Keen on sampling the
creations of some of the UK’s most talented chefs? This month’s crop of new and upcoming launches has something for everyone – from intricate Welsh flavours and superb fresh seafood to high-flying
seasonal wizardry in a country-house pile and the very best of modern British pub food.
There’s good news from the Welsh coast, where fans of Michelin-starred James Sommerin (ex-The Crown at Whitebrook) have been eagerly awaiting the opening of his restaurant-with-rooms. Initially planned
for late 2013, we can announce that Restaurant James Sommerin on The Esplanade in Penarth is now open
for business. The chef’s new venture occupies a stunning purpose-built complex overlooking the Severn Estuary, and he is already creating quite a buzz locally with his multi-course tasting
menus.
Heading for Cornwall? Then you might like to know that Nathan Outlaw (pictured above) has teamed up with Sharp’s Brewery to take over The Mariners Rock pub down the road from his two-Michelin starred Restaurant Nathan Outlaw in Rock’s St Enodoc Hotel. The pub is a first for both the chef and the brewery. It
will open in mid-June after some refurbishment (to make the most of the Camel Estuary views), and will be headed by former Michelin-starred chef Paul Ripley, who was involved in opening Outlaw’s Fish Kitchen in Port Isaac. Outlaw now has five venues under his belt – four in Cornwall and one in
London (Outlaw’s at The Capital).
It’s also opening number five for the Nye family’s Anglian Country Inns group (famed for that north Norfolk favourite, The White Horse, Brancaster Staithe). Their latest launch, Water Lane in Bishop’s Stortford, is a feel-good, all-day bar/restaurant that speaks volumes for the versatility of the
modern pub, and takes inspiration from the group’s hugely successful Hermitage Rd in nearby Hitchin. Expect a
flexible menu and some fabulously fresh Norfolk seafood.
Last September we identified George Blogg as one of the UK’s rising culinary stars. Later this month, he will swap the boutique-style Hotel Terravina in the New Forest for a many-gabled Elizabethan pile deep in the Sussex countryside. Gravetye Manor was one of the pioneers of the country-house hotel genre (think ‘Ye Olde England’ meets House &
Garden), though its fortunes have been mixed of late. Having honed his skills with Philip Howard at The Square
and David Everitt Matthias at Le Champignon Sauvage, this is a great opportunity for the young chef to
raise the bar even further and restore Gravetye’s fortunes to their former glory.
And in a surprise move, Dominic Chapman, who represented the South West region in the current series of the BBC’s Great British Menu, has left the Michelin-starred Royal Oak in Paley Street, Berkshire following a highly successful seven-year tenure in the kitchen. He has just acquired
another pub in the county – The Beehive in White Waltham. Meanwhile, his place at the stoves has been taken by the Royal Oak’s long-standing sous-chef Michael Chapman (no relation), who was
considered the natural successor by owners Sir Michael Parkinson and his son Nick.