Camellia South Lodge - Horsham

Dinner Tom Hamblet x Camellia The Champion of Master Chef UK: The Professionals 2023. A menu inspired by his time on the show. There 's no guesses why we were in this part of the UK.The beautiful hotel with stunning countryside? Well, that might be one of the reasons. Another was to experience some amazing food cooked by Tom Hamblet, who has taken up residency of the Camellia Restaurant from January to the end of March. A three course A la Carte menu £85. With options to add extras. For starters, we chose: Prawns.Gambero rosso prawns, celery sorbet, tomato fondue,olive, gazpacho. Roasted scallop, Jerusalem artichoke puree, marigold oil, artichoke crisps, pastry tube with buttermilk, and artichoke mousse. We had to have the extra course of Lobster, curried carrot puree, lobster, ginger and chilli bisque, potato,mango and caper salad, lime vinaigrette. £35. Which we shared between us. Mains were obviously the TURBOT. Poached turbot topped with a fish mousse, potatoes, caviar, baby leeks,cornichon beurre blanc. And the beef fillet, oyster mushrooms, lovage emulsion, pané oyster, salsify,braised beef cheek, oyster, and beef tartare.£10 supplement. A side of Creamed potato, English winter truffle, pecorino.£9.50. Desserts. Chocolate and peanut mousse, feuilletine base, mascarpone Chantilly, nibbed peanut tuille, torched bananas, miso caramel Olive oil sponge, set lemon curd, olive oil jam, crème fraiche, fennel pollen tuille, toasted fennel seed ice cream. As Marcus Wareing would say, Can 't fault it, absolutely delicious. It was a great evening with the restaurant full to capacity, and the staff were totally on the ball,even though they were run off their feet.

We’re quite local to south lodge hotel so when the opportunity came to eat food cooked by another master chef winner from there we booked a table for an early Friday night meal. The restaurant is lovely, we used to enjoy lunch there quite regularly but sadly they no longer do lunch apart from Sunday. On arrival I mentioned a drink in the bar pre dinner. It was suggested by the waiter that we go to our table and have a drink. I’m pleased we took his advice and consequently we enjoyed a glass of English bubbly each whilst perusing the menu. Orders taken we sat back to enjoy the evening. Speed was the essence!! Very quickly my scallop appeared yes singular) and my husband’s lobster starter £10.00 supplement). The accompanying pastry roll is served on a bowl of grains and unfortunately one of them had got into my scallop dish which was a little like biting on a small stone. Nevertheless the starters were delicious. Next I had hogget, the hogget tartare was extraordinary, an explosion of flavour in the mouth..again delicious. Husband had Guinea fowl which he enjoyed. Pudding was also delicious and in comparison a good portion. We both had panne cotta We were allowed about 15 minutes between main and dessert but we were probably in and out in an hour. It was as though all this beautiful food was on a conveyor belt quickly being distributed to all the diners to get the next lot in. The waiters were efficient but somewhat robotic. Great food Tom but I’m afraid I wouldn’t recommend the restaurant. I felt £300.00 for two spent in an hour was excessive!

This restaurant had a nice decor. No salt and pepper on the table the customer can not be trusted with these. Service started off attentively but became less attentive as the evening went on. Cocktails were very good. When asked how they make their old fashioned the waiter didn't know anything about it which struck me as odd. Bread course was ok. Had lobster and pigeon for starters. Lobster- not nice at all seemed over cooked weird flavours and way too much foamy sauce. Pigeon- Was alright there were elements on this plate that were over seasoned Mains Hogget and Beef. Hogget- Quite nice flavours were good but the fat was not rendered down. Beef- Sadly not good real waste of an expensive ingredient. Sauce was bitter mushrooms so pickled they were inedible. Did order the mash side which did not come but we were charged for this. Destert- Olive oil cake and chocolate peanut. Both deserts were nice and the best part of the meal. The tea was horrible quality. Did not receive any petit fours. Felt quite forgotten at the end. Overall I wouldn't bother with this experience it was over priced and there is no guarantee Tom is actually cooking the meal you paid for. I am sure Tom has a promising career ahead but this was an over hyped let down. P.S portion sizes are tiny had to make a sandwich when I got home.

My mother and I had been following the Masterchef Pro comp ' last year and were really keen to sample some of the winner, Tom Hamblet 's, food. We travelled a 4 hour round trip for the experience. We don 't eat at fine dining restaurants often but we are foodies. Firstly, the setting of the restaurant is very lavish and comfortable with warm low lighting. That said, the dinner experience was a little too dark for my mother so that 's something to think about if you struggle with eyesight and low lighting. The service was friendly, attentive and speedy/efficient. The food: I 'll start with the dessert because that was a real pleasure for us. We both loved the flavours of Tom 's end of series winning dessert so the meal ended on a high (we ordered the Olive Oil sponge with lemon curd). I recommend not ruining your palette with the overly sweet petit four that are placed in front of you following dessert unfortunately ours were more sugar flavoured than any other identifiable flavour. Our starters and mains were very VERY underwhelming. They arrived looking beautiful, neat and tidy but failed to deliver on taste. I had wanted the celeriac themed starter but the waiting staff told me the vegan/veggie starters and mains were created by their head chef and not Tom. That was disappointing as his 3 month residency was the reason we 'd visited the restaurant. We ended up both having the lobster starters after the waiting staff recommended it highly as either a starter or an additional dish to share. The claw meat was minimal and tough and the foam mousse took centre stage on the plate. Whilst the plate had lots of textures to it, we felt it was unbalanced and generally with no 'wow ' to it. We enjoyed the coffee and rye bread with butter and pollen/fennel that came prior to this thought. I ordered the Guinea Fowl as a main after the waiter described it as a gamey, dark and tender meat. I feel like a better description to someone that hasn 't had guinea fowl before would be 'it 's like a chicken breast with a different flavour '. This is what arrived in front of me and I actually found it was quite dry and not dark at all! I would never have ordered anything that resembled chicken breast anyway so I felt ill informed about my choice. I also thought the girolles were overwhelmingly tart. I didn 't enjoy my main. Mum 's Hogget was nice but average for her too. Last comment I 've never in my life paid £6.50 for less than 1.5ltrs mineral water beware! I don 't care how much money you have it 's water!!!

Absolutely great evening with Tom Hamblet’s menu. Top quality experience, the staff were unfailingly cheerful and professional. Our whole stay was a real pleasure and Chef Tom’s food was exceptional. Thanks so much.