Six-course scallop tasting menu at The Ambrette

The Ambrette’s Michelin-rated chef patron Dev Biswal is to serve a special menu to mark the Rye Bay Scallop Festival.

The 6-course scallop tasting menu, priced at £49.99, will be served at both his Margate and Rye restaurants, on Sunday 26th February and Sunday 4th March.

Rye Bay Scallop Week takes place in the Sussex Cinque Port town from 25th February to 4th March 2012. The mainly restaurant-based event takes place when the local delicacy is at its plumpest and most succulent. The festival features cookery schools, cooking and scallop shucking demos. The week culminates on the final day with the hotly contested ‘What a Load of Scallops’ race with competitors racing barrows of scallops, through the cobbled streets of Rye, to win the coveted wooden scallop plaque.

”Scallops as an ingredient are very chef friendly – easy to cook, versatile, full of natural flavours and very difficult to get wrong - the brown coral comes as an added treat!” enthused The Ambrette chef patron Dev Biswal who was introduced to Rye Bay scallops was at a restaurant in Rye last year.

“I was so impressed that I still remember the dish in detail and my goal became to create a menu which absolutely worships the ingredient,” he said.

Dev has created the unique scallop sampler to showcase scallop-cooking techniques from around the world, including a special scallop brew and an exclusive scallop dessert.

The taster evenings begin at 7 pm.

The Ambrette Restaurant at Rye, which opened on 1st December, is located in the historic White Vine House, holder of 5 AA stars in the “Restaurant with Rooms” category. It accommodates 14 guests in 5 double rooms (one 4-poster), and a family room (sleeping four). Room rates from £130 to £180 a night including breakfast. The original building was destroyed during one of the many French raids on the town during the 100 Years War. The Elizabethan Dining Room named for its exquisite and unique French oak panelling, which probably cost more than the original building, with each panel individually formed to fit the timber frame. The room is “signed” with a carpenter's mark visible just above the fireplace.

Dev Biswal grew up in Calcutta. He trained at the Dubai Sheraton, before moving to London, aged 26 in 2003 for spells at Mangoes and Eriki. He became a partner in The Indian Princess in Margate in December 2006, becoming patron and rebranding it as The Ambrette in 2010.

Rye Bay Scallop Week: ryebayscallops.co.uk.

The Ambrette Restaurant, theambrette.co.uk.

The White Vine House, whitevinehouse.co.uk.