Angela Harnett and Luke Holder celebrate 10th anniversary at Lime Wood

TV chef Angela Harnett has predicted another decade of Italian-inspired dining at Lyndhurst’s Lime Wood Hotel after joining forces with cookery partner Luke Holder to celebrate their restaurant’s 10th anniversary.

The duo, who are jointly at the helm of Harnett, Holder and Co, said the relaxed venue has continued to evolve by using the very best produce from bespoke suppliers both locally and internationally.

As one of the most high-profile women in the hospitality world, Angela has regularly appeared on TV shows such as Saturday Kitchen, Hells Kitchen and the Great British Menu.

She trained under Gordon Ramsey at Aubergine, and in 2004 earned her first Michelin star.

She joined Luke Holder at Lime Wood on 13th February 2013, and is confident the pair will still be collaborating in a decade’s time.

Angela told the A&T: “It brilliant to celebrate 10 years. We’ve enjoyed working together; we still enjoy working together – it’s never a chore.

“It’s always a pleasure to be here at Lime Wood. I know it sounds like a cliché, but it’s not.”

Luke added: “Over 10 years friendships are born, you go through different experiences together – not just work – and those things make it great. The team that we have here are amazing.”

Hartnett, Holder and Co aims to combine rustic elegance and comfort with a warm welcome, introducing an element of fun to fine dining which is at the heart of the Italian-inspired British cuisine.

Dishes such as smoked cod roe and Isle of Wight tomato salad sit alongside risotto Milanese and day boat Cornish fish with lemon and green leaves.

A top priority for the pair was to create a community restaurant, where locals would be happy to pop in for a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine.

Luke said: “We didn’t want formal dining and three-hour lunches. So many country house hotel restaurants try that formula but in can be inhibitive.

“By stripping the restaurant back from its formality we made it much more approachable.”

Angela added: “The Italian influence has grown, that’s for sure – we have always had an Italian influence but it feels a lot more Italian now than when we started out.”

Serving up a bespoke celebratory menu of signature dishes that have regularly appeared over the last decade, the duo revealed this year will also be special for the hotel’s long-running kitchen team who will be curating their own menus in the next few months.

Luke said: “We have six or seven senior chefs who have been with us for the whole journey, so they are very much part of the Lime Wood story.”

To mark the 10th anniversary, Angela and Luke created a menu featuring some of their best loved dishes.

To begin, diners feasted on a young veg salad of cauliflower and broccoli with Somerset ewe’s cheese and Lime Wood honey dressing; smoked cod roe with pickled fennel; and a selection of charcuterie with focaccia bread.

Ingredients are often sourced from small scale suppliers, to ensure the very best quality, such as a variety of strawberries that are only available at Lime Wood.

Angela continued: “We really focus on using unique suppliers to try and get the very best.

“We use locally if it’s good but I don’t believe in using locally if it’s not the very best.

“I am much a believer that you get the best you can and, unfortunately, if the best tomatoes have to come from Spain and Italy, then that’s where they have to come from.

“In Hampshire we have some really incredible producers but it doesn’t necessarily mean everything is local.”

The duo also served a signature dish: tender polenta ravioli combined with winter truffles, preserved tomato and artichokes in a rich buttery sauce.

The main course featured baked turbot with French white asparagus and smoked eel marrying the tender meaty fish with the delicate flavours of the spring vegetable.

Luke: “Now it feels that the food is the best it has been and the atmosphere of the restaurant is what we wanted.

“It’s a Wednesday lunchtime and we have done 70 covers today, and that is a real credit to the vision of what this restaurant should be.”

Culinary events are planned throughout 2023 to celebrate the Hartnett, Holder and Co’s 10th anniversary. Visit www.limewoodhotel.co.uk