Rogan & Company Restaurant

If you can't get a table at L'Enclume, Simon Rogan's hugely celebrated restaurant and holder of the ultimate five Rosettes (see entry), dining at Rogan & Company is by no means a poor substitute. L'Enclume's little sister sits beside the river in a lovely old building right in the centre of the small village of Cartmel. It's just a short stroll away from L'Enclume, so although you won't find the man himself behind the stoves here on a daily basis, you can be assured that he's here regularly, keeping a good eye on things and making sure head chef Danielle Barry and her team faithfully execute his unique style of contemporary, natural cooking. Cool, mellow beats, staff casually dressed in long black aprons, and bare-wood tables simply set with Lakeland slate table-mats and high quality glassware help create a laidback, relaxed feel in the ground-floor dining room - the perfect backdrop to showcase Rogan's technically brilliant food. Every dish is visually stunning, the ingredients vibrantly colourful and tasting as fresh as fresh can be - little wonder when many of them have been foraged from the local countryside or gathered that morning from Rogan's own farm down the road. Dinner might begin on a meaty note with smoked loin and rillets of pork with pickled mushrooms, served with the added bonus of a crispy pig's ear to give good textural contrast and nasturtium to bring freshness of flavour and colour to the plate. For the main event wild bass with salsify, shrimp and curly kale could be one way to go, or perhaps the braised shoulder of Herdwick hogget - a fine piece of meat, perfectly cooked, bursting with flavour and ably supported by some barbecued and crushed broccoli, potatoes and onions. Dessert could be something as simple - yet highly effective - as a deeply fruity black cherry sponge with a textbook white chocolate mousse, or as out-of-the-ordinary as chocolate pizza with sweet cheese ice cream, or cider cream, thyme custard and crispy yoghurt.