Designing our Spring/Summer Menus
Earlier this season we launched our new Spring/Summer menus and they’re proving to be incredibly popular. Our chefs have shared their development process and what goes into building these incredible culinary creations.
A year in the making
Our seasonal menu development can happen up to a year in advance as ideas and inspiration hit, but the real process begins a full season ahead. When our chef brigade first comes together to plan what dishes will make it onto the next seasonal menus, they consider a number of factors including seasonality, variation, innovation, trends and sustainability. Once the outline of the menu structure is complete, they liaise closely with trusted suppliers to ensure consistent availability and sustainability of the core ingredients needed to guarantee we can source the highest quality of produce available on the market. Our team stresses that this is one of the most important parts when it comes to developing a new menu, as without complete synergy between our chefs and suppliers, we would be at a major disadvantage when creating new and innovative menus year after year.
Considerations in Designing the Menu
The following points were the main areas of consideration when choosing which ingredients to focus on when developing this year’s Spring / Summer menus.
- Seasonal produce
We set out to utilise the best seasonal produce that is available during the spring and summer months from as close to home as possible. By doing so we hoped to be able to incorporate the highest quality and most sustainable produce possible in new and innovative ways into our menus. - Light and refreshing
When considering the seasonality of the dishes and ever-evolving food trends, we ensure we keep the dishes as light and refreshing as possible during the warmer months, whilst still being substantial. - Plant-based options
With the growing popularity of plant-based diets, it is of vital important to our culinary team that the same amount of care and detail be put into the development of our vegetarian and vegan options throughout the menu. Whilst doing so we strive to highlight the characteristics of the best seasonal produce available to use. - Sustainability
It can be the little things that count when it comes to sustainability, so where possible when developing the dishes, we followed the thought process of “nose to tail eating” ensuring that we reduced food waste as much as possible and this aspect was a particular focus for us this season. - Menu balance
When developing the dishes, balance was very much as the forefront of the teams thought process, ensuring that the dishes would appeal to a broad spectrum of client tastes and preferences as well as following the most up to date food trends out there on the London foodie scene.
