Cook House is a restaurant in Ouseburn near Newcastle, with a strong sustainable ethos. Chef-proprietor Anna Hedworth’s journey into food started with a blog, before she quit a career in architecture to open Cook House. The ethos takes inspiration from London restaurants like Quo Vadis and Rochelle Canteen, where Anna worked before returning to her home city to open Cook House.
Cook House is spread over two floors, and as well as a restaurant, also includes a terrace, a shop, a garden (which supplies herbs for the kitchen) and roof space, where Cook House plans to keep bee hives. Inside, the restaurant has been designed to feel homely and welcoming - brick walls have been whitewashed and painted with murals, and lighting comes via a mixture of pendant lights and natural light thanks to large windows.
The regularly changing menu at Cook House in Newcastle is seasonal, the produce and suppliers are local and it upholds a strong sustainable ethos. You can pop into Cook House at any time of day and you’ll find a menu on the go, whether it’s breakfast and brunch on weekend mornings, sharing plates at lunch or a full dinner menu in the evening. Cook House offers a huge range of choice between these menus - the lunch menu at the time of writing includes plates such as panzanella salad with peach, feta and elderflower dressing, spicy brown shrimp with kohlrabi and peanut salad, and tempura cauliflower with coconut curry sauce. The dinner menu includes some sharing plates, but also mains like grilled whole mackerel in kosho butter, and barbecue confit chicken thighs with nduja potato salad.
Meanwhile, the drinks team mix up lots of unique house cocktails, using herbs grown in the kitchen garden and other ingredients made in-house. There’s also a range of soft drinks (many of which are made in-house), local beers and wines, including a house wine on tap.