At the Pass in Horsham's South Lodge hotel, head chef Ian Swainson serves artistic, modern European dishes, often with unusual ingredients. Tom Vaughan pays a visit
Since its inception nine years ago, South Lodge hotel's fine-dining restaurant, the Pass, has been a cheffy playground. With no division between front and back of house (the 22 covers are situated inside the kitchen) it is an ideal spot for chefs to engage directly with diners.
âI want to bring new things to peopleâs palates and change their expectations,â says Swainson. âItâs really, really important to me. And because of the respect people have for this restaurant, they are willing to try them.â
Befitting the cheffy setting, the menu choice comes down to an eight-course (£80) or 10-course (£90) tasting menu. From these, a standout was a snail dish called Walk the Line, which perfectly incorporates Swainsonâs love of challenging ingredients and his story-led approach to plating up.
âAs a concept it was inspired by Bernard Loiseau, who used to do snails with a garlic purée that heâd cook seven times,â he explains. Swainson boils garlic cloves from cold in milk seven times to create a soft, sweet purée, which he pairs with a peppery watercress emulsion, then tops with snails braised for five hours in a red wine sauce. Accompanying it is an eggshell filled with a rich hollandaise, from which the snails look to be escaping when plated up. Itâs a hearty, velvety dish, finished with foraged, dehydrated and deep-fried moss to add a final texture and earthy flavour.
Elsewhere, Lake District sweetbreads come with a sabayon made with asparagus-infused butter, English asparagus, wild garlic leaves and oil, roasted garlic purée and a single morel â" proof that for all the wizardry and concept that constitutes other dishes, Swainson can also do simple, clean, classical flavours.
For dessert, Concrete Paradise sees English rhubarb and rhubarb gel paired with a rapeseed jelly, basil leaves and topped with grey slabs of balsamic meringue, from under which the pink of the rhubarb and green of the herbs poke out. Then finally, after so much artistry from the chef, itâs the dinersâ turn â" sheets of popcorn paper arrive as petits fours accompanied by sticky, multi-coloured sauces (from green pistachio to blue chocolate) and brushes with which to paint your own masterpiece. Itâs a fun end to proceedings that reflects the mix of serious technique, stunning aesthetics and playful imagination that is beginning to define Swainsonâs tenure at the Pass.
From the menu
Simply crisp â" Sashimi tuna, obulato crisp, mandarin
Green â" Pea and mint sorbet, fresh peas, goatsâ curd, hazelnut
A Potato with its Head in the Clouds â" Potato mousse, confit quailâs egg, potato strings, butter foam
Seeing Red â" Duck breast, beetroot, red cabbage, liver
Honeymoon in Kyoto â" Pigâs head ramen, confit egg yolk, burnt leek, fresh noodles
Morning Frost â" Pistachio, chocolate, passion fruit
A Little Heaven in Hell â" Walnut, muscovado, coffee, chocolate
The Pass
South Lodge hotel
Brighton Road, Lower Beeding, Horsham, West Sussex RH13 6PS
www.exclusive.co.uk/south-lodge/restaurants-bars/the-pass/