Critic Hails Bath Restaurant’s ‘Gloriously Un-Instagrammable’ Pasta Dish as Dish of the Year

Bath’s Upstairs at Landrace restaurant has earned high praise from one of Britain’s leading food critics for a pasta dish described as the finest he has experienced all year. William Sitwell, writing in The Telegraph, singled out the sausage and porcini ragu, calling it “the most fabulously delicious, gracefully homemade, perfectly cooked and gloriously un-Instagrammable dish of the year.”

The review highlighted the dish’s rustic charm, contrasting it with the current trend of visually flashy meals designed for social media appeal. Sitwell remarked on the dish’s earthy tones—ranging from tan to tawny—and how it defies the contemporary obsession with brightly colored, picture-perfect plates. “Influencers would be wrestling with their filters until their phones started smoking,” he noted, adding that its unpretentious nature only enhanced its taste.

Upstairs at Landrace is located above the Landrace Bakery on Walcot Street, a venue celebrated for its dedication to local ingredients and traditional baking methods. Luke Fowler of Landrace Milling shared that their commitment to sourcing grain locally and milling it into flour is central to their ethos. “Landrace has been around for about six years, but we have had the mill for two years now. Having our own mill was always part of the plan,” he said, explaining that “Landrace” refers to a type of wheat that adapts to its environment.

Much of the grain comes from nearby farms, including Westcombe Dairy and other South West locations. The flour is transformed into sourdough breads using just flour, salt, and water, which are then sold locally to farm shops, pubs, restaurants, and directly from the bakery in Bath.

Beyond the acclaimed ragu, Sitwell also praised other dishes on offer: Cantabrian anchovies with lemon rind, butter-cooked scallops enhanced with bottarga, and a Paris-Brest dessert that he said would have made its inventor Louis Durand proud. Together, these dishes demonstrate Upstairs at Landrace’s commitment to superb, locally sourced cuisine that values substance over style.