Gilpin Spice at Gilpin Hotel

Windermere’s Gilpin Hotel has a fine reputation as an idyllic spa and dining destination, and the hotel decided to ring the changes at the end of 2022, bringing in a trio of new head chefs to look after its restaurants. The result was two new restaurants - SOURCE and The Knipe Grill - but Gilpin Spice remains, which is a testament to the popularity of this easy-going pan-Asian spot and its loyal local clientele.

Gilpin Spice is the most relaxed of the restaurant trio, but inside there’s more than a touch of opulence. Lipstick red banquettes, embroidered scatter cushions and wood-panelled walls meet you as you walk in, and as you walk through into the main dining room, Gilpin Spice settles into a more modest mode - copper accents, clusters of pendant lights and neat natural wood floors. It’s smart, modern, and inviting, bathed in natural light thanks to large windows that look out onto the Gilpin’s pristine gardens - a perfect place to settle into a carafe of sake or a long, fresh cocktail when the sun is out.

The menu is a neat jigsaw of wide-spectrum pan-Asian flavours, in combinations that may surprise. The chilli paneer fry for example, is classic Indo-Chinese border cooking - stir-fried chunks of paneer liberally coated in a glossy sweet, sour, salty sauce, that has a welcome hit of chilli. It’s good stuff - we could easily eat another bowl, but we’re quickly into a crispy duck salad: shreds of deep-fried duck leg, topped with watercress, apple and radish. The salad felt a little scant, but the flavours are definitely there.

The same is true for ever-popular mains like the barbecue pork belly with Hong Kong-style sweet-and-sour, and braised beef featherblade in Vietnamese red curry. We found the latter a little on the dry side, but when swaddled in sauce it mattered not. We’d recommend saving room for one of the excellent kulfis too, which come liberally topped with candied nuts.

The Gilpin is a five-star hotel in the Lake District, surrounded by 21 acres of lush woodland and undulating scenery. You may have heard of its sister hotel, Gilpin Lake House, which sits just a mile away on the edge of a picturesque lake, of which it has panoramic views. Guests of both Gilpin properties are welcome to experience the restaurants at both locations, ferried by a shuttle when needed. 

Gilpin Lake House is home to the Knipe Grill and at The Gilpin, guests will find ingredient-led restaurant Source, and Gilpin Spice, a pan-Asian eatery with two AA Rosettes. Gilpin Spice is helmed by Aakash Ohel, formerly the sous chef of the hotel's own Michelin-starred HRiSHi, who has now taken the natural step as head chef here. Ohel has developed the menu with the group's new sustainable, locally-sourced strategy in mind, with flavours inspired by countries along the spice trail from the Philippines and Malaysia to Indonesia, Japan and China. 

The menu includes seperate offerings for lunch and dinner, with the lunch menu being split into soups, salads, small plates and large plates. Highlights include the fragrant chicken and sweetcorn soup, topped with a free-range egg, the Tandoori prawn salad with cherry tomatoes and coronation mayonnaise, and the Cumbrian pork belly with Asian barbecue rub, finished Hong Kong style in a clay oven with sweet and sour sauce. 

By contrast, the evening menu revolves around larger sharing dishes such as nori seaweed-wrapped cod with green curry sauce, slow-cooked featherblade Cumberland beef served with Vietnamese sauce and crispy tofu, and aubergine with kung pao sauce. The sweets sound great as well, with banana and ginger crumb kulfi topped with Indian ice cream and spiced Jamaican ginger pudding.