The Nags Head Hotel has has a major renovation and following the UK tradition of Gastropubs, they have a new fine dining restaurant called Winstons. Winstons Executive Chef Nelly Robinson of the eponymously named Nel restaurant serves up an elegant and distinctly British 5 course tasting menu for $85 per person. And even the pub fare is a step above too!
The Nag's Head is owned by Momento Hospitality and the pub has been sitting on this Glebe corner since 1836 where it was originally called the "Australian Hotel" but was renamed to The Nag's Head in 1860. Winstons is named after former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill who led Britain to victory in WW2. He was known as a lover of good food, particularly Yorkshire puddings, and is one of Chef Nelly Robinsons heroes.
At the helm tonight is head chef Steve Gero who calls Winstons akin to "Nel's nephew". The restaurant takes over the mezzanine space on the side.
We start with drinks. Interestingly, against all trends, there isn't a mocktail menu here at Winstons. Mr NQN has an Australian vodka, elderflower, apple, lime, mint, spritz which is delicious while they make me a mocktail with apple juice, soda and lime that is refreshing but I really wish I had a menu to choose from.
The first snack course is a beauty. It's charcoal pastry filled with milk poached prawns and topped with a layer of Avruga caviar and garnished with edible flowers. I try to eat this small tart in four bites just to savour the texture of the luscious prawns and the pops of caviar and paper thin tart shell just holding it together.
Chef Steve brings out the next course and will continue to bring out the majority of courses like Chef Nelly does at Nel. Most chefs don't like coming out to the floor and usually run back into the kitchen after delivering a dish but Steve loves to chat and we come away with lots of info plus a couple of cooking tips. This snack is based on Coronation Chicken, a dish that was created for Queen Elizabeth's Coronation in 1953. Coronation chicken is a dish made with chicken and curried mayonnaise and here they transform it into a Coronation Chicken toastie. Their chicken filling is flavoured with Australian pepperberry and then fried until crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside. On top are dabs of curry mayonnaise. Heaven.
Wintons' Scotch egg is a take on the classic Scotch egg but more dainty. It starts with a quail egg wrapped in curried lamb mince and then fried until golden brown and topped with curried mayonnaise. It is garnished with confetti coriander and marigold leaves. The yolk of the quail egg is runny and every bite is so full of flavour. A chicken's egg version might be a bit too large for a tasting menu but a quail egg size is just right.
I love any meal that involves crumpets. These spongey soft crumpets are house made and paired with a generous quenelle of chicken fat butter sweetened with treacle. The treacle gives it a moreish sweetness while the crispy chicken skin gives it a lovely counterpoint of texture. My only complaint? More crispy chicken skin so that I could have that lovely crunch in every bite.
The next course is a bright green pea soup with buttered peas and small leek and cheese croquettes with pea tendrils on top. I love it when you get a croquette in the spoonful because it explodes with liquid filling when you bite into it giving each spoonful of soup a creamy richness.
The last savoury course is based on Chef Nelly's dish that was voted #2 from the Great British menu by a TasteHunter as one of the best meals of 2023. Instead of using beef tenderloin they use soft beef cheek marinated in black, pink, and pepperberry peppercorns and slow cooked for 15 hours, encased in spelt pastry and they pair this with crispy oven baked kale and roast carrot and carrot puree and a beef and peppercorn sauce. This is a gorgeously rich dish and we love the textures of the slow cooked, melting beef and the crisp, buttery pastry. This version of the Beef Wellington is slightly different to the one served at Nel and it is slightly bigger and more rustic.
They suggest that we try this cocktail with the dessert. This is their version of an Old Fashioned with Australian whisky chocolate orange that is very flavour forward with orange. There are also slices of chocolate orange on the side. Even if you don't normally go for Old Fashioneds this is a really nice version thanks to the orange.
Chef Steve tells us that this is the most popular dessert by a mile here and if you love chocolate fondant and ginger then you will love this dessert (good news, it's also available on the pub menu). Parkin is a ginger cake from Yorkshire otherwise known as a Jamaican ginger cake. Theirs is a version between a chocolate fondant and a Jamaican ginger cake with a lovely liquidy centre. It is paired with gelato from Ciccone and sons in Redfern and caramel milk is poured at the table. It pairs perfectly with the cocktail above with its gorgeous, spicy richness and intense chocolate.
So tell me Dear Reader, what do you think of this tasting menu? And is there a politician you would name a restaurant after?
NQN and Mr NQN were guests of Winstons but all opinions remain her own.
Winstons
162 St Johns Rd, Glebe NSW 2037
Phone: (02) 9123 6872
Thursday to Saturday for dinner only
https://www.nagsheadhotel.com.au/nags-winstons/
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