Woven is chef Adam Smith’s headline restaurant at Coworth Park, the Berkshire country manor outpost of the Dorchester Collection
It’s about a 45 minute train journey out of Waterloo to Virginia Water, plus a quick cab, so more than doable as a day trip for lunch. Adam previously had a restaurant at the hotel, but the place was relaunched as Woven in 2022, with a fresh modern redesign from Martin Hulbert – and just six months later it won a Michelin star.
Eat This
It’s a semi-set menu affair at Woven, which will set you back at £85 at lunch and £150 at dinner. There are certain snacks and elements of the menu that are set (unless you have dietary requirements) but you do get to choose from 3-4 options for starter, main and dessert, so it’s not a totally prescriptive tasting menu format.
Menus are, of course, highly seasonal but whatever time of year you visit you can be sure of exceptional dishes that celebrate the best local produce. Standout snacks from our visit included jellied Devon eel; a coronation chicken skewer; Hass avocado with puffed quinoa and basil; and Ragstone goats cheese with elderflower and fennel.
Then there is an absolutely epic bread course, a basket filled to bursting with savoury croissants, crisp breads, parker house rolls and slices of sourdough, along a whole line up of dips and butters. Next, from a choice that included Isle of Wight tomatoes with a smoked vinaigrette, and Cornish crab with Thai green dressing, we went for the picture-perfect lovage agnolotti topped with pickled mushrooms and topped with a flavour-bomb chicken glaze.
There’s an option to choose wagyu at a £35 supplement for the main course, but we went for one of the fish dishes, a beautiful Cornish turbot with lobster, truffle, peas and morel mushrooms. A standout dish. For dessert, it has to be the ‘signature chocolate’, thin cylinders of chocolate, with salt, creme fraiche, and cocoa nibs. Plus, you’ll be treated to a final flourish of petits fours to go with tea/coffee at the end of the meal.
Drink This
Unless you’re off the sauce, it’d be mad not to go with the wine pairing, at a very reasonable £75 with lunch or £110 at dinner. There’s also a decent cocktail list if you’re arriving early for a pre-lunch drink, or staying later for some more drinks out on the terrace (or perhaps with a walk around the gardens).
Why Go
Woven is a terrific restaurant and actually very well priced for the quality of cooking on offer. You’d certainly pay a lot more in the heart of London for this. Coworth Park is a lovely place too and super easy to get to, so you can make a nice fun day trip out of it. Highly recommended.
Coworth Park, Blacknest Rd, Sunningdale, Ascot SL5 7SE
dorchestercollection.com