Chef Eats Out: Moor Hall, Aughton, Lancashire
Situated within five acres of spectacular gardens, Grade II-listed Moor Hall opened its doors as a restaurant with rooms in March under the direction of chef-patron Mark Birchall after a multimillion-pound renovation and refurbishment.
Moor Hall has seven sumptuous bedrooms, a 40-seat restaurant and casual-dining venue the Barn, which is due to open this autumn. Birchall is also the proud owner of a state-of-the-art kitchen overlooking a two-acre walled garden that keeps the restaurant in soft fruit, vegetables and micro herbs.
The 2011 Roux Scholar modestly describes the Moor Hall menu as offering high-quality, seasonal food served in comfortable surroundings. But with a career that saw him climb to the dizzy heights of executive chef at the two-Michelin-starred L'Enclume in Cartmel, Cumbria, train at the Roca brothers' El Celler de Can Roca in Girona, Spain, and work under Nigel Haworth, diners know to expect technical wizardry from the 36-year-old chef.
Hand-made crockery that has been crafted locally and cutlery commissioned from Made In Sheffield suppliers sit atop oak tables that are dressed with leather mats rather than starched white cloths to add a relaxed feel to the dining room at Moor Hall.
The Caterer and Udale Speciality Foods have joined forces to arrange our next Chef Eats Out event at Moor Hall on 9 October, where you can have the chance to sample Birchall's already award-winning food among fellow chefs.
The event will be restricted to 40 lucky diners, who will fill the restaurant to capacity. It will begin at noon with a reception drink and snacks in the Barn before moving over to the restaurant for lunch. The nine-course lunch, featuring meat and poultry from the Himalayan salt chambers of Udale, will be accompanied by wines and coffee. It will be followed by a tour of the kitchen, bedrooms, public lounges and gardens. The event is expected to finish at 3.30pm.
Birchall says: "I am so pleased to be able to welcome Chef Eats Out to Moor Hall. We're only a few months old, but our team has settled in really well. We've got lots more to come, with the Barn opening in early autumn, and our gardens are flourishing, including lots of ingredients for our kitchen with fruit, veg and flowers. We're really excited to introduce it all to The Caterer and its readers."
The menu
•Black pudding, pickled apple
•Smoked curd, potato, fermented garlic, flowers
•Oyster, cured ham, dill, buttermilk
•Baked carrots, Doddington cheese snow, chrysanthemum and sea buckthorn
•Holstein Friesian, barbecued celeriac, mustard and shallot
•Turbot cooked on the bone, artichoke, mussel cream, sea vegetables
•Goosnargh duckling, sweetcorn, beetroot and elderberry
•Gingerbread, roots, pine
•Honey beer, Bramley apple, aged caramel and marigold
Please note the menu may be subject to change. Moor Hall would like to thank sponsor Udale Speciality Foods, fresh produce supplier Wellocks, M&J Seafood and Les Caves de Pyrene for supporting the event.
How to book
To book a place at this unique event, at a cost of £70 per person, please go to www.thecaterer.com/chefeatsout
Cancellations can be made without charge up until a week prior to the event, after which all cancellations will be charged at full price.
Overnight accommodation at Moor Hall on the Sunday or Monday night is available from £150 per room. Please call 01695 572511 quoting "CHEF EATS OUT".
A message from our sponsor
Chef Eats Out provides diners with an exclusive opportunity to experience the culinary excellence of outstanding restaurants and chefs. We are delighted that the venue for the next Chef Eats Out event is Moor Hall in Aughton.
Ian Udale, managing director of Udale Speciality Foods, says: "It is interesting to see how innovative chefs like Mark Birchall are using our meat to create fantastic-tasting dishes. Different meats and poultry are aged for different periods of time in our Himalayan salt chambers - for example, beef is normally aged for up to 35 to 40 days - but we have a few chefs who like extreme aged beef that's 100 days plus.
"For his Goosnargh duckling, sweetcorn, beetroot and elderberry dish, Mark will be using ducks that are aged up to 14 days. We find that hanging the ducks in our salt chambers produces a firmer meat with a more intense flavour.
"Udale Speciality Foods aims to build an ongoing relationship with chefs by sponsoring Chef Eats Out events as we continue to show our commitment to the hospitality industry."
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
Save
