fine-dining-guide.com | The Home of Fine Dining | Two Views

David Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star David
Everitt-Matthias Le
Champignon Sauvage
Restaurant Cheltenham
Michelin Two Star

A Champion Among Restaurants
by Daniel Darwood, Co-Editor

My first of six visits to Le Champignon
Sauvage was for Saturday lunch, shortly
after the restaurant gained its second
Michelin Star. The dining room was
relatively empty except for me and two
elderly local hoteliers chatting to Helen
Everitt-Matthias. Their conversation
moved onto the quality of local
restaurants and hotels and went
something like this:

Couple: Have you heard of Michelin?
H. E-M : Yes…….
Couple: Would you like a Michelin Star?
(Pause)
H. E-M: Well,actually we have two
(modestly)
Couple: Really?...........
(embarrassed silence)

I had to chuckle at the couple’s faux pas
and Helen Everritt-Matthias’ phlegmatic
response.

In many ways things have not changed:
the residents of Cheltenham and its
environs must still be relatively unaware
– or insufficiently appreciative - of this
gastronomic jewel in their midst,
otherwise it would be packed out every
night, as is the case with equally rated
establishments in the south east; and
Helen Everitt-Matthias remains as
charming, courteous, tactful and modest
as ever.

Indeed, lack of ostentation is the
hallmark of Champignon Sauvage. Its
façade blends in with the rest of the
terrace of shops, restaurants and pubs
on Suffolk Road so much that it is easy
to miss the front entrance altogether.
The lounge is the size of a sitting room,
whilst the restaurant itself has only 28
covers. An eclectic but not flamboyant
choice of paintings decorates its walls,
and the tables, chairs and place settings
offer only modest comfort and luxury.
Prices continue to represent excellent
value for money, whether it is the set
lunch, the weekday set dinner, or indeed
the Carte, given its luxury ingredients
and masterful cooking. Nor does the
chef visit the diners at the end of service
to receive applause: David Everitt-
Matthias, a previous winner of the
National Chef of the Year, is highly
skilled but low profile.

What has changed and what is bold is
the confident development of the menu.
This is based on the scrupulous
sourcing of the freshest ingredients –
Shetland Scallops, Gloucester Old Spot
pig, local (Winchcombe) venison - and
an imagination limited only by a
judicious sense of which combinations
actually work. Consider for instance the
amuse bouche of game veloute with
liquorice. Instead of two strong flavours
counter-acting each other, the soft
earthiness of the game is cut by the
distinctive taste of the herb.

Throughout, the cooking is complex and
multi-layered, true to the French classics
but with innovation enhancing the
finished combination. The generous
starter of seared foie gras came with
fried pancetta, gizzards, Maury syrup and
balsamic dressed salad. This is a
robust dish, not for the feint hearted. The
same is true of a lasagne of oxtail and
sweetbreads, where the light
horseradish foam balanced the
richness of the meat and offal. Hand
dived scallops - plump, rich and perfectly
timed - were balanced by pea and onion
purees of exquisite smoothness.

Main courses include saddle of venison,
with the texture of beef and meltingly
tender. The sauerkraut which
accompanied it was mercifully free from
excessive acidity that can mask any
dish. Pork belly and pig’s cheek which
proved rich and unctuous, and not
overwhelmed by the five spice
seasoning.

French and English cheeses were in
prime condition, as were home made
biscuits which accompanied them.
Crackling sugar in the pre dessert of
geranium scented cream tickled our
aural sensations. Fortunately, we were
not offered headphones to enhance this
experience!

Desserts are as rich as the other
courses, albeit simpler in their
presentation. Roast pineapple and
molasses, with pineapple and angelica
sorbet; proved a successful combination
of sweet and hot, light and cold.

All the incidentals, including the crusty
strong flour white rolls and petits fours
are first rate. Wines, whether per glass
or bottle, are excellent value for money.

With only three in the kitchen, and
despite its limited space and
unremarkable location the restaurant
nevertheless goes from strength to
strength. The sous chef has recently
been a runner up in the Young Chef of
the Year competition, an accolade which
speaks volumes for the experience he
has gained under David Everitt- Matthias.

A Master of Understatement
by Simon Carter,Co-Editor

In 1987, David and Helen Everitt-Matthias
opened Jay Rayner's favourite restaurant:
Le Champignon Sauvage in Cheltenham.
Helen runs the front of house of the 28
cover dining room with just one helper.
David heads a kitchen staff of three.

One of the select band of Two Michelin
Starred restaurants, with 8/10 in the 2005
Good Food Guide and Four AA Rosettes,
Le Champignon Sauvage rates as the sixth
best restaurant in Britain in The 1% Club.
From the outside you would not imagine
what takes place inside; as with 43 Upper
Brooke Street, London, if you did not know
you would not know - a secret club for
gastronomes.

David has modestly described his cooking
as Cuisine du Terroir with modern spicing.
The term traditionally means regional
French cooking using local produce that
deliver flavours and textures unique to that
area (just as a wine from a similar grape
varies enormously according to the 'earth'
of its origin.) It's a phrase that conjures up
earthy, hearty, gutsy, "masculine" food and
to a degree these are adjectives that can
be applied. They form, however, merely a
cover by which the book must not be
judged. The cooking is precise and
clinical, the preparation faultless and the
construction (components, ingredients)
demonstrate versatility of style as well as a
refined appreciation of taste and texture.
The end products on a plate are clearly the
result of a passionate dedication to the art.

The dramatically understated Duck Foie
Gras starter comprises two large warm
slabs on top of Duck's Gizzards, Pancetta,
roasted Quince, Walnuts and a Maury
reduction. (Maury wines; lesser known than
Banyuls as a dessert wine to typically
accompany chocolate). The Lasagne of
Sweetbreads (creamy Lamb Pancreas)
and rich, unctuous Oxtail on a balancing
horseradish sauce had a wow factor from
the moment it arrived right through to the
end. Indeed, a wow factor that I've not
experienced for a long time! The Shetland
Scallops with Pea Puree and Roasted
Onion Sauce were a perfect contrast in
style - enormous scallops (the type you'll
never find on a Waitrose fish counter) ,
perfectly seared, deliciously fresh and
sweet with a tiny pinch of sea salt on top.
This type of clean, precise cooking I would
more associate with Royal Hospital Road.
As a master artist, Everitt-Matthias switches
between the gastronomic equivalent of
Impressionism and Baroque with ease.

Delighting in winter menus I followed with
the offal based dish of Pig's belly and Pig's
cheek which was unashamedly rich and
hearty, providing a rising sense of euphoric
delirium (as only Pig's offal or Valrhona
chocolate can). "Ah, return to Bistro Bruno
Monsieur Loubet and end this antipodean
madness, " I lamented.

After some cheese I chose the layered
meringue, praline cream and chocolate
cake with Tonka bean ice cream on the
side. Tonka beans are large and strong
flavoured. Heston Blumanthal and Chris
Staines have both flavoured ice creams
and the former created a veloute. Rich and
flavour packed, the pudding finished me off;
I couldn't manage any of the (many)
exquisite looking chocolates that came with
coffee.

A note on the pre-pudding and pre-starter.
I'd never paid too much attention to these
freebes - one too many samey pumpkin
veloutes or uninspired lime creams. In fact
the first time I really took notice was at Tom
Aikens' where a celeriac veloute had
subtle and complex flavours that developed
on the palette and lingered like a Grand
Cru Classe. On this occasion we were
offered a game and liquorice veloute. The
richness of the game and the sharp
distinctive liquorice met on the centre of the
palette in a crisp conclusion. Very
interesting (in a positive way) and
memorable. The pre-pudding was a Rose
Geranium scented cream topped with
sugar space dust. I found this less
convincing (let Heston do as Heston does).

In all, the evening was worth every minute
of my four hour round trip and about twice
the price we paid. [The sensitivity of the
local clientele to price points means the
average bill is between a half and two
thirds of what you would expect from one of
the few restaurants of a similar rating in
London. At the same time, maintaining the
60% plus GP required to run a profitable
business must take some doing. The
wines too are easy on the customer with
comparatively low mark-ups across the list.]

Passing references might be made to
other chefs - Loubet, Koffman, Ramsay or
Blumenthal but only as compliments, not
as eclectic influences. The cooking is
individual and the style is unique. I'm not
sure what motivates the likes of Michelin to
award the coveted Three Stars but in the
modern age they may expect their
luminaries to represent the industry in the
media. While this is not the way of David
Everitt-Matthias his cooking will continue to
light up the gastronomic world for some
time to come.

Should you live within a 90 minute journey
of this restaurant and you do not visit at
least once a quarter then you must ask
yourself why....