Restaurant Matilda
Fine dining restaurant · Windham ·
Creative vegetable-forward small plates wine bar
Creative vegetable-forward small plates wine bar
"Guided by a server’s advice to order whatever seemed strange, I chose tuna belly with nasturtium and hay-aged duck; both dishes were complex, exquisite, and the kind of cooking I never expected to find in a place like Windham." - Jess Feldman Jess Feldman Jess Feldman is a special projects editor for Travel + Leisure, where she manages the brand's annual World's Best Awards—a long-standing, reader-based travel awards program. She also leads feature coverage of Oceania, the U.S. West Coast, and Hawaii, as well as how to go farther on points, miles, and loyalty programs. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines
"Matilda is the hotel restaurant at the Henson, a 16-room inn that charges $389 a night for rooms engineered to look good in your end-of-summer film dump. It’s also from the same team that brought us Wildair and Day June, so there’s a lot of menu crossover (think: wine and delicate, vegetable-forward small plates). The dining room is gorgeous and the quiet location along the hills will have you looking up the availability during peak leaf-peeping season. If you’re coming with a larger group, just know that you’re going to have to put in multiple orders of the dainty small plates. Unless you want to Lady and the Tramp dauphine potatoes the size of an egg with your homies." - carina finn koeppicus, hannah albertine, anne cruz
"Matilda is the hotel restaurant at The Henson, a 16-room inn that charges $389 a night for rooms engineered to look good in your end-of-summer film dump. It comes to the Catskills from the team behind Wildair in NYC, and they also run Day June, a fancy diner around the corner. While everything is technically spot-on and tastes good, the flavor combinations don’t land as well at Matilda as they do at their other restaurants—it's almost like they fed the Wildair menu to AI and told it to spit out an Upstate version. Still, it’s worth checking out for the lush mountain views, or to have wine and delicate, vegetable-forward small plates with your creative director friend who says Phoenicia Diner is “overrated now.” It’s a lot quieter here than in Hudson or Woodstock, making it perfect for a romantic date or getaway. Golden hour light streams into the dining room from the garden windows, and soft fabric lights and a giant limewashed fireplace lend a nice modern touch to the historic feel of exposed wooden beams. If you’re coming with a larger group, know that you’re going to have to put in multiple orders of the dainty small plates. Unless you want to Lady and the Tramp dauphine potatoes the size of an egg with your homies. Food Rundown Dauphine Potatoes Airy pockets of fluffy potatoes would be a decadent snack on their own. But the bright green basil leaves sandwiched between the piping hot potato pastry and a translucent sheet of fatty prosciutto takes these to another level. They are rich enough that you’ll feel satisfied after just a few bites, which works out great because your order only comes with three and they’re the size and shape of a foam football stress toy. Roasted Onions This is one of the simpler dishes. And by that, we mean that it’s a plate of 11 onion slices in a shallow pool of bonito broth with crisped-up sourdough shards. It makes for a very tasty side to pair with your larger mains like the slow-grilled chicken or striploin. photo credit: Matilda Green Asparagus We wanted to like this asparagus dish, where bite-sized pieces of vegetables are arranged into teeny Lincoln Log cabins with curled fiddleheads and garlicky green onions. But for $18, we wish that we got more than three stalks of asparagus. photo credit: The Henson Confit Tuna Belly Imagine you left a tuna salad sandwich in your backpack before stuffing it with a laptop and a Neapolitan Novels boxed set. Now imagine pulling it out to discover that instead of a mushy, wet mess, it was a delicate stack of paper-thin sumac crackers, fatty confit tuna belly, and preserved lemon dijonnaise. It’s one of the better dishes here, but the combination of funky ingredients still leaves us scratching our heads a bit. Steelhead Trout Trout in the Catskills isn’t groundbreaking, but it still feels fresh and interesting here, with a deep onyx-colored nori puree and tender, poached fish. The crunchy sea beans on top also add a great touch of salinity. Strawberry and Potato Do we actually detect roasted potatoes in this fluffy mousse? Not really, but it’s a very nice dessert with smooth ribbons of olive oil and strawberry jams. We especially like the texture of the milk crumble and heaping mound of strawberry granita on top. photo credit: The Henson" - Anne Cruz
"Hotel restaurants rarely scream exciting food, but inside the Henson hotel Matilda — led by Jonas Offenbach — has plenty to linger over; among the savory entrees, the Amish chicken with scallions, koji, and chicken jus ($45, built for two to share) is a super juicy poultry dish that’s sure to be ordered at every table, and the desserts are also can’t-miss." - Eater Staff
"From the Wildair team and located inside the new Henson hotel, Restaurant Matilda has opened reservations starting May 24; Jonas Offenbach is leading the kitchen after working with Fabian Von Hauske-Valtierra and Jeremiah Stone, and the project is part of a trio of nearby ventures that include a neighboring pantry shop, Paracasa." - Luke Fortney