{"id":140556,"date":"2025-09-16T06:22:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:22:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/140556\/"},"modified":"2025-09-16T06:22:25","modified_gmt":"2025-09-16T06:22:25","slug":"i-ate-at-james-martins-restaurant-and-was-floored-when-bill-arrived","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/140556\/","title":{"rendered":"I ate at James Martin’s restaurant and was floored when bill arrived"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Christopher Sharp visited James Martin’s restaurants in the Cotswolds (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

James Martin is one of the UK’s most famous chefs with a primetime Saturday TV show every week \u2013 but just how good are his meals? To find out, I went for lunch at James’<\/a> restaurant \u2013 Grill at the Lygon Arms \u2013 in the picturesque Cotswolds village of Broadway.<\/p>\n

Nestled in the similarly named Lygon Arms hotel, it has a menu curated by the famous\u00a0Saturday Kitchen host<\/a> and renowned petrol head. Indeed, the hotel is a mere 50 miles from the home of British motorsport, Silverstone <\/a>\u00a0and around two-and-a-half hours from central London.<\/p>\n

On the day I visited, the traffic was clear and so the journey was a little over two hours. Arriving in Broadway the rain had cleared, the car parks were full, and the area was alive with foot traffic. I don’t know what was in the air, but one cafe owner was rushed off his feet from the business he was receiving in the\u00a0Cotswolds<\/a>\u00a0locale.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The exterior of the Lygon Arms (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: James Martin sends emotional message to fans after show ‘first’ <\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE: James Martin interrupts Saturday Morning to make ‘big news’ announcement <\/a><\/p>\n

Inside the restaurant<\/p>\n

The Lygon Arms is situated on the main high street opposite a variety of delis and novelty shops; guests filtered slowly in and out the venue, some to stay, others to eat, a few I’m sure to do both.<\/p>\n

To get to the restaurant you enter the hotel, turn stage right, head down a long corridor and are greeted into a large high ceiled arch room. It’s painted in what can almost be described as near Bluebird blue onto seats of light wood and green leather.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve got to be honest, my my overall first impression can best be described in three words \u2013 nice but intimidating.<\/p>\n

I was greeted by chandeliers that appeared to be made of antlers and shaped into trees; their light colour contrasting with their slight Slytherinity. An unnerving aesthetic choice, but one you can\u2019t help but admire at meal\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The interior of the Lygon Arms (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The aforementioned chandelier made of antlers (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering why it felt intimidating, I guess the best way to describe it is that types of places and situations you\u2019re unfamiliar with will always feel unnerving.<\/p>\n

During a period when I wasn\u2019t a journalist, I worked in all kinds of hospitality<\/a> jobs of various satisfactions, and sometimes it still feels weird turning up somewhere posh and being the served not the server.<\/p>\n

The food<\/p>\n

Onto the raison d’etre of the visit, the food. I choose a two-course approach with sparkling water but no wine (I was driving) and dove straight in with something I wouldn\u2019t normally stick in my weekly shop, crab.<\/p>\n

Specifically, the Cornish Dressed crab<\/a> with apple, celeriac and lemon, with toasted rye bread.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

Christopher Sharp travelled to Broadway to review The Lygon Arms (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

What arrived was 90 percent of what was promised with the bread untoasted, but the crab very much as advertised and delicious.<\/p>\n

Crab isn\u2019t something I normally consume and so the experience felt rather special as a result as the softness of the flesh melded wonderfully with the celeriac and lemon.<\/p>\n

It was light on the palate and I could feel that my body was revelling in the experience of tasting such a dish. The bread tended to smother the flavour of the crab if you combined the two, but I suspect toasted it wouldn\u2019t have.<\/p>\n

For the main I ventured to go for something more substantial in the shape of the Blythburgh Farm Pork Chop featuring cider Bramley apple compote, crisp sage, all-butter mash, and roasting juices. With this I opted to add the grilled Hispi cabbage with ranch dressing.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher's<\/p>\n

Christopher’s Cornish crab starter (Image: Christopher Sharp)<\/p>\n

Hispi cabbage is a type of white cabbage which has pale leaves and a sweet flavour. It was this cabbage, that helped to act as transformative influence of the chop itself.<\/p>\n

Pork chops can taste quite plain, but in combination with the greens, cabbage, and associated juices, it was elevated, adding a dose of tanginess and zing to the dish that have otherwise been forgettable.<\/p>\n

After this, and with many miles still to travel, I opted against pudding and had a double espresso before paying the bill and heading out into the Friday afternoon sunlight.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The pork chop Christopher consumed (Image: Christopher Sharp)The price<\/p>\n

For two dishes, a side, some sparkling water, and a double espresso, the total came to \u00a382.41. The prices were as follows:<\/p>\n

Cornish Dressed Crab: \u00a322Blythburgh Farm Pork Chop: \u00a334Roasted Hispi Cabbage: \u00a36Hildon Sparkling Water: \u00a35.50Double espresso: \u00a35.75Service charge: \u00a39.16<\/p>\n

Now, for what I had, \u00a382 did send a mild shock through my spine. I know it was a posh restaurant, so it wasn’t exactly going to be cheap, I had gone in with my eyes and stomach open after all.<\/p>\n

The biggest surprise was the cost of the double espresso. The food I could forgive, but even considering the plush surroundings, \u00a36 for a double espresso was a step too far.<\/p>\n

However, despite the cost, I enjoyed my experience eating at a restaurant that feels at home in its leafy Cotswold surroundings<\/a>, filled with some villages that embody a vision of Britain\u2019s past, and tell us something about its present too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Christopher Sharp visited James Martin’s restaurants in the Cotswolds (Image: Christopher Sharp) James Martin is one of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":140557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,56118,65373,65375,65372,65369,65374,65368,65370,65371,3783,65367,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-140556","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-james-martin","11":"tag-james-martin-age","12":"tag-james-martin-dyslexic","13":"tag-james-martin-health","14":"tag-james-martin-lygon-arms","15":"tag-james-martin-pub","16":"tag-james-martin-restaurant","17":"tag-james-martin-restaurant-review","18":"tag-james-martin-saturday-kitchen","19":"tag-restaurants","20":"tag-the-cotswolds","21":"tag-uk","22":"tag-united-kingdom","23":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/140557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}