Lumière

Clarence Parade

Cheltenham GL50 3PA

BY NEAL MARTIN | AUGUST 30, 2024

The Food: 

Canapés: Taramasalata, cucumber, lemon and Avruga caviar with squid ink tuile; ‘Coronation Chicken’; Truffled ‘Mac & Cheese’ with Black Garlic and Old Winchester

Meadowland smoked eel, red Desirée apple, caviar with smoked Pepper Dulce

Red Mullet with fennel, coriander and St. Austell mussels

Asparagus with morels, chicken, black truffle and sherry

“Tequila Slammer”

Hogget with wild garlic, garden peas, carrot, anchovy, lemon and Cobble Lane pancetta

Forced rhubarb ginger, Orelys chocolate and sorrel

Dark Chocolate Fondant, coffee, mango and passionfruit with sushi rice

The Wines:

I’m ambivalent towards the Michelin guide. It provides an invaluable signpost of where to dine, not least when you’ve traveled to unfamiliar gastronomic landscapes. That’s unsurprising given that was the guide’s original aim: What better encouragement to test out those new tires on your automobile? To this day, it is a lodestar for aspiring chefs who dream of screwing that plaque outside the entrance to their restaurant. Conversely, the virtues that I seek in a restaurant do not necessarily align. I don’t really care for the froufrou. My yardstick is not the complexity of dishes, the smorgasbord of ingredients flown in from distant datelines, or the whiteness of freshly ironed tablecloth. Give me simple, soulful grub, honest food served on a bare wooden table in a noisy local restaurant, dishes chalked up on a board and a list of decent vino that won’t break the bank and generally, I’m happy.

Taramasalata, cucumber, lemon and Avruga caviar with squid ink tuile

But if you are going to dine at a Michelin-starred restaurant, then Lumière in Cheltenham is a paragon. It epitomized everything great about fine dining without an Ikoyi-like bill at the end. This small restaurant serves a set menu where every course translates skill and flair in the kitchen. Lumière dazzled without showing off. Husband and wife team, chef Jon and front of house Helen Howe, opened the restaurant in 2009, aiming to showcase the best of British ingredients, many grown in their own smallholding. It was a rare occasion where I found it difficult to fault any aspect of the meal. Fabulous and sometimes playful presentation in terms of plating, classic dishes are given innovative twists, all perfectly seasoned and unstintingly delicious.

The array of canapés alert my tastebuds that are in for a treat. The taramasalata is made from Cornish smoked cod roe sourced and garnished with cucumber jelly, a touch of gold leaf and a generous splodge of Avruga caviar. An ornate squid ink tuile chaperones this.

Coronation Chicken

Their take on Coronation Chicken is miniature tubs of loveliness. “Our Coronation Chicken is comprised of waffle tart shell made with the local Golden Fleece Indian Pale Ale,” Helen informs me. “Lemon curry marinaded Creedy Carver chicken breast, pickled sultanas and finished with apricot puree, Ewes yogurt, puff rice, almond & crispy chicken skin.” It’s off the charts.

Truffled ‘Mac & Cheese’ with Black Garlic and Old Winchester

The truffled ‘Mac & Cheese’ with black garlic and Old Winchester cheese. “Our twist on a classic favorite is to use lighter Israeli couscous rather than macaroni and then encase the mix into a crunchy, breadcrumbed croquette,” Helen continues. “It’s finished with a luscious black garlic puree, freshly grated British black truffle and a generous amount of Old Winchester cheese.” It is so good that the meal could have ended there, and I’d be content.

Thankfully, it didn’t. A lot more was to come.

Meadowland smoked eel, red Desirée apple, caviar with smoked Pepper Dulce

The Meadowland smoked eel comes with Red Desirée apples, caviar (because you can never have too much) and a smoked pepper dulce. The eel is subtle in flavor and perfectly combined with the sweetness of the apple and the dulce, the roe lending all-important salinity.

Red Mullet with fennel, coriander and St. Austell mussels

The Cornish Day boat red mullet is perfectly cooked: wafer-thin crispy skin with moist yet firm meat underneath. The fennel and coriander sauce with fried St. Austell mussels on top serve as wonderful foils to the fish without overpowering it.

Asparagus with morels, chicken, black truffle and sherry

The asparagus comes from the nearby Wye Valley and is served with morels, black truffle and a sherry reduction. This is a heavenly combination of earthy forest flavors, perhaps obvious in terms of ingredients, but they lift the asparagus.

The next course is simply named “Tequila Slammer”, and this has the most dazzling presentation. This is the bit of theatre that you expect, with dry ice almost covering our entire table. It is essentially a mid-dinner palate cleanser. It consists of a tequila sorbet served with a salt crisp and a lime sphere. Imagine someone plugging your tastebuds into the mainline electricity cable… It works a treat, virtually rebooting the senses.

Hogget with wild garlic, garden peas, carrot, anchovy, lemon and Cobble Lane pancetta

There is just one solitary meat dish. Maybe I’m getting old, but I prefer minimal red meat so that I’m not still digesting the meal come following morning’s breakfast. This comprises Mount Grace Farm Kerry Hill Texel Cross hogget, served with wild garlic, garden peas, carrots and anchovies with Cobble Land pancetta. The hogget, which you see rarely these days, is tender and succulent. The accompanying vegetables are enhanced by the anchovies, the secret ingredient used by a number of chefs.

Dark Chocolate Fondant, coffee, mango and passionfruit with sushi rice

Last but not least, we enjoy a dark chocolate fondant so black that it seems to absorb surrounding light. Fortunately, it is not a black hole, but it is made from Xoco Tuma Yellow (80% cocoa) and comes with mango and passionfruit ice cream. This killer combination never fails to deliver, and this is taken to the zenith.

Lumière has no qualms about accepting corkage and charges a very reasonable fee. I dropped in the bottles early so that they could be decanted, and it was a pleasure to share a glass with their waiters, who provided A1 service.

We began with the 2020 Chassagne-Montrachet En Cailleret 1er Cru from the ever-reliable, ever-fantastic Damien Colin at Domaine Marc Colin & Fils. It just delivers every time. The bouquet offers brilliant delineation, almost flinty citrus scents, freshly sliced limes and Granny Smiths. The palate has balletic poise that effortlessly counterbalances the intensity and nervosité of this Chassagne to the point where you would almost think it was a Puligny. It’s all about the terroir. Next came the 2010 Morey-Saint-Denis Aux Chezeaux from Domaine Arlaud, which had come directly from the producer. Copious black cherries, blueberry and violet appear on a nose that is powerful and needs a lot of decanting to coalesce. The palate is more pliant than I anticipated, with plush but quite bold tannins, plenty of depth and a very primal finish that feels half its age. Give it another three or four years – Cyprien Arlaud’s wines always need time.

The final wine was a bit of a long shot. I had acquired the 1971 Châteauneuf-du-Pape from Château de la Gardine from a well-reputed merchant in the West Country. You never know when it comes to bottles this age, especially from the Rhône. But it surpassed my admittedly modest expectations. Showing moderate bricking, the bouquet is rustic but fresh, with notes of garrigues, singed leather, lavender and black pepper. Maybe there is a bit of mustiness, but nothing to really complain about. The palate shows little oxidation, but it is still fresh, with probably a payload of VA. Yet there is plenty of red fruit tinged with black pepper and fennel, quite sweet and Grenache-like on the finish. This was supposed to be a good vintage in Châteauneuf-du-Pape, and this turned out to be a risky yet wise purchase.

Expect Lumière to rank amongst my already-packed list of favorite meals of 2024. In some ways, the cuisine reminds me of Moor Hall in Lancashire. That has double the number of stars, but then again, it is double the price. They offer three set meals, four, six and eight courses at £75, £115 and £145 per person respectively. That’s a good price, given the quality, and you’d pay a lot more in London. Along with the Dysart at Petersham, Lumière is a pertinent reminder that this country has fostered a raft of brilliant chefs in recent years, many out in provincial towns. I wish we had our own Lumière where I live in Guildford! This is haut cuisine at a high level without the pretension one occasionally finds. Departing the restaurant, I had that warm feeling of elation after you’ve treated your tastebuds to one delight after another. If you are out in this picturesque part of England, then Lumière should definitely be on your list.

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