Sharers
House-baked breads, marinated olives, Cranborne
Chase rapeseed oil, balsamic
Matt: I’ve used a lot of rapeseed oil and
Cranborne Chase’s is probably one of the best I’ve
used – it’s much stronger. You get some that are
produced commercially and they’re not as strong.
With the bread, it’s all using good quality flours
from Shipton Mill.
out
eat
Bar Bites
Smoked haddock Scotch eggs, curried mayonnaise
Matt: The Fluffet Farm egg is a good quality,
large, free range egg. It costs a little bit more, but
the yolk is much richer than any other egg, as the
chickens roam around a lot, they’ve got a big area.
Luke: The haddock is from the Fjordling
smokehouse - we make a mousse out of it with
cream and egg.
Platters
Fjordling Smokehouse
smoked salmon, mackerel,
trout, eel with pickled
cucumber, toast and
caper berries
Matt: The fish has a very
strong flavour – the smoked
salmon is so good. It’s a
really good, traditional,
independent smokehouse,
using good tasting fish, and
only 10-15 miles away. The
eel is quite expensive but
we only use a small amount
of that as it’s quite a strong
tasting fish. We’re just
giving people different
tastes of the smokehouse.
Classic
Battered haddock, triple
cooked chips, crushed pea
tartare sauce
Matt: The fish is sourced
from a small fishing boat
in Poole harbour, and they
always have specials. It’s
as fresh as it gets. We use
Badger Ale for the batter
of the fish. When we had
shin of beef on the menu,
I used beer to braise it in
beer, too.
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Small Plates or
Larger
Goat’s curd, gingerbread,
cranberry, baby pear and
granola, crispy onions
Matt: It’s all about the
goat’s curd. It’s from near
Wincanton, and I source
that through our veg
company - Country Fare.
It’s a really nice goat’s curd.
Luke: It’s very strong, very
creamy, very crumbly. It’s
quite a fruity dish, all very
seasonal, and all those
flavours complement each
other really well.
Land & Sea
Choice of sirloin and rib
eye steak from Walter Rose
and Wimborne butcher
P. Keating, Triple cooked
chips, mushroom tomato
and garlic butter
Matt: Everything from
Walter Rose is very good –
he supplies to Tom
Kerridge so it speaks for
itself really. P. Keating’s
quality is amazing – they
use red Devon beef sourced
from Kingston Lacy
National Trust estate. For
the steak, I wouldn’t mess
around with it. Simple;
seared in the pan, baste it
with garlic and rosemary,
thyme and butter.
Sides
Higher Holwell Cottage
mixed garden veg
Matt: Obviously we’re
using cavolo nero at the
moment – it’s bang in
season; purple sprouting
broccoli, the turnips,
all the root vegetables,
Chantenay carrots, swede.
We don’t mess around with
crazy cooking techniques.
Y’know, it’s blanching,
butter, seasoning, herbs.
Salads
Tarte fine of wild mushroom, baby beetroot,
roasted onion, Dorset Blue Vinney, glazed walnuts
Matt: Our wild mushrooms come from a company
called Country Fare in Bournemouth, but they buy
direct from a lady in the forest called Mrs T. She
forages over at the forest. It’s something I’d like to
do, but it’s a matter of having time and picking the
right mushrooms! We use ceps for this tart.
www.menu-dorset.co.uk