Guests seated at low-lit tables in a narrow dining room during evening service

Fire kitchen & wine room

A short menu, cooked over wood

Twenty-eight seats, one hearth and a list that changes when the market does. We write the menu in the morning and serve it the same night.

Read the autumn menu Request a table

Dinner Thursday to Sunday, 5.30pm — 10pm
Long lunch Saturday and Sunday, one sitting at 12.30pm
Hearth counter Eight walk-in seats held back each service

Kitchen note

We cook what arrived this morning

Everything passes over embers or through the wood oven — vegetables first, then fish, then whatever is hanging in the ageing fridge. There is no fryer and no microwave in the building, which shapes the menu more than any philosophy would.

Dishes come off the list when the delivery runs out, usually late in the week. If you are set on something in particular, the earlier sittings are the safer bet.

Menu writtenEach morning, after the market run
BreadBaked on site daily, sourdough and a rye roll
FishDay boats only — species change weekly
Wine listAround sixty bottles, half available by the glass
ServiceNo service charge; tips are shared across the room

To begin

Small plates · two or three per table

Ember leeks, hazelnut, aged sheep's cheese

Whole leeks buried in the embers until the outer leaves char, then peeled and dressed while warm.

Cured trout, green apple, dill oil Raw

Cured for three days in salt and juniper, sliced to order and served cold.

Wood-oven flatbread, whipped butter, sea salt

Straight from the oven floor. The butter is cultured in-house and lightly smoked.

Borlotti beans, rosemary, burnt onion broth Vegan

Slow-cooked overnight in the cooling oven, finished with a spoon of chilli oil.

From the fire

Larger plates · one each

Day-boat plaice, brown butter, capers

Grilled on the bone over low embers. The species changes with the boats — ask the floor what landed.

Dry-aged sirloin for two, bone marrow, watercress

Hung thirty-five days, rested by the hearth and carved in the kitchen. Allow thirty minutes.

Hearth-roast celeriac, brown butter crumbs, capers Vegetarian

A whole root cooked in salt crust for four hours, then finished directly on the coals.

Guinea fowl, quince, charred cabbage

Brined overnight, grilled crown and confit leg, with quince from the orchard boxes.

Potatoes in beef fat, thyme salt

The one side dish we never take off. Enough for two to share.

To finish

Kitchen closes puddings at 10pm

Burnt honey tart, crème fraîche

Baked in the falling oven heat at the end of service, served the following evening.

Roast pear, walnut praline, bay ice cream

Pears go into the oven whole with a little cider and come out collapsing.

A plate of British cheese, oat crackers

Three cheeses, cut to order, whatever is eating best that week.

From the cellar

Glass · carafe · bottle

Low-intervention whites, Loire and Jura

8 / 22 / 42

Textural and dry. The by-the-glass whites rotate every fortnight.

Light reds, chilled, from the Beaujolais crus

9 / 25 / 46

Served at cellar temperature — they sit well against the smoke.

House ferments and non-alcoholic pours

5 / 14 / —

Seasonal shrubs, a hopped soda and a fermented barley drink made in the pastry fridge.

The rooms

Three ways to sit

The building is long and narrow, so where you sit changes the evening a good deal. Tell us which you would prefer and we will do our best.

Wooden tables set with glassware beside tall windows in the front dining room

Front room

Windows and street light

Ten tables of two and four, brighter at lunch and quieter than the rest of the room after nine.

Diners seated along a counter looking towards an open kitchen pass

Hearth counter

Eight stools at the fire

Held back for walk-ins each service. You eat facing the grill, and the cooks talk you through the plates.

A plated main course of grilled meat and vegetables on a ceramic plate

Back table

One long table for ten

A single group booking each night, served family style from the same menu. Enquire at least a week ahead.

From the larder

Where the week starts

Monday and Tuesday the dining room is dark and the kitchen is not. Those are the days for butchery, curing, baking off the week's crackers and pulling whatever has finished fermenting out of the cold room.

Vegetables come in three deliveries a week from two growers, which is why the menu leans hard on whatever is abundant rather than on a fixed set of dishes. When the last crate of a thing is used, that dish is finished until next season.

Fish is the least predictable part. We buy from day boats and take what is landed, so the plaice on this page may be brill or gurnard by the time you sit down. The floor team will always tell you what it is before you order.

Tables

Request a table

Send the details and we will confirm by email, usually the same day. Nothing is held until you hear back from us.

Tables of one to six — any service, Thursday to Sunday.
Seven or more — the back table only, one group per night.
Counter stools are walk-in and cannot be reserved.
Tables are held for fifteen minutes past the booked time.

Before you come

Useful to know

Can the kitchen work around allergies?

Most of them, with notice. Tell us when you enquire rather than on the night — several dishes are cooked in advance and cannot be changed once they are in the oven. Celery, nuts and dairy run through a lot of the menu, so those take the most rearranging.

Is there a vegetarian or vegan option?

Always at least one plate in each course, marked on the menu above. A full vegan sequence is possible if you mention it when enquiring, since the bread, butter and broths need swapping out.

What is the room like for step-free access?

The front room and the hearth counter are level from the street with a wide doorway. The back table sits up two steps and the accessible bathroom is on the ground floor. Say so in your enquiry and we will seat you in the front room.

Are children welcome?

At the weekend long lunch, yes — there are high chairs and the kitchen will plate smaller portions of anything on the list. Evening service runs late and loud, so we suggest the lunch sitting for younger guests.

Can we bring our own wine?

One bottle per table on Thursdays and Sundays, with a corkage charge of 20 per bottle. We ask that it is not something already on our list.

What happens if we are running late?

Tables are held for fifteen minutes. Past that we may need to give it up, but write to us and we will hold it longer if the book allows. If you are late for the long lunch, the kitchen will have started the sequence without you.