Comfort In A Touch Of Normality
We’ve recently found huge comfort in putting together our new menus for the new season - which for us falls from June until September.
Usually - we’d be in full swing with daily events at both The Chimney House and The Mowbray - but we’re using this time to be in touch with our guests and to plan for the times we can swing open our doors for you lovely lot!
Even though these are hugely uncertain times - it has been SO good touching into some sort of a normal groove - chatting menus, seasons, ingredients and our intention to surprise and delight our guests who come to us for meetings, weddings and private dining.
It has also been a great source of delight to our Head Office Team to be able to send out our menus to future bookings and be a part of their delight when they find out what’s going to be served at their event. It’s the small and simple things these days that have given us the most joy in what has been a very tricky time.
Evolution
As we’ve evolved The Mowbray Kitchen has really honed in on the ultimate Feasting table - here are our top 5 absolute musts for the perfect Feast!
A Focus On Seasonal & Sustainability
We only buy top quality ingredients with a well researched provenance. We focus our entire foodie ethos on the seasons - so if something’s not in season and isn’t sustainable - you won’t see it on our menus!
Plentitude
The table must always be laden with food - so our guests can pass, share and go in for seconds and thirds.
A Little Waste As Possible
One of the many joys of running events is that we know exactly how many people will be dining with us and who has dietary requirements. This means we’re able to control exactly how much food leaves the kitchen - limiting waste as much as possible.
Always Made From Scratch
We make our own bread, cakes, pickles - The Kitchen does their own curing, smoking, marinades. Nothing is bought in - it’s very important to us that our guests know this - and can taste the difference.
Always Delicious
Our Feasts are always fresh and delicious - the feedback from our guests is outstanding - and the whole team is incredibly proud to serve the highest standard of food - as well as never losing focus on creativity, presentation and the feel great factor…
Grow What We Can
We grow our own herbs, savouries and garnishes from our Roof Garden - we have plans to extend our growing capabilities this year - we did do some ‘test’ runs of Kale, Beets and Peas last year - so we’ll let you know what happens there! We also use fragrant edibles from our plant collection to flavour and infuse.
Over to The Mowbray Kitchen
We asked Emma & Matt to give us a flavour taster of some of their favourite bits from The Laden Table for June-September - please read with caution as this will make you hungry!
Kitchen Notes
During these months British & European produce is amazing, and we really wanted to be able to use as much of it as possible. The Laden Table is our signature menu, and we have really put an emphasis on making it seasonal and sustainable.
Each year the weather can bring forth gluts and shortages; it’s important to us to work with growers to bring this to the table.
Some of Our Favourites
Isle of Wight Tomatoes: The Tomato Stall in Arreton Valley has been growing the most amazing variety of tomatoes for 30 years. The combination of the unique island climate, and high levels of sunshine make them arguably the most delicious tomatoes grown in Britain. We are using them in a fresh salsa with delicious, sustainable mackerel for one of our starters.
Yellison Goat’s Curd: We love this cheese for its fresh, sharp taste and creamy texture. Beetroot and goat’s cheese is a classic combination, we confit our beets with garlic & herbs, and dress them with sherry vinegar.
Our Laden ‘sides to share’ outline the dishes we will serve, but this is where we can truly showcase our seasonal ethos.
Summer salad; A peppery, fresh salad of watercress, shaved radishes and kohl rabi when available. Kohl Rabi is a fairly strange and underused member of the Brassica family (same as broccoli). It is crunchy, nutty & slightly mustardy. Perfect for a fresh summery salad.
English Asparagus or sprouting broccoli, chargrilled & dressed with rapeseed oil & lemon (v, ve) The English asparagus season can come and go very quickly, so we will use it while we can! Unfortunately once the English crop runs out, suppliers tend to switch to Peruvian, so we would rather use tenderstem or purple sprouting broccoli.
Yorkshire Peas or Broad Beans with Pancetta, tossed with Spring Onions, Leeks or wild/wet garlic as available. Gorgeous garlic: during the British summer we get to use the various types of wet or green garlic available. Wild garlic signals the start of Summer, we’ll also see ‘3-cornered’ which is another wild ‘green’ variety. Younger garlic bulbs are also thinned out from the main crop, which are milder in flavour and a real summertime treat!
Best new potatoes: Jersey Royals are the most famous, but there also Anya, Cornish Kings & Pink Firs. We love potatoes, and a truly great potato only needs a little butter and sea salt - so that’s all we’re going to do with them.
Pudding Perfection
British berries are absolutely sublime! Our climate is (most of the time!) great for sweet yet tart strawberries, blueberries and our chef’s favorite; blackcurrants.
Peaches & raspberries are one of our favourite combinations - the Wye Valley raspberries are particularly good.
Our ‘Peach Melba’ Pav makes good use of them, with a brown sugar meringue & vanilla cream. Makin’s Yorkshire Strawberries are our favourite to toss with lavender sugar (using our rooftop crop, naturally) and serve with shortbread & cream - this was a big favourite last year!
Hungry For More? Get In Touch
If you'd like to see our new menus... Drop us a line to events@themowbray.co.uk
