FOOD
New menus on offer at refurbished
Baker Street Kitchen
An ambitious restaurateur has re-launched his first venture eatery with
an impressive refurbishment less than a year after taking it over.
Baker Street Kitchen owner Simon Fletcher,
who has re-opened the popular eatery after
a six-figure refurbishment.
BY MARTIN WALKER
S
imon Fletcher acquired Baker Street
Kitchen, on the corner of Baker Street
and Albert Road in Middlesbrough,
last July and quickly developed a plan to
relaunch it with exciting new menus, to
include weekend evenings.
He closed the already popular cafe for two
weeks to give the place a new look.
And since re-opening in early April he
has created nine new jobs to accommodate
his updated food offerings, taking the total
number of full and part-time staff to 21.
They include new head chef James
Thorburn, who has previously worked at
Cena, Muse and The Cleveland Tontine,
and new manager Georgina Cornelius,
who previously worked at Rockliffe Hall’s
Brasserie.
Simon, formerly the manager of
Cena in Yarm, is now hoping to tap into
Middlesbrough’s thriving weekend economy.
He said: “It’s definitely a busy market, but
I think Middlesbrough is up-and-coming
and the council is very active in supporting
local business, including great events like the
Orange Pip Market and Restaurant Week and
also developing schemes for office workers.
“Weekday nights aren’t always as busy,
which is why we’ve focused on weekends and
our weekday offering to start with, but we’re
doing very well already and business has
really picked up since we made the changes.”
It’s been a whirlwind start to life as a
restaurant owner for the Sheffield-born
aspiring entrepreneur, who only moved to
Teesside a few years ago.
“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,
even when I was younger,” he added.
“I studied at catering college in Sheffield
and worked in a Michelin star restaurant
before work brought me up here.
“I helped the management of Cena open
in 2014 and was with them for just over three
years, but then I decided I was ready for the
next step to do something different.”
Simon was quick to put his own stamp on
Baker Street Kitchen, although he added:
“I’d already had lots of ideas, but I wanted to
get settled in, get to know the customers and
what they like, which is why we decided to
introduce the evening menu on weekends to
start with.
“But now we have a lot of options for
customers both during the day and on
weekends, so we’re confident it’ll pay off.
“We’re also planning to host events such
as gin nights, live music and wine tastings.”
Food on the new daytime menu at
Baker Street Kitchen now includes all
day breakfasts, omelettes, jacket potatoes,
sandwiches, toasties and salads.
And on the evening menu, dishes
include starters of mussels arrabiata,
risotto, and a sharing board, and main
courses of lamb rump, seabass, seafood
linguini and classics like pie of the day and
burgers. Roast dinners are also served on
Sundays.
Baker Street Kitchen is now open 8am-
7pm Monday to Thursday, 8am-11pm on
Fridays, 9am-11pm Saturdays and 9am-
4pm Sundays.
Menus can be viewed online and tables can be booked at bakerstreetkitchen.com or by calling 01642 210404.
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