The story behind the 2021 menus

It’s about making it a great dining experience

Food should be a highlight of any stay, just as important as entertainment. We want guests to remember beautiful plates of food, that wow factor. We’ve looked at the menus through a new lens to make every dish 100 per cent à la carte and beautifully plated for service to the table.

The Market Kitchen menu is now available in every hotel, for both breakfast and dinner, and offers greater choice with more dishes. The starters, mains and deli board stay the same every evening but the roast changes daily with two starters and three main courses. We’ve also added a couple of classic hot puddings to the dessert menu.

The theme is British with global influences, but the innovation stands out. We’ve not been scared to play around with different combinations and new ingredients to enhance dishes. And the freshness is always there. 

The great British roast is the centrepiece of the menu

We’ve done our research into what guests love about dining with us. The top selling dish has always been the carvery, so we’ve turned it into something special, even dedicating a whole section of the menu to ‘everything roast’. Anyone who orders the roast now gets an individual joint, specially sourced, with all the trimmings of course.  

You can always ask for more 

The roast is served with roasties and Yorkshire puddings – and they’re bottomless. You’re always encouraged to ask for more, an extra side of veg too. For breakfast we still have the full English but now also the Fuller English. It’s bigger and better with more bacon, an extra sausage, triple the hash browns, a doubling up of black pudding and eggs any way you like. And there’s no extra charge for it. 

What we’ve always done well we’re now doing even better

We’ve taken our signature dishes, then made them the best they can be. As a main course, guests love the fish and chips. We’ve kept it traditional but sourced bigger fish, created a new beer batter and added mushy peas, tartar sauce and curry sauce.  Braised blade of beef has always been a big hitter too, but now it’s a more exciting and sophisticated take on steak and chips, very much doing it our way. We’ve taken the beef, pulled it and pressed it and we’re serving it with roasted red and yellow cherry tomatoes, a bone marrow butter, plus baked portobello mushrooms stuffed with slow-cooked onions. Even the chips are triple cooked in house.  

We’re following the seasons

Whenever we can source and deliver local ingredients we will. Asparagus and peas are on the summer menu and the dishes are lighter with fresh flavours and vibrant colours – salmon with a Mediterranean feel for example and a light chicken stew with beer and mustard. 

Brand-new dining experiences

We’ve introduced an alternative restaurant, Brasserie32, at three of our historic hotels. It’s an elegant dining experience and a lovely celebration of great British classics.  There are amazing dishes out there that have been forgotten about or played with too much. This is good honest food that was done right the first time. We’re recognising that and following recipes exactly how they were. The smoked fish pie is one of the menu superstars. It’s a recipe from the 1950s, from Constance Spry who’s one of the oldest recognised food writers. Her Queen of puddings is, in my opinion, one of the best desserts there is and that features too.

Then there’s The Cheshire Barn, new at Alvaston Hall, which is all about good honest pub food in a relaxed setting. The menu offers steak, pies, curry and pizza and, not just any burger, but a next-level one with cheese, bacon, fresh gherkin mayo, rainbow coleslaw and cheesy chips. It’s elevated. It’s fresh. It’s a real highlight.