Santo’s Higham Farm Hotel

Santo’s Higham Farm Hotel

Pubs and Bars with Restaurants

0.5 miles
Main Road , Higham, DE55 6EH
Tucked away in the historic Derbyshire village of Higham, Santo's Higham Farm Hotel is built around a 15th-Century farmhouse. Walking through the reception area, you can't help but admire the eye-catching Italian granite table tops, beautifully worn stone floors and an ancient sunken well.

We visited on a Friday night and this award-winning hotel was full, with the happy burble of contented patrons all around. The four dining rooms vary in formality, but, wherever you dine, the staff and their manager, Santo, are attentive and eager to please. The menu is a refreshingly simple two-page affair that changes seasonally. As we took our seats, we met with a choice of warm, freshly baked roles (wholemeal or cheese and paprika) - a promising start to a fantastic meal from which the chef's fine-dining pedigree is obvious. Each plate was considered, balanced and carefully constructed.

The first dish we devoured was the mini arancini - elegant crispy Parmesan risotto balls resting on a bed of creamy celeriac and truffle purée, served with cubes of salt-baked kohlrabi, and crisp baby endive. In Sicily, arancini are robust and rustic, but here, they are elevated to an elegant starter. The gentle heat of the kohlrabi and subtle bitterness of baby endive worked superbly with the creamy, cheesy crunch of the risotto balls. The confit duck leg rilette is equally sophisticated; the rilette has a rich and complex flavour, with a hint of star anise, balanced beautifully with a treacly spiced pear purée, a velvety celeriac remoulade and the stunning duck breast, delicately smoked in-house.

For the main course, we tried the light and visually striking pan-fried fillet of cod. Served with golden saffron-and -garlic-turned potatoes, buttered kale, fresh samphire, tiny scooped out vegetables and a heady seafood sauce, the cod was exquisite. The slow-braised shoulder of lamb had been slow-cooked for 12 hours, and was suitably packed with flavour. Teamed with sweet, sharp and spicy red cabbage, comforting mash and the crunchiest of green beans, this locally sourced dish is a real treat.

We finished with an opulent cheesecake, made with a generous vanilla filling and crunchy biscuit. Paired perfectly with a soft-set, full-bodied blackberry sorbet and luxurious white chocolate crisp, it proved a wonderful end to a delightful dining experience
+3Santo’s Higham Farm Hotel
Opening Hours:
Mon: 7am-11pm
Tues: 7am-11pm
Weds: 7am-11pm
Thurs: 7am-11pm
Fri: 7am-11pm
Sat: 7am-11pm
Sun: 7am-11pm
Food Served Times:
Mon: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Tues: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Weds: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Thurs: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Fri: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Sat: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm
Sun: 7am-9.30pm, noon-3pm, 6pm-10pm

Similar restaurants nearby

X

Recommend a Restaurant

Mon, 07/23/2018 - 14:07 -- Administrator
Body: 

We are always on the lookout for excellent eateries to feature on our website, our app and in our printed guides. If you think you know a restaurant that we really should review then tell us about it here.

Enter the postcode below to look up the restaurant address. If you don’t know the postcode just enter the address manually

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.

We found several matches for places called "". Which one were you looking for?