We take a trip to Barlaston to experience a culinary experience like no other as we bring you this Lunar restaurant review.
Named after The Lunar Society that was founded in the 18th century where clubs were formed to allow members the pleasure of enjoying the finest food and debating issues away from the social order problems of the day.
Josiah Wedgwood was one of the founding members of this society alongside other notable names, such as Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley and James Watt.
These individuals, amongst others that met once a month, were the pioneers that together would bring about the ultimate fusion of science and social change that would fuel the fires and ignite the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution forged the world as we know it today.
Lunar is based next to the World of Wedgwood tourist attraction and is overseen by Michelin star chef Niall Keating.
Only a handful of chefs in the UK hold two Michelin stars and Niall is one of them. The Staffordshire born chef will oversee Lunar and all of its future creations.
Lunar Decor
When the first decor images were released by Stoke on Trent Live I did question who on earth designed it in my initial opening announcement but it turns out that in typical Stoke on Trent Live fashion, the wrong images were posted.
Thankfully when we entered through the door we saw a plethora of locally themed artwork all done by local artists and a beautiful moon focal point that illuminated the seating area.
Whilst some seats are a little close together in one particular area, in others they’re much further apart giving you the privacy you’d want during an intimate experience such as this.
There is also a chef’s table (see above) that you can book with a minimum table spend of £1000 but the table seats 12 people and let me tell you, spending £1000 at Lunar will not be difficult for 12 people!
Lunar Restaurant Experience Review
Lunar isn’t just serving food, it’s providing impeccable service along with some of the finest ingredients on the planet.
From black truffles to lobster, scallops and more the dishes are a range of Korean, Japanese and French-inspired flavours.
The menu is an ever-evolving product as numerous dishes will change through the year giving you all the more reason to come back multiple times to try out the new dishes for yourselves.
Some of the friendliest staff greeted us, took our coats and showed us to our seats and the quality of service and friendliness of staff continued all through the night as we chatted to numerous waiters about the menu.
We were even given a tour of the restaurant as one of the first two couples to arrive for our pre-Valentine’s Day meal and you could already see the high standard of service set by the establishment to go out of their way to make the night extra special.
Food is served on Wedgewood tableware (naturally) and being a fine dining experience we’d absolutely recommend that you order more than one starter as they’re rather small.
But don’t let the size fool you, it’s the flavour that will absolutely blow you away and more than justify the cost as is the same for the establishment as a whole.
Be prepared to pay more than you normally would but at the same time be amazed at the taste explosion that will soon occur the moment your dishes arrive.
Here’s a sample menu along with the pricing so you can get an idea of the cost for your very own visit.
On our visit, the starters were more expensive with the addition of Black Truffle, Salmon & Caviar and Lobster dishes.
Now for me, the food was very reasonably priced for the quality of ingredients you receive but it’s the cocktails that certainly racked up the bill with many cocktails around the £12-£16 price tag.
Just a few of those will rack your bill up very quickly so if you’re watching your pennies be careful as those drinks certainly sneak up on you!
We ordered 5 starters and each bite was absolutely divine from decadent caviar to the absolutely outstanding Miso soup dish where the presentation matched the taste expectation.
We were asked if we had a favourite dish all night and across the 5 starters and dessert to the tender beef brisket, we just couldn’t pick a favourite.
Lunar restaurant served me not only the best meal I’ll have in 2022 but the best meal that I’ve had in my entire life.
The flavours were out of this world and whilst you’re certainly paying for the pleasure it’s a pleasure I’d pay for all over again in a heartbeat.
Dining under the moonlight of Lunar’s delightful decor is not just a food tasting experience, it was a deep dive into a mouth-melting tastebud explosion.
