Three days after Roots placed higher than the Black Swan in the National Restaurant Awards, I headed to the restaurant to compare the two.

The twenty minute walk from the hotel left me sweating and in need of great food and drink. I entered the restaurant, gave my name and was immediately shown to my table. There, I was given a tablet which had an extensive wine and cocktail list (Coincidentally, the cocktail list also won cocktail list of the year at the NR Awards)

As always, I’m on my own so opted for a non-alcoholic beverage, although the options were fairly limited to five, three drinks were Made In Oldstead, the other two were not. I chose the rhubarb and rosemary soda from the Made In Oldstead section. The drink was cool and refreshing.

Whilst waiting for the first course, I took note of the dining room which was quite full for a Thursday evening. A light, bright, modern and airy room with a lot of polished wood. Music varied throughout the night from Steve Winwood to Natalie Cole to The Mamas & Papas.

The first course arrived, Oldstead charcuterie. Three different meats from the farm. A smoky smell emitting from the meat but a subtly smoky flavour. A brilliant start to the night. Who doesn’t love charcuterie (unless you are vegetarian), especially when the meat has been raised on the farm. I just hope they don’t name the pigs. I don’t want to find out later that I’ve eaten Polly.

Up next, an aged beef, celeriac and chive tart. The beef, a tartare hidden by crispy shards which I presume was the celeriac as I didn’t taste much celeriac otherwise. I expected this to be messy to eat but managed to eat it all in one mouthful, after I was told by the waiting staff who served it that it was one mouthful *insert eye roll* The tart shell was beautifully crisp, but the texture and flavour of the beef was lost beneath all the crispyness on top. I need more beef and less crispy bits, with the tart shell too, it was too much.

The first seafood course was scallops, pea and blackcurrant wood. Raw scallop, which this time was surprisingly ok. The peas popped in the mouth, a slight acidic taste overall but this helped hide the raw scallop.

Before the next course was served, the utensil was placed on the table. It was a small silver spade. I wish I had taken a photo of it because unless you’ve been, you wouldn’t believe me. There were two parts to this dish. First the crab custard with caviar and a crab brioche toast. Exceptional. One of the best dishes I have ever tasted. The umami taste from the the custard and the brioche, the crab meat on the crab toast was perfect. A slight heat from the fermented chilli but still perfect. After the crab, I had high expectations for the rest of the dishes I had ahead of me.

I was brought sourdough and butter, a lot of sourdough. I was also brought the next dish a few seconds later. Charlotte potatoes, leek and old Winchester cheese. I found it very odd that what looks to be two different courses on the menu, is actually one course, as the bread compliments the potatoes, or so I was told. If this is the case, then this needs to be shown as one dish on the menu and the sourdough needs to be a lot smaller. The potatoes were perfect round spheres coated in cheesy goodness… delicious. Once the potatoes were eaten and my dish sat empty, I began to make a dent in the bread, however, when I was three quarters of the way through the butter, I noticed what looked to be a fly in the butter, not moving. A blonde waitress with fairy earrings came over to top up my water and I pointed this out to her. She apologised and offered to get me fresh butter but I declined and so the bread was cleared. The same waitress came back a few moments later to clear my drink and replace it with a fresh one as she had noticed a fly in it. Great attention to detail with the drink, bad attention to detail on the kitchens part with the butter.

Steamed turbot, girolles and broad beans with a sauce made of mushrooms and turbot bones came next. Turbot excellently executed and the mushrooms did not overpower the delicate fish even if the depth of flavour was strong. A great dish.

The final savoury course; aged beef, asparagus and loveage. I wasn’t sure what to make of the asparagus at first at it looked like a stripy caterpillar with the emulsions and whatever else they put on it, I mean it must’ve taken them a while to do all that as it was so straight and not a wonky line in sight. The beautifully pink beef and silky flavoursome sauce even came with a cruffin to mop up the sauce which was nice, but I think a normal bread roll would’ve been sufficent, as the cruffin was a little too messy to eat.

With the savoury courses eaten, it was time for the pre-dessert. Strawberry, marigold and sweet cicely. What sweet cicely is I do not know as all that was placed in front of me was a bowl of what I can only describe as mint green chippings. The strawberries were hidden underneath this, a travesty in my eyes as the vibrant red would’ve really popped against the green. The macerated strawberries were deliciously sweet against the granita. A lovely dish.

The first dessert course was potato and chicory root. An aerated potato custard with crumble and caramel. Now I’m all for using ingredients in dishes that they shouldn’t be used in but when I had already eaten potatoes three or four courses beforehand, I don’t want more potatoes. The caramel did disguise the potato a little but I was not a fan of this dish at all, too much potato which just seemed like another savoury course as opposed to a dessert.

Once the crockery was cleared, I was handed the tablet once again with the after dinner drinks this time and was told the final course was up next and if I wanted an after dinner drink, here was the menu. This was fine, no problem, I always finish my night with a coffee and petit fours at the restaurant. However, not this night. The issue I have is that my coffee order was taken and arrived before the final dessert dish had even made an appearance, sans petit fours. Why give me the post dinner drinks menu if it’s going to arrive before I have finished eating!

Moving onto the final dessert course (when it arrived), root vegetable bun and cream. An appealing glazed bun with an orange looking cream. I broke off a piece of the bun, dipped it in the cream, popped it in my mouth and…felt sick. This dessert was very sickly and the most disappointing dish of the night by a mile. It was too sweet and I didn’t like the flavour at all. I ended up eating a third of the bun before pushing it to one side and giving up. I don’t want veg for my desserts, I want fruit, I want chocolate. At least give me chocolate for a dessert if you’re going to put savoury elements in like you do at The Black Swan. A hot hand towel was placed on the table when this course arrived. When I came to use it, it was stone cold. Perhaps bring this once your diners have finished this course and not before.

I settled the bill shortly after and headed back to the hotel feeling disappointed. After having such an amazing meal at The Black Swan earlier in the year and then seeing head chef Will Lockwood smash the heats on The Great British Menu (he was robbed and should’ve got a dish to the banquet), I had high expectations of Roots. Whilst these expectations were met to start with, the desserts were a let down, coupled with finding something in the butter, I just felt like the standards of Roots was not that of a Michelin starred restaurant. The staff didn’t seem to have the same warm welcome like they do at The Black Swan.

Maybe I caught them on a bad night I don’t know. I was so looking forward to Roots and left feeling let down. So would I go again? Maybe, but I want fruit and chocolate in a dessert, it’s June, you have a variety of amazing seasonal fruit available, why not use it?

Date of Visit:

15th June 2023

Time of Visit:

7:30pm

Cost:

£181.13 (including deposit)

Rating: Out of 5 Stars