Cartmel and L'Enclume
The first time we went to the Lake District we only got as far north at Cartmel. Our reason for choosing that particular village was that it's the home of superstar chef Simon Rogan and his restaurants. We stayed in the attached B&B and had an almost otherworldly dining experience at L'Enclume, his flagship restaurant, that featured 15 courses plus wine pairing. It was handy that we only had to negotiate a set of stairs to get home. L'Enclume is French for "the anvil"; the name was chosen because the building which the restaurant occupies used to be a blacksmith's shop. You can still see the odd iron hook in a ceiling beam.
This time we decided to go for lunch which meant we could opt for “only" 7 courses. I won't go into an orgiastic description of each course; suffice it to say each dish had a complexity and depth of flavor that was astounding.
Boltardy beetroot, sallted mullet and sunflower seed tart juices infused with nasturtium:
Corra Linn (cheese) pudding carmelized in birch sap
Stout vinegar & aged Corra Linn cheese.
This was possibly the single best bite I've ever had.
Red King Edward potatoes cooked in chicken fat Crisp skin, pickled walnut and Doddington
Hen of the woods (mushrooms) with Musselburgh leeks
Bay shrimp, lemon balm, fig leaf
Pork from Gaythorne Hall farm, grilled and glazed over pinchotan Green Harp spinach, ramson, and black apple
Frozen Tunworth cheese, malt crumb
Damson and lemon thyme (right up there with the Corra Linn cheese in terms of perfect bites.)
Malwinna strawberry with lemon verbena
Wraysholme yogurt, sweet herbs and flowers
Tart, mint stones. The trick with the mint stones is to figure out which are actual stones and which are little frozen confections. We chose correctly thus saving thousands in dental work.
It was lunchtime, so we showed a bit of restraint by not adding the wine pairing.
We walked around the tiny village of Cartmel which is a charming little place.
It took us almost 90 minutes to reach Cartmel from our digs in Lamplugh but it was totally worth it. Such a memorable dining experience.
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