Dan Cox to open Crocadon next month
Chef Dan Cox is to open Crocadon on 3 February, his long-awaited restaurant located on a 120-acre organic farm in St Mellion, Cornwall.
Cox – formerly executive chef at Simon Rogan's Fera at Claridge's and the 2008 Roux Scholar – took on the farm five years ago. He restored the restaurant over 12 months and will open it in February with a 25-cover dining room and open kitchen.
The menu will use ingredients from the farm, which the London-born chef has been working on over the past five years, improving the soil, establishing herds of rare and heritage breeds of sheep and cattle, which are rotationally grazed, and renovating outhouses, including an on-site microbrewery and pottery.
Cox will now focus on the restaurant and the farm will come under the stewardship of husband and wife Tim Williams and Claire Hannington-Williams, who are experienced in managing regenerative farms and permaculture-based growing systems.
The menu will change regularly, depending on what is harvested from the farm that week, although some produce, such as mushrooms and seafood, will be sourced from local suppliers who share the ethos of the farm. Fermentation and smoking techniques as well as open-fire cooking will play a prominent part. In the evening, there will be the choice of two tasting menus – a long and shorter version – with dishes such as nuka golden turnips, gigantis beans and cured saddleback pork loin; brown crab and lemongrass; and whey caramel, yogurt and caramelised apple.
On Sundays, a three-course lunch will be available as a more relaxed sharing-style offering. The wine list will focus on natural, organic and biodynamic wines from across Europe, with plans to introduce more varieties from the West Country over time.
Working alongside Cox will be head chef Michael Thompson, formerly head chef at Ryan Chetiyawardana and Doug McMaster's sustainability-focused Cub in London's Hoxton, while front of house will be overseen by Cat Kirkwood, previously general manager of Amass in Copenhagen.
The farm will supply the kitchen throughout the year and focus on perennial crops. Alongside pear, plum, walnut and cherry trees, there are two orchards producing apples which will be used in the kitchen as well as being juiced and bottled. A variety of heritage grains and legumes are grown and harvested as part of the wider rotation of the farm, providing the restaurant with flour and grain.
The onsite ceramics workshop will produce all of the tableware for the dining room, with each piece glazed using waste products from the farm and restaurant, while the microbrewery is run by James and Nia Rylance as the Ideal Day Family Brewery.
Before moving to Cornwall, Cox spent seven years working for the Simon Rogan Group, which included helping to establish Rogan's farm alongside spending time in the kitchen at both L'Enclume and Aulis in the Lake District. He was then appointed executive chef at Fera at Claridge's, where he remained for three years.
Photo: Emli Bendixen
