The Latymer, Bagshot

This is the second time i have eaten at The Latymer, however this time it was a special birthday for someone in our party and so we booked the chef's table. This consists of a glass room in the actual restaurant kitchen.

There is a fibre optic table which you can change the colour of as you wish. There is also a screen in the room showing the chefs at work (you can also see this through the wall, should you choose clear glass - there is an option to make the walls opaque.) There were 8 in my party, we easily fit into the room and it was very comfortable, but i shouldn't think any more people would work.

On to the food! We had the tasting menu (which i think is the only option.) The food was stunning. In particular the scallops and the 'continental breakfast'. There were 8 or 9 courses and each one was delicious. The chef worked with ingredients such as caviar and snails to create some really interesting courses. Some of the 'foams' were a little over the top but that seems to be common in a lot of restaurants this evening.

If i had anything negative to say it would be that i believe they could have made it a bit more of a special experience. For the amount of money it costs it is not something that is done everyday, it would have been nice if they had brought the chef in to meet us, rather than us having to request this at the end of the meal. Also one of our party was pregnant and she still received the exact same courses as the rest of us. I think they could have made a little more effort to ensure that they were only giving her suitable food.

These are only small issues and the evening as a whole was wonderful. I think Pennyhill park has a few staffing issues, and need to listen more to their customers, and this was also true of the service we experienced in the Latymer. The food was special and the evening was definitely a unique experience, but it was very, very expensive and i feel the staff could have done a little more.