Rothay Manor
Ambleside, Cumbria
*Daniel McGeorge has stepped down as head chef. His successor will be Aaron Lawrence, one-time sous-chef at The Samling, Windermere. Watch for a new review coming soon.*
Ambleside has transformed itself into the gastro-honeypot of the South Lakes thanks to chefs such as James Cross (Lake Road Kitchen) and Ryan Blackburn (Old Stamp House and Kysty). Daniel McGeorge has headed up the kitchen of one of the town’s most venerable hotels, Rothay Manor, since 2017 and won the Champion of Champions title on 2021’s Great British Menu; now a boutique makeover of the whitewashed Regency house has attempted to give McGeorge’s cooking the setting it deserves. A three-course carte will come as a relief to anyone suffering from a surfeit of the tasting menus which are obligatory in so many high-end Lakeland dining rooms, though meals do come with all the fine-dining accoutrements of intricately wrought amuse-bouches garlanded with edible flowers, and expertly baked breads served with cultured butters. McGeorge certainly knows how to use high-end ingredients. A starter of beautifully cooked lobster tail comes in a deeply flavoured bisque adorned with prettily carved carrot 'petals', typical of a fondness for the precision of Japanese technique. There are Asian flavours, too – an assembly of rosy-pink suckling pig with turnip and umeboshi is almost outshone by a stunning pork dim-sum dumpling on the side. Elsewhere, Scandinavian influences are evident in, say, a full-flavoured venison tartare with swede and rye. But McGeorge never uses an ingredient merely to show off how clever he is. Instead, each component has been chosen with full consideration for the role it will play in the overall flavours and textures to achieve the balance that is the hallmark of good cooking, whatever the nationality. There’s no denying that the food bears comparison with Ambleside’s finest but on our visit the atmosphere still had some catching up to do. Painfully slow service between courses allowed ample time to consider what it felt like to be in a gloomy wood-panelled room on a dark night, with tables set too far apart to create any sort of buzz. Summer evenings, with a view of the terrace and garden through full-length windows are, we imagine, a much nicer time to eat here – likewise Sunday lunch of roast sirloin of beef or stuffed leg of suckling pig.
Dining Information:
Accommodation, Separate bar, Wheelchair access, Parking, Electric car charging, Dog friendly, Credit card required
Rothay Bridge, Ambleside, Cumbria LA22 0EH
01539 433605
