455. Hem, Warwick.

Hem in Warwick’s central Market Place was added to the Michelin Guide in early January 2025. It has an interesting history being, as it is, the heir to Tailors in the same location which was included in the guide from 2014 to 2023 when it closed suddenly and rather unexpectedly. Tailors opened in 2007 and was owned by chefs Dan Cavell and Mark Fry who worked together until the closure in 2003 after agreeing to go their separate ways. They had given the restaurant its name from the tailor’s shop which had been in the location prior to them opening the restaurant - in its checkered past it is said to have also been a fishmonger’s, a butcher’s and, improbably, a casino though clearly not of Las Vegas proportions.

In the final paper edition of the Michelin Guide, that of 2020, it reported that Tailors served “Modern cuisine” and was “intimate” and noted that it was run by “two ambitious chefs who offer good value modern lunches, and elaborate dinners which feature unusual flavour combinations”. A 2023 Tasting menu costing £80 featured the following dishes - “Snack, crispy duck, hoisin, cucumber, spring onion; Bread and butter; ‘Carrot’ feta, pomegranate mint, labneh; ‘Celeriac’, salt baked celeriac, grape fruit, honey, fennel coppa; ‘Salmon’, creme fraiche, shrenckil caviar, beetroot, mirin; ‘Beef’ sirloin, burger flavours; ‘Fro yo’ Greek yogurt, lemon, pine nuts, chocolate, dill; ‘Wal-not-whip’ Dark chocolate, walnut, marshmallow; Sweet treat”. Shortly after serving this menu, Cavell and Fry announced the closure of Tailors on 20 June 2023.

Mark Fry, former joint Chef Patron of Tailors

Dan Cavell, Chef.

I had long intended to dine at Tailors but only got round to planning my visit just at the moment when Fry and Cavell announced the restaurant’s closure. The building was put up for sale but an old friend of the two chefs, Sebastian Hargreaves, approached Dan Cavell about starting a new restaurant venture in the same location and consequently they opened Hem in February 2023.

On 8 January 2025, ahead of Michelin’s awards ceremony to be held the following month, the Guide announced that Hem was one of four West Midlands restaurants to be newly included in the Guide’s hallowed pages (the others being Horse and Groom in Bourton on the Hill, Balochi in Edgbaston (next door to Simpsons in Highfield Road) and Sartori in Moseley (opened just six weeks previous and located in the building previously occupied by Carter’s of Moseley). It was clearly time for me to finally pull my socks up and buy a train ticket to Warwick.

Sebastian Hargreaves, front of house.

And so off I went and finally made it to the little restaurant - “intimate” as the Michelin Guide had put it - sited on Warwick’s historic market square. And worth the journey it was.

A lot of the West Midlands’ fine and successful restaurants have qualified to be described using the adjective ‘intimate’ - think of the former Turner’s in Harborne or Kray Tredwell’s 670 Grams in Digbeth (before it was extended) or Tropea in Harborne (even though it has been extended) - and I must confirm that Hem joins that collection of admirable restaurants to be reasonably described using that particular adjective. But pretty well perfectly formed. I was greeted by Seb Hargreaves who knows how to make a diner feel comfortable and had my own little table next to the window where I felt very much at home. There was a charming miniature bouquet as a sort of table garnish made up of twigs of dried flowers and corn placed rustically welcomingly on the table, a little touch which seemed appropriate and sensitively joyous. I had by then already warmed to Hem.

The meal being served was the Saturday Express Menu which started with a slice of remarkably pleasing soda bread which had all the pleasing characteristics of malt loaf plus salted butter and which then moved on to starter and main all for £22 but with the option of adding other courses at a not unreasonable cost.

The starter was very good - ‘Beetroot’ - slices of sweet beetroot, soothing beetroot labneh, a tasty spinach pesto, blue cheese, the perfect crunch of hazelnuts and - at additional cost - a slice of Cobble Lane coppa which nicely matched the rest of the dish. I was purring with the pleasure of the first course - on the plate it looked simple but it showed nicely the clever abilities of an inspired chef - a knowing combination of spot on flavours and varying textures.

Then to the main course - tender, pink, moist, perfectly cooked slices of pork fillet served with a mildly soggy ‘crouton’ of fried bread overlaid by tasty ‘bacon jam’ and alongside wilted baby gem dressed with a Caesar-style dressing and, importantly, shards of Parmesan. I am not a lover of lettuce as an accompaniment to hot food - I think God designed good robust cabbage, a fine Savoy for instance, or perhaps the much neglected but far from humble cauliflower, to carry out that role, but this was an interesting and finally executed dish if not entirely to my taste in the greens department.

Dessert was an additional £8 and took the form of a lovely, finely textured, subtly flavoured 54% dark chocolate crémieux with interesting ingredients such as marmalade, caramelised bread, the always welcome hit of sea salt and a delightfully flavoured tonka bean ice cream. My only regret about this dish was that I forgot to photograph it.

Coffee was accompanied by an enjoyable ‘sweet treat’ in the form of a homemade gold painted dark and milk chocolate trufffle.