The restaurant in this post is in a town that almost has more Michelin stars than people. It is a village with luxury homes as well as several luxury restaurants, including Heston Blumenthal’s “The Fat Duck” and “The Hinds Head”. My visit is to the Roux family’s restaurant “The Waterside Inn” that has retained thee Michelin stars for decades already.
Arriving a little early in the village, you will quickly see that this isn’t a place where the housing is cheap. It really is an upscale village, consisting of lovely old British homes (with large and expensive cars in the drive way). The Waterside Inn is also in this British style of building, with on one end a nice modern and light extension. On the restaurant-side of the building you look out over the River Thames, which doesn’t look anything like you may have seen some day in central London. Here it is more like a quiet little stream surrounded by grasslands, trees and beautifully landscaped gardens of riverside mansions.
There is the ability to stay overnight, but sadly the rooms were fully booked on the day of my visit. Entrance is both for restaurant (after entering turn right) as well as the ‘hotel’ side (turn left after entering). If you’d like to stay overnight, count on spending at least GBP 345 for a simple room, to nearly GBP 850 for a suite. For this, you do get to stay in a 5-star hotel, but it is still a lot of money even though this includes breakfast.
I am here for dinner only, which give the choice between set menu or a-la-carte. As usual, I opted for the set menu, which would feature a wide variety of beautifully presented dishes. From seafood to mean and even vegetarian dished, all was there. It is noticed, that the menu consists of expensive ingredients. Since lobster, crab, caviar and chocolate are ingredients on my list of personal favorites, I am not complaining. On the other hand, I do have great admiration for restaurants and chefs who can turn every-day ingredients into something magical. Not long after visiting The Waterside Inn, I went into town (London) and there a humble potato was the star of something delicious.
At start of dinner, the restaurant is relatively quiet in both number of guests as noise levels. Where the guests are increasing, interestingly, the noise levels remain low. The increase in guest numbers has one small draw-back though: From where I was sitting, the view of the river was obstructed a little. As is the case with other things, when you are with company this is something you probably will not notice. I can imagine that in summertime, the terrace in the back is lovely when boats pass by during lunch or (early) dinner.
Staff is absolutely lovely and present in large numbers. Have not counted them, but if I had, I probably would have needed one or more extra hands. In some restaurants, the staff can be a little ‘pushy’ with the wine and drinks. One of the sommeliers here stopped by the table, asked if I’d like an aperitif and then proposed that I call him when I would like another drink. At a certain moment, I was looking at another table where someone ordered an interesting-looking drink. He noticed me looking and when clearing my plate told me what it was. This is how observant and attentive the staff is, without giving the impression they are trying to sell you something.
If ever you’re looking for a wonderful dinner, this really a good option. Don’t expect anything innovative or creative, as the menu has more classical (French) cuisine with traditional flavor combinations. A seven-course dinner will cost you around EUR 320, which excludes a 12.5% service charge that is added to the bill (making the total around EUR EUR 360). Is it worth it? Well, it is a lot of money for a really good meal. However, good and delicious as it was, I was missing the ‘surprise’ element a little with this classical French menu.
