The story
Olive Tree serves modern British cooking at 4-7 Russel Street, Bath, in the basement of The Queensberry Hotel. The restaurant holds one Michelin star for 2026, and its tasting menus run from three to nine courses.
Chris Cleghorn has spent more than a decade refining his cooking in the hotel's basement kitchen. He trained at the Fat Duck in Bray and worked alongside Michael Caines before arriving here. The menus lean on seasonality and local produce, and the kitchen holds four AA rosettes for 2026.
Cured trout arrives with wasabi cream, purple radish and apple sorbet. The seasonal lunch has poached and barbecued Cornish lobster with vanilla salt, fermented sweetcorn, lovage oil and a light lobster cream. For dessert, barbecued raspberries come with tonka-bean parfait, coulis and 25-year-old balsamic vinegar. The kitchen explains each plate as it reaches the table.
The dining room sits below the hotel reception. The Good Food Guide found it well lit and tastefully decorated, if a little characterless. Service is formal and efficient, and you will not pour your own drinks. The wine list is extensive and grouped by style, with a strong choice by the glass. Private dining and events are also offered.
Recognition
Ambience
Details
History
High quality cooking
Head chef Chris Cleghorn has been honing his technique in the Queensberry Hotel's basement restaurant for more than a decade now, and things are down to a pretty fine art. If you're looking for inventive, refined and beautifully presented dishes, then his tasting menus (choose anything from three to nine courses) hit the mark. Cleghorn places great emphasis on seasonality as well as provenance, and is rightly proud of the wealth of local produce he can draw on. It is perhaps a shame that cooking of such flair is hidden away below ground in a room which, although well lit and tastefully decorated, is a little characterless. Service is suited and formal, though efficient and helpful. You will not be pouring your own drinks here. Each dish is carefully explained by the kitchen staff as it is brought to the table – a starter of cured trout with wasabi cream, purple radish and apple sorbet, for example. Even the seasonal lunch menu offers overtly opulent ideas such as poached and barbecued Cornish lobster with vanilla salt, fermented sweetcorn, lovage oil, verbena leaves and a frothy, light lobster cream. Cleghorn's technical mastery is showcased in a late-summer dessert involving mildly smoky, intensely flavourful barbecued raspberries with tonka-bean parfait, coulis, fennel strands and 25-year-old balsamic vinegar. The extensive, globetrotting wine list is user-friendly, with an excellent selection by the glass and various bottles grouped by style ('rich, intense, opulent') so you can easily choose something to suit your mood.
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