Lumiere Cheltenham

What with it being our anniversary and somewhere near Valentine’s day, we decided to treat ourselves to a meal at one of the restaurants we’d not been to in Cheltenham, so we chose the fine dining experience of Lumière on Clarence Parade.

Lumière is, by most wallets, at the more expensive end of the dining experiences so with our sights suitably set, we were looking forward to it (although maybe not receiving the bill!). Having eaten at several of the fine eating establishments in Cheltenham such as Hotel du Vin, The Queen’s and Merlot, (and having loved them all) I hoped that Lumiere provide us with a great night and more importantly, great food and atmosphere.

Having been shown to our ‘booth’ I was surprised as to how uncomfortable the seat was. It’s simple L shaped design gave you no support and was not exactly ‘fine seating’ to match our ‘fine dining’ experience. I’ve been more comfortable on a church pew at a boring wedding.

Trying to put my discomfort to one side, we ordered a bottle wine, which we were then told was out of stock so we chose another. Looking forward to having a drink before our meal, it was dissappointing to have the wine arrive with the amuse bouche. This was very nice though and set my appetite appropriately.

The thing about restaurants is ordering the right meal. There’s nothing worse that looking at someone elses plate (rude I know) and wishing it was yours. In this instance, my crab ravioli, compared to my wife’s pate made me do just that. It was a shame but there just wasn’t really much to it.

The main course (pork belly for me) again made me envy my wife’s plate. There was ample vegetables to go with the course however, which always ticks my box.

Between the main and desert, we have the most unusual and also tasty part of the meal. It was effectively parsnip milkshake (warmed). It was tremendous and something I’d never experienced before. Top marks to whoever came up with that. It was a shame that it stood out over my main course though.

We shared cheese for desert which was served with a nice chutney, but we skipped coffee as we’d already spent a fair chunk of money and we could have a coffee with the babysitters (grandparents) at home.

The bill was over £100 which was understandable given the courses we’d had but felt a little galling for me, having not thoroughly enjoyed my meal. My wife had a lovely meal though.

Would I go back there? Well I wouldn’t rush back with there being so many similar places in Cheltenham but if you’ve got over £100 to spend and want a different place to try, be my guest (or rather theirs)!