Loch & The Tyne, Windsor

Pub luxury - The Loch and The Tyne in Windsor 

Sophie Farrah visits Adam Handling’s first pub...

×

Expand

Hazel Thompson

Rebottling- British chef and restaurateur Adam Handling

You might have already heard of chef and restaurateur, Adam Handling.

He’s incredibly talented, that’s for sure; he started out at Gleneagles 16 years ago where he was the first-ever apprentice chef, before going on to become Fairmont’s youngest ever head chef.

He’s won various awards and appeared on the likes Saturday Morning Kitchen, Great British Menu, MasterChef and more, and today he owns various and drink venues across London. 

His flagship is Frog in Covent Garden, and earlier this year he opened Ugly Butterfly at the Carbis Bay Hotel in Cornwall, having catered the G7 summit there.

Another recent addition to his foodie fleet is a posh pub with rooms; The Loch & The Tyne in Old Windsor. Headed up by his two right-hand men, Steven Kerr and Jonathan McNeil, it’s billed as a traditional British pub with a twist…

×

Expand

I arrived on a Saturday lunchtime and felt immediately confused; I was expecting a cosy country pub, instead, from the outside, The Loch & The Tyne is a rather incongruous roadside restaurant more redolent of a Harvester. Thankfully things improved inside; lots of dark wood, a big central fireplace, comfortable tartan banquettes, pretty dried flowers and a long bar adorned with glistening glassware provided a warm welcome. 

We started with a glass of Adam’s delicious English sparkling wine, made exclusively for him in Kent, and admired the countryside views. The deeply creative menu is genuinely exciting - I can’t remember the last time I struggled as much to decide what to eat.

Handling hopes to create the country’s most sustainable pub here and zero-waste has always been core to his ethos, so there is a huge (and genuine) emphasis on sustainable practices, and the menu features ingredients from the pub’s own vegetable gardens and orchard. 

We started with a few ‘snacks’ which were unashamedly rich and completely delicious; sourdough with silky chicken butter and a smattering of salty, crispy crackling; divine, oozing cheese doughnuts, and Coronation shellfish - two ceramic eggshells containing a beautifully spiced, creamy, lobster-rich filling. The presentation was exceptional and included a dry ice moment at the table which I always find a thrill. 

I then tried ‘Mother’ – a signature Handling dish which he invented for his own mother when she decided to become a vegetarian. A paper-thin celeriac parcel arrived filled with thick cream cheese, chopped dates, apple and fresh truffle. I was told that I should chop it all up, mix it together and eat it ‘like scrambled eggs’, which I did. The flavours were fun – the sweet fruits and the earthy truffle combined, but the celeriac lacked texture and flavour and the abundance of cream cheese made it bizarrely claggy.

The lobster tart, however, was a poem; the pastry thin and buttery, and the luxurious lobster flavour was taken up a notch by a lovely hint of chilli. 

×

Expand

My main was a piece of delicately poached cod with smoked mussels and sea herbs, which came covered in a champagne foam, no less. It was salty and sea-like and completely delicious, and it looked gorgeous too.

The fish and chips were ok; the fish (a lovely piece of Cornish hake) was well cooked and the batter flavoursome and crisp. The chips were far too big and lacked crunch, but the curry sauce and sweet minted peas did the job. On the side I had some chilli corn ribs which I loved – strips of corn still on the cob, curled up like sweet, spicy ribs to be nibbled on. 

For pudding it was blackberry trifle; the jelly was overly set, and the cream topping was so firm that the two were separate entities, sitting on top of each other. The flavours and flourishes were enjoyable though - little chunks of ginger sponge, clever candied pistachios and zippy little micro herbs on top. 

×

Expand

Overall, I enjoyed the experience, I think. It’s an unusual offering, which is what Handling is good at. The food is stunning, I just wasn’t enamoured by the setting. 

The concept (swish food served in a proper pub) reminded me of the Michelin-starred Sportsman in Kent, except there it is unashamedly rough and ready – it overlooks a caravan park, menus are on blackboards (not gold embossed paper, a la Handling) and you order at the bar. The Loch & The Tyne sits somewhere slightly uneasily in the middle – it’s neither here, nor there; it’s not a traditional pub, but it’s not a smart restaurant either; in truth, I am still not really sure what it is.

Our lunch cost just under £200 and was served partly by friendly, formal uniformed staff, and partly by someone in jeans and trainers who spent most of the service visibly sat on a laptop at the bar. I don’t mind either, but the combination of the two was just a bit…confusing. Lacklustre European lagers on draft, yet napkins carefully refolded whenever you left the table.

The mixed messages left me feeling a bit discombobulated, but would I rush back for more of those sensational snacks and a glass or two of Handling’s English fizz? Yes, yes I would.