Le Champignon Sauvage

The best of Cheltenham?

Roasted wood pigeon, butternut squash, black pudding, chocolate

For any serious UK foodies, Le Champignon Sauvage shouldn't be a strange name in the world of fine dining. Located in Cheltenham, this fine dining French restaurant has 2 Michelin stars for almost 10 years. Ran by the husband and wife team, David and Helen Everitt-Matthias, the restaurant is rated highly by the both consumer and trade media, offering modern French cuisine at a rather affordable price if you benchmarked it against other Michelin restaurants elsewhere in the UK. Unlike many other fine dining restaurants, Le Champignon Sauvage didn't do tasting menu, with only a choice of two 3 course menu for both lunch and dinner.

Bread

Salcombe crab, pear, oyster dressing, hazelnuts

Quail, mushroom blancmange, Mousseron tea

The quail starter was a very interesting dish that contained a tea broth, it made sense with the mushroom balancmange, that offered a soft hint of earthy aroma, to give nice balance to the mild taste of the quail breast. The roasted tender wood pigeon was what a high standard Michelin dish is all about, it had such a lovely, rich and gamy taste that just lingered in my mouth. The taste of bitter sweet and earthy flavours combined beautifully together from the black pudding and chocolate. The venison was also sensational, very moist and had such a lovely taste of bold and meaty flavour with perfect seasoning. Last but not least was the chocolate delice, rich in taste but light in texture with a picture perfect presentation.

Winchcombe venison, celeriac, lovage cream

Blackberry cannelloni, wood sorrel cream

Chocolate delice, milk ice cream, beurre noisette

My dinner at Le Champignon Sauvage was indeed a wonderful experience and it was easy to understand why it has been regarded as one of the very best in the country. The cooking involved some very technical skills and they used plenty of top notch local ingredients. While the dining room does seem a little dated, it was hard to fault the food. On top of that, Le Champignon Sauvage must be one of the best value for money fine dining restaurant, the 3 course set dinner menu only cost £32 and a la carte at £65. If I ever live in Cheltenham, I can see myself as a regular at this fabulous restaurant.

Food 4.5/5

What I paid: 
£70 per head

Average cost without drinks and services:
£65

24-28 Suffolk Rd, Cheltenham GL50 2AQ, United Kingdom

http://www.lechampignonsauvage.co.uk/