ‘cherry on top’ was a cherry on the top made more lustrous by a slither of gold leaf.

Coffee and Petit fours

To finish the evening, we returned to the Arkle Bar and Lounge for another Italian import, an espresso; served with a fantastic selection of petit fours: dark chocolate truffle, cherry jelly, popping candy rice crispy cake, banana and passion fruit macaroon, strawberry lollipop, lemon cannelloni, honeycomb, chocolate cornflake cake, raspberry financier, nougat, marshmallow, pistachio puff, citrus sorbet.

So there we have it; I’m sorry if you clicked onto this blog expecting to read about food and ended up with a history lesson. If that is the case, I’ll summarise for you: Simon Radley at The Chester Grosvenor is a magnificent restaurant and well worth visiting.

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