DECK THE HALLS...
BY PAUL ASKEW, CHEF PATRON OF
THE ART SCHOOL RESTAURANT
Our Festive menu is in full swing as we open the restaurant on
a Monday for the remaining weeks of December (23, 30). We’ve
welcomed a fresh set of university graduates in the early days
of the month and our lunchtime services have been busy with
early Christmas shoppers enjoying some gastronomic serenity
amongst the hustle and bustle of last minute gift buying. Our
private spaces have hosted family and office parties and will
play host to many more before the month of December is out.
This is by far the busiest month of the year for us and takes a
considerable amount of logistical planning. We have a strong
brigade at the restaurant, both in the front of house and in the
kitchen, and the busy period will see a balancing of the rotas,
particularly as we’ll be open on a Monday too.
I take a great deal of pride in our culinary offer and so the
deliveries from our loyal army of producers and suppliers will
gather pace. Although we’ve expanded our development kitchen
space with the private dining room kitchen and cellars prep
kitchen, we’ll still have two or even three deliveries a day of fresh
produce before and between service.
After the festive period the restaurant will close for some well-
earned rest from New Years day and open again on Wednesday
9th January 2020. The break is something I’ve done since
48 wirrallife.com
we opened and gives the team and I a chance to recharge our
batteries, undertake some basic housekeeping in the restaurant
and start to think about menus for the forthcoming year.
January promises to be a culinary treat to blow away the winter
blues. I’ve arranged a series of guest chef evenings to team up
with some of my friends and best Chefs around.
We start with…
TOM PARKER