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We try a new Cotswolds restaurant that 'feels like you're on holiday'

A familiar team has opened the new small plates restaurant, which has an outdoor terrace and feels "posh without being off-putting"

[LARDON opened at Elkstone Studios last week]

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LARDON opened at Elkstone Studios last week(Image: GloucestershireLive)

The newest restaurant at Elkstone Studios, just south of Cheltenham, has been a long-awaited one. The latest project is from the teams behind award-winning KNEAD Bakery, as well as Cotswolds butcher chain, Jesse Smith.

LARDON finally opened its doors last week (Monday, June 22) and enjoyed a "brilliant" first week, with more than 1,000 tables booked throughout its first week according to co-owner, Kris Biggs.

The restaurant offers European-inspired small plates inspired by the flavours of Tuscany, the Basque region, and Provence, championing wood-fired cooking.

The menu includes focaccia with rosemary and smoked sea salt (5) or Jamon Ibrico (13) to start, with wood-fired cod with butterbean ragu and chorizo (21) or wood-fired lamb rump with broad beans (25) among the mains.

Following the initial rush of opening week, I thought I'd go and check out LARDON - and it turns out, I couldn't have picked a nicer day to visit.

Whilst LARDON opened during a heatwave, with temperatures reaching almost 40C across most of Gloucestershire, I enjoyed lunch at the restaurant during a much more manageable 23C on a Wednesday afternoon.

The restaurant is inspired by Mediterranean Europe and as I settled into my outdoor table, shaded by a parasol, it quickly felt like I was, in fact, on holiday.

LARDON offers an immediately relaxed environment and despite it being a weekday afternoon, the two tables either side of me were each enjoying a leisurely lunchtime bottle of wine, which to me seemed in itself like a little luxury.

[Co-founder Kris Biggs (left) and senior chef Sam Bird (right)]

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Co-founder Kris Biggs (left) and senior chef Sam Bird (right)(Image: GloucestershireLive)

The staff also couldn't have been more welcoming - shortly after I was seated I was brought the menus and my server took the time to explain to me the concept of the small dishes, and recommended ordering a salad or one of the 'extras' dishes alongside my main.

I opted for the pork belly served with Morcilla (Spanish blood sausage) and a Sweetheart cabbage, drizzled in a roasting juice. The dish came to 19 and I added on a side of the smoked potato with garlic and rosemary for an additional 7.

As I waited for my food, I took the time to soak in the ambience at the restaurant, which is tucked away at Elkstone Studios just off the A417 - although you wouldn't know you're just next to a main road.

LARDON definitely feels posh, although not in an off-putting way. You're surrounded by a boutique retail hub, with everything from small independent shops to beauty and wellness studios, and even a Padel hall - all in the heart of the rolling hills of the Cotswolds.

Listening to the friends chatting on the table next to me, it does slightly feel like the kind of spot that you'd end up posting about on one of those 'Overheard in Waitrose' Facebook pages, although I find this endearing and enjoyable.

And then, my food arrived. It's not often that I take a bite of something that immediately makes me want to close my eyes and really savour the flavours - but my goodness, this pork belly really was that good.

I was torn between wanting to make it last, and not being able to eat it fast enough.

The pork belly itself was delightfully tender, and I've never tried Morcilla before but it was nicely crispy on the outside and rich in flavour. I'm also not normally the biggest fan of cabbage, but it complemented the meat in this dish so well that there was none left on my plate by the time I was finished.

[I'll be back to have this pork belly again]

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I'll be back to have this pork belly again(Image: GloucestershireLive)

The potatoes, too, were a tasty add-on to the meal - nice and fluffy on the inside with just a slightly crisp skin, and sprinkled with tasty rosemary and roasted cloves of garlic. It was such a generous portion that I actually could not finish them all, as much as I wanted to.

I was only at LARDON for an hour in all, but didn't feel like my time here is rushed - on the contrary, it was a lovely leisurely lunch and I was able to tune out of my working day for an hour.

I also managed to have a quick chat with co-founder Kris on my way out.

He said: "The first week was brilliant. We've had fantastic feedback, it's been great. We couldn't have asked for better weather to open a European restaurant. The atmosphere, the ambience was second to none.

"It's been a hard nine months to get here, but now we're here and it feels great. It's been immense.

"It's great to be able to take people on the culinary journey that we're trying to take them on. You can come for the day, completely escape everything you want to, just forget everything for a couple of hours, enjoy some really good wine and some good food."

Kris is also keen to stress that part of the restaurant's ethos is serving high-quality food at affordable prices.

He said: "Myself and John [Hawes, fellow LARDON co-founder] are both from Michelin star backgrounds. And that's not something we're actively seeking here, if it happens it happens.

"But the attention to detail and the food flavours and the recipes and the way we work, we don't know any different. So you're going to get the quality of that, at affordable pricing, without paying through the nose."

LARDON is open now at Elkstone Studios, serving breakfast, lunch, and drinks daily from 8am-8pm Sunday to Thursday. The restaurant is also offering a dinner service on Fridays and Saturdays only, with extended opening hours on these days from 8am-11pm.

[Sarah Lumley]

Sarah Lumley

Sarah is an experienced multimedia reporter for the GloucestershireLive news website, reporting on news and human interest stories across the county of Gloucestershire. She joined the website in January 2026, but has almost a decade of experience of reporting on news from across the south-west, working for both Reach PLC and national news agency SWNS to cover local stories from Bristol, Somerset, Devon, Cornwall, and Gloucestershire. Sarah enjoys being out and about around Gloucestershire, chatting to local people about issues in their areas - as well as visiting pubs and eateries to discover all the places where you should be enjoying a meal out.

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