The Daily Telegraph
Noting that outside our cities, actual restaurants (as opposed to pubs serving food) are relatively rare, William Sitwell saluted this “fine and dandy establishment” in a historical Warwickshire town centre, “with a menu that is distinctly English with some cheffy flourishes and a nod to sensible food trends”.
“The Bower champions the kind of honest ingredients I’m starting to see about the place; first trout then quail.”
A lamb dish with courgettes, tomatoes and artichoke paste also passed muster, “although there was a smear of black something across the plate, so hardened you’d need a stripping knife to get it off” – evidence that the chef had not completely freed himself from the tyranny of faddiness.
William Sitwell - 2024-08-18The Sunday Times
Charlotte Ivers headed beyond the northern boundary of the Cotswolds to a “Middle England market town” full of pubs, where chef Leo Kattou – who trained under West Midlands kingpin Andreas Antona – cooks in “the one you’d travel for”.
For a supposedly positive review (four out of five stars), however, Charlotte was surprisingly luke warm about a lunch of “ups and downs”. It started badly with a glass of fizz served in a thick-rimmed flute, which meant her “2021 Gusbourne Brut Reserve from Kent, which is a very good vineyard, tasted cheap. It shouldn’t”.
A starter of unusually subtle beef tartare was “lovely”, while a fillet of bream was merely “nice”, but only an apple crumble soufflé generated any real enthusiasm, earning the accolades “excellent” and “magic”. Another starter, salt-baked kohlrabi with apple and almond cream, “was not anything to write home about”, while spiced cauliflower was “rather uninspiring”. Hmmm.
Charlotte Ivers - 2026-01-11
