Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms

First things first. Stop what you're doing and check your diary. Once you've found a convenient date, get on the phone and book a table. Sat Bains is not a man to rest on his laurels, with new developments and innovative ideas flowing forth, keeping this restaurant with rooms at the very sharpest bit of the cutting edge. It matters not that there's an industrial estate down the road, and the motorway is close by, because once you've arrived you are in a different world, blissfully unaware of anything apart from the stylish surroundings. It all looks very charming and civilised, with frosted-glass panelling, smartly laid tables and discreet classical music in the background. The fact that there's a chef's table will come as no surprise, but there's also a table in the development kitchen, where you get your own chef taking you on your own journey of discovery. If you like to do things your way, then the 'Unique' concept will appeal: it allows you to select online the ingredients to make up your own personalised tasting menu (which must be taken by the whole table). Whatever menu you choose to eat from, wherever you are sitting, one thing remains the same: the compellingly original, thrillingly precise food. Taste and texture are to the fore from the off - an amuse-bouche of a light asparagus mousse with slivers of tender stalks, for example - and the attention to detail extends to the wonderful butter (Lincolnshire Poacher) that comes with the superb warm bread rolls (black treacle and Guinness, perhaps). It goes without saying that the ingredients are out of this world and fanatically seasonal. Organic salmon, lightly cured and cooked at 40 degrees, bursts with flavour and melts in the mouth, and is cleverly partnered with pickled cauliflower and a supremely well-judged nettle purée. Everything looks beautiful on the plate, flavours and textures are judged to a tee, the dishes heavily worked but clearly focussed. Cumbrian lamb gets a thorough work out in a dish with a confit, sweetbreads and kidney among its delights, the richness cut with the assistance of an inspired lemon confit, plus goats' cheese and a black olive sauce. That's just two of the savoury courses - there are more, each bringing something to the greater whole. Among desserts, chocolate, peanut butter, cumin is another compelling construction, with the cumin bringing a fantastic aroma to caramel, the peanut butter enriching an ice cream, and a warm chocolate mousse of perfectly judged bitterness. Amanda Bains runs the front of house with charm and the measured pace of it all is for the benefit of the customer not the proprietor.