Horto
Harrogate, North Yorkshire
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The Victorians once flocked to Harrogate to ‘take the waters’. You can still do just that at Harrogate’s delightful Turkish baths and more glitizily (and expensively) five miles out of town at Rudding Park, the 90-bedroom country hotel, wedding venue, conference centre, golf course and spa. Horto, the restaurant within the spa, is a cool, contemporary space of curved velvet banquettes and floor-to-ceiling windows with a terrace for outdoor eating. They serve 'light and healthy' at brunch and lunch to the mainly towelling-robed guests. As the name suggests, the food at Horto focuses on ingredients from Rudding’s notable kitchen garden illustrated well in the evening menu when it all moves up a gear for head chef Calum Bowmer’s refined three– or six–course menus. After bread and a little ‘amuse’, dinner begins with a delicate cauliflower tart using aged Parmesan with a touch of sweetness from golden sultanas. Next, a fillet of chalk stream trout with grapefruit, salmon roe, flowers and fennel fronds. Succulent lobster tail comes with tomatoes stuffed with yet more lobster, while saddle of lamb has an intense, meaty jus and is served with a variety of alliums, lamb ‘bacon’ and a side dish of barley. Dessert, though, is the highlight. A light, fresh colourful plate, brimming with herbs and flowers which Bowmer calls ‘A Taste of the Garden’. In spring, when angelica is plentiful, he bases the dish around angelica ice cream and rhubarb using garden roses for a syrup. In summer, he moves to lemon verbena ice cream and gooseberry, sweetened with Rudding’s own honey. Shards of deep violet meringue supply texture, then he elevates the plate with a scattering of alpine strawberries, marigold petals, violets, fennel fronds and a citrusy herb crisp, all finished off with an elderflower foam. It’s a tribute to Bowmer, who joined Rudding in 2010 for work experience and never left.
