Part of a very impressive hotel and spa, one of the Historic Hotels range in the village of Cuckfield in West Sussex and therefore well-placed for the allure of Brighton, Ockenden Manor doesn’t do things by halves.
It’s a spa, a hotel and a Michelin-starred restaurant in one; it looms out of its grounds which suggests about five different periods of British heritage rolled into one, with the impressively Gothic-looking facade offset by charming conservatories and beamed extensions.
And the food on offer here makes good use of the local abundance of producers in presenting a series of dishes which tend to focus on the ‘less is more’ approach rather than throwing everything at the central ingredient, flavour-wise – but which manage to do so in dazzlingly well-executed style.
The dishes range from very classic dishes such as Black Forest Gâteau (which you’ll find in Great British Chefs chocolate recipe collection) to things which are a little more unusual but which never stray too far from the familiar; there is a prevailing sense of luxury in the food on offer, as well. So oysters, scallops, truffles and cuts of longhorn beef might appear alongside more hearty staples like venison, pheasant, local cod and turbot. The aforementioned longhorn might be deconstructed into a starter consisting of marrow, bresaola, brisket and tongue; saddle of venison might come served in a ‘pasty’ with cabbage and wild mushrooms.
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