Dinner at the Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel, Bath

A Dinner of Many Delights in a Historic Setting

This post contains some pictures of Bath (at the end) but is mainly a restaurant review. Those more interested in the city of Bath should click here.

26-July-2022

47 years of marriage has turned these young people…

Wedding Day, July 1975

…into these crumblies.

Tweedledum and Alice's Granma

Crumbling is hardly a cause for celebration, but celebrate it we do, and this year we set out for Bath to dine in their very bestest restaurant (well, the only one with a Michelin Star).

Bath and the Queensberry Hotel

Bath is, of course, much older than we are, but unlike us, it shows no sign of crumbling​. The finest of English cities; a complete and carefully planned Georgian city, with medieval and Roman inclusions, Bath is a delight.

The location of Bath in North East Somerset

Somerset

Bath

We stayed at the Queensberry Hotel. According to the hotel’s blog the commissioner and original owner of the property, the 8th Marquess of Queensberry who had the townhouses built in 1771, would be proud of the namesake hotel.

Yes, but the 8th Marquess was born in 1818. His son, the 9th Marquess was responsible for boxing’s Queensberry rules and later goaded Oscar Wilde into the libel action that led to his imprisonment, but 1771 was the time of the 5th Marquess, land and racehorse owner and a dissolute gambler. Maybe he commissioned the building, but I cannot be certain.

The Queensberry Hotel, Bath

The signage is very restrained for a major hotel.

The Olive Tree Restaurant

The Olive Tree is a restaurant within the hotel. Cardiff-born head chef Chris Cleghorn has been in post since 2013. He credits his professional development to time spent with (among others) Heston Blumenthal, Adam Simmonds and particularly Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park. He won a Michelin star in 2018 and has maintained it through the last few difficult years.

He offers nine or six-course tasting menu. Back in the days when I could have eaten nine courses, I could not afford it, now I can I am struggling to eat even six. They are small dishes, but there are a lot of them. He also has vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian and dairy-free menus for those who need/prefer them.

The Six

We took our aperitif in the walled garden outside the bar. Once we had finished our drink and watched a hot air balloon pass over our heads we made our way down to the restaurant.

A G&T and a hot air balloon

Course One: Raw Orkney Scallop, Wasabi, Granny Smith Apple, Dill

Lynne loves a scallop, but since 2005, when Claude Bosi served her raw scallops cooked at the table by the magic of warm bouillon, every other chef who essays a scallop dish has been playing catch-up.

Eschewing Bosi’s minimalism, Chris Cleghorn put together a collection of flavours which might be expected to drown out the delicate scallop and then go to war with each other, but they didn’t. Served in a scallop shell on a bed of seaweed, the small pieces of scallop were book-ended by blobs the colour and texture of mayonnaise but with the flavour of wasabi, though without the heat. At the table, a spoonful of Granny Smith granita was deposited over the green liquid in the shell and melted quietly into it. Chilled, sweet, sharp, apple and fennel flavours melded happily with the wasabi and scallop; a complex and very clever dish. Lynne's second favourite scallop dish ever.

Scallop, wasabi, Granny Smith and dill

Matched wine: 2018 Rheinhessen Reisling, Weingut Winter.

Many years ago, German wines were imported in vast quantities, much of it from Hessen and labelled Liebfraumilch, or Niersteiner. It was cheap, slightly sweet and with a flavour of elderflowers. Then tastes matured and fashions changed. This dry, gently acidic, apple/citrus/mineral Riesling was perfect for its job and a world away from the cheap Hessen wines of yore. I wish such wines were more widely available, but they are tainted by association with the past.

Course 2: Veal Sweetbread, Gem Lettuce, Westcombe Ricotta, Hazelnut and Salted Lemon

This was a marvel in two parts. To the left the heart of a little gem lettuce studded with hazelnuts and smeared with Ricotta and salted lemon. The ‘Ricotta’ came from Westcombe Dairy, 20 miles to the south, who produce traditional farmhouse cheddar and use the left-over whey to make whey cheese. They have based their recipe on ricotta, the best-known whey cheese, and use that name though they are ultimately aiming for an unmistakeable West Country product. I don’t usually see the point of lettuce, but this, finished with a hazelnut vinaigrette, was intensely savoury; a little gem in more ways than one.

Lynne with a sweetbread and a gem lettuce

The sweetbread was lightly dusted with flour and cooked to perfection. Crisped on the top edge firm, yet yielding inside. I like sweetbreads but they turn up too rarely on British menus. I have eaten them in Egypt, Canada and closer to home in Gloucestershire, but never one as superbly cooked as this.

One quibble, the two parts of the dish felt rather separate. They did not work against each other, but neither did I feel they really formed a team - a thought reinforced by the plate design..

Matched wine: Blankbottle Familiemoord

Winemaker Pieter Hauptfleisch Walser’s Blankbottle labels are his way of showcasing the best vineyards he has discovered on his South African travels. They are one-offs with a label showing only a quirky name, though this is known to be a Grenache from Swartland. Served chilled it had a pleasant nose, gentle tannin but the finish was short. Grenache usually forms part of blend, and with good reason, I found this slightly disappointing.

Bread

At this point bread arrived. It always does in these meals and I never know why. The courses may be small, but there is plenty of them and I feel no need to fill up on bread - even a bread as good as this. They were rye buns, we were told, but I have never encountered rye so light in colour or weight. We shared one, out of a spirit of enquiry, but left the other, excellent though it was.

Bread!

Course 3: Cornish Monkfish, cooked over coal, leek, ginger, Vin Jaune, sea herbs.

Monkfish has a strange texture and I am never quite sure what the cook is aiming at, though this, surely was tougher and chewier than intended. Neither of us liked the Vin Jaune sauce much either.

Monkfish and Vin Jaune sauce

The little cylinders of leek, though were soft and packed with flavour. The ginger had been toned down – fresh ginger, much as I love it, would have overwhelmed the dish - to just the right note.

Matched wine:2019 Domaine de L’Idylle ‘Cuvee Emilie', Rousette, Savoie

A full-bodied wine considering its mountain origins. Some oak age apparent, good acidity, not a great deal of fruit flavour but perfect for the job it was chosen for.

Course 4:Squab pigeon, celeriac, black truffle, long pepper 

It is an age since I had a good pigeon breast, and this was as good as they come. The skin was cooked, the inside hardly at all, leaving it tender and tasty. I liked the Madeira sauce, but I find celeriac deeply uninteresting. Chris Cleghorn has a way with vegetables but even he cannot put excitement into a wedge of celeriac. The truffle was in the very pleasing blob at the front, and the long pepper..? It is, I read, slightly spicier than black pepper and has a long cylindrical peppercorn. I am uncertain as to its contribution here.

Pigeon

Matched Wine: 2012 Marqués de Zearra Rioja Gran Reserva

I was slightly miffed at Tyddyn Llan in North Wales in 2018 when at the apex of the multi-course meal they produced a Rioja Crianza when a reserva would, I thought, have been more appropriate. No such problem here, the Olive Tree gave us a gran reserve. Oaky and tannic enough to deal with the pigeon, and yet with ample fruit on the velvety finish. Excellent.

Course 5: Islands chocolate, yoghurt sorbet, perilla, Manni Olive oil.

At the base was a disc of Islands chocolate. Islands is a London chocolatier and the disc was 75% cocoa solids. Very rich chocolate-based dishes can be overwhelming and Lynne felt a little over-chocolated here. I liked the disc, with its tempered shell and different textures inside but it needed the yoghurt sorbet with its chill and acidity to provide balance. Perilla is a family of east Asian plants, some with culinary uses and with a flavour halfway between basil and mint (perhaps with a little liquorice). I am unsure about the contribution of the small slick of high-quality olive oil.

Islands Chocolate with yoghurt sorbet

Matched wine: Bodegas Hidalgo Alameda Cream Jerez

Raisins, nuts and intense sweetness. Wonderful stuff – in small quantities.

Course 6: Cheddar Valley Strawberries, coconut, Szechuan, basil

Maybe I had enjoyed too much wine, but for a moment I expected the strawberries to be cheesy. In fact, they were fine strawberries at the peak of their ripeness and completely fromage-free. The duvet of coconut (and it could have been coconuttier for my taste) was studded with marsh mallows. We were promised Szechuan grains, but the lip tingling sensation of Szechuan pepper never came. It was a very pleasant final dish, but a little tame.

Strawberries

Matched wine: 2018 Gusborne Rosé, Kent

I have been slow to recognise the quality of English sparkling wines but realised some months ago that Kent sparklers could be exceptional. This was our first Kent rosé sparkler. ‘Strawberries’ we said simultaneously after the first sip. To quote the growers, the palate shows bright red fruits, driven by ripe strawberries, fresh cherries and redcurrants, with a crisp freshness and creamy, rounded texture on the finish. That about covers it.

Our anniversary dinner ended with a chocolatey message.

Chocolate-y message

It had been a long dinner of great variety and technical skill, impeccably served. The Granny Smith granita melting into the fennel, the sweetbread and the pigeon breast had stood out. The monkfish was less successful, but I would have been disappointed if there was nothing to quibble about. The wine flight was the best chosen and highest quality of any we have encountered. In some places the quality has failed to match the hefty price, but not here.

27-July-2022

Breakfast

What does a breakfast look like when prepared in a Michelin starred kitchen? It is a fair question and the answer is that there are choices, but for many it looks much like breakfast in any B&B, even down to the brown sauce. It is, perhaps, a little more carefully arranged on the plate and it will never look greasy, but otherwise…

Breakfast

What sets this apart from all but the best B&Bs is the quality of the ingredients. The bacon and sausage does not leave a watery deposit when grilled, the mushroom has not just been sprung from a catering pack. The provenance of all the components is known, almost to the field.

Bath

Before departing we took a short walk. As I said at the start, I have a dedicated Bath post from 2013, but I could not ignore our surroundings completely.

The Circus

Designed by John Woods (the Elder) in 1750 and finished a decade later by his son, John Woods (the Younger) the Circus is a design in elegant living. That it produces the same road lay-out as would later be co-opted by the relentlessly functional roundabout is an irony. A circle of houses is difficult to photograph, as I noticed last time I was here.

The Circus, Bath

Many of the surrounding roads are, in their own way, perfect, but sometimes it feels as though in Bath it is easier to buy a work of art than a scrubbing bush.

Another perfect Bath Street

The Royal Crescent

Perfectest of all is JW the Younger’s Royal Crescent.

The Royal Crescent, Bath

In the centre is the Royal Crescent Hotel. I thought the signage at the Queensberry was restrained, here it is so restrained as to be absent.

The door to the Royal Crescent Hotel (middle of picture)

Though the cars parked nearby give it away.

I could afford the Honda!

I like the way the BMW seems to stand deferentially behind the Bentley and Rolls Royce, while the cheerful little Honda poses confidently at the front.

A basic room at the Royal Crescent costs over 50% more than at the Queensberry, but their six-course tasting menu is a little cheaper – because they do not have a Michelin starred chef.

The final picture of Bath (for this visit)

Enough petty points scoring, we will leave Bath with the pretty picture above.

'Fine Dining' posts

Abergavenny and the Walnut Tree (2010)
Ludlow and La Bécasse (2011) (restaurant closed, post withdrawn)
Ilkley and The Box Tree(2012)
Pateley Bridge and the Yorke Arms (2013) (No longer a restaurant, post renamed Parceval Gardens and Pateley Br)
The Harrow at Little Bedwyn (2014)
The Slaughters and the Lords of the Manor (2015)
Loam, Fine Dining in Galway (2016)
Penarth and Restaurant James Sommerin (2017) (restaurant closed, post withdrawn. JS has a new restaurant in Penarth)
The Checkers, Montgomery (2017) (no longer a restaurant, post withdrawn. Now re-opened under new management)
Tyddyn Llan, Llandrillo, Denbighshire (2018)
Fischer's at Baslow Hall, Derbyshire (2019)
Hambleton Hall, Rutland (2021)
The Olive Tree, Queensberry Hotel, Bath (2022)
Dinner at Pensons near Tenbury Wells (2023) (restaurant closed Dec 2023, post withdrawn)