Grace & Savour
Hampton-In-Arden, West Midlands
No. 16
If ever a restaurant were true to its name, it’s this one in the kitchen garden at Hampton Manor. Grace & Savour occupies a gracefully pared-back, luminous space, and is indeed a place to savour dinner. Fifteen unhurried courses thrill, each thoughtfully paired with suitable wines, should you so wish. Early plates come swiftly, like teasing preludes, hinting at the superlative ability with flavours and ingredients that this kitchen possesses. A vigorous beef broth, deep, dark and garum-bolstered, jolts taste buds to attention; a malt flour tartlet with nettle and wild garlic picked from the Estate, crème fraîche, pickled shallots and flirts of borage vanishes in a single perfect bite, so too wild boar tartare on a sourdough crisp that one early-spring diner found ‘utterly delicious’. A langoustine tail in a wispily foaming sauce made with shellfish heads balances impossible lightness with savoury depth. Lavinton lamb, beyond tender in its pinkness, is served with a vividly sharpening sliver of young turnip and winter purslane (plus a sensational Pinot Noir from Burgundy’s Domaine Berthaut-Gerbet), while celeriac is transformed from gnarly root to petal-adorned, Insta-ready starlet, its flavour brightened with apple pickle and a thumpingly savoury whey sauce with chicken garum, split with wild garlic oil. Bread (baked at the other end of the garden) gets its own course and pairing, butter is infused with the same grain, and Little Valley Brewery’s refreshing wheat beer is a genius accompaniment. This is a kitchen that takes sourcing and a reluctance to waste to near-obsessive levels, building direct relationships with small-scale producers, and using what can be picked and preserved from the Estate. It’s no surprise that chocolate doesn’t feature, but that’s fine – especially when desserts include a lusciously smooth ewe's-milk yoghurt sorbet with rhubarb-root oil and meringue, and a nostalgia-laden rice pudding with double-cream ice cream. Grace & Savour benefits greatly from an exceptional team (front of house as well as kitchen) that ‘functions calmly and neatly’, as one guest observed. Chefs are under the leadership of Midlands native, David Taylor, whose own grace and skill, fostered locally under Glyn Purnell and honed at lauded Maaemo in Oslo, combine to touch this restaurant with magic. It is one to know and to savour.
Dining Information:
Accommodation, Private dining room, Counter seating, Wheelchair access, Parking, Credit card required
Hampton Manor, Shadowbrook Lane, Hampton-In-Arden, West Midlands B92 0EN
01675 446080
