ROOTS TO RESTAURANT

Cauliflower cheese, rose veal, blood orange: such stuff as dreams are made on! Rob’s new seven course tasting menu offers a refined tasting experience. Here MD James talks us through what’s on the menu.

‘As our business is maturing there’s an increasing sense of rigour in everything we do here. This tasting menu has been through a level of testing, of sitting down and eating it, that we’ve never had the opportunity to give to it before. It’s not just about what each individual dish is communicating to the customer, but about the relationships between the dishes: the richness, acidity, sweetness.

‘How do we ensure that the menu flows appropriately? That’s where our focus has been this time. Now that we’ve finalised the menu there’s room for opinion, and it’s really interesting to hear from guests how they experience it. We’ve made decisions with real care, the menu is not just something that’s been thrown together. Instead, we’ve made an increasing effort to ensure that dishes have a sense of place; that they strongly evoke a Victorian English country house with a walled garden. Our aim is to showcase this kind of walled garden produce with real flare, whilst also allowing people to enjoy real indulgences. This is embodied in our ‘cauliflower cheese,’ where cauliflower sits beside really good black truffle. It’s been a case of tasting, tasting, tasting – not just the dishes – but the whole menu (which has a whole new consequence for our waistlines!)

‘Rob and I are proud of how the four and seven courses have come together as a concept. The four course is more familiar for our customers. It allows them to try slightly larger dishes that they’re able to savour. The seven course has a degree of experience that goes above and beyond. Guests are trying a different range of flavours and textures. That’s exciting!

‘Our tasting menus always start with a dish that’s seasonal; that represents the very typical produce that you see coming from a traditional British walled garden: beetroot, asparagus and tomato really mark the seasons. Frequently on the seven course we’ll also showcase game or a bird that’s a little more unusual and not as familiar for home cooking.

Squab, red cabbage, hazelnut

I ask James what his favourite dish on the new seven course tasting menu is. He cracks a wide smile and looks at me as though I’ve asked him to choose between his children…

‘That’s a really difficult question. I honestly hugely believe in this menu. Every dish shows a real love of skill and excitement. This menu does include my all-time favourite dessert, the likes of which I’ve never eaten anywhere else in the world: Rob’s blood orange and white chocolate.’

Blood orange, white chocolate aero, star anise

 

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