A few weeks ago we ventured down into the Cotswolds for a night away in the countryside. We decided to treat ourselves on the way down by stopping off for lunch in Cheltenham at Le Champignon Sauvage.
Run by David Everitt-Matthias and his wife, this restaurant has been going strong since 1987, and hows the accolade of 2 michelin stars amongst many others.
The restaurant is quite unassuming from the front, and inside is elegant and tasteful. For me it certainly had the feel of an old school fine dining restaurant.
At lunch time they offer both an A la Carte menu and a lunch menu. We went for the lunch menu, trying to keep things light,as we were eating out again that evening. The 3 course lunch menu we thought to be pretty good value at £32.
To start things off we were brought a couple of canapés. I can’t quite remember what they both were, but they were delicious little morsels.
For my starter I chose the Red Mullet, Courgette and Basil Pureé, Clam and Shallot dressing. This was a delightful starter. The flavours within it are not something I would usually jump for in a menu – purely a matter of taste for me, but they all worked deliciously well together and the clam dressing was superb. Lee went for the Brasied Ox Cheek, Smoked Tongue, Pickled carrots and Beef consommé. Again a really great starter. The pickled carrots were amazing and Lee said that he wanted a few more on the plate!
For mains I went for the Belly Pork, Ham Hock and Trotter Fritter, Apple and Rosehip Pureé while Lee bucked his usual meat trend and went for the Cod, Field Mushroom Cream and Parmesan Gnocchi. He loved the gnocchi – so flavoursome and went well with the mushrooms. From my dish, the trotter fritter was sublime and I loved the tangy pureé and the hint of rose hip was something a little different. We both felt that the main ‘element’ of the the main dishes was a little overshadowed by all the the delicious bits that came with it.
Moving on to dessert and we both went for the same thing – Milk Chocolate and Honey Ganache, Pistachio Sponge and Pistachio Icecream. Neither of us could speak highly enough of this dessert. It really hit the spot, the ganache was creamy and delicious, not too heavy and the pistachio elements were divine. A faultless dessert.
Tea and coffee was served with a whole raft of petit fours, which we struggled but bravely managed to get down us!
Overall we had a really lovely meal at Le Champignon Sauvage, although for us it would fall marginally below a few other 2 michelin starred meals we have had.
http://www.lechampignonsauvage.co.uk
Suffolk Road, Cheltenham, GL50 2AQ