The Silver Cup, Harpenden
The Silver Cup is a traditional British pub, restaurant and rooms serving high quality, contemporary dishes.
In 2020, The Silver Cup came under new management with an aim of maintaining the traditions of a classic British public house whilst bringing a contemporary twist to the food and drink offering.
Situated in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, The Silver Cup is the perfect spot for an afternoon drink, fabulous lunch or dinner. Upstairs there are 5 bedrooms.
Owned by two local lads, Matthew and Michael, with a shared love and experience of all things food, drink and hospitality.
The Silver Cup >
Fish & Forest, York
Fish&Forest is a forward-thinking sustainable fish and game restaurant, which sources the best ingredients and was recognised in the Michelin Guide within a few months of opening for its commitment to Sustainable Gastronomy.
Situated in the heart of York, on the top of Micklegate, Fish&Forest is an unpretentious sustainable fish and game bistro by Chef-Owner Stephen Andrews, supported by Yohan Barthelemy. The pair aim to bring the quality of fine-dining in the techniques we use to prepare and source the ingredients but are committed to maintaining a relaxed attitude on the restaurant floor, with a vibrant atmosphere and welcoming staff.
White Hart Inn, Mersea Island - new opening
The White Hart Inn, Mersea Island to reopen this spring after major refurbishment and under new management
Spring 2022 will see the relaunch of The White Hart Inn on Mersea Island as a pub with restaurant and rooms. It will be the third site operated by Piers Baker owner of the renowned local pub with rooms The Sun Inn, Dedham and bar & restaurant Church Street Tavern in Colchester.
The White Hart Inn, which has been closed since 2013, will benefit from a partial rebuild and major refurbishment to transform it into a tasteful, contemporary and eye-catching venue - somewhere for a casual pint, relaxed lunch or a special dinner with delicious, great value food. It will feel unique, tasteful and contemporary.
There will be light and welcoming bar and dining room with a vaulted ceiling and open kitchen, a cosy oak-panelled lounge with an open fire, plenty of outdoor seating in the terraced garden and six individually designed ensuite bedrooms, some with sea views.
Piers Baker says: “Mersea Island is a special place which deserves an independently owned pub with restaurant and rooms that welcomes locals as much as visitors. It has a great community many of whom are already friends and customers who have told us how much they look forward to us being there. I feel proud, grateful and excited to be opening in West Mersea and can’t wait to open our doors!”
The regularly changing menu will be a mix of casual bar food along with a restaurant menu using the best local ingredients. There will be roasts on Sunday and options for kids. On the bar, there’ll be real ale, craft lagers and cider, plenty of non-alcoholic options and a wine list similar to the award-winning lists at the sister venues.
Baker continues: “If someone told me back in March 2020 that I’d be opening a new, third venture in Spring 2022, I would never have believed them! The turmoil of the Covid-19 pandemic, with subsequent trials and tribulations of lockdowns, reopenings, restrictions and more lockdowns, made it impossible to look too far ahead. But when local businessman Lee Tyler, landlord of the White Hart Inn, approached me and was keen to work with Baker Hospitality on the basis of our reputation and local networks, I could immediately see the opportunity the site offered. The White Hart Inn has huge potential and ticks all the boxes we were looking for in a third site: a beautiful location close to the sea, a village feel on the high street opposite the church green, and a great island community.”
The exact opening date will be confirmed once work is underway but is expected around late May 2022.
White Hart Inn https://whitehartinnmersea.co.uk
About Baker Hospitality
Baker Hospitality has earned a reputation for warm and convivial inns and taverns with seriously delicious food and drinks. The Sun Inn, Dedham and Church Street Tavern, Colchester are seen as unique and consistently outstanding for every day as well as special occasions. They enjoy wide community support, have had continual national acclaim and awards.
The Sun Inn, Dedham opened in 2003, followed by Church Street Tavern, Colchester in 2014.
Catch at the Old Fish Market, Weymouth
Catch is an authentic sea-to-plate restaurant in Weymouth, Dorset which opened in June 2021.
Set amidst the colour and energy of Weymouth’s working quayside, Catch at the Old Fish Market offers an authentic sea-to-plate dining experience serving fish and shellfish with unequivocal local provenance and landed just a few feet from the restaurant kitchen.
Catch opened in June 2021 with upcoming chef Mike Naidoo leading the kitchen. Mike was formerly with Jason Atherton at Pollen Street Social and has moved to Dorset to take on his first Head Chef role with his partner Tija Klincov, who is the restaurant’s pastry chef.
Mike’s elegant, ingredient-led dishes celebrate the freshest sustainable seafood. Menus change regularly to reflect what the boats have brought in, and you may find scallop ceviche; lobster thermidor croquettes; roast brill roast salsify and Exmoor caviar; skate wing; pork belly seaweed and sage; sea bass with fennel almonds and crab potatoes.
With strong ties to the fishing community, not only can the staff tell you when and where your fish was caught, but usually on which boat, and by whom. The waters of the Dorset coast are home to over 40 fish and shellfish species, from Portland crab and lobster to line-caught sea bass and supplied to the restaurant by Weymouth’s small, inshore fishing fleet which include two boats owned by the business.
You’ll also find local game dishes for example: venison, parsnip, girolles, red cabbage and blackberries. Other ingredients are sourced from local growers and producers including with a micro bakery based a road away from the restaurant and Craigs Farm, a free-range dairy which overlooks Weymouth Bay.
Catch is also about its setting. The landmark Grade II listed Old Fish Market was built in 1855 using local Portland stone. The building has been painstakingly restored by local craftspeople. The striking restaurant has been carved out on the first floor with views over the harbour and light that floods in through the windows of the clerestory roof.
The team have curated an engaging wine list containing exceptional local wines from the Dorset area including Langham Wine Estate, Furleigh Estate and Bride Valley Vineyard amongst others. The list not only includes gems from local producers but exciting wines from smaller European wineries. Many are available by the glass to encourage diners to experiment throughout their meal. The list will change and evolve throughout the year to keep it as fresh and seasonal as the menu.
Weyfish
Catch is part of a group of businesses which include Weyfish, Weymouth’s traditional harbourside fishmonger, also based in the historic Old Fish Market (in fact, diners pass through the fishmongers on their way to the tables).The majority of their fish is sourced hyper-locally and sustainably with the majority of the town’s fleet using lines, nets, and pots only – producing very little in the way of by-catch or discards. Weyfish went on to spawn an e-commerce platform for national home deliveries, and has its own fish van that sells fresh fish in Dorchester twice weekly. Hatch on the Harbour is located in a downstairs corner of the Fish Market and serves fresh seafood-on-the-go. Specialising in street food dishes whose changing menu can include fish tacos, crispy grilled squid and BBQ lobster which can all to be enjoyed on the quayside.
About Mike Naidoo
The kitchen team at Catch are led by Chef Mike Naidoo who has moved to Dorset to take up his first Head Chef role at the restaurant. Formerly at Jason Atherton’s Michelin starred Pollen Street Social and a number of years career across number of other well-known restaurants Purefoy Arms at Preston Candover and The Chesil Rectory in Winchester. Mike grew up just across the border in the New Forest and after studying physiotherapy he was lured into kitchens of local restaurants and decided to follow a career in hospitality.
He says of Catch: “Here, the supply chain is right on our doorstep: the Weymouth fleet; the most amazing growers and micro-producers. People who really care about quality. Our menu shifts and changes throughout the calendar – just as it should do.”
Brassica Restaurant & Mercantile, Dorset
Brassica Restaurant is not what you might expect from a country restaurant in the small Dorset town of Beaminster, not far from the Jurassic Coast. It’s a confluence of good food and good design led by culinary and design double act, Cass Titcombe, and his wife Louise Chidgey. The couple describes the restaurant as an extension of their own home, where you can enjoy Cass’s skilled cooking showcasing amazing local produce in an intimate setting with a convivial atmosphere effortlessly created by Louise’s use of colour, pattern and lighting.
“It is a simple, deft cooking, with attention to detail” Jay Rayner, The Observer 2015
Brassica presents the very best food, beautifully cooked, with pride but without pretension.
The menu evolves daily and features seasonal produce cooked simply, with a strong Mediterranean influence, and with a refined edge. The majority of the ingredients are produced within 15 miles and much of it is organic - you’ll find Devon Ruby Beef from Haye Farm; organic dairy from Dorset’s Liberty Dairy’ fish, seafood from Lyme Bay and vegetables grown a few miles down the road. Typical main courses may be: Organic Devon Ruby steak frîtes with black garlic; Spaghettini with crab, lobster, chilli and basil; Asparagus with Jersey Royals, parmesan & pickled wild garlic’ or Cod fillet with chickpeas, cavolo nero and aioli.
Brassica won The Good Food Guide Award for Best Local Restaurant South West in 2020.
“All the signs of a chef slipping out of the constraints of a formula and just cooking what he fancies, using fine local produce.” Tracey Macleod, The Independent 2015
Cass, who co-founded Canteen in London in 2005, published the Canteen cookbook in 2010 and Louise, previously a buyer at The Conran Shop and manager/design manager for Tom Conran Restaurants, upped sticks from a hectic London life in 2014 to open their own restaurant in this beautiful corner of Dorset. A long search for the right site, led them to Beaminster Square to a Grade II listed building, which featured in Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles. The building manages to be both light and airy in summer, and warm and cosy in winter.
Nextdoor, Louise has opened Brassica Mercantile, an understated food & homes shop in the with a carefully curated collection of homewares sourced from her favourite designers across the world - there are textiles, tableware, ceramics & glassware and books. You’ll also find food from local farms and producers and cheese, charcuterie and more from Italy and Spain. There are handmade meals prepared by Cass which change daily but may include aubergine melazana, fish pies and soups. If you can’t make it to Dorset, the beautiful collection is available from their online shop.
Brassica is a true family business, with Louise’s father, Graham Chidgey, who led wine merchants Laytons Fine Wines for nearly 30 years, curating the wine list of mainly Old World Wines.
Brassica Restaurant & Mercantile
4-5 The Square, Beaminster, Dorset DT8 3AS
https://brassicarestaurant.co.uk/
Cass Titcombe - Chef Director
Cass is best known a co-founder of micro London chain Canteen in 2005 and as author of Canteen: Great British Food (Ebury Press 2010). After leaving Canteen he consulted with some leading hospitality brands before upping sticks from London to Dorset in 2014 to start a new life and open his own restaurant Brassica in 2014.
Cass began his career in the 1980s at the renowned Hole In The Wall, Circus and Woods restaurants in Bath. In 1994 he moved to London to the celebrated Daphne’s in South Kensington and went on to found The Collection and Pasha for Mogens Tholstrup.
Louise Chidgey - Co-founder/Director
Louise co-founded Brassica with her partner Cass Titcombe in 2014 fleeing a hectic life in London juggling being a mother with a career in interiors and lifestyle with plenty of intonational travel. Louise has not only established the restaurant but launched homes & food shop and online store Brassica Mercantile combining her love of good design and good food.
Louise is one of the UK’s leading design and retail creatives, with expertise in home, interiors and lifestyle. She has extensive experience in the retail sector as well as the influential global trend forecasting business.
After working as a senior buyer for The Conran Shop she became manager/design manager for Tom Conran Restaurants, Marks & Spencer and Selfridges. From 2005-2014 she gained an international reputation as global trend forecasting at WGSN.com and in product design at agency Stylus.com.
Graham Chidgey - Wine Consultant
Louise’s father Graham, held a long a prestigious career in the wine trade 1953. In 1965 Graham took over a small London merchant, Laytons Fine Wines, which he ran successfully until its sale in 1997. He’s also worked with Laytons Fine Wines, André Simon and Malmaison Wine Club. Following the sale of Laytons, Graham moved to Tuscany where he extended the sales potential for Montalcino, Chianti Classico and Piedmont. He also move do to West Dorset in 2014 with his wife, the painter Angela Chidgey
Walnut Tree Inn, Abergavenny
Michelin-star restaurant in Wales with Chef Shaun Hill
Michelin-starred restaurant led by legendary chef Shaun Hill
The Walnut Tree Inn is an iconic Michelin-starred restaurant with cottages led by legendary chef Shaun Hill set in the rolling Welsh hills near Abergavenny and close to the English border. The Walnut Tree has held a Michelin Star since 2010 and is renowned for its unpretentious food served in an elegant but informal setting. Hill’s food is rich in classical techniques and carefully sourced ingredients, yet feels simple and of the
moment.
The Walnut Tree has been known as a food-lovers destination since the early 1960s when it was owned and run by Franco Taruschio. Shaun Hill arrived in 2008 to start a new era for the restaurant. Shaun, was previously chef owner of The Merchant House which, with its Michelin Star and reputation as one of the best restaurants in the country during the 1990s, put Ludlow on the gastronomic map.
After nearly 50 years, Shaun Hill is still found in the kitchen every day. He creates menus featuring the kind of food he likes to eat himself, food that is designed to show off an ingredient and cooked the way it’s meant to be. Dishes are rooted in classical culinary tradition but feel simple and contemporary with a great understanding of flavours and balance. Shaun makes use of first class ingredients, including wonderful local beef and game, British fish and seafood and some fine French cheeses.
The Michelin Guide describes The Walnut Tree as “an iconic restaurant with an illustrious past. Its location in the rolling borderlands of Wales makes it a destination kind of a place and its loyal band of regulars is testament to the quality of the cooking. The owners run it with heart and soul and, with its cosy open-fired bar and dining room hung with colourful art, it’s hard not to love it too.”
Menus change daily but include the like of Scallops with lentil and coriander sauce; Rabbit fricassée; Cod with cauliflower and hazelnut dressing; Middle White pork loin with black pudding and cromesqui; Orange and almond cake with milk ice cream and fig tart with honey and ricotta ice cream. The wine list favours small and artisan makers, with house Champagnes from Billecart-Salmon.
The Walnut Tree Inn https://www.thewalnuttreeinn.com/
Llanddewi Skirrid, Abergavenny, Monmouthshire, NP7 8AW UK
Awards
Michelin Guide: 1 Star since 2010
3 AA Rosettes
Estrella Damm National Restaurant Awards - ranked in the Top 100
Shaun Hill:
The Caterer – Lifetime Achievement Award 2019
Observer Food Monthly Awards – Lifetime Achievement Aware in 2014
The Angel Hotel, Abergavenny
Elegant hotel and fine dining in South Wales
The Angel Hotel is a luxurious, family-run hotel located in the centre of Abergavenny. It’s just been included in The Sunday Times Top 100 Hotels. A former coaching inn, the hotel has offered hospitality to locals and travellers for nearly 200 years. The Griffiths family acquired the hotel in 2002 and have transformed it to the contemporary and stylish establishment it is today, offering warm hospitality and special touches to make guests’ experience extra special.
The 31 bedrooms and four self-contained cottages have sleek contemporary furnishings, Villeroy & Boch or Fired Earth bathrooms, and pocket-sprung mattress with silky Percale bed linens & extra fluffy towels. The public areas feature bespoke furniture and original art curated by Pauline Griffiths, who runs The Art Shop a few steps away.
Seasonal modern British food is served in the formal Oak Room dining room and Foxhunter Bar which offers a traditional ambience with a modern twist
Gareth Ward at Ynyshir
Michelin-star restaurant and rooms in Wales
Ynyshir is a Michelin star, 5 AA* rosette restaurant and rooms in Wales. Chef Owner, Gareth Ward, is the Good Food Guide’s Chef of the Year 2019 and regularly cited as one of the most exciting chefs in the country.
Gareth Ward’s philosophy is ‘Ingredient Led, Flavour Driven, Fat Fuelled, Meat Obsessed’. Ynyshir is all about great food, great music and amazing drinks. Ward describes it as: ‘fun dine’ rather than ‘fine dine’.Ward is passionate about using the best British ingredients to create dining experiences rather than just a meal. He doesn’t adhere to traditional culinary rules with every small dish taking you on a journey of flavours, textures and ingredients.
Chef Gareth Ward is passionate about using the best ingredients including local meat, foraged herbs and berries - for example tapping all the birch in their grounds to make syrup or the whole team taking a day out to harvest and preserve wild garlic for the year ahead. He is also known for his use of Japanese techniques and ingredients like miso, dashi, mirin and soy which enable him to get as much flavour as possible out of the other ingredients while keeping the dishes light. Ward is renowned for his dedication to ageing meat to improve its flavour and texture and Ynyshir is the first restaurant in the UK to have a fully-wrap around Himalayan Salt Chamber.
Tucked away between the golden sands of Borth Beach and the rugged mountains of Snowdonia National Park in Wales, Ynyshir’s location makes it the perfect remote escape for food lovers looking for a completely unique culinary experience. The dining experience takes guests on a creative journey through Wales and the British Isles, surprising and delighting their taste buds with every dish.
Chef: Andrew Sheridan
Andrew Sheridan is an up and coming chef who represented Wales on Great British Menu in 2018 and was branded ‘the maverick chef’ for his unconventional approach. He scored a couple of 10s from Paul Ainsworth and the other judges.
Sosban is housed in striking Victorian Pumphouse close to the sea at Llanelli. Since he arrived in autumn last year, he’s transformed the food leading on tasting menus which play with intriguing flavours, textures and temperatures.
Sosban is one of the most exciting restaurants in Wales. Andrew and his team create menus that connect diners with each dish either through memories, taste or seasons. Andrew cooks with flair and imagination, combining bold flavours with intriguing textures and temperatures to create a memorable experience all served in a relaxed environment.
Andrew believes that each dish should tell a story - torched mackerel for example, is reminiscent of barbecuing fresh fish on the beach. He says “My philosophy is simple: I use the best possible ingredients to create dishes that emphasise seasonal flavours and excite the palate. Whether that is the freshest seafood, seasonal fruit and vegetables or the best quality meat, every item on the menu is meticulously sourced and each plate is designed to intrigue and excite our diners.”
Sosban is becoming renowned for its four- and seven-course tasting menus (with vegetarian versions). The menu features some of Andrew’s signature dishes such as Cod Five Ways, cabbage puree, salt and vinegar chips; and Pembrokeshire Goat, torched cucumber, caramelised goats cheese and wild garlic and his elevated apple rice-pudding made famous when it scored 10 points from judges on the Great British Menu.