Restaurant Review: The Green Restaurant, Sherborne in Dorset

If you’ve ever visited the historic Dorset town of Sherborne, you’ll have, no doubt, stopped by the majestic abbey and wandered around the many local shops and businesses, many of which are housed in listed buildings. The town offers a relaxed and welcoming vibe with a fantastic selection of eateries in which to while away a few hours.

This was my second visit to Sherborne and I just had to make another visit to The Green Restaurant after a previous successful dinner there. Based at the top of the town, the restaurant serves up classic European dishes in an atmospheric setting within a Grade II listed stone building with an olive green painted door and window frames. The interiors have a vintage feel with wide dark wood tables, low lighting and local artworks littering the walls, which are available to purchase. Friendly and efficient service, delightful wines and scrumptious food all makes for a rather enjoyable dining atmosphere.

Beef — Seasonal ingredients are used to create a wide selection of dishes

Using seasonal ingredients prepared in a selection of dishes throughout Europe across a range of menus, it was a challenge to decide which way to go. There are the zakusi dishes – a selection of small plates such as silk road style marinated olives or deep-fried squid with lime and caper berries – the set menu at three courses for £27 or the a la carte offering, with a recently launched vegan menu too. From trout gravlax to venison carpaccio to Mediterranean fish and sticky toffee pudding, there were many options, all looking quite lovely.

I decided on the Dorset crab crème brûlée, chargrilled fillet of sea bream and ginger sticky toffee pudding from the set menu and was so pleased that I did. The meal started with an amuse bouche of sweet potato and cumin soup in a shot glass, which was smooth, silky, warm and autumnal – perfect!

The crab crème brûlée was served with a herb salad and focaccia crisp and had the texture of a thick cream, with no crab meat, but tasted like the shellfish. The crisp came in handy to scoop the cold mixture and it wasn’t like anything I’d had before – it was lovely, simple and tasty.

Head chef Sasha serves up classic European dishes in an atmospheric setting

Up next was the sea bream, which was served with potato, lobster oil and mussel cream. This was an amazing dish with beautiful seafood flavours within a tasty, foamy sauce, a sprinkling of tomato salsa, a few mussels to garnish and potato fondant to soak up the sauce and enjoy the lovely piece of fish with. Along with a side of greens and a delightful glass of Chenin Blanc, this was a delectable dish that I could have eaten all over again.

To finish with a flourish, I sampled the ginger sticky toffee pudding, served with caramel and raspberry sorbet on a little meringue. It felt like I was eating two desserts in one bowl, but I thought the summery sorbet and meringue were a good way to uplift the autumnal ginger and toffee flavours. It was full of varying flavours and textures and it worked very well.

An Irish coffee to end the meal and my night was complete, with the whiskey flavour covered nicely by the coffee (I’m not a huge whiskey fan but I don’t mind it in this format!) I could have easily sipped on a few more of those.

creme brulee — Food is lovingly prepared and full of flavour

In a nutshell

At £27 for three courses, the set menu is certainly one I would recommend. Looking at the dishes on the a la carte I didn’t feel short-changed in any sense – portion sizes were the same, and both mirrored the quality of ingredients and effort of presentation that the restaurant takes pride in. There were no disappointments on my table, from the food to the wines to the service and atmosphere, The Green Restaurant is absolutely worth a visit.