L'Enclume

Exceptional cuisine

Simon Rogan was awarded an MBE in the New Year Honours List at the end of 2023, which is some measure of the influence he has had on contemporary British dining. The nerve centre of the whole operation is still here, in a stone-built former smithy on a Cartmel road-bend, not far from its sibling Rogan & Co. The ambience has lost none of its rusticity, from the roughcast whitewashed walls and raftered ceilings to the anvil after which the place is named. The light, airy conservatory makes a fine spot for lunch. Smartly clad staff oversee a welcoming – and supremely professional – approach to hospitality, and the food does the rest. The kitchen mobilises a battalion of unexpected ingredients in surprising – even stunning – combinations, with textural notes to the fore as well as a clear focus on sustainability and regionalism. Among the appetisers is a fritter of Duroc pork and smoked eel on lovage emulsion with sweetcorn purée, an unimaginably delicious composition of flavours. There is also a pudding of Berkswell cheese coated in caramelised birch sap, tapped from a tree just a couple of miles away. A succession of plated dishes might include tiny pink fir potatoes cooked in chicken fat with pickled walnuts and an oil of burnt onion ash, while one of L'Enclume's signatures is the seaweed custard in beef broth and bone marrow, garnished with a house blend of caviar and Maldon oyster. Various vegetable-based specialties are always part of the menu, their seasonal freshness offset with powerful herbs and seasonings. As for animal protein, a pairing of John Dory and cuttlefish in pork fat with shrimp sauce, spinach and verbena might precede an outstanding dish of dry-aged Middle White pork in mead sauce with black garlic purée and pickled allium seeds, plus a pork-fat crumpet sitting on a hot stone to keep it warm. Textures go haywire in a serving of frozen Tunworth cheese topped with puffed buckwheat, lemon thyme crystals and gel, on a compôte of Champagne rhubarb. After strawberries and sweet cicely cream served in a ceramic pouch, followed by a miso-caramel mousse with apple (another L’Enclume signature), we concluded with an array of superlative petits fours – including a cornet of peach-stone ice cream with elderflower and white-chocolate ganache, and a tiny caramelised pear tart with a spot of herb oil. Wines by the glass are presented on an iPad, which you may want to keep by you as the menu progresses, but it's best to let the wine flights themselves take wing on a cosmopolitan journey around the globe.

5 Rosette Award for Culinary Excellence

Few restaurants have made more of a mark on the UK’s culinary landscape than Simon Rogan’s Lake District flagship, its distinctive brand of modern yet naturalistic cooking having been replicated in dining rooms up and down the country with varying degrees of success. Launched in 2002, this iconic restaurant is set within an old forge (L’Enclume means ‘the anvil’ in French) a few miles south of Lake Windermere. Immortalised in Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon’s BBC series The Trip , the dining room is sparsely furnished with a subdued colour palette so as not to distract from Rogan’s world-class cooking. Diners can look forward to a procession of small, intricate dishes that have an organic look and feel despite the brigade not being adverse to modern techniques (there’s an adjoining restaurant called Aulis at L’Enclume where much of the development work takes place). L’Enclume’s multi-course tasting starts with an onslaught of snacks and continues with some of the most breathtaking and confident cooking on show in this country. Unlike some restaurants that serve a procession of small plates the momentum here is never lost, with every bite as good as the last. L’Enclume is close to being self sufficient, with the bulk of its produce grown on Rogan’s nearby 12-acre farm. The team also rears its own meat – including cows, chickens and pigs – and retains a full-time forager. If there was any doubt about Rogan's dedication to his beloved flagship, After 20 years, the restaurant finally bagged the third Michelin star that many thought was long overdue.