A HOTEL home to two acclaimed restaurants has announced 'exciting' changes after the departure of its executive chef.

Sudbury House Hotel in Faringdon has revealed a menu shake-up that will see its more informal Magnolia brasserie become the main focus of its food offering, relaunching with a new menu.

Restaurant 56, the hotel's fine-dining restaurant with three-AA rosettes, will now focus on afternoon tea, wine and food tasting events and weddings and other special occasions.

MasterChef finalist Nick Bennett, who has worked in its kitchens for several years as sous chef then head chef, will run both restaurants after the hotel's executive chef Andrew Scott took up a new job.

READ AGAIN: Andrew Scott leaves Sudbury House hotel's Restaurant 56

Magnolia will serves modern British food with classical roots, and will be launching a new menu focussing on fresh ingredients.

The hotel said the informal restaurant will be open for breakfast, lunch and dinner with 'a strong focus on traceability and provenance'.

Dishes will include a Cornish crab and fennel cocktail, caraway crackers with mango salsa, Kelmscott pork fillet with braised beans, chorizo and parsley, and a passion fruit and coconut 'Neat Eton' - a take on the classic Eton Mess.

Magnolia already has a wood-fired oven in its open kitchen and will continue to offer hand-rolled pizzas topped with locally sourced meats, cheeses and vegetables.

Both restaurants will be overseen by Mr Bennett, who made the final of BBC show Masterchef: The Professionals in 2015.

READ AGAIN: Faringdon chef Nick Bennett books place in final of BBC's Masterchef

He said: "I’m really excited to be able to offer guests food which they all know and love, with a bit of a difference. For me, a dining experience is all about making sure guests are comfortable and relaxed.

"Ultimately, we want them to know that they can come into the restaurant, enjoy some great food, and treat the place like their own home. That’s why we’ve developed a menu which lets people choose exactly how they want to eat.

"I live locally and know that there is some much fantastic produce we can use in our menus, and I cannot wait to try it all out on our new menus."

ALSO READ: Food review of Magnolia restaurant at Sudbury House

Ronan Hunter, general manager at Sudbury House Hotel, added: "We are very excited about the restaurant as we believe there is a real need for this sort of food offer locally.

"As a progressive business, we don’t believe in standing still so we wanted to develop a food offer which reflects the latest restaurant trends.

"Nick is a very talented chef and we are very excited about some of the brilliant food he is going to cook for our guests."