Restaurant Review Woodborough Hall

Britain’s countryside is littered with manor houses, halls and minor stately homes that used to belong to the landed gentry but are now considered too big and expensive to run to be used as a family home. Over the years, many of them fell into institutional use, but then the institutions realised that they were too impractical and expensive to be used as glorified office buildings. So, they were sold again, this time to be used as boutique hotels, wedding venues, conference centres, health spas and, of course, restaurants – places where the value of their charm and beauty outweighs the maintenance costs and horrendous heating bills.

Generally, the venues that become boutique hotels also tend to host restaurants, often very good ones; think Langar Hall, Lakeside and Hambleton Hall to name a few. All this leads me to Woodborough Hall, a former manor house located, unsurprisingly, in the pretty village of Woodborough to the east of Nottingham. Taken over from the army in 2004, it too has seen service as a conference centre, a wedding venue and a restaurant. In fact, we reviewed the restaurant more than a decade ago and I liked it very much, so much so that I took my father-in-law along and he approved of it too – he didn’t think much of most of the places I took him to!

Sadly, Woodborough Hall was one of the places laid low by the pandemic three years ago and its future looked bleak. Then, last year, it was acquired by new owners who set about a major renovation which is now complete. The hall is restored to its former glory and the new management team has made a cautious start to reopening the restaurant to the public, starting with afternoon tea and then graduating to lunches.

Now they have launched a full evening à la carte menu and, I have to say, they did the job properly with a full-on press launch. I like being invited to this kind of thing because it makes me feel like a proper food writer, rather than just a jack of all trades. We started with a tour of the Hall, which is a lovely 19th Century building fronting onto beautifully maintained gardens. We stuck our heads into the conference room and then trooped up the grand staircase to a large room overlooking the gardens, which used to be the restaurant but will now host small wedding receptions and private parties. Downstairs was a rather wonderful retiring room with oak panelling, overstuffed leather chairs and a big open fireplace – perfect for an after-dinner snifter in the winter months. Then we looked around the spacious bar and dining area before ending up in the pièce de résistance, the orangery. This is such a nice room, high ceilinged and graceful and flooded with evening sunlight from the French windows opening onto the lawn and the Victorian skylights above. With light cream walls and a limestone floor, it is airy and spacious – we felt like gentry from a bygone age.

A word about the staff; they are without exception friendly, charming and very well trained; they transformed our evening from a press launch into a special night out. They also knew the menu inside out and, flatteringly, wanted our opinion on each dish. With all the boxes ticked so far, it was time to try the food. Conveniently, the chef had put together a seven-course tasting menu made up of small portions of dishes from the à la carte. This had the advantage that everyone got to try a good selection of the food on offer, although I should point out that a tasting menu won’t normally be available. We started with Pan Fried King Scallop, Mango & Chilli Salsa, Buttered Samphire, Seaweed Nori Crisp, which I can only describe as utterly sublime. This was closely followed by Caesar Salad Croquettes, Lettuce Puree, Anchovies, Parmesan – lots of imagination, plenty of flavour and great presentation.

We moved on to main courses, with three to try. First up was Sea Trout, Sweet Pea & Chorizo Fricassee, Sweet Potato, Capers. The fish was unbelievably tender, and the side portions complimented it perfectly. Next up was Wild Mushroom & Ricotta Ravioli, Parmesan Crisp, Rosemary, Limoncello Sauce. Ten out of ten for originality and the homemade ravioli was excellent, but I felt the sauce was too sweet for a main course. I suspect this dish will be subtly changed when you get a chance to try it. The final main was Fillet of English Beef, Celeriac Remoulade, Truffle Pomme Puree, Baby Watercress, Confit Tomato, Pink Peppercorn Cream. It is hard to go wrong with fillet steak, but this was truly fantastic, and the peppercorn sauce was a revelation.

A medley of desserts followed; everything was scrummy, but the White Chocolate

Souffle and Passionfruit Martini deserve particular mention. The meal was rounded off nicely with a slate of English cheeses. We met the head chef, Tom Caxton, afterwards and found him refreshingly modest and extremely knowledgeable.

As expected, the wine list is fairly extensive and ranges from reasonably priced to more expensive vintages. I ordered a bottle of Italian Grillo which was excellent and well worth the £24 asking price. As everyone knows, fine dining comes at a cost, but Woodborough Hall is really very reasonable. The fillet of beef is an expensive indulgence; it always is, but, other than that, the prices are what you would expect from any decent gastropub. Two courses and a good bottle of wine should come in comfortably at the £50 per head mark.

What can I say? This is proper fine dining – a beautiful and tastefully refurbished building, impeccable service and fabulous food, all at a price that means it doesn’t have to be a particularly special occasion to justify your visit. I’ll be back again soon… just because I’m worth it!

Howard Clemmow

1 Bank Hill, Woodborough, NG14 6EE 0115 8222161 www.woodborough-hall.