Pensons
Stoke Bliss, Worcestershire
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* Pensons restaurant closed its doors for the last time on 22 December 2023.*
‘Ambience excellent, warmth of reception excellent, sommelier excellent and knowledgeable, service swift but discreet. Cannot fault the food, from the introductory loaf of bread and yeast butter to the last cup of coffee and truffle.' Many readers feel the cooking at this polished contemporary restaurant in a 16th-century barn conversion on the Netherwood Estate is rarely bettered in the area. Chris Simpson, one-time head chef at what was Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, has settled in well and gives a masterclass in ingredients-led cooking. In an understated but spacious setting, with soaring rafters and huge Crittall-style doors (one set opening onto the sheltered courtyard), the centrepiece is an open kitchen where ‘all is cool, calm and collected’ and dishes are composed to bring out the best in prime, seasonal ingredients. Lunch is particularly good value – three courses with choice at each course – and there is a five-course taster at dinner. A dish of scallops, perfectly timed and topped with crispy kale, worked beautifully with a thick, confit-style finger and purée of pumpkin, tomatillo and saffron, while guinea fowl, beautifully roasted, full of flavour and served with celeriac, delicious red chard, chicory jam, smoked onion and a little jug of roasting juices, revealed a kitchen with the confidence to leave well alone once the components were in striking harmony. For dessert, rhubarb with walnut atop a sliver of cake, with silky blood-orange ice cream, flavours of mace and dabs of medlar syrup provided a suitably accomplished finale. Add to this an approachable wine list, enthusiastic staff and beautiful countryside, and it’s a very happy picture indeed.
