Lovely article from The Week News.
We are so proud to be NO. 2 on th elist of best wood fired restaurants in the UK.
Cooking with fire is so hot right now and these are the kitchens across the country stoking up their flames for your gastronomic enjoyment.
1. Edo, Belfast
Fanning the flames in the name of good food is Edo chef and owner Jonny Elliott. His impressive CV working for the likes of Gordon Ramsay and Gary Rhodes sets the bar high for this vibrant modern European restaurant in Belfast. The name (pronounced aye-do) is Latin for “I eat” and you’ll certainly be doing a lot of that here. Dishes are cooked over apple and pear wood in a Bertha charcoal oven, giving a distinctive, smokey flavour. If you cant decide on a starter and a main, opting for the sharing menu is a great way to sample a number of the great dishes on offer. A particular highlight is the cured ham hock, which is slow-roasted in the Bertha until sticky and falling apart, served simply with a silken whipped celeriac puree.
Edo, 3 Capital House, Upper Queen Street, Belfast BT1 6FB; edorestaurant.co.uk
2. Una Kitchen, St Ives
As winter draws on, a taste of Mediterranean sunshine is a tempting proposition at this popular Cornish restaurant in west Cornwall. While award-winning chef Glenn Gatland rustles up some impressive dishes on the wood-fire oven in the restaurant’s open kitchen, diners are able to watch their dinner being cooked over the flames. Brimming with local and seasonal produce, the menu provides generous helpings of fresh Cornish seafood and lamb shoulder to authentic wood-fired pizzas and antipasti. Una Kitchen even offers a flame-grilled Sunday roast – perfect for keeping the cold out on a winter’s day.
Laity Ln, Carbis Bay, Saint Ives TR26 3HW; unastives.co.uk
3. Blue Smoke At Low Wood Bay, Windermere
This hidden gem in the Lake District combines an exciting wood-fired grill with stunning views of Lake Windermere. The three-metre-long double wood-fired grill is the restaurant’s centrepiece, and all the senses are entertained, with glorious smells and the visual theatre of the kitchen adding to the ambience and beautiful surroundings. Cooking over hot embers of sustainable British wood such as elder, birch, and oak, the chefs create fabulous flavours in aged steaks, meats, fish, and vegetables. Gloucester Old Spot pork belly is served with sweet and sticky confit orange, thyme and brown sugar, or for the more adventurous, there’s the fruity and fiery mango habanero spiced chicken breast with spring onion and coriander salsa, all complemented with a diverse wine list. Blue Smoke can’t be beaten for location, visual flair, or simple, hearty cooking.
Low Wood Bay Hotel, Windermere LA23 1LP; englishlakes.co.uk/low-wood-bay
4. Neil Rankin’s Temper City, London
Neil Rankin is a pioneer of London’s high-end barbecue scene and is lauded for his experimental use of bold flavours and his eclectic global influences.
From his early days at Barbecoa with Jamie Oliver to Pitt Cue, and his Smokehouse restaurants you know, when it comes to cooking with fire, you’re in safe hands. He recently opened a new outpost of his latest venture, Temper, in the City, and it’s hard to argue with its no-nonsense menu: barbecue meats and poultry alongside curry, tandoor roasted meats and homemade roti breads – and a brunch on Saturdays. Delights from the wood-fired grill include kimchi lamb skewers and complex and smoky beef rib in black pepper sauce.
2 Angel Court 30 Throgmorton Street London EC2R 7HJ; temperrestaurant.com. Image by Steven Joyce
5. Opera Grill, Chester
Following restoration, this vast 400-seater restaurant, housed in a Grade II-listed Methodist chapel dating back to 1836, now boasts a bar space and a music lounge featuring live bands, DJs and the occasional gospel choir across two floors. The star of the show is the open kitchen, which is centred around three-metre handmade charcoal and wood-burning grill, sitting between two wood-burning ovens. Either side of this is two floor-to-ceiling fridges, lined with pink Himalayan salt bricks where cuts of meat are dry-aged. The raw bar, cold counters and salad bars perfectly complement charcoal grill and wood oven dishes such as delicious teriyaki Arctic salmon with pickled onions and rich wild Scottish venison fillet. A night at Opera guarantees a visual and culinary spectacle in unique surroundings.
