A clean sweep

When the Chimneys restaurant near Doncaster opened in the late summer, its head chef, Patrick Thompson - formerly of the Falcon Inn at Bletsoe in Bedfordshire - put out both a main and a gourmand menu. However, so successful has the 60-seat eaterie been in attracting customers during its first few months of business that he has been forced to withdraw the specialist menu offering.

"We're full every evening and haven't got enough hours in the day," admits Thompson, who heads a three-strong kitchen brigade comprising himself,his younger brother Robert (pastry), and sous chefMark Dobinson, previously of London's Connaught and Café Royal.

Thompson's recipe for success is to serve a menu priced at £22 for two courses or £26 for three courses, based on modern French and British cuisine.

Among the four starters, five main and five dessert choices, you might see his version of confit duck, rack of lamb or tart tatin. The duck, for example, is served in terrine form, set with thyme-scented stock, and comes with crushed potato and peas, dressed saladand caramelised balsamic vinegar; the lamb is served with spinach, baby turnips, a beetroot and red wine reduction, and creamed potato. The tart tatin's current incarnation is a seasonal pear version with a star anise caramel to cut the sweetness - it is accompaniedby a pear sorbet.

At the moment, average spend per head is running at £38. Customers, who generally span the 30 to 50 age group, are opting in droves for a starter of pan-fried scallops served with choux-based beignets of blue swimmer crabs (50% choux, 50% crab), a salad of herbs, watercress purée and capers.

"The purée and the capers are very peppery and cut through the scallops and beignets," Thompson says. He estimates that 65% of starter orders are for the dish.

Selling well from the main selection is a fillet of beef served on Anna potatoes with parsnip purée, sautéd wild mushrooms and a jus finished with foie gras butter. And popular desserts include a Thompson signature dish - Titanic au chocolat - which he picked up during a stint at Alain Senderen's three-Michelin-starred Lucas Carton restaurant in Paris, after winning the 1998 Roux Scholarship.

The dessert menu also contains a number of freshly made sorbets churned each day on site, and, for a supplement of £5, there's an 11-strong cheese-tasting selection served with oatcakes, biscuits and sultana bread, which is also made on site. The cheeseboard changes every three or four weeks and contains a mixture of French and British cheeses. This may include appledore - a Lancashire variety made with apple and coated in cinnamon - and St Nectaire - an Auvergne variety with a nutty flavour, which is matured over rye straw.

Cheeses and all other courses, including hand-made petits fours and coffee (£2.75), are served to customers by a three-strong front of house team headed by restaurant manager Dawn Farrell and augmented by four part-time staff.

And while Thompson is running a seasonally influenced menu, he is changing it on a fortnightly basis.

"We have so many regular customers," he says, "I have to change things every other week." n

Chimneys restaurant, Great North Road, Bawtry, Doncaster DN10 6DF. Tel: 01302 714426