BOUVARDIA At Bathen House hotel out on Newbridge Hill, executive chef Robert Zalus uses intriguing ingredients, and has his presentation down pat; suddenly there’s a little less incentive for the residents of Bath’s western fringes to make the trek into town By Matt Bielby
O
nce a care home, now – hugely upgraded – a boutique hotel, the chunky Victorian Bathen House was reinvented a couple of years ago as a step up from the usual bed and breakfasts you get on Bath’s arterial routes; a tablet in the pale pink drawing room shows a video of the work progressing, with plenty of rubble and knocked down walls. Virtually opposite Newbridge Surgery, and not far from the hospital, it’s in a residential area light on places to eat in the evening, save for the likes of Rooted on Chelsea Road. Its arrival ups the Weston/Newbridge area’s dining game considerably. Bathen House now boasts 13 high-spec bedrooms and – not great timing, this – a new restaurant that opened just before lockdown kicked in, and so is only en o ing its first real customers now. ocated in a fresh extension to the back of the building – more substantial than a conservatory, but with so much glass to its walls and ceiling that it gives a similar impression – it currently
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o ers covers perhaps when social distancing retreats and things get back to normal. Behind the pass here: one Robert Zalus, an executive chef with ambition. His is a limited but interesting menu, which changes with the seasons, and currently features such tempting sounding avour combinations as duc breast with marinated pear and wine and raspberry sauce, chicken terrine with apple and cider brandy relish, and sea bass with cauli ower tabbouleh and chilli lime mango sauce. Whatever you choose, two dishes will set ou bac . or ou can have three for a tenner more. The mostly New World wine list, with small glasses around . and bottles in the low twenties is currently a little short but we’re assured it’s a work in progress. We took a couple of gin and tonics before the meal – 6 O’clock and Cotswold, a fair number of the beverages o ered here having a est ountr lin then a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc and a South African Shiraz-Cabernet Sauvignon-Malbec to accompany the meal, the one fresh and citrus, the other all juicy dark berries.
