L'Enclume — Restaurant in Great Britain

Disappointed. We visited for my partners 40th birthday with my teenage girls. Their first experience at a Michelin restaurant. I will start with the good. Restaurant lay out is good. Tables are not too close together. Wasn’t crazy formal so felt relaxed coming in. The visual of the dishes was very good. Presentation spot on. The best dish was the cod. Light but flavoursome. Now for the bad. Understand this is a 3 star restaurant so details matter. Service was mechanical, I didn’t like it at all. It was professional for sure. But mistakes were made when cutlery was laid, we wouldn’t have noticed but the head of the table management made awkward scoul at staff for mistakes and made a big deal because a knife was placed in wrong spot. Was very rehearsed but not in a good way. Made us feel uncomfortable. Although all of the dishes were very well presented the tasting of some of the dishes wasn’t great. All of the meat dishes were over seasoned. My complaint is normally under seasoning. The crumpet dish was really bad. The crumpet itself was cooked well and good consistency but it ruined the whole meal as there was so much salt in it that I thought it was a joke. I thought someone had spilled the salt! I mentioned on each. Beef dishes to the waiter that the seasoning was really heavy. His response was that the chef loves salt. I have never left a complaint at a Michelin restaurant and I’ve been to many. It annoyed me that he brushed it off. The broths were over powering to the extent I didn’t want the next course. The none meat dishes were all very good. It was the over seasoning that ruined it. We opted for non alcohol pairing for the kids. While the drinks were creative and had layers of flavours, they didn’t match all of the courses and the kids hated them. Now that’s not to say the drinks were bad. I tasted them at each delivery. But if you do take kids I’d avoid it and just get them a normal drink because the flavours were intense and in some cases over powering. That leads me to the wine pairing. We had the prestige pairing. Although the wines were fairly good quality, they often didn’t match the food. For me when I go to a high end restaurant, it should be theatre and everything should marry together. I’ve been to 1 star restaurants that done a better job matching the wine to the food. The sommelier was nice but it felt rushed and he seemed stressed.

Ive waited to write this review as I wanted to reflect on it first. I’m a working class person and saved almost a year to visit this restaurant. On reflection i can see why it was awarded 3 stars. The technical skills of the cooking were as good as it gets. But the seasoning ruined it. The crumpet dish made me want to leave. Seriously, myself , my partner and the kids mopped the sauce with it and all ate in one bite and we all made same expression and said what F! Only a couple course earlier I asked why everything was so heavily salted. I understand seasoning is to taste but ruined it for us. The service was spot on but robotic and mechanical. I didn’t like it. To be a 3 star restaurant there are many hurdles to over come and for any man or woman that accomplishes that I applaud. But wouldn’t go back. At a bill of £2000, I’ve had better meals at 1 star restaurants. I went to L’envlume because it was rated one of the best restaurants in the world. My words to my partner after were, if this is the best restaurant in the UK, never mind the world, it’s left me feeling empty. The best of the best should be special. If you have never visited a fine dining restaurant and went here for free you would for sure be impressed. But it’s not free and I’m realising now that the stars aren’t as important as one may think. While this isn’t the place to mention other restaurants, i would say the higher the star doesn’t necessarily mean better experience. It will Mean expert technical cooking and rehearsed and refined service. But does that make the best experience for the guest? I’m not sure it does.

Sorry L’enclume. I was so excited...

We had the tasting menu at the chef's table hosted by Chef Camp and Hannah

The beetroot tart was amazing. It has layers upon layers of beetroot flavors and textures while complimented well with the lobster and subtle sweetness of radish.

The beetroot soup served along was full of beetroot flavor and uplifted by fragrant perilla oil. Delicious!

The duroc pig and smoked eel fritter was fabulous. Light crispy deep fried texture and blends extremely well with the lovage puree

The berkswell pudding has a soft tender texture to it but I think the aged berswell cheese overpowers the dish, as I can't taste thr birch sap and stout venigar The fresh milk curd with broad beans and pike perch has great flavor and texture. Light and delicious

The scallop was cooked to perfection and has a great seared XO flavor crust, further uplifted by a refreshjng light verjus. Wonderful

The seaweed custard is my favorite dish. Custard was creamy and delicate while marry so well with the flavorful beef broth and bone marrow oil. Further uplifted with the specially selected caviar. Absolutely divine, a perfect dish indeed

The confit potatoes was cooked perfectly tender and served along multiple components of onion ashes, girolles, walnut puree and the flavor was pull in altogether by the westcombe cheddar veloute. Served along with a brioche brushed with fermented honey and malton salt. Delightful!

For the salad, it was a beautifully plated mix of herbs, edible flowers and vegetables. Served with a perfectly cooked lava egg yolk... simple yet delicious

For the fish dish, the turbot was steamed perfectly with tender yet jelly firm texture. Served along a grassy herby watermelon spinach flavored with seaweed butter and verbena flavored veloute... another well executed dish!

For the main, the dry aged lamb was tender and moist, complimented well with the fermented cabbage and fennel capers sauce. I am not quite keen with the texture of the lamb as I would prefer a firmer caramelized texture, but the flavor is well executed

As a continuation dish from the main, we were served a caramelized seared lamb belly, lamb broth, sheep butter cooked summer kale, topped with aromatic grated black truffles. Full of umami flavor

For the first dessert, a nitro poached tunworth cheese was crumbled, served with malt buckwheat crumb, champagne rhubarb compote, and lemon thyme gel. Great flavor but I find the cheese flavor is still quite overpowering

The strawberries with sheep yogurt sorbet, muscavado cake, topped with a fragrant cream infused with multiple herbs was absolutely delicious! My favorite dessert of the course

For the last dish, a caramel mousse with quinoa miso, apple compote was delicious, another take on the classic caramel apple combi. But I find the miso layer was a bit too much, quite overpowering.

We were also given a set of petit four (mint stone ice cream, cranberry triffle, honey filled chocolate, and pineapple sage ice cream cone. All were amazing in its own.

As a celebratory dish, we were complimented with their house celebratory dessert made with pistachio praline, white chocolate crumb, and an unknown centre filling... lol... sweet and creamy

All in all, chef camp was very engaging with all of our questions and explanatory of each dishes. Also, a lovely thanks to Hannah who did all the backstage action and supported the chef to provide us a lovely meal experience.

Truly a worthy dining...

6 months of waiting finally over and eventually we get to visit L’Enclume.

This was part of a double birthday present, Sat Bains was a mind blowing experience and we had equally high expectations for L’Enclume.

Rather fortunately the first table we could secure on a Saturday night was over the weekend of the May bank holiday so Cartmel was very busy as were most other areas in the lakes.

We arrived at the restaurant mid-afternoon and found a parking spot however we were unaware the main reception for rooms was further in the village but we soon stumbled across it next door to Rogan and Co.

Our room was number 8 just over the road from Rogan and Co so we didn’t have far to go and all the amenities were within a stone’s throw of each other.

We were asked to arrive at L’Enclume for 6:45pm so a short walk and as we landed the restaurant was already filling up. Our table was in the conservatory area and the good use of space means the tables are not all on top of each other which makes for a pleasant and intimate dining experience.

Dinner is a set menu some 17 courses served with absolute precision. Having dined at The French on a couple of occasions we knew what to expect but this service was on another level.

After an introduction to the menu the courses started coming, the first clutch a series of small dishes including our favourites oyster pebbles, smoked eel and one of the best courses of the night raw scallop with caviar.

We ordered the wine flight to accompany the dishes, 7 very different wines which started with the salt baked turnip course moving right through to a sake taken with one of the desert courses.

Our favourite course at The French was the ox in coal oil, at L’Enclume the dish is elevated to an unbelievable standard using venison, this course we didn’t want to end ,amazing flavours and probably one of the best dishes we have eaten in any restaurant.

The langoustine course was superb as was the fish dish of sole and the final ‘main’ course of local lamb again was a winner. 3 hours later we worked our way through the three deserts and finished with ‘cornets’, I won’t spoil the surprise but a perfect way to end a truly memorable meal.

It is difficult on a menu of such breadth and array of ingredients not to find something that either doesn’t work or is just one ingredient too many but each and every course we sampled was flawless. The skill and expertise in crafting such a menu should not be underestimated and behind such a serious collection of dishes is an army in the kitchen as we experienced before we left.

Returning to the service, this was a very slick operation as one would expect in a two Michelin star restaurant. This was regimental without being stuffy and we enjoyed the theatre that accompanied many of the dishes alongside the knowledge of the sommelier for the evening.

Thanks to all the waiters who helped make the evening perfect and a special mention to Neil the Sommelier, Sam the Restaurant Manager and Tom Barnes and his team in the kitchen, what a pleasure it was to meet you.

Finally a big thank you to Jatin the Assistant Restaurant Manager who gave us the opportunity of visiting the kitchen before we left. It was incredible to see the precision at first hand and this really topped off the night for us.

We look forward to a return visit hopefully in the near future because unfortunately we can’t see anywhere else to...