Newly renovated to an impeccable standard, The Gosling in Horsel Common near Woking, offer all-day dining; serving exquisite, modern European cuisine with only the freshest and finest ingredients.
Guests can also enjoy delicious cocktails from their fully-stocked bar and one of the most extensive wine and champagne lists Surrey Rocks have ever encountered – 223 to be exact!
Expect only the best at the newly opened The Gosling with 5-star food, drinks, décor and service all the way. We were amazed from start to finish, read on to find out more.
OUR EXPERIENCE
We booked in for a Thursday night in June at 7pm and both the Bar and Restaurant were buzzing on arrival, a good sign! We were shown to our table in the stunning main Dining Room by the general manager Michar, who was charming, attentive and helpful all evening.
We ordered off the impressive cocktail menu first going for Lychee Martini’s which were served beautifully served with kisses decorated from Red Cayan Pepper & Sugar on the white foam. Nice touch! So smooth, light and fresh – perfect for a Summer evening like ours.
There were two choices of Food Menu; the Lunch/Dinner Set Menu where you can choose 2 or 3 courses (from a choice of 3 dishes) starting from £22 or the A La Carte Menu which was more varied but equally appetising! We decided on A La Carte as the ‘Lamb Rump’ Main looked overwhelmingly tantalising at a nearby guest’s table!
For Starter, we decided to go for the ‘Grilled Wild Argentinian Prawns with Chilli, Garlic, Parsley’ it was served beautifully with 5 large, shell-on King Prawns, grilled to perfection. The garlic and herb sauce was to die for! (Plenty of leftover sauce if you wanted to dip with The Gosling’s delicious homemade, sour dough bread.)
Next up we went for the ‘English Asparagus with Poached Egg and Crispy Parma Ham’ served with a hollandaise sauce. The whole dish was an array of colours and cooked perfectly, with the perfect runniness of the yolk, the crispiness of the Parma ham and the al dente crunch of the seared asparagus.
For Mains we went for the ‘Pan-Roasted Cod with Lobster Dumpling, Baby Spinach, Ginger & Lobster Butter’ a fresh fillet of the finest cod cooked perfectly in the accompanying golden lobster butter sauce and tasty vegetables.
Then there was the dish we had been salivating over since our arrival the ‘Lamb Rump with Asparagus, Courgette Puree, Boulangere Potatoes & Wild Garlic Salsa Verde.’ It was a taste explosion. Three large, tender, thick-cut, medium rare slices of lamb rump – so soft you could have cut it with a spoon! It literally melted in the mouth. The accompanying vegetables were cooked al dente and the Boulangere Potatoes (akin to Dauphinoise) had a lovely herb flavouring. The jus was so rich and full of flavour and was drizzled so artistically across the plate. And again, the colours and presentation of this dish were just sublime; the green courgette puree simply popped. Too good to eat. Maybe? Alas it was a “Maybe Not” in this instance. We finished every last morsel on the plate! This was perfectly offset with a glass of the Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon from the “most impressive wine menu to date,” according to our reviewers.
As we moved onto the Dessert Course, we noticed that the Restaurant was completely full with just shy of 90 guests at 9pm. This is great to see on a Thursday night and a sign of how great the food and service is at The Gosling. A mixture of couples, friends and families, of all ages. So inclusive.
Now onto the ‘Lime & Mango Cheesecake with Honeycomb & Mango Sorbet’ review which our taster described as a “zingy, fresh and irresistible.” The crispy honeycomb perfectly offset the smooth cheesecake filling and the fruit sorbet made it a lighter alternative to cream or ice-cream.
The second Dessert option, the ‘Dark Chocolate Mousse with Salted Caramel, Pistachio & Black Cherry’ was divine. A perfect rich chocolate mousse sphere decorated beautifully with alternated salted caramel pistachios and dried black cherries on the outer layer and sprinkled with nuts on top. A rich and decadent dessert for chocolate lovers out there, and not too big. As our waistlines and PT’s will thank us for tomorrow morning!
We were so impressed with our experience at The Gosling, we thought we would tell you a bit about the background and sheer excellence of the team behind the newest, hottest restaurant in Surrey.
THE FINEST CHEFS
The Gosling’s executive chef Mark Wadsworth’s impressive résumé includes Michael Wignall at The Latymer in Bagshott (Pennyhill Park), The Ginger Pig in Hove and Head Chef at The Salt Room, the critically-acclaimed modern, British seafood restaurant in Brighton.
The kitchen team is in the expert hands of Head Chef Adam Reclik who most recently worked as Head Chef at One One Four in Teddington and was the Sous Chef at London’s famed 5-star Hotel Café Royal.
AWARD-WINNING TEAM
The award-winning team behind The Gosling is Nick Levantis and Darryl Healy who bring a wealth of knowledge and a combined 30 year’s experience at the helm of some of the finest restaurants and hotels in the UK.
Since 2011, Nick and Darryl have run The Swan in West Malling, Kent, which brings a touch of luxury to the thriving market town. They also led the team behind Village London, which in turn launched the successful concepts Village East and The Garrison. Also, in 2011, they opened the Riding House Café in London’s Fitzrovia to much acclaim and in 2016 launched Amano in West Malling, a restaurant and boutique hotel that specialises in authentic Italian food.
Their outset with The Gosling, was always to join another community, like their previous ventures and offer high quality dining coupled with a professional and welcoming service.
“This they have achieved in spades, a mere 8 months since opening!” our testers claim with unwavering confidence.
INCREDIBLE INTERIORS
Designed by the brilliant Studio Vitor, the space is inviting and flows wonderfully from the Bar through the beautiful Open Kitchen and into The Dining Room. The Restaurant is divided from the bar by a glass screen which adds to the atmosphere without intrusion.
The Restaurant and Bar are bright in the morning when you visit for brunch or lunch and cosy in the evening with wonderfully designed lighting. The bespoke furnishing with carefully put together luxury fabrics and artworks, create a warm, inviting and stylish experience.
In total, The Gosling can seat 183 guests at any one time. It doesn’t feel like that big of a space when you are there as you are so well looked after and the Restaurant, Bar and Garden are so stunning – it almost feels like 3 independent spaces.
The Restaurant’s Dining Room can accommodate 80 guests, while the Bar has a sofa seating area and stools that can seat 25 and there is also a Private Dining Room that can seat up to 18 guests for any special occasions. The beautiful Garden, opening this Summer, has room for an additional 60 guests.
IN SUMMARY
The Gosling only opened its doors to the public in December last year. Located in the beautiful Horsel Common area, just outside of Woking, the site (formerly Sands at Bleak House) has really made its mark on the area and customers are raving about their experiences, as are we! A must try dining experience – we can wholeheartedly recommend.
CONTACT
The Gosling, Chertsey Road, Woking, Surrey, GU21 5NL
01483 971915
@thegoslingsurrey
info@thegosling.co.uk
