I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (2024)

I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (1)

Inside the spa village at the 5-star Gainsborough Bath Spa (Image: Gainsborough Bath Spa)

Eating out is one of life's pleasures and an excellent meal out is something you remember for a long time. I am lucky enough to have just had one of those memorable meals.

Heading to Bath at lunchtime, I started my child-free afternoon with a trip to the lovely Warleigh Weir. After a long week, a cold swim and an hour in the sun was just what I needed — and I left already feeling recharged ahead of our evening out.

My friend and I headed down to The Gainsborough, a five-star hotel in Bath city centre, for 5.30pm. From the outside, the hotel has that impressive building look characteristic of many in Bath.

Once inside, you are greeted by classy, modern and unpretentious luxury. The atmosphere felt relaxed and welcoming, despite it being a five-star hotel.

One of the highlights of The Gainsborough is its amazing staff that are not afraid to go the extra mile. They all spent time talking to us and all contributed to giving our visit that personal touch.

I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (2)

Our memorable meal at The Gainsborough in Bath — we started off our meal with some cocktails (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

For example, our bartender Isaac made me a delicious off-spec cocktail. Calling it a Georgian garden, the gin, basil and lime cocktail was refreshing and truly hit the right notes.My friend went for the Gainsborough Sling, a twist on the Singapore Sling. While she loved it, this gin-based drink was not for me.

After our cocktails, we moved across to the hotel's restaurant and started with some bread with chimichurri butter. Such a simple starter, but so flavoursome when done well.

I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (3)

The bread with chimichurri butter (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

The bread arrived still warm, with the butter being beautifully smooth and garlicky. Keen to try as many different dishes as we could, we decided to share our starters, the dancing prawns (£15) and the char-grilled stay skewers (£15).

Of the two dishes, we both preferred the prawns, which came coated in a citrusy aioli and were beautifully served in a thin prawn cracker. It was a generous portion of prawns, with these being big and meaty.

The skewers were also full of flavour and we liked the fact they were made of a variety of meats; chicken, lamb and beef. With two of each meat, this made it perfect to share.

I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (4)

The pool at The Gainsborough (Image: The Gainsborough)

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    While the spicy peanut sauce was ideal to dip the skewers in, I was a big fan of the pickles this dish came with. I had never had pickled pineapple before and it was unusual but lovely.

    We both went for speciality pasta dishes as mains. I went for the Miso Lobster linguine. At £55, I had high expectations for this dish and it certainly delivered.

    I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (5)

    Dancing prawns (front) and char-grilled satay skewers (back) (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

    Served in the lobster itself, this extremely generous dish included lots of lobster, garlic oil and, for a touch of spiciness, some chilli flakes. The strings of seaweed added another layer of flavour to this impressive dish.

    My friend went for the Yukibana's creamy sashimi pasta (£35), which we both agreed was a pasta dish like nothing we had eaten before. Served cold, thin capellini pasta is tossed in a creamy egg yolk sauce - like a carbonara - and accompanied with salmon, scallop, spotted shrimps, salmon roe and crab sticks.

    I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (6)

    The miso lobster linguine (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

    While the idea of a cold pasta dish may put you off, this was a truly unique dish that will stay with you for a long time. The two mains we had were both very different from each other, but were both truly stunning.

    We finished our meal with a Tropicana (£10), a coconut cake served with grilled pineapple and coconut ice-cream. While this was a lovely, well-executed dessert, we both loved the pandan creme brulee (£10) the most.

    I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (7)

    Yukibana's creamy sashimi pasta (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

    Having never tried Pandan before, the plant gave the custard a not overly sweet flavour, with a strong nutty after taste. We accompanied our meal with a bottle of white wine, which was recommended to us by our waiter.

    After our memorable meal at the Gainsborough, we walked over to a nearby cocktail bar called the Dark Horse. This was recommended to us by the hotel staff, who went as far as making a booking for us.

    I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (8)

    The Pandan creme brulee at The Gainsborough (Image: Estel Farell Roig)

    Run by the same team as the Crying Wolf on Cotham Hill, in Bristol, The Dark Horse was everything you wanted in a cocktail bar; dark, atmospheric and with creative drinks.

    We both agreed we would go back to The Gainsborough for a meal. Perfect for a special occasion, we felt truly looked after and had an out of this world meal.

    I ate at five-star hotel in historic city — it will stay with me a long time (2024)
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