In this city we have several restaurants which serve fine food. I put aside the rustic style and the street food type of restaurants - there are several excellent such places in the city which provide delicious and enjoyable food in their own casual styles. But I’m looking for fine food - imaginative, original, seasonal, cooked to perfection, fabulous ingredients, attractively presented but not to the point of style over substance, served in a lovely dining room, the dishes running along the menu all working with each other, drinks on offer which are knowledgable curated. I always find what I am looking for at Folium where Ben Tesh’s sublime cooking and Lucy Hanson’s immaculate service add up to a fine meal indeed.
It was my birthday though I did not reveal that to the restaurant. But I knew that this dinner was going to be a fine and pleasing birthday gift to myself. So let’s go straight to the food.
There was of course the irreplaceable chicken liver parfait in a burnt onion tuile. As gorgeous as ever. There was also another lovely snack in the form of a Cornish crab croustade with brown butter. This was the most spectacularly tasty crab dish, if we may call it a dish, that I can ever recall eating. The flavour was powerful and delicious and most importantly it was bursting with the flavour of crab - not every chef can present a crab dish which is so robustly crab - magnificent. There was too, thankfully, Ben Tesh’s own, immediately identifiable and exhaustingly delicious sourdough loaf with his own cultured butter. The bread an absolute peak in bread baking. An irreplaceable part of dining at Folium.
Then a new dish. ‘Biodynamic’ noodles with lusty shitake mushrooms, the flavour enhanced by a stupendous full-bodied sauce.it seemed chef was on fire this evening. Next, white asparagus, cooked with a bite to them with a sunflower sauce. Excellent.
Next a generously sized piece of turbot, the cooking spot on, with brassica tuiles and a powerfully flavoured kohlrabi sauce. The brassica was noticeably salty and together with the sauce made a heavy attack on the flavour of the turbot which was rendered flavourless by the accompaniments. This was a great pity and Chef was good enough to allow me to give my opinion on this dish and accept it with good grace. Really, it’s too sad to let turbot to be sunk beneath the waterline by an assault from its accompaniments.
Balance was restored to the universe by the fabulous next course which brought with it memorably and deliciously sublime Staffordshire lamb with a remarkable lamb sauce. The gorgeous flavour of lamb was as wonderful as I can remember being served and the accompanying chicory matched its natural bitterness with a a lovely sweetness brought to it in its preparation. I wondered if a neat little slab of Dauphinoise might round it all off but the dish was superb as it was
And the savouries were done with save that I added the cheese course which was made up of four English cheeses, nicely chosen and in good condition, and included an excellent Lincolnshire Poacher and Stinking Bishop, plus Ben’s very own split pea crackers, delicious malt loaf, cube of Brambley apple preserve jelly and green tomato chutney. The first dessert was a delightful celebration of strawberries for now is their time - finely sliced New Forest strawberry with strawberry cream and elderberry. Best described as “lovely”.
Finally there was an enjoyable Yorkshire curd tart which was very much like a cheesecake. It had a pleasing texture and its accompanying birch syrup ice cream was interesting and enjoyable. To wind there were two mignardises - a beautifully textured bee pollen financier and a fine manjari chocolate and woodruff pleasure.
Folium had certainly made my birthday something special and as it was a fairly quiet evening I was able to have a little conversation with them both and they signed my menu which was very kind. Ben is working hard to achieve a higher level of recognition than he has already. He’s aiming for the stars and in my opinion the food at Folium has long been deserving of one.
Rating:- 🌞🌞🌞
22 May 2026
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