Just why hasn’t Celtic Manor got a Michelin star? I pondered this thorny question as I took my seat at the back of the recently opened Epicure Experience by Richard Davies fine dining restaurant. 

It’s the fourth such restaurant to take up residence in this space, just off the main foyer at Celtic Manor Resort, and comes hot on the heels of the excellent restaurant Terry M,  Crown at Celtic Manor and the first, Owen’s.

We’d been welcomed with an exceptional floral-scented pink and perky Champagne cocktail on arrival. 

We sipped a French Chateau de L’Aumerade Rose while nibbling sensational white and brown artisan rolls with sea salted yellow and truffle taupe butters as we prepared ourselves for the six-course tasting menu and accompanying wines.

Former Celtic Manor fine diners will recognise ever-so-subtle changes to the furnishings of the ‘new’ restaurant. 

A square wedge of glistening, perfectly-parallel pink and dun coloured layers of terrine of duck three ways, corralled by crunchy crimson beetroot hula hoop shapes and zingy, sharp orange was a gorgeous meld of super-smooth soft pate and coarse pure duck meat. This really set us on our way.

Michelin-starred chef Richard Davies has returned to Celtic Manor where as an 18-year old he worked in the kitchens of the original Manor. Since then he has developed his skills among which is serving quite fabulous fish. 
The fish course on this menu was an absolute sensation. 

I love fish. Turbot, a gloriously meaty example, is a firm favourite. 
The crispy melting skin, moist, white chunky flesh falling onto the fork prongs anointed with a superb cep jus laden with cubes of sweet celeriac and tender pancetta resting on a crunchy pak choi frond was a tour de force. 

This plate alone ought to get Mr Michelin twitching. And the Tuscan Pomino Bianco was made for this dish.

A decanted, woody dry-as-a-bone South African Morgenster Lourens River Valley red burst onto the scene with the arrival of the Welsh lamb shoulder and loin with scattered caramelised onion and leek leaves. 

Produce of the lush green Welsh uplands met head on with a product of the South African veldt in a triumph of sommelier pairing.

Set yoghurt, a kind of pannacotta in a pot, was a mix of almost bland creamy mouthfuls excellently picked out with intense orange, the black sesame and calamansi. The Austrian Willi Opitz Goldackerl Beerenauslese was the perfect fruity foil.

Next, simply billed as strawberries and cream, this, as one would expect from a fine dining kitchen, was a quirky take on the traditional sweet. 

It is, in fact, the winning dish which secured Richard Davies a place at the BBC Great British Menu 2013 banquet in the Royal Albert Hall in aid of Comic Relief. 

And it’s a triumph. A perfect, scrummy, strawberry red sphere – just how does he do that? – when tapped revealed light as air white cream semi spheres. Heaven, it’s a mivvy! Micro herbs and razor sharp lemon completed this magnificent dish and the Chilean Muscat added effortlessly to the sweet sensation.

Petit four cubes of cardamom, apple and blackcurrant jelly and a simply stunning strawberry and cream macaroon with a cup of tea ended what can only be described as, well, an exceptional epicurean experience.

The service from the entire front-of-house team of knowledgeable and extremely efficient staff throughout the evening was a quite outstanding experience.

I, for one, will be completely baffled if Mr Michelin fails to take note. 
Richard Davies’ Epicure Experience has Michelin star written all over it if not for 2016 then most surely 2017?

DB