New Michelin starred entry for the 2023 Guide located in Cheltenham

Lumiere has existed for 14 years and has been run by husband and wife team John and Helen Howe. John Howe is the exec chef with his wife Helen on front of house and general manager of this cosy restaurant (I counted approx 24 covers). The lunch menu I opted for was the smallest (four courses) at £60, but there are others available (six courses for £95 and eight courses for £125). This was a clean-cut meal, well executed and with flavour combinations that worked. I would happily return to Lumiere and am pleased on their award of a Michelin star which, seemingly, has been a long time coming.

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The meal started with squid ink biscuits with taramasalata, lemon, cucumber, gold leaf, jelly and Avruga caviar (from producer Flying Fish). This was quite salty, but with lovely texture and offset with the sweet and vinegar notes of the jelly. A croustade with mango, curry, skyr yoghurt was beautifully fresh and light as a croustade canapé. Finally, a snack of local, Stinking Bishop cheese, pear and chive provided a good ‘hit’ as a fullsome canapé. Sourdough was home made and well donee and served with pleasant Bungay Cultured Butter and COS Extra Virgin Olive Oil. A good start.

The first dish was Cornish day boat plaice served with nori, cauliflower and fennel. This had a fantastic mousse, with a sumptuous cream and herb oil sauce giving a good balance of sweet with seaweed and beautiful fish. This was a superb dish all round that utterly worked together. Next came 40-day aged Mount Grace Farm Belted Galloway with hispi cabbage, dill, Australian black truffle which had a great mix of pickle in the mushroom, umami in the potato and with quality beef. A very good dish again.

Dessert was an Oakchurch raspberry pastry dish, served with apricot, duck egg and caramelised filo pastry. This had a lovely, rich duck egg crème brûlée offset by sharp raspberry and apricot gel. The filo was beautifully crisp and light, all working well together harmoniously. Coffee was Nespresso which is ok for consistency, but served with an array of carefully designed petit fours.

There really wasn’t much not to like here at Lumiere and had I not been driving I would have opted for wines naturally, but as ever, where the restaurant has a wine list, I have added this as a link in the summary box to the right – it shows a mix of wines from across the world and one of the rare wine lists that actually describes each choice giving insight to the grape and region as something I have not come across in many restaurants at all and is another lovely touch.

I would recommend visiting Lumiere for the very good return and value for money for the care and attention to detail provided and I have no doubt it will continue to do well.

Food Grade: 79%