Voco Hotel Napier's Kitchen Review

From the moment we arrived, the whole experience felt incredibly welcoming. The hospitality was fantastic, with attentive and friendly service throughout that made us feel genuinely looked after without ever feeling overbearing. The timing of the meal was also spot on, each course arrived quickly enough that we were never left waiting, but never so quickly that we felt rushed. We had plenty of time to enjoy each dish, our drinks and the evening itself before the next course arrived. The beautiful location only added to the experience, providing the perfect setting for what turned out to be a genuinely memorable meal. From the surroundings to the service, everything created a relaxed yet special atmosphere, and that was before we even got to the food!

The Starters:

We started with three dishes to share: The Twice-Baked Goat’s Cheese Soufflé, Wild Garlic and Mushroom Éclair, and Artisan Bread Board.

The goat’s cheese soufflé was absolutely incredible. It was creamy, cheesy, light and fluffy, almost like eating a cheesy cloud. It was beautifully presented and served with cheese fondue, pickled heritage beetroot, balsamic and baby watercress. The heritage beetroot really surprised me. It looked as though it would be sweet and juicy, but instead had a strong vinegary flavour. and as someone who loves vinegar, I really enjoyed it! The sharpness worked particularly well against the richness and creaminess of the goat’s cheese. This was definitely one of those dishes where all the individual elements came together perfectly.

Next was the Artisan Bread Board, which included artisan sourdough and pumpkin ciabatta served with herb butter and olive butter. You can never really go wrong with sourdough, and I absolutely love it, so naturally I thought it was fantastic. Warm bread with a generous spread of butter is such a simple combination, but when it’s done well, it’s difficult to beat. The pumpkin ciabatta was also really nice and a little more unusual. Both the herb butter and olive butter had plenty of flavour and worked beautifully with the breads. Even for something as simple as a bread board, the presentation was lovely.

The Wild Garlic and Mushroom Éclair was probably the most intriguing of our three starters. It genuinely looked like a miniature sweet éclair, but was instead filled with tender mushroom, shallots and fresh chives, then finished with truffle oil. It had a wonderfully strong, savoury flavour, and the piped filling both inside and on top was delicious. I also loved how unique the dish was. From the presentation to the combination of ingredients, it wasn't something I'd seen on many menus before.

All three starters were completely different from one another, and there wasn't a single one I wouldn't happily order again.

• 

• 

• 

The Mains

For my main, I chose the Potato Gnocchi, served with wild garlic, sautéed spinach, toasted pumpkin seeds and Italian hard cheese. The first thing that stood out was the presentation. It was incredibly vibrant and green, which wasn't what I had expected when ordering gnocchi. The dish itself was delicious, although definitely on the richer side. One of my favourite parts was the Italian hard cheese. At first, I genuinely had no idea what I was looking at! It had been presented in such an unusual way that I didn't immediately realise it was cheese. Once I tried it, though, I absolutely loved it. It was incredibly strong and, when dipped into the rich gnocchi sauce, the combination was perfect.

It was certainly a filling dish, but one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Elliott chose the Slow-Cooked Rump of Lamb, served with truffle-infused mashed potato, crushed minted peas, wilted spinach and a rich lamb jus. Elliott said the lamb was beautifully soft and tender, with very little effort needed to cut through it. It was cooked medium-rare to rare, which is exactly how Elliott likes his lamb. The vegetables were cooked beautifully too. Some had a little more bite to them, which he personally didn't mind, while the creamy truffle mash, minted peas and rich lamb jus brought everything together. Every element of the dish complemented the others rather than competing with them. Elliotts words ere Presentation: 10/10. Food: 10/10. My fiancé: 10/10. Cute!

The Drinks

We shared a bottle of tap water, which was lovely and refreshing, but obviously that isn't the exciting part. We also ordered a cocktail each.

I went for a Piña Colada, which I quickly described as danger juice. It was sweet, fruity and ridiculously easy to drink. I genuinely can't think of a single thing I didn't like about it. It was also served in a brilliant Hawaiian-style tiki glass, which made it even more fun. I could quite easily have ordered another ten – although I'm not sure that would have been a particularly sensible decision!

Elliott chose a Disaronno Sour. His first arrived with a generous layer of foam and was really tasty. Then, rather unexpectedly, our waitress brought over a second one because the bartender had accidentally made extra and didn't want it to go to waste. We're certainly not going to complain about a free cocktail! The second had considerably less foam but tasted noticeably stronger than the first, so apparently no two Disaronno Sours are quite the same. This was a lovely little personal touch that stood out to us and showed once again how wonderful the hospitality is at the hotel.

Dessert:

For dessert, we finished with the Chocolate Fondant served with vanilla ice cream. The fondant was beautifully presented and was everything you would want from a chocolate dessert; rich, chocolatey and wonderfully soft. It wasn't particularly gooey in the centre, which I had expected from a fondant, but that didn't take away from how much we enjoyed it. The richness of the warm chocolate paired really well with the vanilla ice cream, which added a lighter, creamy contrast and stopped the dessert from becoming too heavy. It was also served with chocolate-covered strawberries, which Elliott particularly enjoyed.

Overall, it was a lovely way to finish the meal and another dish where the presentation was just as impressive as the flavours.

The hospitality and atmosphere was superb and look forward to our next getaway at the voco hotel Oxford thames.