Small but mighty

WINNER: james cross of Lake Road Kitchen, Ambleside

Lake Road Kitchen in the Cumbrian town of Ambleside is run by chef James Cross and his partner, Sally Wilson, who looks after front of house. Located in the heart of the beautiful Lake District, but with a decidedly Nordic feel, this small local restaurant is rapidly gaining a national reputation for its innovative food and DIY approach. Everything is made on the premises, from the sourdough (using a 30-hour fermentation) to the aged butter (which is ‘washed’ in aquavit and then aged for nine months – the result is the richest butter our judge had ever encountered).

This is an entrepreneurial kitchen that grows a lot of its own ingredients and also uses a lot of foraged wild food, which it preserves and pickles throughout the year. This was evident to our judges over a meal that included fermented wild garlic capers (served with an extraordinarily creative taco made from thinly sliced slow-roasted celeriac and topped with barbecued veal short rib, pickled cabbage and yogurt) and an intense tomato consommé (made from this year’s homegrown ripe cherry tomatoes and last year’s green ones) with super-fresh Norwegian king crab. Although James gets most of the fish from sustainable Norwegian and Scottish waters (the steamed halibut with miso butter emulsion, fines herbes and trout roe our judge tried was “sensational”), he also has local Lake District farmers rearing rare-breed pork, beef and lamb for him.

Head judge Laura Rowe says: “James has appeared on O’s radar numerous times and that’s because his obsessive commitment to producing ground-breaking food, in what feels like the middle of nowhere, stands out. He’s truly passionate about the land he lives and works in, and that is evident on every plate he produces. He lives and breathes Lake Road Kitchen.”