7 minute read
DINING OUT Enjoying the fine dining tasting menu of Taylor’s in Newark.
Monkfish with Curry Spice.
A Delicious Tasting Menu in Newark at TAYLOR’S FINE DINING
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A phenomenal restaurant recommendation this month as we visit Lincolnshire’s ‘adopted town,’ Newark. Technically it’s in Nottinghamshire, but we’ll claim it as our own, especially if that means we can enjoy the dishes that exceptional father and son team Stephen & Rhys Taylor create...
Words & Images: Rob Davis.
Meet the Editor’s father and you’ll undoubtedly have to acknowledge that I’m a chip off the old block. He’s a smashing chap and has imbued me with his sense of humour and an often pretty anarchic outlook on life. But could we work together? I’m not so sure. There is, however, a father and son duo in the kitchen of their eponymous fine dining restaurant in Newark who don’t just rub along alright in the kitchen but really thrive as they work alongside their third chef and the rest of the team including exceptionally lovely front of house manager Ellesha Cockroft and sommelier Ruth Campbell. This month we’re happy to introduce you to Taylor’s Fine Dining, on the town’s Castle Gate. The plan was to introduce Stephen Taylor’s restaurant as being ‘small but perfectly formed.’ It wasn’t until Ellesha was showing me around, however, I realised that in addition to the light, modern 16-seater restaurant and adjacent Chef’s Table dining room with eight additional covers, there’s another two dining areas too. The first is the Potting Shed, with a further 16 covers at the rear of the restaurant. It’s smart, a little more contemporary and with lot of windows, quite warm on a day as sunny as when we visited... there are also a few vines where Stephen’s son Rhys – a bit of tomato connoisseur – tends to his heritage varieties. I was really intrigued, though, when Ellesha led me downstairs into the Cellar room. A timber staircase gives way to a brick undercroft, with intimate lighting and a wine cellar at the far end. Seating 12 people for private dining, it’s a really atmospheric room with bags of character. Properly set up for diners in the evening and with a bit of mood lighting, it’s quirky, smart and fun.
As I would soon discover though, the beauty of Taylor’s, goes way beyond the smart surroundings. Quite a few restaurants today either eschew the term fine dining or use it too readily, watering-down its meaning. Not here though; this is a bona fide fine dining option in terms of each dish’s composition, flavour and presentation. >>
Beef tartare with radish and egg yolk.
MEET THE CHEF
RHYS TAYLOR
Provenance: Raised in his father Stephen’s gastropubs, at just 22, Rhys has progressed from potwash to proprietor. Food Philosophy: Fresh ingredients and attention to detail. Food Heaven: Any fish. Heritage tomatoes, too! Food Hell: Bad tomatoes!
on the MENU
Chef’s Tasting Menu, £60/daytime £70/evening Flight of Wine £50/supplement Crab with Granny Smith and focaccia.
Beef tartare, with radish and egg yolk. Salmon ravioli, chestnut mushroom, with pecorino. Monkfish with curry spice. Coddington lamb with courgette, Boston potato and mint. Sticky toffee. Chocolate and beetroot.
Petit fours and coffee.
Additional cheese course £15/supplement Lincolnshire Poacher, Colton Bassett Stilton, Lindum, Rachel and Tunworth, sourced from Lincoln Cheese Society & Café. Optional apéritif £12.50/supplement Negroni. Kir Royale. Optional digestif £12.50/supplement Brandy Alexander. White Russian.
NB: This is a sample menu, and featured dishes are subject to availability and change.
Rhys and Stephen Taylor.
Korean chicken wings
>> A couple of my personal dining out bugbears are multiple menus and those with too many dishes on. I’m always acutely cautious that more dishes can mean the chefs are less well-versed creating each dish and that they may have to compromise on the number and freshness of ingredients they have to have in stock.
Happily, Taylor’s Fine Dining has a single menu, available during lunchtime and evening service, and it’s a tasting menu with a series of dishes comprising no fewer than eight courses... nine if you opt for the optional cheese course.
Tasting menus actually make a lot of sense to me, certainly from a restauranteur’s perspective. Knowing the exact dishes you’ll be preparing and in what quantity enables you to concentrate your mind, and with fewer choices of dishes on the menu, you can really perfect each course. From a diner’s perspective, I enjoy a menu with a greater quantity of slightly smaller dishes too, as it enables a restaurant’s chefs to really show off the gamut of their talent. Whilst some diners, might have a slight reservation over the lack of choice when compared to à la carte restaurant menus, but those enjoying a meal at Taylor’s needn’t worry; every dish on the menu during our visit was one that even I could enjoy... and in fairness, I’m quite a conservative diner. Furthermore, each one was beautifully presented. Bread, ice creams, then petit fours following your meal as all made in house, and ingredients are sourced locally as long as there’s no concession to quality.
A great relationship with suppliers, too, means that the restaurant is also open to suggestions as to which ingredients really stand out day by day. Fish is sourced from Cornwall-based Wing of St Mawes, as their produce is line-caught, and sent by courier, super-fresh, from shoreline to chef. Butchery is sourced from Newark-based GH Porter, whilst the lamb served during our visit was sourced from Coddington. Fruit and veg is sourced from a local firm and on Fridays and Saturdays, purchased directly from Newark Market.
Even the restaurant’s wines are sourced from Ann Et Vin a couple of doors down, among a couple of other specialist wholesalers. Incidentally, Ellesha also assures us that if you’ve dietary requirements or vegan diners in your party, the kitchen team, is happy to adjust menus, if given a little notice. Stephen’s experience has seen him working in hospitality since the age of 13, in different kitchens creating anything from gastropubstyle dishes to Michelin-starred restaurant cuisine.
In 2019 he sold the pub he owned to set up a new and really good restaurant working alongside Rhys. Whilst Covid threatened to prevent the restaurant gaining proper traction when it reopened in July 2021, Taylor’s Fine Dining is now firing on all cylinders and quickly gaining a lot of respect, not least from us. A lovely team, producing super food, in a great environment... we reckon it’s an easy restaurant to recommend. n
This Page: Chocolate and beetroot. Left: Coddington Lamb with courgette and Boston potatoes with mint. Salmon ravioli, chestnut mushroom and pecorino.
DINING OUT AT... Taylor’s Fine Dining
Location: Castle Gate in the centre of Newark. The Pitch: A family-run, fine-dining restaurant with 48 covers and father/son team Stephen & Rhys in the kitchen.
Lunchtime/Evening Service:
Wednesday to Saturday from 12 noon until 2.30 and 6pm-9pm. Private dining Sunday to Tuesday available by prior arrangement.
Taylor’s Fine Dining, Castle Gate, Newark NG24 1AZ Call: 01636 659986 or see www.taylorsfd.co.uk.
Delicious Food, Great Coffee, Fabulous Setting
Tuck into a hearty soup, healthy salad, freshly made sandwiches, tasty breakfast or mouth-watering cakes, all served with a warm welcome. Or pre-book a traditional Afternoon Tea as a special treat. You can choose to dine on the delightful sunny terrace or in the cosy interior with open access to our showroom, where you can browse at your leisure.
Open Monday – Saturday, 9.00 am – 4.00 pm
The Hayloft, Copthill Farm, Uffington, Stamford PE9 4TD Call 01780 753351
info@huntersinteriors.co.uk www.huntersinteriorsofstamford.co.uk
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