Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms

Be very careful when you book into this restaurant, read the small print on the cancellation policy as there is a £360 fee.

On the day we were due to go to Sat Bains my five year old son fell over and split his head open. He required stitches and the doctors advised close observation for 24 hours. I naturally called Sat Bains that afternoon and requested that my table reservation was moved to another day. They informed us that there would be a £360 cancellation fee. Despite explaining the situation they were very unsympathetic and inflexible. Unbelievably when they managed to rebook half our table allocation they still wanted to charge us the full cancellation fee. We would have hoped that a restaurant that prides itself on it's level of personal service would be more understanding of the situation. You never know when you might have to cancel last minute due to unforeseen circumstances.

The location of the place is not particularly inspiring; near an industrial estate, a motorway flyover and directly beneath two huge electricity pylons. All that was missing was the stereo-typical burnt-out car on the roadside.

We arrived to what looked like a 1970's bungalow with a few extensions and a gravel drive (no cladding though). The black VW Golf parked up outside with the ‘Cheff’ registration plate made us snigger; was this Lenny Henry's 80's parody of the Chef, Gareth Blackstock??!!

We parked up and entered. Mmm. Knowone around. When someone eventually appeared (Mrs Bains), we were made to feel that we were an inconvenience. we were told to sign in. We were told to be at our table for 7:30pm (our original booking). We were led to our room, just about 10 yards along the corridor. The Charles 2. Pleasant room, mock English tudor/period French. The TV didn't work well. The stand-alone bath had huge cobwebs at its base and the shower curtain was cheap and badly planned. The bed was very uncomfortable; two average mattresses on top of each other to create a traditional high four-poster effect. It didn't work. After spending circa £550 for an overnight stay (£175 for the room) I'm sure they could invest in some quality furnishings.

We asked (Mrs Bains) whether it was possible to delay our sitting slightly (just around 20minutes as we had a long drive and wanted to relax a little). Her answer? A straight no! When asked why she simply said that “you must be joking” that was followed by a profanity. Charming.

Even though we were now on a strict deadline, we found a little time to walk out into the tiny courtyard. It is plain to see (given Mr Bains experience at Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons) that they have attempted to duplicate this style; and failed.

We made our way to the bar (at 7:25pm). We sat and ordered some drinks. The restaurant manager appeared to make a point of checking her watch and informed us that our table was booked at 7:30pm. Warm service! I don't think so.

We chose the ten course tasting menu with suggested wines. When we asked the sommelier to explain a few of the courses versus wine choices we were simply given the impression that that we were being naive to even think that we could question their choices.

There were frustrated looks when we made our table selection rather than the one we were led to (one that we were, told to sit at).

The food. The food was generally good; the “9 hour tomato, 6 herbs, 1 Manni olive oil” was very good, a perfect blend; although the pork belly was 90% fat and the cheese course was very poor. Three of the wines were badly chosen in our opinion (and I can speak with authority as a qualified member of wset). My opinions; an attempt to spark up a little conversation and aloow the uptight staff to chill a little; were dismissed by the restaurant manager.

The customer experience was poor.

The following morning improved, far more relaxed; but perhaps that was due to the fact that they only had four out of five covers for breakfast!!

Then came check out. Over-priced. £540 much better spent elsewhere. £15 charged for ice! thats a first; we have never experience that!! (we had a bottle of champagne in our room). We put it down to experience.

The coverted Michelin star is awarded for exceptional service and food. They will struggle if they continue in this vein. look at the other reviews!! Poor service and cold welcomes are mentioned on many occasions. One to avoid. We will.

Saturday, 7th February 2009

Sat Bains' food had the critics drooling for some time before I'd got round to eating there, my wife and I giving ourselves a birthday treat in June 2008. The food had blown us away, but we were relatively new to the Michelin experience then, spending most of the evening grinning like idiots as we scoffed a dozen delicately-cooked, elegantly-arranged dishes. We returned in February with high expectations, this time to experience the tasting room in a party of six.

You've probably already read stories about Restaurant Sat Bains being situated ‘under a flyover’, but that description only tells half the story. Ignore the background traffic noise and the setting – including a handful of bedrooms around a gravel courtyard – is actually quite tranquil. Inside is a cosy, candlelit reception bar, leading through to a dining area split into one room and a conservatory. The tasting room itself is separated by a sliding door, and connects to the tiny, pristine kitchen via another one, allowing the noise and excitement of service to spill in. This informal atmosphere was perfect for us, particularly as some of our group had reservations about whether a stiff restaurant experience was for them.

So, to the food: a plate of snacks that we were instructed to eat left to right brought a foamy parsnip soup topped with wild rice, a spoonful of raw tuna with ponzu and mooli, sticks of breadcrumbed salt cod and pig's head and finally a palette-cleansing block of compressed watermelon with ricotta. The first dish was a scallop, with small chunks of apple, compressed apple, bitter chicory leaves and watercress. This was followed by crabmeat, bound by a rich duck egg, overlaid with thinly-sliced turnip, ice cream and croutons, finished with a drizzle of brown butter.

The purity of these dishes was contrasted by a jar of rich, sweet duck liver and sweetcorn velouté, with caramelised popcorn and gingerbread, followed by veal sweetbreads with broccoli, a broccoli puree and crushed hazelnut. The final savoury course was small hunks of beautifully-cooked woodpigeon, with squash and a smear of dark chocolate – although by this point the details were starting to get a little hazy thanks to some intriguiing selections by our friendly sommelier.

We shared a plate of potent local cheeses before enjoying what the restaurant calls the ‘crossover’ course: blue cheese on a thin crispy toast with a cube of compressed pineapple. In other words, cheese & pineapple! The courses continued in this dainty, vaguely camp vein with a rack of white chocolate and beetroot mivvis, complete with sticks. After this, the curiously ugly ‘anti-griddle’ machine in the corner of the room came into play; dark chocolate and rose-petal rounds were chilled on its surface and popped into our mouths on the end of a palette-knife, possibly the only course which didn't quite live up to all the effort that went into it.

We were then asked to be guinea pigs for the pastry chef, as he gauged our reaction to a new dish of sweet potato ice-cream, coconut, cashew and olive, which reminded me of a deliciously deconstructed muesli. We finished off with a passionfruit ‘supertart’; deep, smooth fruit on wafer-thin pastry served with pickled blackberry, yoghurt and apricot puree.

This wonderful evening was made all the better for us by the relaxed atmosphere of the tasting room and the interaction with the chefs who had cooked our dinner. I've noticed a few negative reviews of the restaurant online, and I wonder if this is down to the service, which is perhaps more down-to-earth than you would get in a London restaurant. Aside from the northern accents, staff seem encouraged to have a personality here, which is something you don't really expect at this type of place – but we could certainly do with more of it.