Dining out at sensational Moor Hall is like manor from heaven
IHAVE never eaten food this good. It is difficult to describe eating out at Moor Hall in Aughton with words that do it justice – sensational, surprising and sublime are just three that spring to mind.
The restaurant with rooms set in a converted 16th century manor house in West Lancashire opened in March, after a huge amount of renovation work and menu planning over the past two years.
It is already forging an impressive reputation, not just locally but nationally, serving exciting, imaginative, out-of-this-world food, set in top class surroundings.
It will be interesting to see how many Michelin stars it attracts when this year’s Guide is produced later this year. It really is a manor from heaven. A grade II* listed gentry house, Moor Hall is one of the most important listed buildings in the UK, set in five acres of beautiful gardens with views over a lake which is said to be the remains of a medieval moat.
After its recent transformation it exploding onto the map again, attracting visitors both nationally and locally. Just 25 minutes drive from Liverpool and 50 minutes from Manchester, it is very well placed.
The site was acquired by Andy and Tracey Bell in 2015 and has undergone a multi-million pound renovation, in partnership with friend and business partner Mark Birchall.
Mark, born in Chorley, is a fast rising star in the restaurant scene – and no wonder.
He was most recently executive chef of 2 Michelin Star L’Enclume in Cumbria and won the Roux Scholarship, the premier competition for chefs in the UK, in 2011. He also worked at El Celler de Can Roca, Girona, a 3 Michelin Star restaurant twice voted the world’s best.
To have a restaurant of this quality on our doorstep is superb news – not just for West Lancashire, but also the region.
We visited last Thursday night and had a choice of two menus – five course for £65 or eight course for £95.
We chose the five course menu – and over the next couple of hours were blown away by the fantastic quality of the food that came out.
While the menu says five courses, diners are never left to rest for long. Several intensely flavoured small plates, or amuse bouches, arrived between courses.
The first was a black pudding parcel, with pickled apple. Sitting on a small bed of hay, it was a taste if things to come – melt in the mouth, very clever cooking, made with the very best local ingredients. What an introduction.
Mark’s food showcases his own style of modern British cuisine, which often uses ingredients grown on the estate, or from local suppliers.
The menus evolve with the seasons, as the best produce becomes available – last week these included asparagus and carrots grown within a few miles and transformed into something quite remarkable.
“Baked carrots” was the name of the first of the five courses – and I have never eaten anything like it. The humble carrot was elevated into something magical, with a variety of cooking techniques that infused it with the flavour of sea buckthorn. Mark Birchall emerged fromf theth kitchenkit h to sprinkle over Doddington cheese which had been transformed into cheese snow. The taste of chrysanthemum added further to the experience.
It’s unbelievably good cooking – every dish is a complete surprise to the tastebuds. Always expect the unexpected.
The dishes arrive fast, and are all beautifully presented. Smoked curd with fermented garlic inside a potato basket and topped with edible flowers was next.
It looked like a work of art, and exploded ldd with ith flavour.fl Just sensational.
Asparagus with crab was next, sensuous soft crab, fresh nutty asparagus, with a tasty hit of aniseed from the anise hyssop.
Oyster with buttermilk and dill snow was out of this world.
Seafood dishes here are just sensational.
Raw mackerel with radish, purslane and nasturtium was another amuse bouche – what a prefect combination. Beautiful ingredients very cleverly put together.
The third course was poached tur- bot with garlic and mussel cream, with salsify and sea v e g e t a b l e s. A Again, except tional.
By now the debate was raging over which was the best plate of f food. It was so difficult to decide – there just wasn’t’ a weak kd dish.h
Westmorland chicken was beautifully succulent, perfect with whey cream, and kales in ham fat.
It had a very rich, very earthy flavour that was just sublime.
Desserts were as sensational as you’d expect; Ormskirk gingerbread again showing respect to the best local ingredients, the warming taste of ginger shining through a smooth ice cream, brown sugar crisps on top giving great crunch and texture. Honey beer ice cream with tart bramley apple and caramel, with marigold flowers, just perfect.
Throughout, a very knowledgeable sommelier was on hand with great suggestions for the best wine to accompany the food being served, all from a very extensive wine menu.
All the staff were exceptional – the waiters had a tremendous knowledge of the dishes and how they were made, where all the ingredients came from. The passion for food at Moor Hall shines through everyone who works there.
The kitchen is open plan and can be seen by diners – always a good sign. No evidence of any Gordon Ramsay style tantrums in here, with cooking done in a very cool, calm and collected fashion.
There was one final treat in store – a visit to the Moor Hall cheese room. There was a great selection of cheeses on offer, all meticulously selected, with a range of port and madeira wines to accompany them.
One of the cheeses had even been produced by the chefs at Moor Hall themselves.
Spectacular food, using the best, freshest local ingredients, cooked with huge skill and imagination, set in beautiful surroundings – what’s not to like about Moor Hall.
This historic 16th century manor house is now firmly back on the map.