Manna from Evans
It's less than a year since Nick Evans took up the post of head chef at Newbury Manor but he has already decided that the move was fated. "I was offered the job within an hour http://www.newbury-manor-hotel.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">of the interview], so it was obviously meant to be," says Evans, who had been pipped at the post for several other head chef positions.
Previously sous chef at Llangoed Hall in Llyswen, Powys, Evans is relishing the challenge of his present post. "In contrast to Llangoed, which was in the middle of nowhere and where hotel residents were our main restaurant clientele, Newbury Manor is in a busy town, so we attract a wide audience," he says. "It's like working as head chef of a busy, stand-alone restaurant."
On a weekday lunchtime the hotel's 40-seat restaurant attracts an average of 20 diners, rising to 25 in the evening. "And on Friday and Saturday nights, the restaurant is full of people on weekend breaks, as well as locals, some of whom are now becoming regulars," says Evans, who considers his biggest challenge at Newbury Manor has been to recruit an entirely new brigade, since he inherited an empty kitchen. He now has four full-time chefs supporting him, although he admits he would ultimately like to swell their numbers to seven.
At present Evans offers a weekly-changing table d'hôte menu at lunch, priced at £16 for two courses and £22.50 for three. He uses this menu, which offers three choices at each course, to experiment with dishes before introducing them to the main menu. Recent options on the table d'hôte have included a starter of chicken, mushroom and truffle tortellini served with Savoy cabbage, glazed onions and a sherry vinegar sauce, and a main course of roast quail, foie gras and pea risotto with crisp pancetta, honey sauce and a foie gras dressing.
The main menu is also available at lunch, as well as in the evenings, and is priced at £29 for two courses and £36 for three. It boasts six starters, six mains and five desserts, plus cheese. Evans changes a few dishes on this menu every couple of months - as and when his suppliers offer him good seasonal ingredients.
Current best-selling dishes are a starter of rabbit and herb sausage, Meaux mustard creamed potato, sautéd rabbit loin and a cèpe sauce, and a main dish of seared scallop and chicken, asparagus, crisp aubergine, roast chicken essence and truffle foam.
Both of these are adaptations of dishes Evans saw while working with Ramon Farthing at Harveys restaurant in Bristol and 36 On The Quay in Emsworth, Hampshire. Evans says Farthing was the biggest influence on him during his formative years as a chef and it was under Farthing that he learnt about refinement in cooking.
The top choice of diners at dessert, meanwhile, is rhubarb cream with hazelnut biscuit, mascarpone sorbet and a strawberry syrup.
A selection from the menu at The Restaurant, Newbury Manor
£29 for two courses, £36 for three
Trio of quail, glazed onions, crisp bacon and a honey sauce
Pan-fried codling with tomato concassé crisp potatoes and a tartare butter sauce
Crisp cannelloni of duck, foie gras and a five-spice sauce
Pan-fried brill, crab tortellini, creamed spinach, girolles, peas and a crab sauce
Fillet of Scotch beef, onion soubise, rösti potato, wild mushrooms and a red wine sauce
Roast pork fillet, braised pork belly, black pudding gallette, pea purée and caramelised apples
Summer berries glazed with a vanilla sabayon, roasted peach, almond biscuit and strawberry sorbet
Banana financier, milk chocolate ice-cream, caramel sauce
Hot blackberry and apple soufflé, apple crumble and blackberry ripple ice-cream
The Restaurant, Newbury Manor hotel, London Road, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2BY. Tel: 01635 528838. Web site: [www.newbury-manor-hotel.co.uk.
