We reviewed Barristers Restaurant and Bar in Knutsford *

We were recently invited to Barristers Restaurant & Bar which is located in Knutsford, Cheshire to review their newly opened restaurant and to try out their Sunday Roast Menu as well as their kid’s menu.  The restaurant is located at The Courthouse, a majestic Georgian building designed by George Moneypenny which was built in 1818. Did you know the restaurant was actually the former crown court, so its a surreal feeling when we entered the venue.  Although we do lots of food reviews, we tend to love heading to family-friendly places a tad bit more as we get to bring our kids out with us and they, enjoy the whole experience, as well as they, get spoiled.  To sum up of review, here’s a 2 minute HD video slideshow of the place, food, ambience and us.  Hope you enjoy it, our favourite part of it, is when Executive Chef Steven starts plating up our main course as he does it so effortlessly.

If you are new to Knutsford, it is easy to spot The Courthouse, a prominently large building in the heart of the town. There is enough parking at the vicinity and you can enter the restaurant via the main hotel entrance or via the restaurant entrance.  We were told that the Hotel is in the midst of being renovated and is planned to be open soon with 10 rooms.   We were freezing when we got there (as we were stuck at the carpark for a bit due to the parking machine…read about it under our ‘points to remember section’ below) but soon warmed up when as we walked into the restaurant.  At first glance, the restaurant looked majestic…the ambience, lighting, music and design of the place was just so inviting. We were soon guided to our reserved table by  Mia who gave us our drinks and food menu.

We were told by Mia that they had a few menus,  one for Sundays, one for weekdays / Saturday lunch time and another for weekday / Saturday dinner time. We were told that the main difference were the main meal ie Sunday Roasts on Sundays,  light snacks, sandwiches and titbits during weekday lunch time and grilled meats during dinner time. The kids enjoyed the extra throws around our seat and sat comfortably while they ordered their food, the staff at the restaurant were all very attentive and offered immedite service when we needed it.

While we waited for our food, kids kept themselves busy with some activities found at the back of their menu (the word search activity again followed the same theme, using words commonly found in the courtroom)

Here’s a shot of Ben who prepared our drinks, he even toasted the marshmallows which were served on the hot chocolate…how cool is that?

As we ordered our main dishes off the menu, we noticed the little details where they have kept to Courtroom theme, for example they have used the term Opening Statement instead of Starters, Proceedings for bites,  Main Evidence / Grilled on Stand for the Main Course and Closing Argument for Dessert. There were also little sketches of the judges wig and hammer in the kid’s menu.

We were told to try the Sunday Roast, so for our first mains, we ordered the Roasted Chicken Breast.  The dish came served with (perfectly crispy on the outside and soft in the inside) Butter Roasted Potatoes on top of the celeriac puree.  The yorkshire pudding was large and as expected crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside, hence delicious! The glazed Chanteney carrots and wilted greens were cooked well and the dish was seasoned well too. The red wine gravy pulled the dished together, giving it a price tag of £12.95.  We loved every bite of this dish and easily could have had seconds.

Four our second mains, we ordered the Seabass.  This dish was equally delicious, this came served with sauteed potatoes, samphire which was so well prepared, onions, shrimp butter and blush tomatoes.  It was like each item on the plate had a reason to be there, it not only made the dish look beautiful but somehow each of the flavour worked well with each other perfectly. This dish is priced at £14.50.

There were about four main courses which the kids could have chosen from, but both decided to pick the Fish and Chips.  The battered Cod fillet was delish with the portion size of the fish, garden peas and fat chips being perfect for their little tummies. We had to request for tomato ketchup, otherwise, this went down well with the kids. This dish is priced at £6.50

As we sat and waited for our food, we could not help but admire the artwork, deco and design of the restaurant which is really stunning and stylish.  The food as you can see from the photos looked as stunning it tasted..just classy.  We had to sit down for a moment and take in everything, imagine if walls could talk…and tell us everything that happened in that courtroom…did you know that Alan Turing’s was tried at the former Sessions Court for homosexual acts…the very place we were seated at? We can only imagine how the atmosphere was like then.

Being fans of all things sweet, we could not wait to try their desserts, so we ordered the Orange and Cinnamon Panna Cotta.  This came served in a beautiful glass with spiced mulled berries and ginger shortbread and priced at £5.50.  The pannacotta was silky smooth and delicious.  The tanginess of the fruits complemented the creaminess of the pannacotta really well but unfortunately, this was not our favourite dessert.  The shortbread tasted amazing with a crunch and even our the kids wanted to have all of it.

As chocolate fans, we could easily say that the Baked Chocolate Tart which our kids ordered was hands down one of the most amazing dish which we have tried for a long time! The dark chocolate tart was served with the raspberry sorbet and sherbet. If you tasted each component on its own, the flavours were all very different but somehow it has brought the dish together and made it that must more lavish and moreish. We were sneaking bites from their plates..this dessert is priced at £5.50.

We have saved the best for last…and this our dear readers is another stunner! The Sticky Toffee Fudge was just nothing short of exquisite.  We had to literally stop ourselves from drinking the caramel sauce as it was that good.  The pudding was served with salted caramel parfait, sticky dates,  fudge, honeycomb and a caramel sauce. When the dish arrived, we were not sure if it was the Sticky Toffee Pudding as it looked so different from what we were used to. But soon as we ate it, we knew it was! We tasted the different burst of flavours and savoured every bit of it. The sponge base was light and not heavy at all so the dish did not feel overly rich and sickly. The portion size was perfect and the textures of each of the items made every spoonful that more exciting.  This stunning dessert is priced at £6.50

Here is a photo of the team that prepared all our wonderful dishes! We were lucky to have had some time to chat with Executive Chef Steven Tuke (centre) who was friendly and chatty with us, he has been there since its opening in June last year. He also stayed calm when we headed to the kitchen to take a quick video of him. He is so talented and full of ideas and is lucky to have a strong team of staff behind him.  All we can say now is… do make a visit to Barristers Restaurant & Bar to try and taste the food for yourself and don’t just take our word for it.

Point to remember

• Make your table reservations in advance to avoid disappointment as the restaurant seats only 40 people at a time
• Chef Steve is very big on sourcing for local ingredients and he tries to get most of their items locally, he even mentioned that he makes sure that he only purchases sustainably sourced fish and does not use endangered ones
• The parking machine at the hotel did not take cash/coins (at the time we were there) so we were stuck in the parking area for a while.  Luckily we were able to pay the fee online using our phone which took a couple of minutes.  So do note that you may need to park elsewhere if you don’t have access to the internet and the machine plays up again.
• If you are vegan, vegetarian or have some sort of food intolerance, do let the staff let them know in advance and the Chef will be happy to cook up a dish according to your preference.  Look out for the GF / V sign stated at the side of the menu
• Do note that the Restaurant is having a special Valentine’s Day menu on 14 & 17 February 2018 as well as Mother’s Day Menu on 11 March 2018. Do speak to them to find out more about it.

Where is Barristers Restaurant & Bar?
Toft Road
Knutsford
WA16 0PB
Tel: 01565 743333

What are the Restaurant’s Open Hours?
They are open Monday to Sunday from 10.30am until 12am