Molecular gastronomy at The Minnis
Nestling between Kent’s fishing ports of Whitstable and Ramsgate, the Minnis Bar & Restaurant in Birchington, which offers dinners spectacular sunsets and a perfect location for watching violent North Sea storms across Minnis Bay, has announced four new winter menus.
The new starters include London Cure Scottish Smoked Salmon & Atlantic Prawns, in a seafood sauce with fresh garden basil dressing at £8. “London Cure”, invented by Foreman’s of London over a century ago, has less salt than traditional Scottish cures. It is then smoked over very gently smouldering oak chippings. This method delivering a more subtle smokiness, that allows the quality of the fish to come through - in this case, Loch Duart Salmon.
Among the mains is a new Duo of Laughton’s Farm Duck with Wild Mushroom & Ale Ragout served with spiced baby onions mashed potatoes and butter seasoned cabbage for £15. The two elements of duck are leg confit in duck fat and roasted breast that are prepared “ sous vide” and served pink.
“Sous vide is a professional method of cooking in a vacuum-packed bags in a water bath cooking at low temperatures for long periods” explained chef-patron Jason Freedman. “From the molecular school of gastronomy, it differs from conventional cooking because the raw food is sealed in an oxygen free environment and cooked using precisely controlled heating at a variation of only plus or minus a tenth of one degree Centigrade.”
Top-end chefs are increasingly using this innovative cooking method as the absence of oxidation reactions increases flavour intensity, and because cooking food at a precise temperature, ensures perfection time after time.
Proving very popular with vegetarian customers is the Steak(less) & Gadd's No.3 Ale Pie, comprising wild mushroom and ale ragout in puff pastry, with spiced baby onions mashed potatoes, and buttered Kentish cabbage for £12.
The retro dessert menu features some old classics with a contemporary gastronomic twist. The Minnis’s Gateau Foret Noir/Schwarzwaldkuchen (Black Forest Gateau) is “a sum of its deconstructed parts” – a rich chocolate cake with cherry brandy, cherry kirsch, dark cherry jelly, dark chocolate and kirsch mousse, raspberry coulis and finished with marinated black cherries, £8.
Suggested accompaniments to the deserts or cheese board are a half bottle of Muscat De Beaume De Venises pudding wine at £18.75 or The Minnis Flight of Ports: Grahams Vintage 1977; Dows Vintage 1983 and Taylor’s Chip Dry and £20.
A new bar menu is also being introduced.
Minnis began life as a beachside café in 1934. Today the long sandy beach enjoys prestigious Blue Flag status. It enjoys unparalleled views over the Kent shoreline and the Roman fort at Reculver, where the Barnes-Wallace's bouncing-bomb was tested. The stunning skies at sunset have attracted many artists over the years, most famously JWM Turner, in whose honour the new Turner Contemporary gallery opens in nearby Margate April 2011.
The restaurant hosts a number of live music events.
Jason Freedman’s introduction to cooking when presented with a live chicken by his first Head Chef, the first of an impressive list mentors that includes Anton Mosimann when head chef at The Dorchester and local chefs David Pitchford at Michelin-starred Reads Restaurant of Faversham and Stephen Harris of The Sportsman, Seasalter. He trained as a kitchen porter in Canterbury and as an apprentice at The Park Hotel, Southampton, before working at a number of top London hotels & country restaurants before acquiring The Minnis in 2003, which he has transformed.
There are 72 covers in ground floor restaurant, 20 in the bar, 50 upstairs (which is available for private dining. The al fresco area is the biggest in England – 4 miles long – and has a dedicated take-away service for those who wish to have their lunch on the beach
Children are welcome with their own annual; drawing competition and have access to a large stock of beach toys, inflatables and boats and an ice cream kiosk in the summer months.
Homemade preserves on offer are: Pickled Onions, Pickled Mooli (Japanese White Radish), Pickled Red & White Cabbage, Pickled Beetroot, Japanese Style Sweet Pickled Vegetables, Pickled Baby Cucumbers, Pickled Carrot, Sweet Onion Chutney, Tomato Relish, Piccalilli, Plum Chutney, Apple Chutney, Chilli Tomato Jam, Home Made Ketchup and Tartare Sauce. A variety of different vinegars are used – Red Wine, White Wine, Sherry, Cider, Raspberry, Japanese Rice, Chinese Sweet White and malt Vinegars with different blends of herbs, spices and sugars.
For more information, visit theminnis.co.uk.
