The Lavender House
Local game, seafood and meat are the hallmarks of Richard and Sue Hughes's latest restaurant, the Lavender House in Norfolk. In fact, the menu is so flexible and responsive to local produce that it often changes daily, depending on availability.
When I spoke to chef-proprietor Richard, he was in raptures about some recently delivered game - a couple of freshly shot wild pigeons brought in by a local farmer ("they're likely to find their way on to tonight's menu"). But then, he has always been passionate about using only the best, local and seasonal produce - the couple won a Catey in 1994 for Menu of the Year at their previous restaurant, Number Twenty-Four in Wymondham, Norfolk, for their East Anglian-inspired food.
Richard has stayed true to his guiding principles at his new venture, producing tasty, rustic dishes heavily influenced by offal and game. Indeed, he's using far more game and offal at the Lavender House than he did at Number Twenty-Four - for example, pigeons (of course), but also rabbit. "These ingredients have definitely come back into fashion," he says.
In many ways, the food fits perfectly with the architecture and location of the Lavender House, which sits on the outskirts of Norwich at Brundall in the Norfolk Broads. It's a Grade II-listed building and looks every bit the classic English cottage, with its thatched roof, low ceilings, and exposed beams. No surprise, then, to see dishes such as faggot of lamb shoulder with mushy peas and onion jam, or the regular appearance of East Anglian pork on the menu.
The Lavender House operates a three-course, fixed-price for £29.95. Richard sends out extra tasters between the courses, such as an amuse-bouche cup of celeriac, smoked Cheddar and Norfolk Nog (a local dark ale) cream, an elderflower granita, or a pre-dessert (maybe apple and tarragon pur‚e with oats and vanilla custard).
The menu offers five starters, five mains and four desserts, and the 40-seat restaurant is currently selling about 150 covers a week, despite opening only five nights and at Friday lunchtime. The Hugheses are confident they could easily do more and are currently trying to get planning permission for another 25 covers and an extension to the small kitchen.
They introduced the set-price fixed menu when they moved to the restaurant in November 2002, which Richard recalls caused a bit of a stir with the local customers, who were used to an enormous menu with something like 50 main courses.
Richard adds that he has to adopt a softly, softly approach with his customers. "We try not to be too off-the-wall," he says, "as it's a fairly conservative audience. It's more a question of trying to broaden guests' horizons without them knowing it."
Currently flying out the door is the braised leg and grilled fillet of rabbit, served with a broth of Bramley apple juice, prunes and pearl barley, and Colman's mustard dumplings (recently featured on Rick Stein's Food Heroes). Richard recommends a 1999 Benton Lane Pinot Noir as a good pairing from the restaurant's 110 bins.
On Saturday night, more traditional dishes, such as the peppered fillet of beef, served with bubble-and-squeak, Binham Blue cheese fritter, parsnip chips and Famous Grouse whisky, sell well, as does the roasted rack of English lamb with boulangŠre potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, creamed garlic and lamb's kidneys.
Working alongside Richard in the kitchen is 23-year-old Richard Knights and 17-year-old trainee Simon Hilburn. Knights, who is rated highly by Hughes, is given a free hand when it comes to desserts. Currently, warm ginger cake, apple sorbet and pear pur‚e is a good seller, as is the brioche pudding, apricot fritters and jam sauce.
"We've had a lot of very positive feedback about the desserts," the chef-proprietor says. "Richard is very dedicated and makes all the petits fours by hand." n
The Lavender House restaurant, 39 The Street, Brundall, Norfolk NR13 5AA. Tel: 01603 712215.
What's on the menu Fixed price: three courses, £29.95
- Norfolk pork three ways: spiced slow-cooked belly, ham hock in scrumpy jelly, pig's ear and lentil salad, beetroot pur‚e
- Baked Cromer crab thermidor, cheese straws
- Roasted fillet of longshore skate, soft polenta, shellfish minestrone, crispy leeks
- Winter vegetable tart with goat's cheese, hazelnut, apple and honey, pumpkinseed oil
- Rhubarb jelly and custard
- Brioche pudding, apricot fritters, jam sauce
Chef's Cheat Steep legs and shoulder of rabbit in Bramley apple juice for five days - the acid in the apple juice really breaks it down. You can then braise the meat in the oven for about 90 minutes and it's perfectly tender.
