Stock Hill House - Gillingham Review

Stock Hill House
Stock Hill
Gillingham
Dorset
SP8 5NR

Phone 0871 426 4119
Calls cost 10p per minute plus network extras

Type of Cuisine Modern European
Chef Peter Hauser & Lorna Connor
Number of Covers 36
Price Range £££££

Lunch 12.15 - 1.45pm Tue-Fri & Sun
Dinner 7.15 - 8.45pm Mon-Sun

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Review of Stock Hill House, Gillingham

Peter and Nita Hauser are now into their third decade as custodians and congenial hosts of Stock Hill House. Their delightfully tranquil late-Victorian residence is approached along a beech-lined drive that meanders through 11 acres of carefully nurtured wooded grounds near the Dorset/Somerset border. Inside, all is as it should be.

Peter Hauser's native Austria makes its presence felt in the kitchen, and dishes from the homeland are flagged on his daily-changing menus. Soused herring with dill vinaigrette and fennel or home-cured ox tongue with marinated vegetables and pumpkin oil dressing might precede leg of duckling in goulash sauce with spätzli or larded escalope of Dorset roe deer with baked apple and cranberries, rösti and braised red cabbage.

Desserts are a real celebration of the Viennese tradition: Salzburger nockerl, 'furst pucker torte', 'mohr im hend' (steamed chocolate pudding) and so on. Austria gets a brief name-check on the international wine list, although France is the main contender.

Also featured in: AA Guide, Good Food Guide, Michelin Guide.