England - 2
Ultra luxury requires consistency, with elements of surprise, and the folks at The Newt in Somerset know that well. At the moment the kitchens are displaying, and serving, a ‘Krug x carrot’ starter. You heard that right: estate carrots cooked in lamb fat, with smoked quinoa in a cauliflower purée, Wiltshire truffle and Ellie’s greenhouse marigold (the £15 surcharge on the standard £99 three-course dinner menu includes a glass of Krug). Note the attribution for the marigold flower. The A5-sized simply-stylish black on white menus are full of who grew what – as well as what contributes to what calories. One of that night’s desserts, for instance, a chocolate délice, with buffalo yoghurt & Yuzu icecream and candied clementine bits totted up to 572 calories.
Dinner that night was in one of the two adjacent The Botanical Rooms, part of the main house. Enter via a glass-overed courtyard, about 25sq m, and then past the working kitchen, which always has a display of estate produce on top of the emerald-tiled 150cm-high wall separating dish-producers from happy dish-eaters. In both Botanical spaces, tables are covered in the crispest white linens imaginable. White folded napkins, on the pewter plate, on pewter plates, bore sprigs, obviously washed, of fresh rosemary from ‘the estate’, two words that were used constantly – put’em in your drinking water, was suggested. The Mouvedre 2025, the official rosé of RHS Chelsea Flower Show (which The Newt sponsored until 2025), came from the whole page of Babylonstoren labels in the easy-read wine list. Soulful sax barely intruded.
Before the meal-proper there was an amuse of a small plate with estate produce, including three near-transparent coils of paper-thin pickled radish: a separate plate held a thick slice of warm sourdough and a spoonful of butter. Girlahead’s chosen starter was terrine potato layered with white January king cabbage, buffalo kefir and yet more bits of greenery topped with black Wiltshire truffles. See below. Yes, potato and cabbage terrine. Warm – and WONDERFUL – see above.
Her main course, deliberately something she doesn’t do at home, was venison, two enormous crosscuts, lots of little baby beetroot, and sprigs of local herbs and other greenery to show generosity. Her chosen side was winter greens with seaweed butter (oh boy, whoever dared dream that a Brussels sprout could portray paradise?). The food fab was to continue through to breakfast, by the way. Back in a Botanical space, with light if not sun streaming in through that area’s glass ceiling, a buffet awaited – see above. The printed à la carte menu included a bespoke basic-English, Somerset-style: eggs, mushroom, tomato, and your choice of sourdough with sausage, bacon, black pudding (718cals) or creamery cheese and greens (479cals). No-one turned a hair or raised an eyebrow when a cheese omelette was requested. Eggs were from the estate’s hens, cheese came from its buffaloes’ milk… The Newt’s that kind of place….
