I recently visited Cowley Manor in Gloucestershire with my partner Sarupa for a mini break. This stately hotel and spa is famous for offering luxury nestled in the beautiful British countryside,  and such a wonderful location it is I wasn’t surprised to learn that Cowley Manor is supposedly where Lewis Carroll wrote Alice in Wonderland!

So great location and heritage but what is it really like for the travelling foodie? Carry on reading to find out!

When you walked in how did you feel, ambiance, décor and general vibe?

Michael: Grand is the only way to describe walking into the beautiful and stately Cowley Manor. The vibe is cool and relaxed with friendly staff and airy, arty rooms leading through to the dining room.

We got a seat by the window looking out over the terrace and huge wonderfully laid out grounds.

There was a mix of diners from couples in romantic, intimate conversation to large family tables with (well behaved) kids and parents enjoying their evening.

Sarupa: Overall getting to Cowley Manor is one of the most splendid drives and grandest of entrances. It is very special. Although the overall experience is reviewed here, this particular post is all about the food, dining and restaurant experience.

As guests Michael and I were lucky enough to have 2 breakfasts, bar snacks, lunch, and dinner. A lot of fodder for this review!

You could eat just about everywhere, the pool-side, the bar and the restaurant were where we ate. Each location was special. Pool-side because it was by a pool and I wasn’t cold in England.  Bar was decadent, warm and friendly and restaurant had views to die for and an outdoor terrace too.

The general vibe when it came to food at Cowley Manor was relaxed and inviting, everything was clean and made you feel like you were somewhere pretty lush and you are…!

Was the menu interesting, innovative and inspiring?

Michael: The menus were varied, the breakfast menu is a simple list of classics and there is nothing wrong with that, they even offer a bacon buttie! A downstairs influence on upstairs no doubt

The all day menu has a good selection of sandwiches, small plates and burgers alongside afternoon tea and puddings for those with a sweeter tooth. All the food is straight forward with a ‘no need to ask what that is’ attitude, nothing really giving a wow factor.

At dinner the menu was again straight forward offering classic British and European cuisine. Aside from a tandoori salmon starter (is that British cuisine now anyway?) there was not a hint of Asian influence or ‘fusion’ was apparent which in this day and age is unusual. Perhaps this is not a bad thing. As if you execute the classics right then you can’t go wrong.

Sarupa: The menu certainly looked interesting and the pool-side had a different menu. Wasn’t sure why but it did. At dinner there was a menu but you could order off another menu. So all in all I was confused about menus and therefore what was possible for me to eat as anywhere I was presented with one menu but I never felt I could ask for another.

The menu’s I saw were what you would expect. Dishes that were classic and some that pushed out the boat in terms of description, a good balance.

Really liked the idea of the bar snacks as they weren’t your usual run of the mill stuff, Rarebit, Scotch Eggs…makes a nice treat.

As a vegetarian it wasn’t the most enlightening. I have been to Cowley before and I remember thinking this then too. I guess in my mind a Spa retreat such as Cowley Manor may attract those who are health conscious or wanting to try something new and wanting to experience delicious vegetarian meals, but it appears that vegetarians in Cowley Manor as well as other luxury Spa getaways in the UK are not catered for as well. The menus were about being gastronmique in the traditional sense rather than having a signature to match the overall experience.

Of course the breakfast bar broke that mould…but then it always does.

How was the food presented?

Michael: Presentation was good across all the dishes I encountered. My breakfast was served as you would expect, simply arranged on a plate, but then I’m not sure how else one would serve a full English!

My poolside lunch was a bit more daring, served on a chopping board with a mini bucket of potatoes, nothing original but it looked good.

At dinner the presentation showed more flair, the pretty plates of food displaying delicate touches.  Everything I saw coming out of the kitchen that night looked appetizing and enticing.

However one should never go on looks alone. The proof of the pudding…

Sarupa: Cowley Manor food was cleanly presented, and there was something very English about it. It was homely without being homely if you know what I mean. My macaroni cheese I believe came in a Mason and Cash serving dish – if it wasn’t them it was something else quintessentially British made. Nice touch.

I am going to go out on a limb here though because although clean, a neat and tidily presented, there was no WOW factor. When you are expecting luxury, or when I am with food it is about having something that looks so beautiful you aren’t sure you want to eat it or frame it. Maybe that is just me.

Although you won’t be disappointed with the presentation of food at Cowley Manor!

Was the food any good?

Michael: My first breakfast was a top notch full English, great ingredients cooked well. It’s hard to get this wrong though, if they had my next meal would have been down the road at the local pub. Luckily there were no complaints with my first meal at Cowley Manor.

At lunchtime while sitting by the pool enjoying the sunshine we decided to eat al fresco. I don’t know about you but just feeling the warm summer sun on my face makes me think “barbeque!” So I went for the closest lunch I could by choosing the chargrilled chicken along with some new potatoes.

When it turned up the chicken was moist and tasty, sadly it was the wrong kind of tasty. You see this was not really chargrilled. I’ll take a punt that it was poached and then put on a griddle pan for a couple of minutes a side. You get those little black lines but unfortunately you don’t get that smoky char flavoured. I was to say the least disappointed. The potatoes were very nice but didn’t make up for my lack of barbeque flavour.

For dinner I started with their pressed rabbit and ham hock with celeriac remoulade and gribiche dressing. I must say thoroughly enjoyed the flavours working well together and the rabbit didn’t get overpowered by the robust ham hock. I’m not a big fan of celeriac but I loved this fresh side, the creaminess really pulling the dish together.

I chose the grilled bream fillet with sea herbs, mussels and saffron sauce. The fish and mussels were cooked perfectly and of course would work well with any creamy sauce. But I remember saffron being the main hook for me picking this dish, yet I couldn’t taste it. I mean none, zip, zilch. I know people say saffron is so powerful it can take over a dish so it must be used sparingly, but to leave it out altogether is a bit much…actually it’s not enough

They were strands of samphire scattered around the plate and I’m guessing these were the sea herbs. Not much of an addition, some buttered spinach would be preferable.

Sarupa:

This is a really tricky one for me as it was so inconsistent, that it became frustrating for me.

The evening bar snacks were lovely, but luke warm… the rarebit almost was not cooked enough and was like a cheese on toast that has gone a bit too cold.

The summer fruits trifle I had that night was out of this world and even now as I write this my mouth waters as it was THE trifle of trifles, if there is such a thing. The fruit, biscuits, the balance, the experience of that trifle was such a defining moment for me. It was so good I joked about having one for breakfast, lunch and dinner the next day!

Breakfast was interesting. Great breakfast bar including Nutella! How did they know?

They had a veggie breakfast with Quorn sausages, however disappointingly I got some lesser potato version, possibly Findus and that irked me. (A) because the menu for breakfast was printed daily (B) no-one made an effort to let me know and given I had bubble and squeak already I didn’t want a potato overload. When I asked about this I was told the chef made it and then later I was told the suppliers had delivered them. I was on a break away and not interested in the cover up but it did make me wonder about the menu and what was actually made and what wasn’t…To the credit of the restaurant manager she did say that she would ensure that Quorn sausages were available the next day, to which I guessed she meant she would go to the local shop and anyway I wanted to try something new the next morning.

Later that day I had the macaroni cheese with tomato salad…! The macaroni cheese was acceptable, although probably too mustardy… and the tomato salad was actually a lettuce salad with tomato. I don’t know about you but a tomato salad in the country side in Gloucestershire, makes me imagine an array of tomatoes in different colours, showing off the best of the tomato world but alas this was not the case.

Dinner was something I was looking forward to. A romantic sun lit affair with Michael. The bread was OK, some warm some not, the olive oil was good so we were off to a great start.

We were presented with an amuse bouch, very nice…a parmesan biscuit with feta and olives. A winning combo.

Still all good. I had forgotten the Quorn incident by now and the luke warm to cold bar snacks…and all the other minor food misdemeanours as I was ready to be wowed.

I started with a celeriac and roast garlic tart. It was very good. Lovely delicate homemade pastry. Slightly lacking in seasoning, forgivable but noticeable.

My main was stuffed and deep fried courgette flower with warm fregola (pasta) and basil pesto and ratatouille. Hmmm seasoning was off again. Yet more was not good, however much I tried to tell myself I am at Cowley Manor the food must be good, I found the courgette flower oily, and the ratatouille without being seasoned and with slightly hard vegetables was a bit unpleasant. It was served cold which wasn’t mentioned on the menu and had clearly been in the fridge and perhaps not been out long enough…there was just something not so good about it.

It would all be OK as I was having THE trifle for desert. My heart skipped a beat when it arrived, remembering the night before and then when I had a spoonful my heart sank. It was like a distant, many times removed relative of THE trifle from the night before. The biscuit and rhubarb chunks were massive, and the biscuit hadn’t been soaked as much so were still crunchy and hard, rather than crunchy and divine. It just hadn’t been put together well enough and clearly this kitchen had a consistency issue. I was really disappointed. Overall the dinner was slowly making me feel like Cowley Manor had you trapped for food and knew it as other than getting in the car or walking a mile you were captive to the kitchen if you were hungry. Maybe that sounds a bit tough however the catalogue of errors, blips or just dropping the ball on the food front and I am only talking food here…was like ‘meh’ to disappointing.

Final breakfast the next morning Quorn sausages back on the menu and of course not available. I ordered an mushroom and cheese omelette, that came on the plate without anything and was rather soggy…having had an omelette in The Ritz in Paris and The Corinthian in London I know you can make an omelette look fabulous. I ordered some extra beans and they were barely warm at best.

The beans became my tipping point.

Was the food any good, potentially and in parts yes but it just demonstrated for any business how consistency in quality and detail is important as otherwise your customer experience is kooky to impacted.

How was the overall service experience?

Michael: The service was generally good but there were some anomalies. The bar staff managed to ignore us on three occasions each time walking out after we had walked in and sat at an empty table in an empty bar. Not even a nod or acknowledgement. This is not really acceptable in my local pub let alone in a establishment with Cowley Manor’s reputation.

I am pleased to report the guy running the poolside bar was exceptional. Perhaps he could train some of the other staff.

There were several little mistakes which built up into an annoyance. Not something you expect when paying such premium prices.

I’ll mark their report card ‘could do better’.

Sarupa: The overall experience from my point of view was so mixed. I feel torn. On one hand the location was heavenly. The staff were mostly just brilliant, except our 2^nd night bar experience where each time (it was 3) we entered the bar both staff walked out without a word or offer of a drink…oh and at afternoon drinks on the terrace there was no table service for us. Even another patron suggested to the waiter he attend to us.

Consistency again! Maybe some of the waiting staff are there as a holiday job rather than a career but I am not going to make a story of excuses. It was the not so brilliant that makes you think, oh well this is UK and this is what you expect. Overall it was acceptable.

However why should acceptable be the norm, it needs to be exceptional, consistent, luxurious and faultless. It can be done so it isn’t an impossibility.

There were other inconsistencies around food and drink, for example on our first day we were told we couldn’t have a cup of tea by the pool; no china by the pool. Sounded legitimate enough to me, yet the next day there was an assortment of drinks and food plates around the pool for all the sun bathers.

Again we were here for an experience and if you let yourself get frustrated with inconsistency, ineptitude, misguided menus, it can preoccupy you and that was not what we or I wanted. However the luke warm beans, soggy omelette combo was my tipping point and we spoke with the onsite manager.

She listened with openness and that was all we wanted – as Cowley Manor doesn’t come cheap for a stay, dinner and drinks…it wouldn’t be a weekly experience. It is a special experience, something that you look forward to with a sparkle in your eye and we left with a raised eyebrow at the kitchen. They can and in my view must do better as can some of the staff attentiveness and understanding of what is being offered.

So would you go back there?

Michael: Definitely, if only to wander around the glorious grounds, soak up the relaxed atmosphere and enjoy the c-side (their pool and spa).

I hope to see changes for the better, as with top notch service and food this hotel would live up to it’s gorgeous country surroundings.

Sarupa: Of course. I am British, so used to a range of food experiences. I also want to see Cowley Manor improve. It will be a good thing and the truth is the location, where Lewis Carroll was said to have written Alice in Wonderland is magical. Hopefully by the time I return I will be falling down some delicious food holes…who knows!

Remember to share below if you have been to Cowley Manor, what was you experience?

Michael Robinson

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

|

The post Cowley Manor – Review appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator