Latest opening: Crocadon
What: An eagerly-awaited farm-based restaurant just outside Saltash, Cornwall. Crocadon will ‘celebrate the connection between food and agriculture’ with a regularly changing tasting menu (£65/£95 for six/10 courses) that’s based largely on what has been harvested on the organic and regenerative farm of the same name that week. Crocadon will initially be open for dinner on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays. On Sunday, a three-course lunch will be available as a more relaxed sharing style offering.
Who: Crocadon is a return - of sorts - for Roux Scholar Dan Cox. The chef was once one of Simon Rogan’s key lieutenants overseeing the creation of Our Farm in The Lakes and launching his London restaurant Fera as executive chef. He has spent the past five years or so overhauling Crocadon Farm and is now turning his attention to the restaurant side of things (the team limbered up with a low-key food offer last year). Cox’s head chef is ex Fera and Cub chef Michael Thompson while the dining room will be overseen by Cat Kirkwood, the erstwhile GM of recently closed Copenhagen restaurant Amass.
The vibe: The 25-cover restaurant is set in a restored barn that’s framed by the rolling hills of the Tamar Valley. In keeping with its farm location, the space is rustic and relatively low-key in feel - especially given the ambitious nature of the project overall - with design details including exposed wooden beams, light wooden furniture, stone walls and sheepskin throws.
The food: As befits Crocadon's farm-to-table ethos, the menu will change very regularly, but example dishes include Nuka Golden turnips; Gigantis beans and cured Saddleback pork loin; brown crab and lemongrass; and whey caramel, yoghurt and caramalised apple. According to Cox, each plate of food will be ‘as rooted in nature as it can be’ delivered by way of a ‘pared-back yet technically-complex cooking style’ that draws on elements of his classical training (prior to Rogan he worked at Roux at Parliament Square and high-profile Barcelona restaurant Can Fabes). Fermentation and smoking techniques as well as open-fire cooking will be key alongside the use of raw ingredients.
To drink: The wine list will be exclusively made up of natural, organic and biodynamic wines from Europe, with plans to introduce more wines from the West Country over time.
And another thing. Apparently not content with being an accomplished chef and farmer, Cox has also turned his hand to pottery. Crocadon has its own ceramics workshop on site, with all the tableware used in the dining room thrown by either Cox, his head chef Thompson or a handful of emerging British ceramicists. The duo have even created their own glazes using waste from the farm.
