Fresh to Ross-on-Wye, recently opened (June 2015) No 3 Restaurant & Bar is already attaining excellent reviews. As you can imagine, we wasted no time in chatting to hands on owners; husband and wife team Darren and Charlotte Leonard.

2

Tell us a bit about your background – what has led you to where you are today?

I (Darren) have over 25 years’ experience in the industry, during which time my achievements have included gaining & maintaining 2 AA rosettes for 10 years. Charlotte’s background is as an interior designer – but we actually met across the hotplate at Coombe Abbey, where I was a Chef and Charlotte was a waitress.

We live locally, and now that our children are in school we decided this was great timing to realise our joint dream of owning and running a restaurant. We found our premises quite quickly – it was previously a clothes shop but when we saw it it was basically an empty shell. Once the building work was complete (new walls, kitchen, toilets, and the addition of a false ceiling) Charlotte was able to put her interior design experience to excellent use, adding chic lighting and our of course our lovely dining furniture which has the advantage of flexibility as well as looking great.

Congratulations on your excellent Trip Advisor rating – we see that today (on our visit in October) you’re number 1 out of 72 restaurants in Ross on Wye?

Thank you, we’re delighted with the response and support from our diners. Our restaurant has been on Trip Advisor just 3 months and has had over 90 positive reviews already. Prior to opening, we set up a Facebook page for No 3 – and were amazed to be fully booked for the first 3 nights, and most nights since.

Really, our feet haven’t touched the ground since June, and we’re grateful to the local people of Ross-on-Wye for their kind support and appreciation.

Tell us a bit about the food you serve?

We insist on using the best of the freshest, seasonal local produce; allowing their natural goodness and flavours to enhance our dishes. Our menus change on a regular basis, we’re very keen to offer our repeat diners something different each time they visit.

Our Chefs (Aaron is our Head Chef and his wife Lianne is the Sous Chef) are as passionate as ourselves about selecting our produce and developing our menus. We have separate menus for lunch & dinner – so far our most popular dishes are our sharing platters, local Herefordshire beef, fish from the Wye – oh and of course our cocktails and artisan wines.

What do you have planned for the festive season?

As well as our a la carte menu, we will be offering Christmas lunch and dinner menus from December 1st for which we’ve already started to take bookings.

Open Tuesday to Saturday 12pm – 2.30pm & 6.30pm – 9pm

Closed Sunday & Monday

Booking strongly advisable

No 3 Restaurant & Bar

3 Gloucester Road, Ross-on-Wye HR9 5BU

01989 564997 www.no3rossonwye.com