The Dining Room at Squerryes

Native lobster from Cornwall

The Dining Room is a new restaurant in Kent focusing on a menu of British fish and seafood married with seasonal ingredients from the Squerryes estate and local and artisan producers.

Launching on 4 October 2019 for lunch and dinner, The Dining Room is set within the 2,500-acre Squerryes estate in Kent, combining a restaurant, tasting room, open terrace and a beautiful shaded pergola, overlooking the vines.

Situated in the Garden of England, at the gateway from London to Kent, Squerryes is a vineyard and winery producing award-winning sparkling wine. Reflecting the rich heritage and terroir of the North Downs, Squerryes signature Vintage Brut Reserve is made in the traditional method, using classic Champagne varietals. The resulting wine is fresh and clean with a rich intensity of orchard fruit and buttery brioche and is an ideal pairing for seafood and shellfish.

Small and large plates at The Dining Room include Cornish monkfish skewer, spider crab and garlic butter; pickled Jersey rock oysters, celery and dill and line caught John Dory, spelt risotto and sauce vierge. All fish is sustainable, seasonal, straight from the boat.

Many of the other kitchen ingredients come from nearby producers and suppliers such as Winterdale Shaw cheese and Pierce Mill cherries. Wild ingredients such as elderflower, cobnuts and blackberries are foraged fresh on the estate.

Estate Executive Chefs Chris Reeves and David Marsaud source seafood for the menu direct from boats that fish the British coastal waters. Oysters come from Whitsable and Colchester while native lobsters, brown and spider crabs, mackerel, bass and turbot come from Wild Harbour in north Cornwall, which supplies only sustainable and traceable fish and shellfish direct from the fishing community. The menu also includes vegetarian and vegan options including roast golden and choggia beetroot, goat’s cheese, radish and shallot.

For more information, images or a press visit to The Dining Room and winery please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room PR hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361.

Squerryes Winery
Beggars Lane | Westerham | Kent | TN16 1QP
Reservations  01959 562345 | celebrations@squerryes.co.uk

Open hours
Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday for lunch from midday to 4pm
Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings from 6.30pm-11pm

Goatober 2019

Three international chefs will cook a week long residency each at Carousel, London.

Events and dinners using goat meat in London, New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, Melbourne and Trinidad and Tobago

London launch night at Brigade Bar + Kitchen with Pete Denhart, Gizzi Erskine, Calum Franklin and Karan Gokani
International chef residencies at Carousel, London from New York, Melbourne and Belgium
Dinners and events in the UK including London, Newcastle and Cornwall
International events across the world

Goatober, the month-long goat meat celebration held every year in October, has become an international food festival bringing together dairies, farmers, NGOs and individuals who are passionate about ending food waste in the goat dairy system. This October, there are events and dinners all over the world with one aim: put more goat meat on the menu and put all male goats born into the dairy system into the food system.

James Whetlor, founder of Cabrito Goat Meat and International Director of Goatober says, “Goatober spreads the word that goat meat is delicious, ethical and sustainable. The hope is to move goat meat into the mainstream with the goal that all billy goats born into the dairy system, anywhere in the world, will go into the food system, rather than being wasted. Goatober now has events in the UK, USA, Europe, Australia and the Caribbean. There is also interest from chefs in India and Brazil to get involved. It’s amazing and hugely satisfying to see what can happen when dairies, suppliers and chefs work together to try and solve the food waste issue in this part of food system.”

Goatober London launch night at Brigade Bar + Kitchen on 1 October
On 1 October, four chefs will work together to create a goat meat menu at Brigade, a social enterprise restaurant set in a Grade II listed, former fire station on Tooley Street, London. Joining Brigade’s Head Chef Pete Denhart to each cook a course is chef and food writer Gizzi Erksine; executive head chef of The Holborn Dining Room Calum Franklin and Karan Gokani, director of Sri Lankan restaurant Hoppers. This special one night only event is £65 per person and includes a charity donation to Beyond Food Foundation.

Central to Brigade’s ethos is the idea of ‘good food doing good’. Through its partnership with Beyond Food Foundation, Brigade’s chefs work with members of the local community, using food as a catalyst to break the cycle of homelessness by helping vulnerable adults in London who have been at risk of, or experienced homelessness into meaningful and sustainable employment in the hospitality sector. Together, Brigade and Beyond Food have trained hundreds of apprentices into jobs and given thousands of homeless people new skills and their current cohort of apprentices – who are undertaking a two-year, fully qualified training programme at Brigade - will work alongside the chefs on the night of the London launch. www.thebrigade.co.uk

Pete Denhart, Head Chef at Brigade, commented: “Brigade’s menu centres on the best locally and sustainably sourced produce, cooked over woodfire and chargrill, so goat meat fits very naturally into that approach and we’re big fans of it. Plus, by buying in whole billy goats, butchering them in house and cooking a range of different dishes, we’re providing vital skills to our team. Being involved with events such as the Goatober London launch and having the opportunity to work alongside well-known chefs such as Gizzi, Calum and Karan is hugely inspirational and beneficial for our apprentices.”

Goatober at Carousel, London
For three weeks in October three international chefs will take up residency at Carousel showcasing how they cook goat meat in New York, Australia and Belgium, respectively. The open kitchen at Carousel in Marylebone, London, is home to an ever-changing line-up of talented chefs from around the world who share the same philosophy of amazing cooking, friendly service, a relaxed environment and a shared experience from one table to the next.

carousel-london.com  |  @Carousel_LDN
71 Blandford Street, Marylebone, London W1U 8AB
020 7487 5564

8-13 October at Carousel, London
TJ Steele, chef owner of Claro, Brooklyn, New York was born into an Italian family in New Jersey where he grew up cooking next to his mother and grandmother. He attended The Culinary Institute of America and moved to New York City in 2002. Within three years, at the age of 25, he was made Executive Sous Chef at Danny Meyer's landmark, award-winning Union Square Cafe. In 2012, TJ went to Oaxaca, Mexico to study, eat, and travel in the hopes of marrying his love of seasonal, farm-to-table cooking, with his love of Mexican gastronomy. In the summer of 2017, he opened Claro, a Oaxacan influenced restaurant in Gowanus, Brooklyn with an emphasis on seasonal cooking using corn, barbacoa, consommé and mezcal. Steele makes everything by hand, including the cheeses, chorizo and moles and masa. He is planting corn on his land in Oaxaca as well as working directly with Oaxacan farmers to source and import non-GMO heirloom corn.

Since opening, Steele has been awarded a Michelin star for Claro, named StarChefs Rising Star Chef and the reader’s choice winner for Eater Chef of the Year as well as Chef to Watch by Plate Magazine. The New York Times listed Claro as one of its top 10 restaurants of the year.

15-20 October at Carousel, London
Jesse Gerner, chef owner of a group of restaurants in Melbourne, Australia draws from a Spanish culinary influence after an inspiring six-month European road trip. Working in London, Jesse worked at Moro and River Café and immediately fell in love with Spanish and Muslim Mediterranean flavours. Upon returning to Australia, he opened Añada in 2008. Jesse has since launched Bomba Tapas Bar and Rooftop, Park Street Dining, Nómada Café y Tapas. A regular visitor to Spain, Jesse has cooked in some of its finest restaurants. Whether cooking alongside the chef at Barcelona’s Michelin starred Monvinic or celebrating 150 years of culinary heritage with the ancient Mutriku Gastronomic Society near San Sebastian, Jesse has honed his Spanish cooking techniques from the best chefs in Spain.

22-27 October at Carousel, London
Hendrik Dierendonck is one of Belgium’s best butchers and a meat connoisseur suppling some of the best restaurants in the Netherlands and also his own restaurant, Carcasse. His farm-to-table knowledge is behind Carcasse's Michelin star, which was awarded for Dierendonck's tender, flavourful main courses and imaginative, often surprising, side dishes. Craftsmanship, passion, terroir and 'nose-to-tail' are what’s important to Hendrik.

For more information on Goatober events including dinners at Palatino, 1251 and Bank Heist in London, Nancarrow in Cornwall, Broughgammon Farm in Northern Ireland and Cook House in Newcastle, visit www.Goatober.com and follow Goatober on Instagram.

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About Goatober
Wherever there are goat dairies around the world there are unwanted billy goats with a grim prognosis. Many are killed at birth.

Goatober originated in New York in 2011 and has grown in eight years to have events and participants all around the world, from London to Melbourne, from Amsterdam to Trinidad and Tobago. What started as a small campaign to prolong the lives of billy goats and to put a delicious, ethical meat on the menu has grown into an international campaign bringing together dairies, farmers, NGOs and individuals who are passionate about ending food waste in the goat dairy system.

In 2011, Erin Fairbanks had an idea. While working for Heritage Foods USA in Brooklyn, she and renowned cheesemaker Anne Saxelby wanted to end the practice of euthanising young male goats that the dairy industry had no use for. From this senseless waste Goatober was created and with it a month-long celebration of putting goat meat on the menu of New York restaurants. The campaign had quick success and now there are over 100 restaurants involved in Goatober from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Heritage Foods USA is the largest distributor of rare and heritage breed meats in the USA dedicated to supporting a network of over 50 family farmers who raise their livestock humanely, outdoors, on pasture and never with antibiotics or growth hormones. Its founder, Patrick Martins is also the founder of Slow Food USA and Heritage Radio Network.

Goatober was introduced in to the UK in 2016 by James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat and into mainland Europe in the following year. There are vibrant dairy industries across the UK and Europe who want to change the practice of euthanising and Goatober is part of the solution. The campaign aims to put a goat dish on restaurant menus and to encourage people to try cooking goat at home themselves, for all or part of October.

For more information about Goatober or for an interview with James Whetlor
at Cabrito Goat Meat please contact Hannah Blake
hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361

Goat meat is on the menu for Goatober.

August at The Small Holding

Trout, cucumber and horseradish on the August menu at The Small Holding

The Small Holding is a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders. The 26-cover restaurant was voted the best restaurant in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards and is set in one acre of land with raised beds, poly tunnels, pigs, ducks and chickens less than 10ft away from the kitchen. The restaurant’s own sheep, for hogget and mutton, graze less than half a mile away. The beds are heaving with lettuces, chard, beans and peas, tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries and blackcurrants.

Everything is home-made at The Small Holding for the Full Acre and Half Acre tasting menus, including bread and butter, yoghurt and ricotta or sourced hyper-locally such as Hinxden Cream which has a herd of pedigree Guernsey and Holstein Friesian cows in nearby Benenden. Ingredients are picked fresh before service and when there’s a glut, the kitchen preserves, pickles and jars. 

The August Full Acre sample menu is below, with full vegetarian and vegan menus available and costs £60 per person with an optional 4 glass wine pairing at £40 and 6 glass wine pairing at £60. The Half Acre menu is £30 per person.

[Images by Clare Winfield]

Cuttlefish, cauliflower, wild garlic
Courgette, yoghurt, chilli
Liver, onion, bacon
Trout, cucumber, horseradish
Oyster, kale, purslane
Tomato, ricotta, yarrow
Mutton, lettuce, potato
Buttermilk, bay, blackcurrant
Meadowsweet, raspberry, apricot
Cherry, fennel, woodruff

Cherry, fennel and woodruff; Liver, onion and bacon; tomato, ricotta and yarrow on the August menu at The Small Holding

James Whetlor from Cabrito cooks at 1000 Mouths

Nancarrow Farm’s 1000 Mouth returns for 2019 with James Whetlor from Cabrito

Nancarrow Farm Presents 1000 Mouths

The working organic farm near Truro, Cornwall celebrates 20 years of organic farming with a weekend of feasts and festivities this October.

-Taking place on 4-6 October, the event is the follow up to Nancarrow’s first 1000 Mouths event held in 2017
- Guest chefs include Michelin star chef Paul Ainsworth, Tom Griffiths, Ben Tish and James Whetlor
-1,000 visitors will experience a nose-to-tail dining experience, prepared by the Nancarrow team alongside guest chefs
- The event will promote fellow sustainable food producers in Cornwall, and raise money for Cool Earth and Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Nancarrow’s 1000 Mouths event returns for 2019, shining a light on the region’s most progressive farmers and producers – in collaboration with a line-up of celebrated guest chefs. 1000 Mouths will raise money for Cool Earth and Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Michelin star chef Paul Ainsworth will headline the event, and will be joined over the weekend by Tom Griffiths of Flank, London, Ben Tish – who is returning to the farm after much success with his latest book Moorish – and James Whetlor, founder of Cabrito.

Over the course of the weekend, the Nancarrow team and guest chefs will be feeding 1,000 visitors at a series of evening feasts and dinners held in the farm’s beautiful barns and buildings. The menus will provide a true nose-to-tail dining experience, celebrating the finest produce (and producers) from the South West – including The Cornish Mushroom Company, Padstow Kitchen Garden and Curgurrell Farm, alongside organic beef from one of Nancarrow’s Red Devon bullocks.

“We’re so thrilled to be celebrating 20 years of organic farming this year,” says Steve Chamberlain, partner at Nancarrow. “Farming in harmony with nature has never been more important, and we’re delighted to welcome some incredible producers who share this approach for a weekend of feasting.”

Daytime guests can enjoy a range of activities and traditional crafts, from leather making and wool spinning, to wild walks and apple juicing. Steve Lamb of River Cottage will host a series of talks and demos throughout the day, and there will be the opportunity to not only meet some of Cornwall’s newest and most innovative producers, but sample their food and drink too.

Jack Bristow, Nancarrow’s head chef, says: “Our 1000 Mouths event is an extension of our approach to food and farming, and we’re really excited to be welcoming some incredible like-minded chefs to the farm – it’s going to be an amazing weekend.”

Further details and early bird tickets will be released on 14th June, and will be available on the Nancarrow website: www.nancarrowfarm.co.uk

The Nancarrow family farm has been rearing traditional breed cattle and sheep, and rare breed pork, for nearly 250 years. 20 years ago, in 1999, the farm received organic status from the Soil Association, and today Nancarrow’s organic produce is reared, prepared, cured and consumed entirely on the farm where it is enjoyed by guests throughout the year.

June at The Small Holding

There are six varieties of strawberries being grown at The Small Holding this summer

Asparagus, strawberries and ants at The Small Holding

The Small Holding is a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders. The 26-cover restaurant has been named as one of the best restaurants in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards and is set in one acre of land. The tasting style menus change daily using home-reared and home-grown ingredients from the farm, which is less than 10ft from the kitchen.

The ten-course Full Acre menu is a full experience of the farm and kitchen starting with home-made sourdough and butter, made on site with the rich yellow cream from a local Guernsey herd. This year The Small Holding is growing nearly 200 varieties of vegetables and fruits. During the peak growing months, the raised beds and poly tunnels are full of lettuces, chard, beans, tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants, plus the foraged bounty from the woods over the lane from the restaurant which offers wood sorrel, blackberries, wild garlic, chestnuts and mushrooms. Rare breed Berkshire pigs, chickens and ducks roam the farm and there is a mushroom farm in one of the upstairs prep rooms. The five-course Half Acre menu offers a sample of the Full Acre menu, plus vegetarian and vegan Half and Full Acre menus with wine and non-alcoholic flight pairings.

‘The ambition and attitude of The Small Holding does genuinely feel like something new, a self-contained virtuous circle of excellent produce turning into top-quality dishes, all organic and self-sustaining, with wild plants and herbs growing alongside cultivated vegetables, with nothing to decide what makes it onto the menu other than what's the absolute best on the day.’ Chris Pople, Cheese and Biscuits

The June Full Acre menu at The Small Holding with full vegetarian and vegan menus available costs £50 per person with an optional 4 glass wine pairing at £40 and 6 glass wine pairing at £60. The Half Acre menu is £30 per person.

Kale, Cod, Egg
Potato, Chive, Mustard
Asparagus, Lovage, Cheese
Hogget, Fennel, Chilli
Beef, Peas, Horseradish
Sea Buckthorn, Ants, Cream
Miso, Pine, Pear
Strawberry, Basil, Elderflower
Today’s Cheese

“Growing our own produce on the farm brings an understanding and honesty back to the kitchen, and vital freshness. Making the most of our harvests when the ingredients are at their prime – whilst also preserving and conserving them to use throughout the year, keeps us concentrated on the natural cycle of the land and helps us to create full flavoured and imaginative dishes.” Will Devlin

Will took ownership of The Small Holding in January 2018 and opened in April 2018. A former pub, which was run down and neglected, the site has been transformed into an open kitchen and bar with a large decked terrace looking out over the farm and views of the Weald of Kent.

The bar, run by Will’s older brother Matt, is fully stocked with interesting gins, beers and wines, many locally produced such as Greensand Ridge Gin and top English wine producer Squerryes, whose 2013 Brut won Gold in the 2018 Champagne and Sparkling Wine World Championships.

Will won Kent Chef of the Year 2018, beating other finalists, Dan Smith at Fordwich Arms, Fordwich and Rob Taylor at Compasses Inn, Crundale. The Small Holding is recommended in the Good Food Guide 2018. He lives in nearby Goudhurst with his wife and baby daughter.

For more information, images or for a press review visit please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room PR
07730 039361 | hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

GOAT by James Whetlor wins James Beard Foundation Award

Goat: Cooking and Eating by James Whetlor (Quadrille Books, £20) has won a James Beard Foundation Medal for a best single subject book. The medal, awarded at a ceremony at the James Beard Foundation, New York, on Friday 26 April, in front of guests including restaurateur David Chang and American TV personality Tyra Banks, is one of the most prestigious in America. Promoting good food for good, the James Beard Foundation celebrates, nurtures and honours chefs and leaders making food culture more delicious and diverse for everyone.

Ex-chef James Whetlor is the founder of Cabrito Goat Meat, a Devon (UK) based company which has a one sentence mission statement: to put all male billy goats born into the dairy industry into the meat industry. Up until a few years ago most British Billy goats were euthanised shortly after birth. James thought this was, in today’s world of dwindling resources and environmental challenges, unacceptable and set out to do something about it. The award-winning Cabrito Goat Meat now sells to catering butchers and restaurants, from a network of farms across the country.

James is International Director of ‘Goatober’ working with partners in America, Europe and Australia and is consultant for the European ‘Food Heroes’ project, which aims to end food waste in farming across the EU.

Sarah Lavelle, Publishing Director at Quadrille Books, who commissioned Goat: Cooking and Eating comments, “This unique, vital book is genre defining and essential reading for anyone with even a passing interest in food and the way we eat today and is set to be the definitive guide on the subject for years to come.”

In GOAT: Cooking and Eating, James looks at the story of this versatile ingredient and offers 90 recipes from around the world that will answer the common question: ‘How do I cook goat?’ With dishes arranged by cooking technique James shows that goat can be cooked fast and lean, or slow-cooked in curries, stews, braises and roasts as well as make sausages, burgers, and kebabs. There is also a section for delicious seasonings, spice blends and marinades.

From Kid Shanks with Chickpeas and Chorizo to Goat Tacos, Steamed Dumplings to Schnitzel, GOAT encourages people to broaden their cooking repertoire as well as use more goat meat in everyday meals. Plus, there are original recipes from renowned chefs including Yotam Ottolenghi, Neil Rankin, Olia Hercules, Gill Meller and Jeremy Lee.

Alongside advice on sourcing goat meat, James highlights issues within modern farming today, the involvement of artisan tanneries to ensure the use of the whole animal and Cabrito’s charitable work with Farm Africa. Fifty per cent of James’ author advance and royalties from GOAT: Cooking and Eating will go toward Farm Africa’s work to transform agriculture and help farmers in eastern Africa increase their harvests, protect the environment and sell their produce in thriving markets.

Notes to Editors

James Whetlor of Cabrito Goat Meat worked as a chef for 12 years in London, before moving back to his hometown in Devon and working at River Cottage. During this period, he bought four goats to help turn an area of scrubland into useable pasture and learnt about the plight of the British Billy goat, in most cases euthanised shortly after birth. James thought this was, in today’s world of dwindling resources and environmental challenges, unacceptable and set out to do something about it. The award-winning business now sells to catering butchers and restaurants, from a network of farms across the country. www.cabrito.co.uk

Farm Africa is an innovative charity that reduces poverty in rural eastern Africa by helping farmers grow more, sell more and sell for more: the organisation helps farmers to not only boost yields, but also gain access to markets, and add value to their produce. 

Farm Africa places a high priority on environmental sustainability and develops approaches that help farmers improve their yields and incomes without degrading their natural resources. Their programmes vary hugely, ranging from helping crops farmers to boost harvests, livestock keepers to improve animal health, and forest coffee growers to reach export markets, but core to all of them is a focus on the financial sustainability of the farmers’ businesses and environmental sustainability.

Many of the poorest farmers in eastern Africa earn their livings by selling livestock and animal products. But livestock farmers face huge challenges in making a sustainable. They have limited access to technical advice, to high-quality feed and vaccines needed to keep their animals healthy, and to markets to sell their animal products.

Farm Africa gives livestock farmers technical advice and training, helps them access animal health services, and helps them gain access to insurance for their animals so that they don’t risk losing everything when drought causes pasture to dry up.  www.farmafrica.org

Seven of Kent's best chefs collaborate for charity dinner

The Ultimate Pop Up

The Ultimate Pop Up on 20 June

Seven of the region’s most sought-after chefs join forces for The Ultimate Pop Up at Hush Heath Winery to cook a six-course tasting menu to raise funds for children’s charity, Tree of Hope

Fresh from being crowned Kent Chef of the Year, The Small Holding’s Will Devlin will be cooking alongside star of the Great British Menu and Head Chef at Verdigris, Scott Goss and chef owner at The Compasses Inn, Crundale Robert Taylor. Former Kentish Hare and MasterChef the professional’s personality, Bobby Brown, chef-proprietor of The Michelin listed Wheelwrights Arms in Matfield for 6 years, Rob Marsh and Hush Heath’s Executive Chef, Fabio Vinciguerra will also be cooking while The Bicycle Bakery’s Jamie Tandoh will be making dessert.

Tammy Jackson, the Leigh based mixologist behind For Cocktail Sake, is creating a cocktail for the evening which will be served to guests on arrival along with a selection of canapes.

This one-off special event, sponsored by CCLA, will take place on Thursday 20 June and will raise funds for Tonbridge based charity Tree of Hope, who support families of disabled and seriously ill children across the UK to raise funds for treatment, therapies and equipment recommended by their healthcare teams.

Tree of Hope’s Fundraising Manager Kate Bourne, who is organising the Ultimate Pop Up comments “We are extremely lucky to be based in a region with a thriving food scene but the opportunity to indulge in a meal prepared by some of the area’s very best chefs using the finest local produce, in stunning surroundings is rare and we’re delighted that such a special night will raise funds for Tree of Hope. With over a million children now registered as disabled in the UK, we are so aware that the hundreds of families we currently assist is just a drop in the ocean. The Ultimate Pop Up will enable the charity to reach more families that so desperately need our help.”

The Ultimate Pop Up will take place on Thursday June 20th at Hush Heath Winery. Tickets can be purchased online https://www.treeofhope.org.uk/event/the-ultimate-pop-uk

To find out more about the work of Tree of Hope go to www.treeofhope.org.uk

Farm and Forage at The Small Holding

Will Devlin at The Small Holding, Kilndown, Kent

Farm and Forage at The Small Holding, Kilndown, Kent

Will Devlin, chef owner of The Small Holding, a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the pretty village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders, has created a Farm and Forage day for guests to experience a day in the life of the restaurant.

Launching on Wednesday 1 May, the day will start with coffee and homemade pastries before pulling on wellies for a walk around the farm to learn more about the 200 varieties of fruit and vegetables being grown on site for the restaurant. After feeding the pigs and chickens, guests will venture down the lane to the woods and fields to go foraging with Will to find what’s in season including wild garlic, blackberries, elderflower, cobnuts, mushrooms and wild strawberries.  

On returning to The Small Holding, guests will be greeted with a glass of awarding-winning Squerryes’ English sparkling wine before being seated for a 5 course t tasting menu.

Launching on 1 May, the Farm and Forage days are only available on Wednesday and Thursdays throughout the Summer from May until 29 August, priced £145 per person, including a 5-course lunch and arrival drink and a goody bag with seasonal treats to take home.

Bookings can be made direct via www.thesmallholding.restaurant or by calling the restaurant on 01892 890 105.

About The Small Holding

“Homely village restaurant secreted away in glorious Kent countryside… simple, ingredient-led dishes are fiercely seasonal… triumphant standouts are the village reared pork – served as a cube of beautifully fatty pork belly, a tiny, offaly faggot, homemade blood pudding and a lovely, sticky gravy – and a dish of sweet strawberries with an intense basil ice cream and shortbread.” The Good Food Guide 2018

“A thoughtful, original and completely delicious meal. I loved the foraging walk with all the culinary tips and sage gardening advice. I will definitely be back for more. The L’Enclume of the South in the making in a beautiful Kentish setting.” Sudi Pigott, national food and restaurant writer

Kent based Greensand Ridge is the UK's first carbon neutral distillery

Greensand Ridge London Dry Gin

Greensand Ridge, a craft-distillery near Shipbourne, in the Weald of Kent, has achieved one of its original green goals by becoming carbon neutral, the first UK distillery to do so.

The Kent-based distillery was launched in 2015 with the aim of being ultra-low impact on the environment while also having a positive impact by using surplus produce from local farmers, such as plums and apples, which the supermarkets won’t take.

“Our carbon neutral certification is the culmination of a great deal of work over the last year” says Greensand Ridge founder and distiller, Will Edge. “It doesn’t change our spirits but it’s a statement of what is important to us as a new and growing business.”

The assessment makes up part of the distillery’s inaugural Sustainability Report which details all the work that is done at Greensand Ridge to minimise the environmental footprint through schemes such as renewable power, heat recovery systems, removing plastics and being chemical free.

Will’s approach to use surplus produce or byproducts directs the spirits he brings to market. “We work with local farmers to mitigate their waste and so make a lot of fruit spirits like our Apple Brandy and Raspberry Ghost”, he says, “even our Wealden Rum is made from a locally sourced byproduct.”

Now in its fourth year, Greensand Ridge took some time to achieve carbon neutrality. “The regulations demand a significant ongoing investment in time and resources and we needed to be well established before we undertook the work. Hopefully, that work can be a template for other businesses in the industry”.

Greensand Ridge’s 2019 Sustainability report is available online at www.greensanddistillery.com, and spirits can be purchased directly, from fine food outlets or by the trade directly from the distillery or through distributors.

Sample box spirits

The multi-award-winning London Dry Gin is distilled from eight local botanicals, including gorse, rosehips, oak moss and bay that grow within a mile of the distillery in the fields, woods and orchards beneath the Greensand Ridge in Kent. These are married with seven classic botanicals to create an exceptionally smooth and delicately balanced premium gin. (70cl, £35.50)

Raspberry Ghost is a delicious Eau de Vie that captures the aroma of late Summer Kentish raspberries. The berries are infused in 100% wheat spirit before distillation. The spirit is called Ghost in homage to the German name for this technique, Geist. Drunk as a gin with tonic, the delicate raspberry flavour is present from start to finish. (70cl, £36.50)

Wealden Rum is a delicate and smooth rum with a floral nose, giving way to subtle honeycomb and roast cobnuts on the palate. A long finish with raisin and oak with a sweet, full taste. (50cl, £36)

Our cask-aged Apple Brandy is a delicately perfumed spirit made from quality surplus apples, every Autumn, from fruit growers in the Weald of Kent and Sussex. The sweet juice from dessert apples, such as Gala and Golden Delicious, is fermented long and slow to develop complex vanilla and caramel flavours before being distilled. The true whisky of the Weald. (50cl, £38)

Rye Cask Gin is an unbelievably smooth and complex sipping gin, matured ten months in Rye Whiskey casks for a warm fruitiness and dry spiciness. A warming treat on a chilly evening and perfect as a base for a Negroni or Old Fashioned. (50cl, £38.90)

Our PX Cask Gin is a rare and unique expression of what a cask-aged gin can be. Greensand’s London Dry Gin is aged in Pedro-Ximenez casks for ten months creating a spirit infused with layers of raisin, molasses and Christmas spice, lifted by bright orange citrus. (50cl, £39.90)

About Greensand Ridge Distillery

Greensand Ridge Distillery launched in July 2015 with the mission to reduce food waste at the farm gate by fermenting and distilling quality fruit that supermarkets won’t take and combining these with local botanicals such as cobnuts, gorse and bay to make a range of unique spirits.

Powered by 100% renewable electricity and with a zero target for chemical use and non-recyclable waste, Greensand Ridge Distillery is a truly sustainable business.

Gin lovers can visit the distillery, set in a beautiful location overlooking the Weald of Kent, just outside the village of Shipbourne, as part of a Gin Experience, where visitors can create their own full bottle of gin to take away with them.

The business is run Will Edge who worked in IT, marketing and finance before he undertook a Masters’ Degree in Brewing & Distilling in order to return home to Kent and set about turning his love of spirits and craft cider-making into a livelihood.

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For more information please contact:
founder and distiller Will Edge (will@greensanddistillery.com / 07971 164688)
or Hannah Blake (hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk / 07730 039361)

Notes to editors:

2019 Sustainability Report: https://bit.ly/2HiqBpk
Hi-Res images for download & reuse: http://bit.ly/2H8Oqkn 
Image Gallery: http://www.greensanddistillery.com/photos/ 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GreensandRidge/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/greensand_ridge/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/gsrdistillery

Big Green Egg x River Cottage

Tom Grffiths, Flank London

Tom Griffiths, chef owner of Flank, London is cooking a masterclass event with Big Green Egg at River Cottage on 17 April. Serving up his modern take on British food - expect nose to tail dishes cooked over fire on the Big Green Egg. Tom is cooking with Big Green Egg chef Ross Anderson and River Cottage chef Andy Tyrell.

Book here.

The Small Holding wins Best Restaurant at Taste of Kent awards

Will and Matt Devlin with Alisa Sweeny from Thomson, Snell and Passmore

The Small Holding, a 28-cover kitchen with one acre of working land, has won Best Restaurant in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards. The judges commented that The Small Holding was a “unique experience, strong on its local sourcing with a good story and scored highly on its customer service”.

Organised by Produced in Kent since 2004, the Taste of Kent Awards showcase the best of Kent’s food and drink products. It is the county’s longest running and most prestigious annual awards, voted for by the public. The range of categories has grown year on year and now incorporates every product that Kent, the Garden of England, is renowned for including beer, wine, cider, apples and cherries.

Thackeray’s in Tunbridge Wells and Corner House, Canterbury were runners up in the Best Restaurant category.

Will Devlin, chef owner of The Small Holding, comments, “We’re thrilled to have won this award from Produced in Kent. Being voted best restaurant by the general public is a massive boost for the kitchen and garden teams. Everything we do at The Small Holding is about sustainability, traceability, growing and rearing our own produce and working with genuinely local suppliers and farmers. For a restaurant that’s not been operating a full year we’re really thrilled our hard work has been recognised.”

Farm, Food, Flavour at The Small Holding

Kent Chef of the Year is a new client at The Dining Room

I’m delighted that Will Devlin, chef owner of The Small Holding, Kilndown is a new client at The Dining Room.

“Homely village restaurant secreted away in glorious Kent countryside… simple, ingredient-led dishes are fiercely seasonal… triumphant standouts are the village reared pork – served as a cube of beautifully fatty pork belly, a tiny, offaly faggot, homemade blood pudding and a lovely, sticky gravy – and a dish of sweet strawberries with an intense basil ice cream and shortbread.” The Good Food Guide

Will Devlin, 30, is the chef owner of The Small Holding, a kitchen and farm on a country lane in the village of Kilndown on the Kent and East Sussex borders. The 26-cover restaurant has been named as one of the best restaurants in Kent at the Taste of Kent Awards and is set in one acre of land, permitting a unique connection between farm and table. Growing, foraging and cooking the best ingredients is at the core of The Small Holding, with daily changing menus, using home-reared and home-grown ingredients from the farm, which is less than 10ft from the kitchen.

The ten-course Full Acre menu offers the diner a full experience of the farm and kitchen starting with home-made sourdough and butter, made on site with the rich yellow cream from a local Guernsey here. This year The Small Holding is growing nearly 200 varieties of vegetables and fruits. During the peak growing months, the raised beds and poly tunnels are full of lettuces, chard, beans and legumes, tomatoes, courgettes, raspberries, gooseberries and blackcurrants, plus the foraged bounty from the woods over the lane from the restaurant which offers wood sorrel, blackberries, wild garlic, chestnuts and mushrooms. Rare breed Berkshire pigs, chickens and ducks roam the farm and there are plans this year for cows and goats. The five-course Half Acre menu offers a sample of the Full Acre menu, plus vegetarian and vegan Half and Full Acre menus with wine and non-alcoholic flight pairings.

Sample dishes from the March 2019 menu includes Nettle, Garlic, Black pudding; Skate, Dandelion, Sorrel and for pudding Gypsy Tart, Rhubarb, Cream.

“Growing our own produce on the farm brings an understanding and honesty back to the kitchen, and vital freshness. Making the most of our harvests when the ingredients are at their prime – whilst also preserving and conserving them to use throughout the year, keeps us concentrated on the natural cycle of the land and helps us to create full flavoured and imaginative dishes.” Will Devlin

For more information please contact Hannah Blake at The Dining Room PR on 07730 039361 or hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

Cooking and conversation

Little Duck | The Picklery

James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat will be guest chef at Little Duck | The Picklery on 25th February. Cooking alongside group head chef Tom Hill, James is preparing a 5 course goat feast along with conversation and plenty of hints and tips on buying, cooking and eating goat. Tickets are £75 and include a glass of wine on arrival. Places are limited to 14 seats - buy here. Not to be missed!

Big Green Egg x Kelly Bronze Turkey

It wouldn’t be Christmas without a Kelly Bronze Turkey. It would be such a shame to see one of these incredible turkeys go to waste in a regular oven. In Mr Kelly’s opinion there’s no better way to cook one of his birds than on a Big Green Egg. That’s why, this year, when you buy one of Egg’s special bundles you’ll get a Kelly Bronze absolutely free. www.biggreenegg.co.uk/kellybronze

Chocolate and pears at River Cottage

Scrumptious

This chocolate tart with grilled pears is too delicious not to share. Serve with pride and a spoonful of crème fraiche.

By Gelf Alderson, executive head chef of River Cottage

Serves 6-8

For the pastry:

75g coconut oil
55g golden syrup
75g ground linseeds
185g ground almonds
15g cocoa powder

Melt the coconut oil and golden syrup, add the dry ingredients mix thoroughly and press into 20 cm tart case, freeze until solid.

For the filling:

80ml olive oil room temperature
500g dark chocolate
200ml almond milk, room temperature
75ml Somerset cider brandy
A pinch of fine sea salt

Grilled pears:

4 firm pears such as conference or comice

Gently melt the chocolate in a bain marie over a sauce pan of simmering water. Remove from the heat and cool slightly before adding the oil and almond milk, a pinch of salt and the brandy. Mix thoroughly and pour into the tart case. Re-fridgerate for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

When ready to serve, halve and core four pears. Heat a griddle pan until smoking. Cook the pears until lightly charred and tender but still holding their shape. Serve with ice cream or crème fraiche.

Ottolenghi at River Cottage Food Fair 2019

Exciting news.

A very special guest for the River Cottage Food Fair 2019... Yotam Ottolenghi.

Ottolenghi is an acclaimed chef, restaurant owner, and food writer. He has published seven cookbooks including Ottolenghi, Plenty, and Jerusalem and his latest book Simple. He writes a weekly column for The Guardian’s Feast Magazine and a monthly column in The New York Times. Yotam has also made two Mediterranean Feasts series for More 4, along with a BBC 4 documentary Jerusalem on a Plate.

Yotam Ottolenghi will be giving a demo on stage on the Saturday, so visitors to River Cottage HQ will be able to see him in action and learn more about his food philosophy. 

Yotam will be joining all the River Cottage regulars. Hugh will be speaking and signing books, and Steven Lamb, Gill Meller and John Wright will all be taking part. More special guests to be announced soon.

2019 is 20 years of River Cottage and at the annual Food Fair there will be celebrations of this momentous occasion all weekend. Held on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 May, the Food Fair is a real family occasion with under 16s going free. It is packed full of activities and family fun - from chef demos, fire pits, artisan food stalls, kids’ workshops, talks and live music, to garden and foraging tours.

Tickets on sale now from www.rivercottage.net

Mussels and celeriac

Sustainable and delicious. We should be eating more mussels.

Mussels with celeriac, seaweed and cider

Rope grown mussels are the most sustainable form of seafood going, we all need to eat more of these delicious, salty morsels. Mussels and cider is a classic pairing but including celeriac and seaweed in this recipe by Gelf Alderson, executive head chef at River Cottage, takes this cheap and sustainable dish in a deliciously new direction.

“Everything about mussels reminds me of walking on the beach but combining them with earthy celeriac and the light orchard flavour of cider is just perfect.”

Serves 2

200g celeriac, peeled and finely diced
40g butter
200ml organic scrumpy cider
1 tsp dried, flaked English seaweed
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1 kg mussels rope grown (not dredged)

Put the butter in a large saucepan (with plenty of room for the mussels to fit and expand and with a well-fitting lid) heat until foaming and add the celeriac and garlic, cook until they gain a little colour. Add the mussels, seaweed and cider and place a lid on, cook on a high heat shaking the pan every minute for 3 minutes or until all the mussels have opened. Discard any unopened mussels and serve with proper sourdough to match the scrumpy flavour.

Part of a series of River Cottage recipes in Indy Eats.

Goatober 2018

There are Goatober events in 2018 in New York to London, Ibiza to Cornwall

GOAT MEAT CAMPAIGN GOES INTERNATIONAL IN OCTOBER 2018

Goatober 2018 launches with events in London, Bristol, Manchester, Cornwall, Rome, Frankfurt, Nantes, Amsterdam, New York and Ibiza

Goatober, the month-long goat meat celebration, has become an international campaign bringing together dairies, farmers, NGOs and individuals who are passionate about ending food waste in the goat dairy system. This October, there are events, dinners and talks from London to New York to Ibiza with one aim: put more goat meat on the menu and put all male goats born into the dairy system in to the food system.

Goatober 2018 is the most exciting yet as events in New York and Brooklyn see all the strands of Goatober pulled together. Until now there has been no coordination between the USA, UK and European events. The Goatober campaign now has senior level strategic direction with dairies, farmers, suppliers and chefs in dialogue and working together to share best practice, ideas and contacts to try and solve the food waste issue in this part of the food system.

In October 2018, there are Goatober events in London at The Jugged Hare, Palatino and the Sustainable Restaurants Association dinner; at Flour and Ash in Bristol; at The Creameries in Manchester and at The Gurnard’s Head in Cornwall. Restaurants putting a goat dish on the menu throughout the month included the ETM group, HIX Group, St John, Ottolenghi and River Cottage Kitchens in Axminster, Bristol and Winchester. Goatober is also collaborating with TABASCO®️ Sauce during its 150th Anniversary year, with TABASCO®️ pepper sauces featuring in several dishes. James Wheltor from Cabrito Goat Meat is speaking and cooking goat meat at the global food symposium Food on the Edge in Galway, Ireland. Working in partnership with the Interreg ‘food heroes’ project, which aims to end food waste in farming across the EU, there are events at the Nantes Food Forum and in Laval in France and in the Spessart region (near Frankfurt; Germany), The Netherlands, Rome and at the Amorevore Food & Arts Festival in Ibiza. In New York, there are dinners at Claro in Brooklyn and Huertas in the East Village, Manhattan, and an event with Farm Africa at Grow NYC in Project Farmhouse, a new sustainability and education centre exploring environmental issues through food, horticulture, arts, recycling and cooking.

Goatober originated in New York in 2011 and was the brainchild of Heritage Foods USA, the largest distributor of rare and heritage breed meats in the USA dedicated to supporting a network of over 50 family farmers who raise their livestock humanely, outdoors, on pasture and never with antibiotics or growth hormones. Its founder, Patrick Martins is also the founder of Slow Food USA and Heritage Radio Network. Patrick comments, “2018 marks our eighth year of Goatober. We offer cuts of goat meat to home cooks from coast-to-coast via HeritageFoods.com and work with more than 100 restaurants who participate annually around the country during the month of October. What started with the desire to help dairies and the destiny of male goats in New England has turned into an international movement to support the consumption of goat meat. We are thrilled to have the opportunity to co-host Goatober events with our partners in the UK and Europe this year who have taken this project further than we ever imagined.”

James Whetlor from Cabrito Goat Meat, a Devon based ethical meat champion and producer, has been at the forefront of bringing Goatober to the UK, comments, “This is a really exciting year for the Goatober campaign as it shows there is an international calling and drive to solve and end the systematic culling of male billy goats born into the dairy system and considered a waste product. By centralising the Goatober campaign and taking it global we can end this practice, while also making goat meat a mainstream product. We are already in discussion with Australia to join the campaign in 2019, so Goatober is something that’s going to get bigger and bigger.”

Marjon Krol, Project Leader at ZLTO (the Netherlands) for the European project Food Heroes “Last year, in 2017, we organized for the first time a Goatober campaign in the Netherlands. Together with some top chefs we had a huge billy goat dinner in the Netherlands during the World Design Event in Eindhoven. It is great to see people’s reaction and to see that the attention for this challenge is growing. Within the Food Heroes project, we try to tackle food waste on several themes together with farmers and stakeholders. This year the partner countries within the project, Germany and France, are also taking part in the Goatober campaign to try to solve the food waste issue of the billy goats.”

For more information about Goatober please visit www.cabrito.co.uk/goatober and follow @GoatoberNews on Instagram.

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About Goatober

Goatober originated in New York in 2011, when Erin Fairbanks, Heritage Radio Network’s Executive Director, had an idea. While working for Heritage Foods USA in Brooklyn, she and renowned cheesemaker Anne Saxelby wanted to end the practice of euthanising young male goats that the dairy industry had no use for. From this senseless waste Goatober was created and with it a month-long celebration of putting goat meat on the menu of New York restaurants. The campaign had quick success and now there are over 100 restaurants involved in Goatober from New York to Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Goatober arrived in the UK in 2016 and mainland Europe in the following year. There are vibrant dairy industries across the UK and Europe who want to change the practice of euthanising and Goatober is part of the solution. The campaign aims to put a goat dish on restaurant menus and to encourage people to try cooking goat at home themselves, for all or part of October.

About Cabrito

On moving back to Devon ex-chef James Whetlor called on his 12 years cheffing experience and contacts in London to set up Cabrito Goat Meat working with goat dairies to supply top restaurants including Quo Vadis, HIX Group, ETM and St John. Cabrito has won many awards including Observer Food Monthly Award for Best Ethical Producer, Good Housekeeping’s Champion Meat Producer and the Young British Foodies. Today, Cabrito supplies over 70 well-known establishments including Temper, Marksman, Morito and Pidgin. James’ first book Goat: Cooking and Eating is published by Quadrille (£20) and has been described as ‘genre defining’.

For more information about Goatober or for interview with James Whetlor at Cabrito
please contact Hannah Blake at hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk or 07730 039361

River Cottage at 20

It’s been 20 years since Hugh first appeared on our TV Screens

Twenty years of River Cottage

River Cottage has been a household name in Britain since 1999, when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall first brought his hands-on, ethical food ethos to our TV screens.  Since then, the River Cottage books, TV series and Hugh’s hard-hitting campaigns have changed the eating habits of the nation, as well as improving the welfare of our farm animals and the sustainability of our fish.

River Cottage HQ, situated on the Devon-Dorset border, is a thriving organic smallholding. It’s also home to a cookery school and chefs' school, and the base for unique dining experiences and events including weddings and private parties. The award-winning River Cottage Kitchens in Axminster, Bristol and Winchester manifest the River Cottage philosophy using the best seasonal ingredients from the surrounding area. Alongside organic fruit, vegetables and wild foods, the Kitchen menus use sustainable fish and shellfish from the West Country day boats and organic meat and dairy products from local farms.

In March 2019, River Cottage will celebrate its 20th anniversary and Hugh and the team want to hear stories from people who have been influenced by River Cottage. Over the years, so many people have been inspired by Hugh and the River Cottage ethos to make changes in their lives. That might be to eat organic meat and milk or to learn how to grow their own vegetables or keep chickens or even manage a small holding themselves. Or it maybe they were so inspired they decided to change career and start their own business in cheesemaking or curing or preserving or as a cook or restaurateur.

People sharing their story of how River Cottage has influenced them may be included as part of the twenty-year celebrations. If selected they will win a dinner for two at River Cottage HQ and be invited to join a panel discussion at the River Cottage Food Fair over the late May bank holiday, which will be hosted by Hugh.

Share your River Cottage story to gemma.rodway@rivercottage.net

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For further press information, interviews or images, please contact:

Hannah Blake at The Dining Room on 07730 039361 or hannah@thediningroompr.co.uk

Notes to Editors

The River Cottage twenty-year celebrations will run throughout 2019

The first episode of Escape to River Cottage was shown in March 1999. Positioned as a docu-drama, it followed the story of Hugh, a city-dweller, trying to simplify his life by moving to a smallholding with an acre of land. It showed how Hugh learnt to garden, grow and forage for his own food and raise animals to provide meat and milk for the table

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall will be available for interview about the celebrations and his own twenty years at River Cottage

River Cottage HQ, Trinity Hill Road, Axminster, Devon, EX13 8TB

www.rivercottage.net

Twitter: @rivercottage Instagram: @rivercottagehq

Feast over Fire

Baked goat's cheese wrapped in walnut pastry with fig relish from Honey & Co. At Home (Pavilion Books)

Honey & Co. Feast Over Fire

This year River Cottage is introducing long table dinners at the Summer Festival and are thrilled to welcome Sarit Packer and Itamar Srulovich, the award winning chefs and authors behind Honey & Co.

Sarit and Itamar, celebrated London restaurateurs famed for showcasing traditional Middle Eastern dishes, will be at River Cottage for the first time and will be hosting the Saturday evening Feast Over Fire. They will be reverting to traditional methods cooking the majority of the feast over fire, including mouth-watering dishes from their latest cookbook Honey & Co. At Home. Join them and other guests at their table by the Fire Pit for a celebratory ‘Salcombe & Tonic’ from Salcombe Gin followed by an incredible three course Middle Eastern inspired supper. Ticket can be bought here.

‘Salcombe & Tonic’ by Salcombe Gin

Burnt aubergine salad, Pickled peach salad and Griddle bread

Lamb chops with figs, Cauliflower shawarma, Carlin-pea salad with roasted peppers

Feta in fig leaves with raw honey & melon