Chef Mark Poynton to open tasting menu-only restaurant with rooms 

Mark Poynton is set to launch a tasting menu-only restaurant with rooms on the site of his MJP @ The Shepherds in Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire.

Alongside his new business partners Gareth and Emma John, who have been fans of Poynton’s food since he opened Alimentum in Cambridge in 2009, the chef will transform the Michelin Guide-listed restaurant, which was launched in 2020, into a new venture.

The 34-cover tasting menu restaurant will open on 16 July and host overnight guests across five bedrooms.

The kitchen will be led by Poynton and chef Chris Lee, who was previously based at the three-AA-rosette Bidleston Crown in Suffolk, and all staff will work a four-day week, with set holidays throughout the year.

Dishes will include chilled pea mousse, cottage cheese and truffle; wakame cured cod, tomato and elder ponzu; and loin of hogget, tapenade puree, tomato, anchovy and courgette.

The three-, five- and seven-course tasting menus will showcase ingredients from the restaurant’s kitchen garden, as well as Poynton’s long-standing suppliers.

The Johns, who have lived in the village outside of Cambridge for over two decades, have committed to supporting local charities by hosting events and donating a portion of profits from the restaurant.

The announcement comes soon after Poynton’s Norwich restaurant, Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall, won a Michelin star in February, roughly two years after it launched.