Restaurant at Chapel House Hotel

Rob Pethick (31 May 2007)

I have stayed at the Chapel House Hotel for business reasons at least once a year for the last three years. I enjoyed the food and ambience so much that I stayed for two weekends with my wife. We both enjoyed our stay so much that we took two friends to stay for one of the hotels wine and food weekends. What a treat we had. Dinner was in the hotels delightful period dining room, but we were able to choose the menu in the comfort of the lounge with aperitifs and a selection of olives and nuts. Before the hors d'oeuvres an unexpected and tasty hot appetiser arrived. Between us we tried fishy, vegetarian and meat starters and all were tasty and well presented, and accompanied by a well selected wine. I am a great lover of offal and the kidney in a port sauce was beautifully cooked and melted in the mouth, with the strong flavours of port and kidney marrying beautifully. My wife was equally delighted with her simply cooked poached fish, where the simple flavour of good fish, cooked so it was firm and moist, was allowed to speak for itself without too many competing ingredients. My main course was fillet steak - locally sourced, tender and full of flavour, and cooked as I had asked for it - rare, and with a rich sauce that set it off well. The vegetables were seasonal and cooked with care to leave a little firmness and plenty of flavour. The chef obviously loves his puddings because they were produced with real flair and the spun sugar basket that surrounded my wife’s sweet was a delight to the eye (and to the taste buds as I nicked a mouthful!). One of our friends is diabetic so the chef cooked a flamed selection of fresh fruit, at our table. (I nicked a bit of that too!). As it was a wine weekend each course was accompanied by a good wine, followed by a digestif and then port, coffee and the chefs home made truffles in the lounge. We had to suffer another night of this delight and we are currently planning our next trip. All the fellow diners were obviously enjoying themselves and I would recommend hotel and restaurant to anybody. We were able to talk to the chef after dinner one night and I understand that when he and his wife bought the hotel they started on a renovation programme that is almost completed, (and which included parting company with the existing kitchen team and menus). His current menu is not particularly large (which I think is best if you are trying to use seasonal and local produce) but it is a mix of the traditional and the imaginative and varies nightly. The specials are worth going for (the scallops I had for one starter were fantastic and he said that his fishmonger had had some good ones that day so they went on the menu that night - which I think is a great approach to food).

G Maxwell (15 September 2005)

Let’s start with the good points, yes a beautiful building full of old Georgian charm and character. Well that’s the good points over with then! It all starts with a very frosty welcome into a deserted lounge devoid of atmosphere for pre dinner drinks the furniture and decor is distinctly dated somewhere around the mid 1980's full velour three piece suites included. OK give it a chance then it is an early start we arrived at 19:00 it will soon fill up. Drinks arrive with some pretty dreadful olives and crisps straight out of the packet. Orders are taken reasonably promptly, we then continue with drinks and conversation drinks soon disappear but there is no sign of any staff in the place to get any refills. After being left for 20-25mins with empty glasses we are ushered into the dining room and seated in pleasant period surroundings. Oh by the way we are no longer alone at this point one couple has now arrived (these were to be the only additions all evening, good job we had booked) I would go into the ins and outs of all the food but I can't remember anything about it other than very overcooked vegetables! Says it all really, the food was OK but not worth the very high prices I'd say you could get food just as good or better in any middle of the road pub. The chef made an appearance to cook the strawberry pudding in front of us then proceeded to chat very loudly to the other guests obviously friends of theirs but then was very attentive when it came to getting the bill! All in all then 6 of us had meals from the menu with 3 bottles of wine all coming to £45 per head, not a bargain, a recent visit to Simpsons in Edgbaston shows what service and food we should be expecting from just £5 a head extra. To boot there was not even a thank you and goodbye as we left. My deductions from all of this: it was empty for a reason.