Thursday 23 July 2015

'Morning!!!


Hello from another overcast Salcombe - flip me this weather doesn't know what it's doing!!! We have the most stunning weather most of the time and yet thick mist another!!

Either way the Vic is incredibly busy - so please remember if you want to sit inside and eat with us in the evening (or daytime for that matter) please remember to book!! 01548842604 

 I think we lost count over the last few days how many people have been disappointed that we've been unable to find them a seat - particularly when it's 6 or 8's................ I know we're good at turning tables but we're not miracle workers. Pleading and begging (yes you do - you know you do!) won't get me additional seating for you. Nor will swearing down the phone at us!(oh yes, that happened as well this last weekend!)  I could always try for another floor to be added onto the Vic - what say you St Austell??

The (very unflattering pic - thank you SOH!!) of me and our Chefs is the first of our planning meetings for the new Autumn menus.  We're all very, very excited about these.  We've taken the opportunity the last couple weeks to try out some new 'Specials' and my goodness they have gone down a storm. The discussions we've had had been brilliant and we are so lucky to have such talented guys (and girls) in our team. Here's what we don't want:

We don't (won't) put the prices up
We don't want to stray into the territory of a 'Restaurant'
We don't want to move too far away from what our regular customers expect and like (so no introduction of foams and flowers!!)

Here's what we do want to do:

We do want to refine our food offering very slightly
We want to change it every month (outside of summer)
We want it to reflect the seasons
We do want to continue to give great value for money
We want to be recognised even more for the quality of our food

Then there's the thorny question of a 'Gastro Pub' - what the flipping heck IS a GASTROPUB?? Do we want to become one? Here is the definition From Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia   
 
A gastropub or gastrolounge is a bar and restaurant that serves high-end beer and food

Hang on - light bulb moment alert - that's what we do already?? Ok - that ended that discussion, it's just a word!

So! How are we going to achieve this?? First of all, because my Chefs and ourselves LOVE food (yep, that pic above reflects my love of food!!) we keep a watchful eye on what the great Chefs of the UK are up to. Many of us follow on Twitter the likes of Tom Kerridge, James Martin, Peter Gorton, James Eggleton, Tom Aikens etc and then closer to home we have the incredible John Hooker, Anton Piotrowski, Simon Hulstone, Mitch Tonks and the fantastic Michael Caines (Chef not Actor).

We all love to eat out! We read the trade press and cheffie papers, I personally have dozens of cook books from these great chefs as do my team - so between us we are sitting down, looking at seasonality, looking at these guys recipes, checking if we can adapt them slightly to see if they would work in the Vic. We look at the websites that matter to get inspiration. This summer we adapted a recipe from my personal hero Tom Kerridge (if you go nowhere else in the UK to eat you MUST go to the Hand and Flowers - the MOST incredible food!!) a Pink Grapefruit Merengue! To die for I tell you - absolutely amazing.

So in OUR pub when you sit and look at the menu in September I hope you will appreciate the effort that goes in to making our menu special - just for YOU.

What else? 

From September we are also starting to offer home made cakes. Chef Tania and Sous Chef Kaytie are working on what exactly.  We think we'll start with Cup Cakes and trust me having tasted Tania's cakes I know you're in for a real treat! Light, fluffy, perfect toppings - yum.......

We had an amazing bit of news from our brewery St Austell that we have won a trip to Champagne.  This is because we have been hugely successful in the innovative ways we have sold more Champagne than any other tenanted pub in the Estate.  I think it will be October or November and we are already looking forward to it.  If you are a regular blog reader you will know that a few years ago we won Best Wine House and that was also a trip to Champagne so we know we're in for a great time!

We had a fantastic  picture taken in this last couple of weeks of the man crèche - one of many, many dozens I know but I love the lighting on this.  It's from a visitor to Salcombe (and also a photographer) called Mike Kinsey.  I thought it was one of the best I've ever seen - do you?? The actual sign done by our resident children's author and illustrator Mark Fraser.

As I say, we continue to be hugely busy here at the Vic and we start to have Magic Mark at the pub (he's here this Sunday - lunch hour) Story teller Mark and of course The Old Gaffers (they're here this Saturday starting at 8) I'll endeavour to publish the dates and times on our website in the next couple of days.  www.victoriainn-salcombe.co.uk

I'm also currently working on the newsletter to go out to all of you who have signed up some time this week - I just need a bit of a hand on the technicalities from our website people.............(growls quietly) 

On that happy note (Hah!) I'll say ta-ta just as the sun starts to put his head out of the clouds!

Much love

Liz - Landlady X








 

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