29/03/2023

The Plumicorn at The Tawny Hotel, Staffordshire

The Plumicorn is a fine dining but relaxed restaurant at the luxury Tawny Hotel in north Staffordshire. I went along to try their ‘Taste of The Tawny’ menu and enjoyed six faultless courses in the beautiful surroundings of the Consall Hall Estate.

THE PLUMICORN RESTAURANT

Let’s get one thing out of the way first. What sort of restaurant name is The Plumicorn? I was stumped as to what it might mean. Or even how I should pronounce it. Is it said like plumb or like ploom (as of smoke and feathers)? Well, let me share my newfound knowledge. Plumicorns are those tufty, long feathers some owls have on top of their head. They look like ears but apparently aren’t. The word comes from the Latin pluma meaning feather (I guess that answers the pronunciation bit) and cornu meaning horn. Okay, that seems reasonable for the restaurant in a hotel named after the tawny owl. Until I read that tawny owls don’t have plumicorns.

THE TAWNY HOTEL

But never mind all that. The Tawny, opened in the summer of 2021, seems to be unique for a British hotel in that it’s ‘deconstructed’. This means the check-in building, the heated outdoor pool, spa treatments, restaurant, and guest accommodations are all dotted around 70 acres of the restored and landscaped Consall Hall Estate. And very impressive it looks too. There are gardens, woodlands, five mini lakes, stone bridges, follies, and goodness knows what else. Among that lot are 55 rooms located in lodges, huts, treehouses, and boathouses, complete with their own outdoor spa baths.

DINNER AT THE PLUMICORN

All look gorgeous, so I was a little surprised at my first sighting of the The Plumicorn restaurant. Approaching from the side, partner ID and I were confronted by a large expanse of almost featureless brown. However, viewed from the front, it all makes perfect sense. See the outline of an owl-like head, complete with plumicorns?

The Plumicorn restaurant at The Tawny Hotel — *photo credit: The Plumicorn/Tawny Hotel*

The view of the grounds from within the restaurant, with its floor to ceiling windows, isn’t exactly shabby either. The greenery outside is matched by the décor, full of plants and bright, floral soft furnishings. We arrived for an early dinner on a Friday night but there were already quite a few other diners, most of whom seemed to be staying at the hotel. By the time we left it was full, I believe.

The atmosphere at The Plumicorn is relaxed. Although it places itself in the fine dining bracket it isn’t at all stuffy or pretentious. There were a good range of ages among the diners, including at the table next to us a young couple and their baby. To get to the restaurant you walk through the Feather Lounge: a big bar complete with pool table where you can have lighter meals.

Staff were friendly and efficient in quickly seating us by a window, providing menus, taking and bringing our drinks order.

THE PLUMICORN MENUS

At dinner in The Plumicorn, there are two available menus, both served 5.30 pm – 8.45 pm every day. The Brasserie menu is a straightforward à la carte affair. On the evening I visited there were five choices of starter from Cheese Scone with Smoked Cheese, Onion Jam and Cheese Foam at £9.50 to Cornish Crab with Crumpet and Celeriac Slaw at £11. The half a dozen main courses ranged from Mushroom & Artichoke Risotto or Chicken Caesar Salad at £18 to Sirloin Steak from the highly recommended Dunwood Farm at £32.

ID and I both opted for A Taste of The Tawny, billed as a 6 Course Tasting Experience at £65 per person. With those words ‘taste’ and ‘tasting’, you’d be forgiven for assuming it’s what is usually called a tasting menu. However, unlike tasting menus where you are presented with a series of set dishes without choices, here you do choose a starter and main course, plus dessert. The remaining three plates of the six courses are Bread, Chef’s Snack, and Crossover.

BREAD COURSE

One of the more recent restaurant innovations I approve of is to have a proper bread course. Instead of a few rolls of unremarkable bread, we now get something rather good and often made in-house. To go with it, it’s common to have one or two flavoured butters to get the taste buds going. And that’s exactly what was brought to us at The Plumicorn.

A crusty, round loaf, cut into chunky quarters, was served on a long wooden tray. Alongside was a plate with two domes of butter, one pale, the other a creamy beige. The bread had a subtle flavour of onion, its light, chewy crumb a good contrast to the crispy outer.

The butters were whipped to light-as-air, spreadable softness. The first was plain, seasoned just with salt. Being a fan of salty butter, I have no complaint with that. But the second, flavoured with the unmistakable, savoury taste of chicken, I really loved. Things were looking promising.

CHEF’S SNACK

Next came our Chef’s Snack: a bite-sized cube of crisply deep-fried brioche bread apiece. On top was an insanely savoury cheese custard, smooth and light. Perched on that was a little caviar and a heap of finely grated cheese.

I thought this was a perfect mouthful. Crunchy, creamy, and rich. And was there a little smokiness?

TO BEGIN

For what you might consider the first ‘proper’ course or starter, we chose from a list of three under the heading To Begin. My choice was Crumpet. I’ve had these spongey, holey griddle breads as part of a starter a couple of times before and find they make a great base. This one, nicely crusty from toasting, was very dinky and only just visible under all the goodies artfully arranged on it.

That golden crusted object was king oyster mushroom which had a good firm, chewy texture. This was enhanced by rich truffle velouté, a just runny enough poached quail’s egg, lots of Parmesan flavour, plus freshness from snipped chives.

I think, among a menu of very good dishes, this was possibly my favourite of the evening. It demonstrated the kitchen’s ability to pack loads of flavour into every mouthful while serving up pleasing contrasts of texture.

For his starter, ID chose Venison and was more than happy with it. The chunky piece of meat was well seared on the outside and, to our tastes, perfectly pink on the inside. It was juicy and tender.

Also on the plate were heritage carrot, different textures of parsnip, compressed pear, and a glossy meaty sauce cut with a herby oil we couldn’t quite identify. Another very accomplished dish.

The third available starter, which sounded equally appealing, was Scallop served with apple, celery, chive oil, and celeriac crumb.

TO FOLLOW

Although I thought of the next course as the mains, they probably weren’t that much larger than the dishes we’d just eaten. Again, there was a choice of three. I plumped for Beef Cheek served with cabbage, oxtail bourguignon and roast onion. I loved the unfussy plating and the deep, meaty aroma wafting off it.

The beef cheek had been compressed into a chunky oblong. Although it looked firm, one touch with my fork and the meltingly tender strands of quality beef fell away beautifully. Then I thought, where’s my oxtail? Hidden in that crispy iron-y cabbage, I discovered. Again, the morsels of rich meat were super soft and had an intense, concentrated flavour.

As with the venison, the meaty sauce, again split with a herby oil, was well made and tasty. Also on the plate was browned and rich onion in two forms: a dark, smooth puree and half a mild Roscoff onion perfumed, I think, with thyme.

ID’s choice was Cod Loin. I thought this a very striking looking dish and by all accounts it tasted just as good.

A chunk of perfectly cooked, pearly white cod with orange-yellow, lightly tart sea buckthorn sauce speckled with lumpfish roe, creamy salsify plus dark green sea vegetables and another of those bright green oils.

If neither of those mini masterpieces take your fancy, then the third choice was Artichoke. This came with king oyster mushroom, pumpkin seed gnocchi and nasturtium.

CROSSOVER COURSE

Our fifth course was described as the Crossover course. We were each given a small bowl containing a little scoop of coriander sorbet and a blob of mango puree. Completely unadorned, to me they looked more intriguing than inviting.

I’ll even admit that, initially, a tiny taste of the coriander sorbet reminded me of a supermarket pack of coriander left too long at the back of the fridge. After a second taste though, I quite liked it. But what I should have done from the start was to eat it with the sweet mango and its kick of chilli heat. Together, the contrasting combination really did work as bridge between the savoury and sweet courses.

TO FINISH

To finish, we could choose either Burnt Burt’s Blue (a highly regarded cheese made in Cheshire) with apple jam and truffle multigrain bun, or one of two desserts. My Lemon Parfait with bramble ice cream and candied ginger didn’t sound wildly exciting. But, as you might have guessed by now, turned out to be extremely good.

The parfait was smooth, rich and creamy. For me, it had the right balance of tart lemon flavour and sweetness. As well as the expected sugary, chewy candied ginger, there were little pieces of honeycomb and what appeared to be semi-preserved pieces of the brambles which flavoured the lovely ice cream. Add to that a crispy honeycomb-shaped tuile and you have a perfect little dessert.

If there’s a chocolate pud on offer, then ID will probably choose it. I’m not such a fan, but after having nibbles of his, I think I could have happily eaten this one.

Star of the show was what I, no expert in pastry or chocolate, would call a delice: a sort of set custard incorporating melted chocolate. This was beautifully smooth and rich without being overwhelming. On top were chunks of aerated chocolate. In lighter, sweeter contrast was a lovely white chocolate cremeux: think chocolate custard again, this time thick rather than set. Bringing more variety of texture was a crisp tonka bean tuile and crumbly chocolate soil.

After I’d asked for the bill, we got another chocolatey treat. I’d forgotten that Fudge was listed on the menu, although not included in the six courses. Despite what we’d already eaten, I’m afraid we both scoffed a piece before I even thought to take a photo. There were four chunks in all, soft, creamy and delicious, and about twice the size you’d expect fudge to be.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Being a luxury hotel, you’d expect The Tawny to have a very good restaurant. But what sounds good on paper doesn’t always live up to expectations when it hits reality. However, I think The Plumicorn exceeded my hopes for it. I couldn’t fault any of the dishes I ate. More than that, I enjoyed them all and found something special in every one. The only slight quibble my partner had was that he couldn’t detect much tonka bean in that little tonka bean tuile. So, not exactly damning criticism.

For food at this level and detail of cooking, using quality ingredients like local, high welfare meat, and in the current climate of rising food costs and high energy prices, I consider £65 a head not unreasonable at all. As to service, it ran completely smoothly. Every single staff member was friendly, efficient, seemed to know exactly what needed doing and got on with it.

*photo credit: The Plumicorn/Tawny Hotel*

Around a ten-minute drive from home, I can only wonder why I hadn’t eaten at The Plumicorn before. Plenty of the hotel’s guests seem to be taking advantage of what this hidden gem has to offer. I think it’s time more of us locals joined them.

Highly recommended.