March 2024 by Amy Saunders
We recently visited to try Tom Hamblet?s Masterchef menu and it exceeded all expectations!The restaurant itself was in a stunning and peaceful location.The service was outstanding. The waiters were extremely attentive and friendly, without being pushy.The prawn and lobster starters were full of flavour and a ?must try?. The star of the show for me just had to be the beef main. Possibly the best dish I?ve ever had! Loved the beef and oyster tartare that it came with too.Both chocolate puddings were full of flavour and absolutely delicious.This really was a once in a lifetime meal and I would recommend Tom?s food to anyone!
March 2024 by James Lawrence
Tom Hamlet's MasterChef experience was amazing - what talent! I started with the roast scallop and artichoke which was innovative and flavoursome followed by the Guinea fowl with the most beautiful black truffle and Madeira sauce!We will follow your career with excited anticipation
March 2024 by George Birley
Tom's food combined with excellent FOH staff make this a great experience. Huge wine menu and fantastic food, well worth a visit.
March 2024 by Guys Who Dine
Dinner Tom Hamblet x Camellia.The Champion of Master Chef UK: The Professionals 2023.A menu inspired by his time on the show.There's no guesses why we were in this part of the UK.The beautiful hotel with stunning countryside?Well, that might be one of the reasons.Another was to experience some amazing food cooked by Tom Hamblet, who has taken up residency of the Camellia Restaurant from January to the end of March.A three course A la Carte menu £85.With options to add extras.For starters, we chose:Prawns.Gambero rosso prawns, celery sorbet, tomato fondue,olive, gazpacho.Roasted scallop, Jerusalem artichoke puree, marigold oil, artichoke crisps, pastry tube with buttermilk, and artichoke mousse.We had to have the extra course of Lobster,curried carrot puree, lobster, ginger and chilli bisque, potato,mango and caper salad, lime vinaigrette. £35.Which we shared between us.Mains were obviously the TURBOT.Poached turbot topped with a fish mousse, potatoes, caviar, baby leeks,cornichon beurre blanc.And the beef fillet, oyster mushrooms, lovage emulsion, pané oyster, salsify,braised beef cheek, oyster, and beef tartare.£10 supplement.A side of Creamed potato, English winter truffle, pecorino.£9.50.Desserts.Chocolate and peanut mousse, feuilletine base, mascarpone Chantilly, nibbed peanut tuille, torched bananas, miso caramelOlive oil sponge, set lemon curd, olive oil jam, crème fraiche, fennel pollen tuille, toasted fennel seed ice cream.As Marcus Wareing would say, "Can't fault it, absolutely delicious."It was a great evening with the restaurant full to capacity, and the staff were totally on the ball,even though they were run off their feet.
February 2024 by Toby Kennor
Amazing food and a wonderful experience, highly
February 2024 by Kate Jones
Fantastic Meal sampling Tom's dishes - highly
February 2024 by Rosemary Bruce
Lovely food which was beautifully presented. Attentive, knowledgeable and friendly staff. And all in a formal yet relaxing setting.
February 2024 by scott watkins
Along with 3 other guests we celebrated my birthday and enjoyed Chef Tom's menu last night. The food was exceptional as was the service. We ate dishes from Tom's Masterchef repertoire which was a massive treat. Can't recommend the beef dish enough. It was a shame not to meet him in person as a fellow chef I'd have liked to have shaken his hand, maybe next time.
January 2024 by Russell P
We went following Tom Hamblett's TV success - and while disappointed this evening, remain interested to follow his career as we feel he has great promise. The menu consisted largely of dishes similar to those from Masterchef, a strategy I question. Certainly the combinations of starters and mains were challenging and lacked a certain flow, which led us to stare at the menu for some time. We had scallops and lobster to start - the first of which was pleasant, but my lobster was bland and accompanied by a great deal of two types of sauce of identical consistency to the point where I couldn't see why they were not mixed (and halved in volume). The beef main was good, fillet the right texture, jus was deeply flavoured, but the hogget less so, fat left on but not fully rendered or crisped/browned - and each came with a tartare with an excess of the taste of raw onion. Again, various sauces of identical custardy texture with the hogget. On finishing up, my last mouthful (mainly sauce) was flavourful and balanced and I got the first sense of Tom's palate and good judgement, but I think he needs to reduce and concentrate, as fine food portions simply cannot carry enough of his sauces to transmit his flavours. Olive oil cake was pleasant, chocolate tart was oversweet and busy, piled with (independently delicious) sweets which hid the mild chocolate flavour. As with the sauces, reduce, concentrate and a larger mouthful, ex sweets revealed the cocoa. Wines pleasing, Taittinger, Italian Red (name escapes me) Royal Tokaji all good. Service pleasant at the interpersonal level, we liked all the staff, but a tad disorganised - our mains came up extremely quickly after the starters went - and at other times we were left waiting for a first drink and so on. Sommelier didn't get to do his thing accordingly. Lacked rhythm. Three glasses each plus 13.5% service doubled the bill, but we did drink the nice wines. Reading back, this is critical, but I hope constructive - for us fine dining should only ever be 8, 9, or 10 out of 10 - my wife was at 6, I was at 4, the difference being menu choices. Whether delivery on the night was a factor, whether the dishes conception or their execution at scale were factors, I'm not sure - but we remain interested to follow Tom as he progresses and think these to be early days.
January 2024 by no1ref_12
As a party of 5 at Toms Masterchef experience we decided to order as many dishes as possible and every item was superb.I won?t be describing each item as it will seem like a Tom fan club offering. We were very pleased to meet Tom who deserves all the success that?s hopefully coming to him. The staff were looking forward to the new experience and we were very well looked after. Well done South Lodge for showcasing the talent they have in their kitchens.
January 2024 by kevin12760
4 of us went to try Tom Hamblets menu having watched him wow the judges with his classic training and modern ideas. We chose different dishes to sample as much as possible and were not disappointed. Scallops were cooked to perfection and the dish was stunning. Wife and I both had Turbot that was cooked perfectly and presented in a modern style. We ordered a side of mash with truffle and pecorino ( not Pecorelli he owns the place ?) omg that mash wow. Again all 4 had different desserts I had one with chocolate and peanut, excellent recommendation from one of our servers Alan to have a chilled red dessert wine to go with it, perfect and unbelievable (i need a bottle of that). We stayed late chatting and was pleased to meet Tom himself once service was finished. Expect to see great things from this very professional and promising chef.
January 2024 by Jerry S
Food was excellent, lovely wood panelled room full but no real atmosphere shame as it was a lively evening.
January 2024 by Loubna Hadid
Ordered aged steak on the bone. It was a disaster. Pictures speak louder than words. Meat was extremely badly cooked - we returned it twice and eventually gave up. It?s my wedding anniversary - so we feasted on warm bread and butter. Venue is nice but I don?t recommend eating here
January 2024 by Bridget Goodrich
We went to the restaurant for my birthday meal to try Tom Hamblet's menu and we were not disappointed. The attention to detail was superb and the flavours to die for!We were looked after very attentively from the moment we arrived.I had a Happy Birthday chocolate message and four handmade chocolates. A nice touch.
January 2024 by NICK
Awesome. Food the best I have had for some time. Better than Marcus perhaps. Would have loved a tasting menu as I wanted to try all of the starters and mains. Great night. Thank you.
