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Meadowsweet

Norfolk, Holt - Modern British - Restaurant with rooms - ££££

Overall Rating: Exceptional

Uniqueness:Does the establishment stand out in the context of the local area? Very Good

Deliciousness:How delicious is the food? Exceptional

Warmth:How warm is the service and the hospitality in general? Exceptional

Strength of recommendation:How enthusiastically and widely would you recommend the establishment? Exceptional

Rebecca Williams and chef Greg Anderson deliver effortless class rather than try-hard conceptual at Meadowsweet – a contemporary restaurant with rooms that is a joyous treat from start to finish. Dinner is bookended by Anderson's spirited flurry of snacks and desserts. First up are last year’s walnuts in the form of a shimmering black gel covering a mousse of Baron Bigod cheese on a Parmesan sablé (a one-bite umami hit) as well as Amarena cherry, similarly glossy, over a little rabbit parfait. Standouts among the snacks proper range from a chickpea wafer heaped with crabmeat, bound with aromatic Indonesian bumbu spicing and topped with a flutter of fresh herbs to a beef tartare ‘sandwich’ – the Angus/Limousin meat dressed in the sultry smoke of charcoal oil and contained between tuiles made with rendered bone marrow. Home-baked breads (a nutty rye loaf and a sourdough focaccia) come with raw Jersey butter, and rightly get their own moment in the din...

Rebecca Williams and chef Greg Anderson deliver effortless class rather than try-hard conceptual at Meadowsweet – a contemporary restaurant with rooms that is a joyous treat from start to finish. Dinner is bookended by Anderson's spirited flurry of snacks and desserts. First up are last year’s walnuts in the form of a shimmering black gel covering a mousse of Baron Bigod cheese on a Parmesan sablé (a one-bite umami hit) as well as Amarena cherry, similarly glossy, over a little rabbit parfait. Standouts among the snacks proper range from a chickpea wafer heaped with crabmeat, bound with aromatic Indonesian bumbu spicing and topped with a flutter of fresh herbs to a beef tartare ‘sandwich’ – the Angus/Limousin meat dressed in the sultry smoke of charcoal oil and contained between tuiles made with rendered bone marrow. Home-baked breads (a nutty rye loaf and a sourdough focaccia) come with raw Jersey butter, and rightly get their own moment in the dinnertime sun. The fat sweetness of a scallop, hand-dived off Orkney, is lifted by a purée of strawberries and grape juice, and offset by the butter-richness of a tomatoey sauce split with lobster oil. This being a classically rooted kitchen, butter also shines elsewhere: mixed with garlic, it finishes a bowl of risotto made from aged Acquerello rice topped with an elderflower honey-glazed sweetbread; it emulsifies a smoked eel dashi that is poured round kohlrabi ‘tagliatelle’; and it delivers richness in a Vadouvan-inflected lobster-stock sauce with monkfish. Roasted, herb-crusted saddle of Middle White pork from Huntsham Farm is spellbindingly tender, the centrepiece in a supreme dish that includes a farce made from the trim, two purées – one a peppy sobrasada, the other an earthy mix of sweetcorn, bacon and girolles – and yet another beautiful sauce, punchy with sage, mustard and bacon. A hotpot of the slow-cooked shoulder is un-lidded to truffly swirls of steam, anchoring the dish in the realms of seasonal comfort. It feels right that the paired wine should be poured from a magnum, a fresh, red-berried Viña Tondonia Rioja from López de Heredia – one of a carefully considered six-glass pairing that ends triumphantly with a 'vin cuit' from Provence, sweet with red berries, apricots and plenty of balancing acidity. This is a blinder with the fruit-celebrating desserts. Highlights? Cherry clafoutis, portioned from the pan and served with meadowsweet-infused custard, and a cloud-like apricot soufflé into which is poured an orange-blossom sauce. Heavenly.

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N Filar

28 August 2024

We came here for two nights to celebrate a birthday. It was a very difficult place to find since the sign on the wall is so small it can't be seen from the road! We got there in the end after few drives round and I'm very glad we did. The food is quite exceptional. Modern, in the the complexity dazzles frankly. But there is never a time when you feel you are not in the hands of people who want to feed you. Dinner here is not a chance for the chef to show off or educate. This is a proper m...
We came here for two nights to celebrate a birthday. It was a very difficult place to find since the sign on the wall is so small it can't be seen from the road! We got there in the end after few drives round and I'm very glad we did. The food is quite exceptional. Modern, in the the complexity dazzles frankly. But there is never a time when you feel you are not in the hands of people who want to feed you. Dinner here is not a chance for the chef to show off or educate. This is a proper meal with loads to eat too. It's a set menu but if you are here for two consecutive nights they "do" you a completely different menu from the first night. Now. The menu is sparse in its description. it will say "Quail pie" or "Hand caught orkney scallop". But as to how the humble if huge scallop that arrives at table is turned into absolute magic I cannot tell you. I'm a bit deaf see. Age. One of the chefs all of whom are charming to to a T will crouch at table and tell you exactly how the dish was apparently coaxed from the metaphysical fabric of the universe. It can't be any other way, if you think about it. To put that lengthy description( whatever it was!) on the menu would cause it to swell to Dostoyevskian proportions. Trouble is I couldn't hear the description. So I was reduced to smiling and nodding politely and hoping the food stayed warm. It did Re: scallop it was the best I've ever eaten and the quail pie indeed all of it was of a level. 8/10 old GFG standard imo. Desserts are plentiful but maybe not quite as good. Service is excellent. The front of house is a true professional and a shout out for the young waitress who was always there. Long hours for her, a professional to her fingertips. The chef is a super bloke and a master of his trade. Accommodation is good too. We had the larger of three rooms which was lovely and comfy But its roadside location meant it was very noisy until late in the piece. This is a superb place and we'll be back.
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VENUE DETAILS

37 Norwich Road
Holt
Norfolk
NR25 6SAGB

01263 586954

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OTHER INFORMATION

Accommodation, No background music, Credit card required

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