Restaurant 5 North Street | Winchcombe (UK)
An unpretentious yet great experience at this humble abode,
with dishes that are honest, creative, generous and stylishly plated!
The ancient and quaint Saxon village of Winchcombe, near Cheltenham in the Cotswolds, is home to Restaurant 5 North Street (yes that’s the address). Opened on 24 January 2003 by Marcus (Gus) Ashenford and his wife Kate, it’s family-run to boot and a classic “husband cooks and wife is front of house” kind of place. You instantly feel welcome and at home when you enter the intimate and cosy dining room with exposed beams. It only holds 26 covers and I even wonder how they would fit that!
Chef Proprietor Gus Ashenford trained in many prestigious kitchens, including The Waterside Inn *** in Bray-on-Thames under Michel Roux Snr, who even sent him to the Kremlin once to cook for then-President Boris Yeltsin. Gus first came to Michelin stardom (aged 25) in his first Head Chef role at Lovells at Windrush Farm near Burford. He later moved to Chavignol in Chipping Norton and then Chavignol at The Old Mill in Shipston on Stour, always retaining the coveted star.
In 2003 it was time for Kate and Gus to open their own place. They found the perfect spot in their home locality of the Cotswolds and settled on North Street in Winchcombe. Again the Michelin star followed which they held for 15 years. Unfortunately the star was lost in 2018.
Restaurant 5 North Street is open for lunch on Wednesday to Sunday and for dinner on Tuesday to Saturday. For dinner they offer a 3-course Evening Menu (at £55) and a 7-course Gourmet Menu (at £75). The Evening Menu is also available for lunch, next to the Lunch Menu (2 courses at £27 and 3 courses at £32). And finally a 3-course Vegetarian Menu (at £45) and a 3-course Sunday Lunch Menu (at £38).
We had dinner two weeks ago on Friday and had the 7-course Gourmet Menu.
The pre-starter of Welsh rarebit on toast was a somewhat unusual amuse bouche. Very traditional tasting melted mustardy cheese, but the tangy rhubarb chutney underneath and toast as crunchy as fried bread gave it a sophisticated twist. Nice!
Also out of the ordinary was a twin loaf, walnut and apricot on one side, white bread with sesame seed on the other, arriving warm from the oven. Cute to look at. It came with normal butter and butter with beef dripping and crispy onion.
A second pre-starter of celery and apple soup with homemade pesto. A rustic soup with sweet tones of apple. Delicious taste!
Nice piece of meaty monkfish and perfectly seared sea trout with smoked potato underneath and some bok choi and samphire on top. Roasted cauliflower, apple and spiced shallot. Lovely palette of flavours. Only the apple didn’t work for me and could be left out. It did feel a bit like a mixed grill, where we got a little bit of three different dishes on one plate. Still enjoyable though.
The ox tongue was poached for six hours and then roasted, which made it ever so tender. Quail egg with a crispy pastry cracker. Celeriac puree and a delicious onion chutney sauce with black truffle and brown sauce. Nicely balanced dish with coherent flavours. Would have liked a sliver of black truffle on top to make it’s presence more obvious. Comforting yum in a bowl!
Proper cuisson of the sea bass. Refreshing foam of lemon grass with a hint of yuzu. Worked really well together with the sweetness of mango jelly. Balsamic and chive dressing adding yet another dimension. Great combination!
Loin of local venison topped with walnut crumb, sitting on pomme puree and savoy cabbage. A scrummy venison bolognese, caramelised swede, poached blackberries and a gamey venison reduction sauce. Crispy cavolo nero played it’s part beautifully. An overall feeling of wholesome finesse!
A generous selection of eight European cheeses followed. Lancashire bomb cheddar, goat cheese with truffle from Italy, Waterloo from Berkshire and roquefort to name a few. Spiced apple chutney. oatcakes and two different jellies: A very nice cassis & star anise and peculiar rose wine & rosemary.
Sweet poached fig with tangy sweet rhubarb sorbet and a poppyseed tuile. Not the best combination for me as the fig didn’t match with the rhubarb. Liked the tuile though.
White chocolate cheesecake with an oat and pistachio base and cranberries on top. Orange with pecan nuts. And passion fruit sorbet with crunchy almonds. It wasn’t coherent and it felt like three different desserts on a plate. But all well made with nice tastes.
Service was friendly, warm and welcoming. Big complement to Kate Ashenford. Amazing to see how she handles front of house on her own. Not everything is perfect, but she easily gets away with any mistakes with her motherly charm.
Complements go out to Gus Ashenford as well. A consistent stream of well executed dishes were sent out by this one-man kitchen brigade. All perfectly prepared with comforting flavour combinations. An unpretentious yet great experience at this humble abode, with dishes that are honest, creative, generous and stylishly plated.
We had indulged, enjoyed and relaxed and headed off into the night a little heavier but a lot more joyful!
