The Garden Room at Dormy House is headed up by Ryan Swift. We were first introduced to his cooking early last year at The Edgbaston Hotel in Bimirngham and found he cooking to be pretty special. Their loss was certainly Dormy House’s gain, so not to confess to being stalkers or anything, we booked in in November for my birthday for a stay and hopefully another excellent meal! We started off with a glass of bubbly in the lounge area which was so relaxing we could have stayed there all night.
But we did eventually drag our selves into the garden room, and a lovely space it was too.
A little canapé to start off was a little morsel of cured salmon which was fresh and citrussy – a lovely way to whet our appetites.
A lovely platter of bread was next up with some flavoured and homemade butter.
Lee chose for his starter Foie Gras with Fig, Gingerbread and Black Muscat. The parfait was silky and rich and the gingerbread coating cut through that very well. The sweetness of the muscat gel was an unusual but perfect pairing.
I went for the Lobster Ravioli with Cornish Crab, Tomato and Sea Vegetables. The pasta on this was really thin and the whole starter was lovely and light and delicate.
Chef sent us out a taster of one of the fish mains as an extra fish course for us – the Monkfish, Cauliflower, Mussels, Curry. This was a lovely dish and I loved the fusion of the fish with the subtle curry flavours.
For mains we both plumped for the Scottish Vension – hard to resist when bang in season. It was served with Pumpkin, Chestnut and Goats Curd. The meat was spectacular and so well cooked with the creamy goats curd something I’ve never had with venison, but along with the smooth pumpkin purée I would certainly have over and over again!
We shared a Cheese Plate before moving on to dessert.
My dessert of Valrhona Chocolate, Mango, Passion Fruit and Cacao Nib was a work of art!
Lee also thoroughly enjoyed his Egg Custard with Quince and Nutmeg.
The food in the Garden Room at Dormy House certainly did not let us down and we enjoyed every bit of the meal, the standout for us both though was the simply sublime venison.
If you are looking for special country hotel that really has it all; location, food spa and luxury rooms, Dormy House is the one for you!
Disclosure: We paid in Full for our meal, except for the extra of the fish course.