This week we made our first visit to Gilpin Spice, a Pan-Asian restaurant with a twist, not far from where we live.
Gilpin Spice is at the Gilpin Hotel, near Windermere. Housed in a purpose-built building, there are a number of different rooms where you can choose to sit. We chose the China Room which has four tables, each for two people, and is dressed in opulent red. We could have chosen the India Room or alternatively the main dining room, labelled Malaysia. This would have allowed us to see the food being cooked in the open kitchen but we avoided this as it also made the room rather warm on the July evening.
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| China Room |
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| India Room |
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| Malaysia Room |
The food is all designed to be shared between two people and is divided into snacks, small plates and large plates. There are also some soups and flat breads, as well as rice and noodles.
The first snack was Pani Puri: bite-sized pastry cups filled with chickpea curry and chopped onion, into which you pour some tamarind sauce. The result is an explosion of flavour and texture with just the right amount of heat.
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| Pani Puri |
Although the format seems to be tapas-like, the plates arrived as distinct courses rather than all at once which allowed us to really focus on each plate. The rest of the plates arrived at just the right speed with a short gap between each. By the end of the meal we had shared snack, flat bread, two small plates and two large plates - all individual and all delicious.
We didn't have room for a dessert but there was plenty of choice on the menu.
A very memorable meal and a beautiful place we have every intention of returning to.
