L'Enclume Review

It had been many years since my last visit to L'Enclume, Simon Rogan's flagship restaurant, situated just outside the Lake District in the village of Cartmel. The bestowment of three Michelin stars in February 2022 gave the already renowned restaurant further global recognition, and they successfully retained those stars once again when the 2026 guide was released (and let's not forget, five AA rosettes as well). I therefore had pretty high expectations of an outstanding meal as I rocked up for lunch with my wife on an unexpectedly sunny March Saturday, to celebrate our anniversary.

Cartmel was pretty busy on the day of our visit (albeit far less so than the summer months I'm sure) but as we did last time we came here, we parked at Cartmel Racecourse which is a short walk away and had plenty of space; it cost us £5 to park for our stay. The welcome on arrival at the restaurant was very warm and professional, and after having our coats taken, we were shown to our table in the corner of the conservatory area of the dining room, which I would say is a decent spot.

Internally the dining space is very much as I remember; it's smart without feeling overly upmarket, with a traditional rustic vibe. There are still quite a lot of tables given the space, but we didn't feel overly cramped and I wouldn't say the neighbouring tables were uncomfortably close by any means. Although there wasn't a card or anything additional during the meal, the staff did wish us a happy anniversary which was appreciated.

We were asked if we'd like anything to drink to start the meal; there wasn't any offer of a drinks list but I sort of understand why they try and streamline this process if possible rather than hauling out a menu and waiting for us to read through it. I had a Lakes gin and tonic which was perfectly pleasant, whilst my wife enjoyed the suggested non-alcoholic aperitif option of fig leaf and mint concoction.

The full tasting menu at £265 is the only one available for Saturday lunch, but that's what we would have gone for anyway (there is a shorter mid-week lunch menu available on selected days). Drinks wise, there's a comprehensive range of pairings including a non-alcoholic flight (which my wife opted for) for £80, a mixed flight with non-alcoholic and wine for £120, and three levels of wine flight ranging from £170 to £600; with it being a special occasion I went wild and requested the 'Select wine pairing' at £290 which is the second most expensive option.

The pairing choice isn't actually taken right at the start of the meal, but instead our sommelier Dave brought over a tablet menu for us to peruse whilst we ate the initial snack choices, before returning to check which pairings we'd like. I thought that was a nice touch and something a little bit different to how the choice would normally be made in most restaurants.

Lunch began with a salted mackerel and fermented gooseberry tart. It was a smart combination (smart in that it would work with other fish too) and delicious. The next course was a fritter of pig with smoked eel, served atop a lovage emulsion. This was another very tasty bite, the fritter itself was faultless and dipping into the lovage was a delight too, I wouldn't change anything on the dish.

Corra Linn cheese came next in the form of a very moreish bite of caramelised layers with more cheese on top, and then a dish of steamed crab with horseradish emulsion which was the weakest of the early courses for me. The next bowl of celeriac roasted in yeast oil, which sat below a buttermilk sauce with smoked pike perch roe was once again delicious though, I thoroughly enjoyed that dish.

Artichoke with Welsh truffle, chestnut, pear and cheese was next and this was accompanied by a little pumpernickel bread loaf each, with a pretty strong caramelised onion and toasted yeast butter. As a whole, this was another interesting dish packed full of flavour, taking relatively humble ingredients and massively elevating them, which is a recurring theme throughout the menu here.

The next two dishes were the weakest of the savoury section for me; the lovely flavour I'd been expecting from a grilled langoustine was overpowered for me by a topping of pulses and chicken skin combination. Likewise the seaweed custard that followed was an OK dish and the custard had a nice flavour, but the various mushy elements that topped it weren't particularly enjoyable.

Skate with dulse and grilled mussels, plus coastal vegetables came next and was another high quality plate, but the following two duck dishes were our favourite savoury courses of the meal. First was a vibrant green spinach based dish with round pieces of duck offal and King Edward potatoes; the overall combination here was very well thought out and it delicious overall.

The final savoury course was a piece of aged Devon duck, served with beetroot, herbs, cabbage and an elderflower vinegar. The duck itself was perhaps a little bit chewier than I would have liked (and possibly a bit too rare also), but overall this was a triumphant dish with great flavours. On the side was a little bao bun each packed with more duck, which was delicious too. I always hope for a memorable finale to the savoury courses on a tasting menu, and this was just that.

There's no real pre-dessert here (the first dessert came with a wine pairing), so on to the sweets we went, which started with a very cold bowl of frozen Tunworth cheese, with malt crumb, jostaberry and lemon thyme. It was a really fresh and enjoyable dessert and had a lot of interesting flavours.

The preserved cherry based dessert that came next was another step up in class though; atop the cherries sat shards of sheep's milk, with our waitress informing us it takes the apprentice chefs hours to correctly make these. It's time well spent I would say as it was an absolutely top quality dessert which we both really enjoyed.

It was only at this point we were offered cheese and we were too stuffed to try any. Obviously the restaurant will wait until this point for a reason, but for me I'm more used to cheese being offered after the savoury courses and not when you're half way through desserts, so it did feel a slightly unnatural placement to me.

For the final two courses, we first had the signature anvil stamped caramel mouse with miso which was very tasty as you'd expect. We then finished with an array of very impressive petit fours which are included in the main menu whether you have anything to drink after the meal or not (as is often the case nowadays); these included some mini ice cream cones, a couple of very lifelike mint 'stones', some pine cone chocolates, a couple of little tarts and a shared white cake dessert too. We enjoyed them all.

Before the final dessert course we were offered coffee; I had a perfectly decent cappuccino and my wife enjoyed a mint tea which was brewed at the table. And that as they say was pretty much that; after collecting our bill with no fuss (complete with 10% service charge), a very impressive meal came to an end. As part of the bill delivery, we were also given a little potted mint plant to grow at home, which was a nice touch.

Overall, this was an excellent lunch. The cooking was, as expected, of a really high standard. Yes you could argue there aren't too many premium ingredients on display given the price point (which is a fair argument), and indeed the menu as a whole was fairly lacking in protein, but the time and skill needed to elevate those more humble food components can't be underestimated.

My wine flight was excellent (as I suppose it should be given the price) with some really enjoyable wines, all expertly delivered and poured at the table as I'd hoped. My wife's non-alcoholic flight wasn't quite so stellar; although she enjoyed most of the drinks presented, one or two were a little bit challenging, particularly when being told how they are made.

For example, one of the non-alcoholic pairings is made from left over ground coffee beans from previously ordered coffees in the restaurant (and indeed, it was a not-very-enticing watery coffee brown colour). Whilst the eco-friendly approach is admirable, if they told me a drink was made from siphoned off toilet sewage, I wouldn't really want to drink it. My wife absolutely loved the tea flight at a certain other North West three star restaurant last time we were there, and this pairing although not terrible, was quite some way behind that for her in terms of enjoyment.

The level of service however was outstanding; all the staff were thoroughly pleasant with a perfect, but often difficult to achieve, balance of friendliness and professionalism. We were well looked after throughout the meal and the menu pacing was solid too, with no issues in terms of timing between the food delivery and the drink flights.

On the negative side, as is the way with all top restaurants now, this was a very expensive meal and nearly three times the cost of my previous visit (albeit I did splurge on a more expensive wine pairing this time). But the restaurant was almost full for lunch on the day of our visit, and fully booked for dinner later that evening, and I'm a firm believer that if the cost is too high, people just won't come. The pricing is really in line with most other three star restaurants in the UK, and you can't really begrudge restaurants charging the chunkiest wedge of cash they can for a meal in the current hospitality climate.

This is certainly a very special restaurant and without doubt one of the best in the UK at this moment in time; I wish the team all the best for future and hope not to leave it quite so long before making another return visit; I'll just have to save up for a bit first.