Restaurant Interlude

Set amid 240 acres of beautiful Grade I listed woodland gardens, Leonardslee Estate presents an unforgettable dining experience. Restaurant Interlude offers guests the opportunity to engage with nature and the surrounding landscape through innovative dishes – all from the comfort of an opulent dining room within a 19th-century mansion house.

From the moment you arrive you’ll receive top-tier hospitality, but the colourful restaurant is anything but stuffy. Verdant decor, simple table settings and innovative presentation all contribute to the restaurant’s botanical concept, but it’s the tasting menus that really capture the imagination.

The revelatory 14-course Garden Experience and the astonishing 19-course Estate Experience both showcase the finest produce from Leonardslee and the local area in innovative tasting plates that enliven all of the senses. Exquisitely crafted by head chef Jean Delport and his team, each dish is a masterclass in precision. Not only do these plates demonstrate faultless cookery with British and French influences, but their ingenuity manages to surprise even the most ardent of foodies. While menus change with the seasons and availability of ingredients, you can be assured of an incredible range of flavours – some more familiar than others.

Recent menus have pushed boundaries and earned Restaurant Interlude a Michelin star. The farm-fresh egg with ham and Emmental velouté is a triumph. The skill of taking an everyday ingredient and transforming it into Michelin-star cuisine is always a delight to behold. The earthy flavours evidenced in dishes such as the oyster with foraged greens and juniper and the 32-day-aged beef with marrow and heart contrast beautifully with the likes of sweet local squash, lobster Dugléré, and spring violets with iced herbs. Meanwhile, South African influences punctuate the culinary adventure; biltong is made using deer from the estate, and fallow deer with local braai is enhanced by sour raspberry. The knowledgeable staff are always on-hand to offer their expertise and talk you through the wine list. For a uniquely special dining experience, there’s nowhere quite like Restaurant Interlude.