water pumped and filtered from its own borehole, water rich in iron, sulphur and common salt.
After an insane festive period there was a continuation of excitement entering the first weekend of 2018 with the knowledge that Rudding Park was firmly booked in the diary.
It’s a location that’s donned my ‘want to go’ list for sometime based purely on it’s culinary reputation, but now with the added attraction of a brand new state of the art £9.5m spa development, Rudding Park becomes irresistible.
It’s true that 3 hours of absolute relaxation, doing nothing other than walking from steam room to sauna to swimming pool to hot tub is hard work (tong in cheek) and therefore what we need is a dinning experience similar in grandeur to the one we’ve just experienced in the Rudding Park Spa.
Luckily, located in the spa building is Horto, a 3 AA Rosette modern contemporary restaurant with a brigade of chefs lead by Head Chef Murray Wilson (BBC Masterchef the Professionals 2008) and sous chef Callum Bowmer (BBC Masterchef the Professionals 2017)
The 8 course tasting menu is priced at £79 per person at the weekends with a slightly smaller but still extensive 6 course tasting menu priced at £64 per person, a drinks pairing package is available with all menu’s.
Whilst the menu we enjoy maybe minimalistic is description, that’s certainly not the case in terms of flavour:
Sole – Oyster, Parsley, Sprouts
Chicken – Vegetable a la grecque, brioche
Scallop – Potato, Potato, Bacon
Pork – Celeriac, Apple
Galician Beef – bordelaise
Pear – Ginger, Maple
Chocolate – Clementine, Blood Orange
Before I explain the awesomeness of this menu, let me first make it clear that finding a consistent tasting menu in which quality, detail and excitement runs throughout each and every course is almost impossible, I appreciate that a menu’s appeal is personal but I can confidently say that up until visiting Horto Restaurant I have never experienced a tasting menu in which each and every course as kept my attention from beginning to end.
So with that bomb shell dropped let me tell you that this is the finest tasting menu that I can remember, each and every course was outstanding, yes I used the O word, outstanding, and whilst I’d love to write about each and every course, google analytics tell’s me that chances of keeping your attention in today’s age when concentration levels are on average 8 seconds are slim to none so instead I’ll pick out the very best courses.
When the words that match the acronym OMG leave my mouth with every taste of this dish you know your eating at the very highest level.
Galician Beef is in actual fact the OAP of the Spanish beef community, it’s the beef from cow’s that are much older than the cattle used to produce British Beef, and as with most things, age brings maturity, and maturity brings flavour and I mean serious amounts of flavour, imagine the beefiest crisps you’ve ever had the pleasure of devouring and you’ll still not be close, match that with a French Bordelaise sauce and you have a dish of epic proportions.
Would I recommend a visit? Come on, you’ve just read the highest praise I could possibly give, need I spell it out?
Horto Restaurant at Rudding Park | Rudding Lane | Harrogate | HG3 1LL
Phone: 01423 871350