Chef goes wild at the Marquis Restaurant, Alkham, Kent, UK
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Wild food is the ultimate in seasonal, local and sustainable produce and Chef Charlie Lakin, of the Marquis in Alkham, keeps it on the menu at his Kent restaurant.
Seasonable local produce is the new fashion in the restaurant world but chefs who go out, and personally pick their own food, are a rare breed. Chef Charlie Lakin grew up on a farm in Yorkshire and remembers gathering Field Mushrooms and collecting Bilberries when he was a child. Nowadays, as a break from his kitchen duties, he finds it therapeutic to walk out of his restaurant and forage for ingredients. And it’s surprising what he finds and uses – Nettles, Meadowsweet, Chickweed, Wild Marjoram, Gorse Flowers, Wild Garlic, Hogweed and Elderflower have all featured on his menu, so his customers also benefit from his leisurely perambulations.
The Marquis is situated in the beautiful Alkham valley, half way between Folkstone and Dover and it’s the former village pub. After an excellent pint of local Gadds bitter from the Ramsgate brewery, I kicked off with plate of Croustillant of Dexter Beef with Bitter Cress Pannacotta and Red Onion Marmalade. Now the Beef comes from the farm up the road and Charlie usually takes the whole cow. That means he can use the tastier parts like Flank and Shin, slow cook them in Gadds Ale and then stuff them inside a Potato casing to make his Croustillant. I have to say it was delicious and the Pannacotta flavoured with Bitter Cress that he’d picked that morning was a refreshing accompaniment.
Next up was fillet of Sewin, or Sea Trout, on a bed of crushed new Potatoes scented with Wild Marjoram. The sauce was a forager’s delight and contained Blewitt and Shaggy Parasol Mushrooms and Alexanders, a green found on local laneside verges. Garnish was a Salad of Wild Sorrel, Buckthorn Plantain and Chickweed. The great thing about these rustic ingredients is that they have both an intensity and subtlety of flavour which their cultivated equivalents lack, and they perfectly complemented the fish.
Desert was Rice Pudding scented with Meadowsweet, topped with Shepherd’s Bullace Ripple Ice Cream, with a Compote of Black Bullace. So what is this mysterious ingredient? In fact it’s a wild cousin of the Plum and comes from trees close to the restaurant. Shepherd’s Bullace is white whereas Black Bullace is deep purple and both are rather sour and better cooked than fresh. They certainly livened up the Rice Pudding and it was a great idea to use one variety in the Ice Cream and other in the Compote.
This was my first introduction to foraged food on a restaurant menu. Of course I’ve had wild Mushrooms in the past but the intense flavours of local herbs were completely new to me, as were the Bullaces. The menu here takes the meaning of the seasonability and regonality to a new level and introduces a whole spectrum of novel tastes – wild things, I think I need you…
Alkham Valley Road , Alkham, UK
Contact tel: 01304 873410, fax: 01304 873418, e-mail:
Cost 3 course set menu: £10 - £25 per person
Useful links
Forager supplies restaurants with wild plants and fungi.
The Marquis at Alkham
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