Category Restaurant: Haute Cuisine (££££) 
Category Hotel: £££
What to do when you need a weekend away from it all and everything seems to be against you? The impeding ash cloud prevents you from going abroad and you won’t have much sun in the UK either as the weather forecast predicts rain,rain and more rain.
Thank god there is beautiful Bath,which offers you both,rural and city life (meaning if it rains you can go shopping 
) and of course a huge quantity of spas.
The Royal Crescent in Bath
After a rather unpleasant stay at the Hilton in Bath and some bad food at the Olive Tree,we were lucky to discover The Bath Priory Hotel and Restaurant. This really is an oasis of calm,beauty and good food.
Before you are getting too excited and start booking your next weekend away,let me introduce you to the major disadvantage first:the price. We are talking very special weekend away here…. (unless of course you are an investment banker or married to one)
The Bath Priory Hotel ticked a lot of boxes for me. Member of the Relais &Chateux group,you do get what you pay for. The service is immaculate even though I found it hilarious that the people working there were trying to imitate a French accent,but well,this might be required by Relais &Chateux,who knows.
The hotel from the street side. It’s prettier from the garden side though.
The rooms are generous and charming with a lot of attention to detail (with Molton Brown products –sometimes I am so easy to please). I loved the beautiful,big garden with mature trees and a vast selection of marvelous flowers,most of which I have never seen before.
One day we just hung out in the nice spa with sauna,steam room and pool while it was raining outside. The massage there was amongst the best we had ever had. Adding to the immediate relaxation is the fact that you have chick magazines lying around everywhere. My intentions were so good,but in the end the Herald Tribune,The New York Review of Books and the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro remained unread while I educated myself with Psychology,Vogue and Glamour. I might have even read Heat Magazine…
Breakfast with fruit,French cheeses and delicious Eggs Benedict. You have to imagine them,they were gone before I could take a picture.
But of course I am a food blog and so let’s start on the delicious dinner I had at the Bath Priory Restaurant. Executive head chef is Michael Caines who holds two Michelin stars at the Bath Priory sister hotel Gidleigh Park in Devon. The actual cooking is done by head chef Sam Moody,who is not only a young and very talented chef but also a lovely guy. I really liked the fact that he was asking the diners for their opinion on the food. Not that there was much to fault…
I think it is 68 pounds for 3 courses,in our case it was included in the weekend package.
We loved the first pre-starter. The Foie Gras (or duck liver) parfait was heavenly and smooth. Also nice but less memorable was the rice ball. The second pre-starter came as an espresso cup of warming and comforting soup (I think it was potato…?)
Possibly my most favourite dish of the evening was the Morel and Broad Bean Risotto. Moist and creamy,perfectly cooked rice with the delicious morel flavour was topped with generous parmesan shavings and tasted like summer on a plate. The dish was perfect without truffles,and even more so with them…
Usually not a big fan of lobster,I really enjoyed the Ravioli of Cornish Lobster. The pasta was al dente ,the filling generous on the lobster and the lobster bisque beautifully united the flavours of the sea.
One of the best duck dishes I have eaten in a long time was the perfectly prepared Slow cooked breast of Creedy Carver Duckling. What an ingenious idea to combine orange puree with anise sauce. I had one of my ‘I really want to lick this plate’moments.
For me maybe the least convincing of all the dishes was the Loin of Local lamb. Even though it was nicely prepared it didn’t fully deliver the bold flavours common to the other dishes. 
Dessert time! With rhubarb being in season there was no way around the Plate of Rhubarb. 4 different ways to prepare rhubarb on one plate is heaven and I very much enjoyed the different textures and flavours and the fact that it was a very non-sweet dessert. The winner of course was the rhubarb crumble (it should have been 3 times the size…) but I also savoured the rhubarb and custard and the tangy sorbet.
We then selected 6 cheeses from the very attractive and generous cheese board. They all were good but I just love my Stinking Bishop!
Good to know that there is excellent dining outside of London!
The Restaurant Rating:
- Food: 8/10
- Service:8/10
- Ambiance: 7/10
- Value for money:7/10
- Chance of returning: (I might have to become an investment banker) 70%
- Verdict: What can I say,I just loved the food
The Hotel Rating:
- Overall Impression: 8/10
- Ambiance:9/10
- Rooms: 8/10
- Service: 8/10
- Spa: 7/10
- Value for Money:7/10
- Verdict: THE place to go for a romantic weekend away in England.
Rooms from 200-400 pounds.
Weston Rd,Bath,BA1 2XT,UK
T:01225 331922 F:01225 448276
E:mail@thebathpriory.co.uk
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