Restaurant 23

After reading such great reviews and taking into account the amount of awards and accolades Restaurant 23 has garnered, I had pretty high expectations of this place. Although these means I have may have set the restaurant up for a fall, I maintain that it is reasonable to expect excellence of an establishment with a Michelin star recommendation and a pricey menu!
As it was my boyfriend’s birthday, we had intended to splash out and go for the tasting menu. However, it didn’t really excite us — which is very rare! However, there was a lot of fish and mushroom based dishes on the menu, which the two of us really don’t like. I’ll put that down to personal taste!
We ate off a set lunch menu, which seemed very good value with two courses for £20 and three for £25. The amuse bouche was a fantastic ham hock soup, with cheese and horse radish — very nice to receive this even though we didn’t have the tasting menu. For starters, I have a wild garlic veloute with a smoked egg. The egg was beautifully runny, but the dish didn’t offer much excitement in the way the amuse bouche had.
My main course was a medium rare steak bavette, served with bechamel sauce and chips. It was cooked exactly to my taste and a good temperature, but my boyfriend’s rare steak was very cool. Unfortunately I did find the steak extremely salty, which marred my enjoyment of the dish.
I would say my main source of disappointment surrounding Restaurant 23 was the atmosphere. It was very quiet and offered little intimacy, as the tables seemed close together and I felt everyone could overhear our conversation. The staff were polite and friendly but perhaps a little too intrusive — running to open the toilet door for me and pushing in my chair when I had no idea they were behind me!
Overall, it was a pleasant meal and setting. However, given the calibre and cost of the venue, I just expected something a little more special!

Hands down one of the best restaurants I’ve visited. Great wine, great food. And a wonderful cocktail bar as well!

this place is really small but really nice, it is one of the nicest restaurants in leamington maybe even in the whole of warwickshire, definitely michelin styled.

If there is a better restaurant in all of England than R23, I don’t know where it is. I had to return to Leamington Spa for a second visit — just to be sure.
The first visit was in June 2011, the occasion a birthday. It was midweek, we were in Warwickshire for a visit, from the San Francisco bay area, and the tasting menu for two with a bottle of Sancerre seemed just about right. It definitely was. This was at the previous location, at number 23 Hamilton Terrace. Everything about that meal was exceptional, but it *was* a special occasion, it was late spring, and love was in the air. Maybe all these wonderful little things somehow clouded my critical judgement?
Clearly, a second visit was needed. Getting back wasn’t exactly easy — my moving to Montana had something to do with this — so it took 18 long months until I was able to return. Well, «return,» since the restaurant has since relocated to a renovated old Victorian a few blocks down, whose understated elegance mirrors that of the food and drink on offer. I had to cajole my dining partner into joining me on the tasting menu. The whole table must agree, or it won’t happen. But it didn’t take too much convincing. He’d worked in the wine and cheese trade and been a chef before moving to Berkeley, so I figured that he’d be a good judge of quality. And, it was winter, which is the toughest season of all for a chef whose aim is to highlight local produce and products.
We went Loire-​Loire-​Loire as the courses proceeded, from Sancerre by the bottle (because you can never have to much) to Chinon by the glass to a sweet dessert wine at the end (Coteaux du Layon). The sommelier at R23 is in a class by himself. Whatever it took to convince him to join the team, it was totally worth it. These are not wines that accompany the meal; they are the meal in the glass that completes the meal on the plate, chosen with microscopically-​fine attention to detail and an appreciation of French wine-​making tradition.
The sequence of courses was superb, in that smooth-​as-​silk yet subtle way where the textures and tastes shine, but without blinding you in the intense heat of artifice-​enhanced brilliance. The chef does not let his mastery of technique get in the way of the honest flavors and earthy undertones of fresh food, although the deftness of his kitchen hand is obvious. It’s just that he doesn’t try to steal the show from the food itself. There are elements of multiple culinary traditions here, learned over years of apprenticeship in award-​winning kitchens in London and on the continent. There’s nothing ordinary about it, but it’s not gimmicky, either, and there are no grand gestures designed to impress the inexperienced palate.
It’s been two months since the meal, but it’s still there in mouth and mind memory: a scallop course, an ocean white fish, a venison carpaccio (amazing colors and forest flavors), pigeon with root vegetables, whipped Brie de Meaux in a port reduction, dessert. Exceptional sense of negative space and style in the plating, supreme skill in pairing specific ingredients with inspired preparations. The result was that each dish was unlike anything that I had eaten before. Originality without sacrificing simplicity, and no flashly gastrochemical gestures, no striving for culinary celebrity. Proper, professional, with a flair for textures and aromatics. Before it hits the mouth, it enters the brain and nasal passages; the tongue is last to taste. By then, you are already more than halfway there.
Restraint — in cooking as well as in life — can be incredibly sensuous, when the balance of flesh and finesse is right. It’s food, after all, and must be consumed to truly be admired. We can’t survive on surface beauty alone. So I went deep, down to the culinary core. I ate every bite. Twice, it was that good.
Of course, the meal would have been great even without the 20 year rare single malt Scotch at the end. But what’s a great ground-​floor restaurant without an equally great upstairs bar to go along with it? We decamped to the second floor for coffee and Scotch at Morgan’s Bar. Sometime in the night, we left. My dining companion, hours earlier, had become a convert, too. R23 was worthy of very high praise, indeed.
Refueled and refreshed, we walked out into the rain and chill and directly into a called cab. Time for the trip back. Back to the reality of British breakfasts and airport food, of trans-​Atlantic travel and the snow-​covered mountains of Western Montana — where a good glass of Chinon is hard to come by. Cheers, R23, for another mind-​blowing meal in a brilliant new location.

We recently dined here on a Saturday night, we’d been to Morgans bar before but not eaten in the restaurant. It was amazing from start to finish! The first thing that we noticed when we arrived was the beautiful dining room, it’s been refurbished to a high spec, everything has been considered even the tiny details like the type of light bulb used in the walls lamps! Love it! We started with a yummy cocktail (Lemon Drop) for me and my husband started on the bottle of Prosecco we’d ordered., I had the char grilled vegetable salad to start and my husband had the roasted quail… both were absolutely delicious. then i had the pork belly and langoustine’s for my main and my husband had the Lighthorne lamb. again both were impeccable! and who would have thought pork belly and langoustine’s would work… but they definitely did! We shared the chocolate dessert from the al a carte menu and we nearly fought over the last bit… it was so good! All this for £100.not bad for a night out in the finest place in Leamington! We’ll be back without a doubt!

Leamington has good restaurants and Leamington has GREAT restaurants. Hands down, this is truly a GREAT restaurant. As Bradley N., mentions, this is «Michelin recommended,» establishment. Indeed, sir! From what I understand, the head chef cooked for the Gucci family. That’s the rumor I heard, it wouldn’t surprise me if this was true!
Go here to experience dining brilliance. The staff are well-​trained, attentive to details (wine glasses are never empty!) and aim to please. They are knowledgable about the whole menu and wine selections. Kudos to them and all their hard work!
But the food. oh. my.god.The foooood. We ordered a full three-​course dinner. I began with the hot salmon starter, with thyme dressing, beets and small onion rings on the side. I melted. Moooore, my belly craved. Then came my main. I heartily received braised pork cheek (tee-​hee) and belly, served with braised veggies. My god. The pork was so succulent, so fresh, I could barely get it to stay on my fork! The carrots were buttery smooth. GET INTO ‘MA BELLY!!!
We were then served a small pre-​dessert of tart fruit and yogurt (maybe about three or four mouthfuls). Lastly, my dessert of fresh peaches, raspberry macaroons, sherbert arrived. In the midst of all this we drank two bottles of pinot wine, between three people. Divine.
An unforgettable and beautiful dining experience. Best of all, we had a five minute walk home, since this restaurant is centrally located. HIGHLY recommended. I have no doubts I’ll be taking a few people here when they come visit!

Had a wonderful meal here. Incredibly well drilled and attentive waiters (they dealt well with some of the high-​attitude, tony Leamington Spa diners), but the highlight was the all-​round excellent food: there were 6 of us, and every plate was perfectly judged and perfectly cooked. Well worth a detour.

Fantastic — a very high quality, family run restaurant with top quality food prepared and cooked in front of our eyes by the owner, and served to the very highest standards by his wife — both of whom served time in Claridges.
Top class London restaurant standard in quiet old Leamington — 3 courses for two people, including wine, for just under a 100 quid.
Good value!