Woven by Adam Smith

High quality cooking

When it's time to get out of town for a day, the Berkshire countryside looks most inviting. Coworth Park at Sunningdale, near the Ascot racecourse, is an imposing Georgian manor house in fondant white, part of the Dorchester Collection and home to a dining destination with a concept name and chef's signature. The room itself is on the anonymous side, done in placid russet and beige, but the culinary intelligence that powers it is irresistibly fresh and exhilarating. Adam Smith mixes his own culinary memories into a contemporary approach that looks to nature for its cues, with foraging on the estate backing up some premium supplies. The technical dazzle with which it's all rendered is astonishing. The principal menu is divided into four sections: ‘pantry’, ‘larder’, ‘stove’ and ‘pastry’ – we might recognise these as canapés, starters, mains and desserts, but for the fact that there is nothing ordinary about what appears. To cue things off, there are nibbles that look to Asian takeaways for inspiration (a langoustine bun, Thai green crab etc), but also strike British heritage notes with an oxtail toastie and jellied Devon eel. When the first dish arrives, it reveals depths of unsuspected richness, as in a barbecued scallop with smoked roe and golden oscietra, with a top note of bright citrus adding dash. The main business might see a classy double-act of Cornish turbot and native lobster with textured cauliflower, salted grapes and truffle. An alliterative approach proves productive for a Hereford beef dish that comes with a tartare tart, tendon and tea. On the plant-based menu, things are sizzling when heritage beetroot meets three-cornered leek, morels and blueberries. There is a signature chocolate dish for those who need their fix, incorporating sea salt, crème fraîche and cocoa nibs, while oabika (the cocoa juice concentrate made from the white pulp of the bean pod) goes into a more enterprising construction with macadamias, dulce de leche and lime. An array of ‘treats’ (like the petits fours they might serve in heaven) closes the deal with Jamaican Blue Mountain fudge, mandarin brandy baba, raspberry and Champagne jelly, and the like. The owners have amassed a  wine list to suit the surroundings, with a heartening emphasis on sparklers and still wines from across the southern English counties – although there are, of course, plenty of old-school classics too.

Long-term Coworth Park chef Adam Smith has reimagined what was formerly Restaurant Coworth Park into a dining room that now bears his name and the added weight of responsibility that comes with it. Fortunately, Smith has proven that he’s more than up for the challenge, with the former The Ritz chef breathing new life into the dining space and creating a real restaurant of intent. With Woven, Smith has read the mood of the past year or so where not all diners want to sit down for a multi-course four hour dinner and has instead created an offer that weaves (see what we’ve done there?) elements of tasting and a la carte menus. Woven offers a three course menu that’s bookended by a selection of savoury snacks and sweet ‘treats’ for a meal in which the diner has much of the control but where surprises still abound. Smith’s cooking style remains rooted in the classical having spent nearly a decade under John Williams at The Ritz but he has expanded his culinary horizons to create a more eclectic dining experience. This change of direction is most evident in the snacks, with a number of the dishes having a strong Asian influence including an incredibly intricate Thai Cornish crab dish that is gone all too soon in a couple of bites. Although the restaurant doubles as the hotel’s breakfast space, Woven’s interior is far from nondescript, with instillations above that give the appearance of a loom and long windows to one end of the dining room that provide views over Coworth’s beautiful and impressive estate. This is hotel dining at its unstuffy best.

5 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence