Gilpin Spice

Windermere’s Gilpin Hotel has a fine reputation as an idyllic spa and dining destination, and the hotel decided to ring the changes at the end of 2022, bringing in a trio of new head chefs to look after its restaurants. 

Gilpin Spice is the most relaxed of the restaurant trio, but inside there’s more than a touch of opulence. Lipstick red banquettes, embroidered scatter cushions and wood-panelled walls meet you as you walk in, and as you walk through into the main dining room, Gilpin Spice settles into a more modest mode - copper accents, clusters of pendant lights and neat natural wood floors. It’s smart, modern, and inviting, bathed in natural light thanks to large windows that look out onto the Gilpin’s pristine gardens - a perfect place to settle into a carafe of sake or a long, fresh cocktail when the sun is out.

The menu is a neat jigsaw of wide-spectrum pan-Asian flavours, in combinations that may surprise. The chilli paneer fry for example, is classic Indo-Chinese border cooking - stir-fried chunks of paneer liberally coated in a glossy sweet, sour, salty sauce, that has a welcome hit of chilli. It’s good stuff - we could easily eat another bowl, but we’re quickly into a crispy duck salad: shreds of deep-fried duck leg, topped with watercress, apple and radish. The salad felt a little scant, but the flavours are definitely there.

The same is true for ever-popular mains like the barbecue pork belly with Hong Kong-style sweet-and-sour, and braised beef featherblade in Vietnamese red curry. We found the latter a little on the dry side, but when swaddled in sauce it mattered not. We’d recommend saving room for one of the excellent kulfis too, which come liberally topped with candied nuts.

The Gilpin is a five-star hotel in the Lake District, surrounded by 21 acres of lush woodland and undulating scenery. You may have heard of its sister hotel, Gilpin Lake House, which sits just a mile away on the edge of a picturesque lake, of which it has panoramic views. Guests of both Gilpin properties are welcome to experience the restaurants at both locations, ferried by a shuttle when needed.

Gilpin Spice is a pan-Asian eatery with two AA Rosettes and is helmed by Aakash Ohel, formerly the sous chef of the hotel's own Michelin-starred HRiSHi, who has now taken the natural step as head chef here. Ohel has developed the menu with the group's new sustainable, locally-sourced strategy in mind, with flavours inspired by countries along the spice trail from the Philippines and Malaysia to Indonesia, Japan and China.

The menu is split into sections, offering small and large plates, as well as sections for sushi, sashimi and maki rolls. Start with a fragrant roast roast chicken broth, packed full of charred corn, lemon grass, ginger and coriander, or tuck into the likes of west coast crab with shiso, kaffir lime and lotus root. Larger plates include the likes of tamarind glazed aubergine with coriander chutney, Goan-style king prawns in a coconut sauce, and Cumbrian pork belly with tonkotsu, sesame and pickled ginger.

On the sushi menu, order salmon, yellowtail or tuna sashimi, with a number of creative maki rolls on offer as well, including options of black tiger prawn roll with gochujang sauce, or a spicy tuna tartare roll with sriracha sauce. The sweets sound great as well, offering a rather indulgent end to the meal, with banana kulfi mousse with whipped banana cream and banana crips, as well as a spiced Jamaican ginger pudding topped with lime sorbet and rum butterscotch.