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Richard Bainbridge
King’s Lynn brown shrimps
plate of food, it is truly inspired by the locality. “One thing I learnt from Galton and Tracy is to make the most of this beautiful county we live in,” he says. With a small team front and back of house, customers can expect the same enthusiastic delivery from Bainbridge’s two chefs, who will help serve the dishes: “No one is more passionate about the food than the chefs who have just cooked it,” he explains. Bainbridge’s dish of guinea fowl, sliced truf-
fle, pistachio pilaf rice, roasted carrots and roasted crackle onions with a lobster bisque that won him plaudits on the Great British Menu 2013 has made the transition from Mor- ston, having become something of a signature dish, but Bainbridge is more excited to talk about a “beautiful, light summer starter” that has hit the menu recently. King’s Lynn brown shrimp – “the best in
the world in my opinion” – are seasoned with some salt and lemon, then the kitchen strains some local buttermilk and makes an agar-set jelly out of the whey. Whole buttermilk is then put through a gun, and accompanied on the plate with some burnt onion powder – cooked
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From the menu
À la carte menu: two courses for £29, three courses for £36
Starters Norfolk mussels, Morston samphire, spelt scraps, potato, chervil Suckling pig, its own broth, broad beans, scorched baby gem, quark
Mains 4-hour slow roasted celeriac, fresh truffle, sorrel, coffee, lemon butter sauce Sheringham-caught wild sea bass or grey mullet, new season turnip, yoghurt, lemon, Jersey Royals, passion fruit
Desserts Hay-baked panna cotta, Sharrington raspberries, elderflower, dill Spiced roasted pineapple, compressed pineapple, lemongrass, ginger, almonds
in the oven for 12 hours then blended up to make a bitter, sweet salt flavour – and a lemon purée, made from lemons blanched in water then sugar syrup, then blitzed for a citrusy, sharp puree that goes underneath the dish. Asked about his favourite dessert on the menu, Bainbridge is especially effusive about a pick from his £20 set lunch menu: “It’s an old- fashioned classic lemon tart. We cook it to order every lunch; it comes out the oven at 12.15pm, so we serve it when it’s just set and warm. Sim- plest, cleanest dessert you can do. It’s a good insight into who we are as a restaurant and who I am a chef, because I am quite classically trained but also have those modern touches.” From day one, Benedicts has pretty much hit the ground running. “The only night we’re not fully booked this week is Wednesday. And Friday and Saturday lunches are booked up, too,” says the chef, speaking in early July. “It’s incredible how everyone is getting on board and enjoying what we’re doing.” 9 St Benedicts Street, Norwich, NR2 4PE 01603 926 080
www.restaurantbenedicts.com
31 July 2015 | The Caterer | 51
ADRIAN FRANKLIN/HOSPITALITY MEDIA
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