Partly funding renovations through crowdfunding, the chef has stripped everything back to basics: bare floors, bare walls and painted everything white. The back wall of the dining room has been knocked out to accommodate a big glass box housing the kitchen, which looks out across fields on one side and opens into the main dining room on the other.
It makes for a seriously dramatic dining space and, after aperitifs and the first couple of snacks in the lounge, it’s an impressive surprise to realise you’re going to sit and watch a very close, very open kitchen at work. The staff pause to let you take it in and Merlin nods hello – it’s a great piece of theatre that elevates the meal into an experience.
The only caveat is that there are two parts to the dining room, the second of which is not really in view of the kitchen. We asked whether people were disappointed to be seated there when they’ve seen the other area, and the waitress did admit it they were working on resolving it.
Smartly attired in black and white, staff seemed young rather than seasoned servers, though they were all competent, wonderfully friendly and unpretentious. What was clear was that they are all widely involved far beyond just serving customer – they go to the smallholdings and pick the vegetables, they visit the suppliers with the chefs. This is part of Merlin’s holistic philosophy of restaurateuring and it makes for a lovely dining experience.
The dining options are either a tasting menu for £125 (Tue-Sun) or lunch menu for £95 (currently Fri-Sun). There are no menus or indication of how many courses are in each menu, even at the restaurant. Though on asking we found out lunch had two fewer courses.
If you dined at the old Osip, you will recognise the food - though the farm to table approach has been enhanced. Merlin claims 85% of the produce used by the restaurant is grown on his two biodynamic, organic smallholdings. Meat, fish and seafood are used sparingly (there was no fish in our menu, just scallops) and nose to tail eating remains, with two dishes adorned with a snow of grated venison and then lamb heart. The restaurant only buys whole animals and butchers them on site.
It remains a matter of alchemy how much flavour Merlin can wring out of simple ingredients. An initial palate cleanser of tomato tea with fig leaf oil was astonishing in its depth of flavour, while also being light and refreshing. His mastery of technique, his incredible presentation, his absolute dedication to provenance produces immaculate, beautiful food that makes you gasp with delight.
Likewise, the sight and taste of our very first snacks – tiny spelt and buckwheat half straws filled with whipped ricotta from the nearby Westcombe dairy, pickled Tropea onions and dainty micro herbs and petals – was a bold statement of intent which made us think ‘oh my God this meal is going to be amazing’.
Although the menu felt ever so slightly less ambitious than our last visit to the old Osip, there’s no doubt this is flawless, delicious, inspiring food. The fermented potato brioche cooked in lamb fat was tremendous and perfectly complemented by a sour whipped kefir butter. The overlapping dish of barbecued lamb belly and grilled lamb loin with roast Tropea onion and a ewe’s milk curd, plus a mixture of spindly but unbelievably delicious French beans, sea-salted to within an inch of their life (of which we approved) on a bed of almond cream was a standout, exploding with flavour.
Wine pairings are offered at £80 for the full tasting menu and £38 (three wines) for the lunch menu. These are decent value given that the greatly enlarged wine list is expensive (cheapest bottle is £45 but there are virtually none at that price). There’s much wider availability in the £70-£100 price bracket and plenty for far more should you desire. At the other end of the spectrum, an aperitif of vibrant green apple juice with sorrel (£4.50) was exceptional; one of the loveliest soft drinks we’ve ever had.
There are four hotel rooms planned for upstairs but poor weather has delayed their completion. Ditto a planned outdoor tea house. Press releases make much of a kitchen garden that guests will be shown round, but we weren’t and we had a peek round the back and couldn’t see one yet. The garden in general still looks quite undeveloped.
Osip 2.0 is designed as a destination restaurant and it is. Once everything is fully functional, an overnight stay combined with dinner, a kitchen garden tour and a visit to the tea room promises to be an incredible experience if you’re lucky enough to be able to do it.
WHEN 20 August
WHERE 25 Kingsettle Hill, Hardway, Bruton, BA10 0LN
FOLLOW @osiprestaurant
BOOK osiprestaurant.com
The Good Food Guide allows three to six months before anonymously inspecting a new restaurant. Look out for a full review coming soon.
