In February 2011 we were fortunate enough to be approached by Mr & Mrs Hardman of East Lodge Hotel where they explained their great ideas for a new culinary concept to sit alongside a £¼ million kitchen refurbishment – a Chef’s Table.
With awards for excellent customer service and a restaurant boasting 2 AA Rosettes this was something we couldn’t refuse. Indigo owner Dave Castle and Creative Director Abi List spent hours with East Lodge’s passionate owner Iain Hardman looking at how the table could work so it would comfortably seat up to 8 diners and allow their Head Chef Simon Bradely access to the table so that he could explain his fantastic dishes to the expectant diners while still providing them with our unique brand of Indigo style.
After several weeks of reworked ideas and drawings the Chef’s table design was handed over to our craftsmen to be engineered and produced from our stunning Riven Oak. As usual they didn’t let the team down and as you can see from the images the concept works a treat particularly with the table paired with our simple but beautiful Vintage Leather Baby Rollback Diners.
The table allows up to 8 diners to sit comfortably and watch Simon the Head Chef and his team create wondrous culinary delights first hand as well as allowing their in house wine sommelier serve up the very finest complimenting drinks.
Six of the Indigo team were lucky enough to experience the Chef’s Table first hand with a Taster menu accompanied by hand picked wines for each of the 8 courses. The evening started off with home smoked salmon canapés and a glass of beautifully crisp and refreshing prosecco which only made us all drool in anticipation of what was yet to come!
Plate after plate of beautifully presented food were put in front of us and promptly devoured! These included dishes such as a Duo of tiger prawns which were steamed and seared with sherry braised aubergine, spring onion and ginger, Chatsworth venison finely chopped with wild garlic purée, crispy dripping, a salad of micro herbs and shoots with toasted rye bread and Baked fillet of Cornish turbot with pea purée, pickled cucumber, tartare garnish, new potatoes tossed with caviar and a tempura turbot beignet….mmmm…mmmm! To compliment every course was a different delicious dish including local ales, velvety Italian reds and a stunning crisp Chablis.
Information on each dish was readily available from Simon the chef, while Dominic our fabulous waiter was on hand for our every need. The whole experience was certainly out of the ordinary and starting at £65 per head – certainly something to savour!
For any enquiries on dining at the Chef’s Table please give the team at East Lodge Hotel a 01629 734474 or visit their website www.eastlodge.com.
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