Northcote

Zeer mooie hotel top

We have visited here over a few years and enjoy it every time We stayed over this time on the gourmet break. It’s not cheap but the food and wine are out of this world One course was all tomato, I don’t like tomatoes, but I loved this course We will return

I have followed Northcote since the days of Nigel Howarth and wanted to visit ever since. However, I was disappointed, especially with 3 of the 5 Seasonal Gourmet courses. The first sign of any issue began when an email, which was subsequent to the original confirmation, arrived informing us that we would be staying in a superior room at greater cost to the package with classic room that I had originally booked. This email also showed a later dining time than originally chosen. I emailed Northcote but the reply asked me if the details I’d stated were correct so I had to telephone. I said I appreciated the upgrade but was not happy to pay extra. It was agreed that the original fee would stand with the upgraded room. The room was rather dark with tired brown wooden furniture. There was a nice outdoor terrace but we did not have much chance to use it as we had travelled south from a visit to a different, and far superior, Michelin starred establishment where we had enjoyed a fantastic 8 course dining experience and beautiful light and airy modern room complete with Dyson hairdryer. On opening the wardrobe at Northcote I found a very old tatty silvered hairdryer with lots of the silver coating missing. Needless to say I didn’t bother using it. The cocktail service was excellent and great effort was made to ensure that my drink was made the way that I like it. The first course of Lobster was lacking flavour and the tiniest portion of lobster I have ever been served. The Tomato goats cheese course was delicious and full of flavour. The Quail had a skin on it that when cut resembled a prophylactic and the mushroom “sludge” type sauce looked most unappealing when poured over. The pickled mushrooms also made the dish taste very odd. This was followed by a finger sized portion of turbot that also had its soggy inedible skin left on which had to be removed. In fairness the server did ask if I’d like a different dish in place of these courses when she collected my uneaten plates but that would have been very disruptive at that stage in the meal. Thankfully the Strawberry clotted cream final course did not disappoint. On retiring to our “Superior” room we found that the air con would not set to anything below 23 degrees which was too hot for sleep. There was a fabulous Meaco standard fan aswell as a ceiling fan in the room to compensate somewhat. The ceiling fan was too noisy to leave on overnight. Sadly we do not feel we would want to return to Northcote. It could learn a huge amount from the restaurant with rooms that we had stayed at the previous night.