Bath Racecourse’s Executive Head Chef encourages racegoers to ‘experience something different’ with new menu launch

Bath Racecourse’s Executive Head Chef, Jonathan Williams, is encouraging guests choosing to dine at the track’s Royal Crescent Restaurant to ‘experience something different’ with the launch of the 2020 menus.

At the menu launch held in the Royal Crescent Restaurant on Thursday (23 January) in the stunning Langridge Suite, Bath Racecourse’s Executive Chef revealed a range of exciting and unique dishes, such as savoury ‘Parsnip Crème Brûlée with watercress pesto and nutmeg mini muffin’, ‘Persian-Spiced Rump of Lamb with yellow lentils, dried lime, pickled cucumber and straw potatoes’ and ‘Pecan Nut Pie with caramel syrup, whipped bacon and maple ‘pancake’ batter’.

Now going into his fifth season at Bath Racecourse, Williams is keen to continue his ethos of putting twists on classic flavours.

He said: “This coming season I’m really keen for people to come to the Royal Crescent Restaurant and try something new, something different, something they haven’t had before.

“All the dishes this year are completely new. For mains, we’ve got some delicious slow-braised ox cheek, Persian lamb and pavé of pink salmon on crab risotto. For vegetarians, I’ve tried to move away from the traditional risotto or mushroom dishes that you’d normally see and instead have a really interesting savory parsnip crème brûlée to start and red and yellow tartine as the main course option. New for the 2020 season, the menus will also be updated during the year to reflect the seasons.

“Creating a menu at a racecourse is very different compared to a standard restaurant. We need to be able to served up to 200 covers at each fixture and all within a two-hour window before the racing starts. I’m proud that the Royal Crescent restaurant is àl la carte and people choose on the day depending on what they want, we don’t do pre-orders. The food is all freshly prepared and cooked to order, which is no mean feat in the time we have to serve everyone.”

It’s not just guests in the restaurant who get to enjoy Williams’ talents. Hospitality clients can select gourmet summer buffets for informal entertaining or a more formal sit-down meal. Racegoers in the exclusive Roof Garden will this year have the option to choose from a menu of Arabic khobez flatbreads loaded with harissa spiced lamb, ras el hanout braised brisket, lemon chicken and chickpea falafel.

He continued: “With such a range of people attending – from families to corporate clients – our food options need to cater for a variety of tastes, occasions and budgets, and I think we do that very well.”

With 22 exciting horseracing fixtures scheduled for 2020 at the Lansdown venue, there are plenty of dates to choose from to experience Williams’ innovative menus. Tickets to dine in the Royal Crescent Restaurant are now available and start from £75.00 per person to include all of the racing action, reserved table for the entire fixture, three-course meal and programme.

For more information and to book a table visit www.bath-racecourse.co.uk.