Hotel restaurants must cater to all tastes and often the result is a menu that neither offends nor delights. The Argus is not such a restaurant, yet it offers the pluses of 1930s hotel dining – the grand entrance, the sense of occasion. Chef David Willcocks reboots expectations from the get-go with a raw amuse-bouche: daikon enclosing enoki with a ginger emulsion. To follow, cured rainbow trout with fermented cabbage and crème fraîche, or pressed pig’s head with scallops and piccalilli. The bold approach continues through main courses of bloody-rare lamb loin with kofta, sheep’s milk and spiced carrot purée, and in punches of flavour alongside a snapper fillet: soy-butter cubes, salty squid curls, blackbean sauce. The hefty wine list has a section headed “Weird Ones” alongside benchmark Heathcote shiraz. Service is warm and professional right to the end – parsnip ice-cream, burnt-honey jelly and medlar custard.
This review was made independently for the Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide. The guide’s reviewers visit unannounced and pay their way.
Gourmet Traveller Restaurant Guide
Food: ★
Wine: ★ ★ ★
Gourmet Traveller’s star-ratings, which range from zero to three stars, reflect reviewers’ first-hand experiences. The best-rated restaurants form our national Top 100. Our wine ratings, from zero to three stars, are made by wine editor Max Allen on the strength of the quality of the restaurant’s wine list. View our rating key here.
