The Artichoke — Restaurant in England

We continued our support for the hospitality industry on Thursday evening with a return to one of our favourite places the Artichoke restaurant in the delightful town of Amersham. It's always a pleasure to visit here as the food and service is usually to a very high standard. Our visit this time as we know was going to be a little bit different. When we arrived we were given the usual friendly welcome before being asked to sanitize our hands. Once this was done they escorted us to our table in a prime spot in front of the newly designed open kitchen where we were greeted by owner / chef Laurie who it was great to see again. All the staff were wearing face shields which although we understand it really does make it hard to hear what's being said at times. They had also spaced out the tables leaving plenty of room in between each one. Once seated the sommelier came over to ask if we'd like an aperitif so we chose to have a glass of rose sparkling wine to start the evening. Now on to the menu where there was a choice of either the six or eight course Tasting Menu or the A la Carte. Our choice as always was the eight course tasting menu. We decided not to have the wine pairing and mentioned to the sommelier that we would like to try the Spanish Albarino to which he said was a good choice and would be an excellent pairing for the menu. So now it is food time which started with a delightful Amuse Bouche of Sea Trout & Apple. Along with this came the Chiltern Black Ale Bread & Malt Vinegar Butter. This led us on to the first course of Cornish Crab with brown crab cream , tomato water & summer vegetables. So now we moved on to our next course a Courgette Flower with lincolnshire poacher , borlotti beans & nettle pesto. This was followed by the Pan Fried Foie Gras with confit bacon , cauliflower purée & blackberries that was absolutely delicious. Our fish course was a Poached Brill with basil butter , brown shrimp , coco beans & violet artichoke. So now on to the main course where there was a choice of two. So with this my wife chose the Confed Landes Poussin with girolles , cep ketchup , leeks , carrots & Foie gras. While for myself I had the Saddle of Lamb , sweetbreads spiced with ras el hanout , yoghurt , apricots & lettuce. Now it was time for the cheese course which was very interesting but the combination of flavours really did work well together. This was a Goat's Cheese Souffle with smoked pepper sorbet & truffle honey. Next to come was desserts which started with the Cambridge Cream with strawberries , buttermilk ice cream , breton sable & strawberry soup. This was followed by the Oakchurch Raspberries with white chocolate ganache , gateaux savoie , ale ice cream & green almonds. We finished with coffee & petit fours to round of the evening of excellent food from Laurie & Ben and great service especially from our waitress Alexa. I would highly recommend a visit to the fantastic restaurant. Wishing them all the best and look forward to seeing you all again...

A bit too pretentious and full of pomp. Overall fairly poor value for money.

Many other great restaurants in the area that offer much more bang for your buck.

The staff appear to be a bit too keen to get involved with your meal and the enthusiasm and smiles felt very forced. we had multiple different servers throughout the night and overall it felt awkward. Something I’ve never experienced at a restaurant before. It was very disengaged and off putting when they seemed fairly relentless on ensuring you ordered another glass of wine or other drink every few minutes. Many were friendly and lovely people, but the whole experience was inconsistent and overwhelming.

We had the full tasting menu, which had many courses.

The bread and first few starters (scallop, pumpkin soup, sweetbread) were outstanding. The picked apple with the scallop was incredible. With the chioux bun, the staff made a weird point of telling us that it wasn’t grated cheese, but chestnuts on top in a very proud way. After that it all fell apart. The halibut was bitter and the venison was cooked poorly - not to mention it was brought out 5 minutes after a large plate of chestnuts and pine branches was placed in front of you where the smaller plate with food was then put.

The sides with the venison were borderline inedible. My partner couldn’t finish hers, and I left the chestnuts and pinecones (who’d have thought?) after trying some of each and barely being able to keep them down.

The portions were very small for a £120pp meal, where drinks are £15+ each and even just flat water is £5! Not to mention a “discretionary” 12.5% service charge.

For £350, we left wanting more of some things but also less of many. The main (venison) left much to be desired. It really should bring it all home and tie things together - but this dish challenges you too much and leaves the meal in a bad place after starting off so well. Should be simpler and more palatable to a wide audience so people don’t leave hungry after not really wanting half the main.

Overall, we knew there would be one of two outcomes from going here - ideally, a meal that we loved but was too expensive to eat often, or something that was poor value for money and we wouldn’t do again. Sadly it was the latter.

Lesson learned, and will stick to other nearby places we know where the service isn’t so awkward, and you get a lot more for your money than a few bites of poorly cooked venison...

The Artichoke experience, leaves one satiated, having been led on a sensory journey though gastronomic gloriousness. On arrival, the service staff professionally put you at ease, setting the tempo for a cohesive amble through each course. The six course tasting menu is exciting: sourced from the local hills to counties further afield. Throughout, the knowledgeable sommelier decants delicious descriptions for each flight with a succinct synopsis that imparts providence: grape variety, nose, taste and area of origin. Each wine is beautiful. The flavours have been expertly chosen to flatter the flavours for each dish. True craftsmanship. This menu begins with a cutely sized Chiltern Black Ale bread loaf and malt vinegar butter, seconded by an aerated mouse-like amuse-bouche topped with burnt pumpkin seeds. Next, comes a smoked haddock tartare with cleansing pickles and delicate russet apple cubes. Seasonal vegetables follow sprinkled with black truffle, dreamy Lancashire bomb clusters and burnt hazelnuts (reminiscent of popcorn in flavour) - a strong punch of flavour and my personal favourite. The fourth dish is Cornish skate which falls apart splendidly, contrasting texturally with the accompanying crisp brown shrimps, charred cauliflower and salty sea greens. The diner then has a difficult choice: a rich saddle of Dorset venison with pureed red cabbage and beef dripping potatoes or maple and clementine glazed goosnargh duck with golden raisins and roasted chestnuts. The first round of pudding is tomlinson's Yorkshire rhubarb in two parts. Oh my! A rhubarb and ginger cocktail accompanies a poached version of the same fruit with Cambridge cream and leaf shaped shortbread. The flight wine at this conjecture is sublime - Nivole Moscato d'Asti (2017) - a most finely bubbled pure white Moscato with notes of peach and apricot. The final sweet is a tartlet of dark chocolate and brazil nut with poached pear and sorbet. A strong end to a perfect...