l’Enclume (***), Lake District, UK. Sep ’23.

Apologies for the multiple posts. Reddit post submission kept failing and the photos also did not display correctly. I somehow figured out that you cannot upload Instagram-processed photos. They will fail to display!

Cross post from
https://instagram.com/vinoyvaca

l’Enclume – a relatively new 3-star powerhouse in a remote corner of England. Strongly localvore-ist philosophy with the majority of their produce coming from their farms and immediate surroundings. Lots of use of local herbs that gives a strong sense of place. There is a great deal of polishing and refining put in by the kitchen to transform the humble ingredients of their land (mainly vegtables) to 3-star worthy dishes. Interestingly, most of the ‘luxe’ ingredients like scallops, crab, and monkfish come from other regions (Scotland and Cornwall).

– Aquadulce bean wafer, horseradish vinegar, Aynsome juices, herbal oil. (No pic.)

– Fritter of Duroc pig and smoked eel. Tapioca and onion crumb. Lovage and fermented sweetcorn. Smokey, warm, and soft.

– Berkswell cheese pudding caramelised with Birch sap, stout vinegar, more shaved cheese. Served a little cool. This is like a pressed croissant stuffed with cheese. Nice.

– Raw scallops from Orkney with scallop garum, cucumbers, salted white currents, whey sauce, and black currant leave oil. Sweet raw scallop enhanced by its own garum made with its own trimmings fermented since last year. The white currents almost like umeboshi. Brilliant!

– Pink Fir potatoes cooked in chicken fat, crisp skin, pickled walnuts, Park House cheddar, burnt onion oil. The most delicious potato and cheese soup you can imagine.

– Seaweed custard, beef broth and marrow fat, Maldon oyster, and caviar supplied by Petrossian. I read mixed receptions from various reviews on this l’Enclume signatures. I found that the trick is to get the right balance of the soothing custard, the beefy-buttery broth, and the fishy caviar in each scoop you take. Skew one way or the other and the balance is upset. Quite satisfying when you get it right.

– Aynsome offerings: vegetables, herbs, and flowers with quail egg, chicken fat, and perilla salt. Not just a gorgeous dish but great to eat too. The baked carrot had stunning flavour. There was also heavily caramelized element in the underneath the quail egg that tasted great (I think I heard shallot.)

– Brined greyhound cabbage, fermented juices, hen of the woods, Welsh summer truffle. I wouldn’t have minded a more assertive sauerkraut sourness. (No pic.)

– Cornish crab, dried tomatoes, sunflower seeds, crumbles. Tasted like chopped cereal bar on crab. Didn’t work for me. (No pic.)

– Day boat Cornish monkfish aged for 4 days, bay shrimp butter, tomato molasses (cooked for 8 hours!), house-fermented shrimp XO sauce. Very bold and savoury accompaniments to the perfectly roasted fish. Great recovery!

– Heritage Middle White pork, rainbow chard, mead sauce. Almost like a warm headcheese with a mélange of lean, fatty, and gelatinous parts. Mustard would have been the obvious condiment here and I miss it!

– Bonus warm pork fat crumpets on the side if you are not quite sufficiently stuffed…

– Frozen Tumworth cheese, malt crumb, blackberries, lemon thyme. Would be perfect for me if one drops the malt crumb.

– Malwina strawberries, sweet cicely, herbs (lemon balm, I believe?), flowers, basil cake. Lots of goodies hidden in the little ‘pouch’. Brilliant and deceptively simple summer dessert.

– Anvil: caramel mousse with miso, marinated apple and apple vinegar. Surprisingly tart and zingy and really woke me up just in time for the drive home.

A bit of practical advice: the drive after dinner on narrow, pitch-black, and claustrophobic country roads took some concentration. I was glad I only had one glass of wine. Stay in the village if you can.

by vinoyvaca