What the food is like at the King's Arms Hotel inn Dorchester

I visited to try out the food in this completely transformed hotel, which is famed for hosting the Beatles, and has undergone a £5m transformation.

First glance of the menu shows that it’s a destination for foodies, with a menu of food that easily fits into the fine dining category - think sumptuous sounding food presented with jus or purees on the side.

But the more traditional diner isn’t forgotten, on offer are chargrilled beef burger with smoke streaky bacon, gherkin, Barber’s cheddar, lettuce and chips for £13.75 and a 300g dry aged Jurassic coast rump steak with all the trimmings for £21.50.

The new transformed restaurant in the King's Arms, Dorchester

For my starter I opted for the grilled scallops with cauliflower puree, smoked chorizo and pickled apple (£13).

The smooth, creamy tasting puree beautifully accompanied the scallops, which were given a refreshing zing from the apple and a beautiful smoky flavour with the chorizo. While delicious, I couldn’t help feeling that the dish would have justified its price with much larger queen scallops.

My partner had the crispy wild mushroom and chickpea pakoras, caramelised onion and tahini with pomegranate (£7.75).

Fresh, dry and completely non greasy, they would have been the envy of any Indian food lover with the pomegranate twist giving the pakoras a new lease of life.

Onto the mains and I went for the daily market fish, which was halibut with smokey chicken and caper butter, celeriac puree, wild mushrooms, lemon and chard (£23).

The halibut was beautifully cooked and the chicken flavour of the butter, while seeming an odd choice upon reading, married perfectly upon tasting. The wild mushrooms were beautifully arranged around the plate and delicious with the puree.

All the flavours worked so well together.

While I ordered triple cooked chips separately (dry, fluffy and piping hot £3.75), my partner was chuffed they already came with his rotisserie creedy chicken with lemon, paprika and romescu sauce, accompanied by spicy slaw and those irresistable chips (£16.75). It was the ideal dish for those who like a more hearty choice.

Pudding time and it was dark chocolate cheesecake, salted caramel and rosemary shard (£7.50) for me and Dorset apple semolina tart, honey & ricotta ice cream and apple and fennel seed puree (£7.50) for my dining companion.

The hotel excels at desserts, with us both agreeing that we were eating a very unique, luxurious and thoughtfully put together dessert that you wouldn’t find anywhere else.

No doubt diners who are looking for that special somewhere to enjoy a meal now have the perfect foodie destination.

See thekingsarmsdorchester.com