REVIEW: MATILDA at The Henson Hotel
Dining room of Matilda in The Henson. Photo credit: Susie Davidson Powell/The Dishing
Matilda at The Henson
39 Goshen Road, Hensonville | matildacatskills.com
We like it for: Date night, friends dinner, cocktails on the sunny back porch overlooking the garden, special occasions, weekends away
Must try: Raw Montauk scarlet shrimp in shiso leaf, wood-grilled oysters greased with bone marrow, curiously flavored ice cream - (think potato or wood.)
The Vibe: Retro Catskill mountain lodge, infinitely cooler than your grandparents’ Catskill house, cool bar, open plan dining room and views over the uplit chef’s garden
Style: Beautifully redesigned vintage Catskill inn with a sleekly modern twist on furniture and plush furnishings.
When celebrated city chefs come upstate you can guarantee they will have a field day with the bounty of the Hudson Valley, but chefs Fabián von Hauske Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone, the acclaimed duo behind Lower East Side Wildair and Contra (recently reopened as Bar Contra), plus Dave Arnold (Existing Conditions, Momofuku Ssam), joined forces with their friends and owners of The Henson during the pandemic to bring Restaurant Matilda to life. Arnold has free rein of the cocktails like a cleverly composted Grannies on Acid with gin, aquavit, sour Granny Smith apples and cream syrup, and a low-ABV Two-Percenter pairing Cynar and celery-seed soda.
Matilda’s menus chnage biweekly, with just four mains and a dozen small plates. Take the fire-singed roast onions flecked with wafting bonito flakes, thyme and sourdough crumbs which are a taste memory for Mexico City-born von Hauske, or the shelled English peas with carrots, feta and smoked eel in a dish inspired by collab dinners in London. Rhubarb, mustard greens, sorrel and amaranth, all grown in the chef’s garden, make their way onto plates; the seared duck and beef are from local farms.
Parking: Side parking lot
Nearby: 1. Day June Luncheonette (Hensonville) 2. Hotel Lilien (Tannersville) 3. Tabla 4. Deer Mountain Inn (Tannersville) 5. Selena’s Diner (Haines Falls) 6. Jagerburg Beer Hall + Alpine Tavern (Hunter)
