The Lake District is not just an adventure playground for outdoor enthusiasts, it is also a haven for fresh, local and outright delicious food! The Lake District is full of award winning fine dining experiences, not to mention the five Michelin Star restaurants. The superb cuisine is all the more poignant when you consider the area is so extensively rural. So, calling all foodies, here are a few hotspots to find some heavenly flavours…
The stunning Merewood Country House Hotel is situated on a hill between Windermere and Ambleside and offers utterly stunning views of the Lake and fells beyond. This grand, splendid hotel is home to Arboreal their multi-award winning fine dining restaurant. Already boasting two AA rosettes, Arboreal was awarded the Cumbria Tourism Taste Award in 2018.
The exquisite seven course taster menu comes with an optional wine flight and offers diners the chance to taste some of the best most complex and imaginative dishes available in the Lake District. A few of the delicious dishes you could experience include is the cured beef with bone marrow, mustard and confit egg, and the sea trout served with jersey royals, avruga caviar and brown shrimps. If vegetarian dishes are for you, there is a seven course vegetarian taster menu which is equally delightful. Our favourites include the chesnut, spinach and feta taco and the cheese dumpling served with a cucumber relish. Wow!
Only a short ten minute drive from Merewood is Linthwaite House, another hilltop hideaway offering memorable, mouth-watering food! Their restaurant Stella serves innovative delicious dishes and takes great pride in their local, organic produce. The menu showcases the best of the season and the region and is influenced by the famous italian chef Ritu Dalmia.
If you are fortunate enough to dine here expect the stunning interiors and views from this restaurant to impress you as much as the food. A tempting starter is the house-marinated local duck breast served with an orange and fennel salad and sorbet. Then for main, after much deliberation we would go for the Cumbria lamb with an almond crust, pureed parsnips, over roasted baby beets and wild cherry jus. Delicious!
Staying further south in the Lakes? The Greenhouse restaurant at the Castle Green Hotel is the one to visit! Also boasting two AA rosettes, the Greenhouse has a unique glass wall providing guests with a beautiful light space to dine in and floor to ceiling fabulous views of the hotel gardens.
The restaurant offers a five course tasting menu with a wine flight to match if you wish. The first course of which is a very refreshing Cartmel Valley smoked salmon, with hot smoked salmon rillette, chilli, spring onion, daikon radish and cucumber. To finish, the five course menu, the dessert is made up of three small but perfectly formed mini desserts, sticky toffee pudding, gingerbread and butter pudding, damson gin jelly and Kendal mint cake ice-cream. Yum!
If you would like to find out more about any of these wonderful restaurant, please visit our hotels page for more information and links to book.