The Restaurant - day one

Yes we have signed at last ... here's a preview of how it looks after I whited the windows to start work ... more to come.

Have just spent the day ripping out all the plants and tidying up the front ...

Phone is not on yet and working to opening date of 20 June ! Will post as soon as we are taking bookings.

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40 comments:

  2. What a charming building! Looking forward to reading more about your renovation and can't wait to visit!
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  3. Congratulations! I can't wait to visit!
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  4. CONGRATULATIONS!!!! It'll be a huge success - June 20th. A lot to do!
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  5. Brilliant news! Congratulations Mat.
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  6. Looks very promising. Ive got a big birthday coming up this year - looks like a great place to celebrate it. I'm really pleased for you.
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  7. Wonderful news... wish you all success!!!
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  8. Excellent news !, congrats and good luck with the phone line ;o)
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  9. How exciting Mat. Will be following your progress avidly. Best of luck to you.
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  10. Don't be doing too much "fancy cooking" there Matt. People want to come away knowing they've eaten a decent meal - keep them portion sizes up and forget what them judges on tele kept harping on about. Remember - after the first few glory months, it will be us locals that pay the bills through the winter months - we all need to keep you afloat to next Easter and that will be a true measure of your success. PS : Good luck and see you in November !
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  11. Anonymous - your comments are echoed by others in the area, as I heard in the hairdresser's the other day. Dorset people like a lovely plate of food. And we hate being charged extra for veg!
    We're all looking forward to it, very much.
    Good luck!
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  12. don't worry Maddie/Anon I won't make the mistake of my predecessor and charge for everything separately ! ... am looking forward to producing some good food with a little flair and lots of flavour, menu choices including smoked scallops, water buffalo steaks, crab thermidor ... and of course lavender mousse with hokey pokey :-) Also thinking of doing a locals night, music/themed and a fixed menu once a week ... got to get through the festival first ! ps your location guess for the road is pretty close ... don't want to publish where i live
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  13. Hope that LBC has come through, what with all that sledgehammering! However, the building does look better already, just clearing those dead plants away. Good luck!
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  14. Congratulations Mat! Very exciting. We're looking forward to hopefully coming down to sample your food later in the year.

    Good luck and wishing you all success!
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  15. Fantastic. It looks like a brilliant venue.
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  16. Congratulations. And best of luck.
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  17. Hello Mat, congratulations. I can't wait to make my first booking.
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  18. Great news - CONGRATULATIONS Matt!
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  19. How exciting! Loved the show, delighted at your win and have been checking the webpage since looking out for restaurant news! Can't wait to visit.
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  20. Outstanding news - just in time for t'other halfs birthday. Any delays in the opening date will be frowned upon, Sir.
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  21. Good luck Mat. Can't wait to visit one day
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  22. As a local can't wait to try the food. Already discussed with friends when we are coming to dine. 3 separate nights required so far. Big birthday in October. So hurry up and get the phone connected.
    Good Luck.
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  23. Many congratulations. I was in awe when I watched you on MS and delighted when I found your blog after I watched the final (I've been lurking ever since!). I'm looking forward to making a trip to your restaurant (looks like a beautiful building). I'm not a local but I take trips all year round!!

    Zephaniah
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  24. Just want to congratulate you on the restaurant, i've been following your blog waiting for news of a restaurant. Cant wait to come and eat there.
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  26. congratulations Matt! that looks wonderful. I have been following your progress with interest after I saw you on the news here in NZ for winning masterchef. congratulations on that too of course - an amazing achievement!
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  27. I hope that you can apply your innovative ideas to vegetarian food as well. Too many restaurants just offer risotto or pasta for vegetarians - we don't go twice to such restaurants!
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  28. I do a good risotto ! will have other dishes too ... suggestions welcomed
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  29. I see I am not the only one fed up with risotto which has taken over from lasagne and vegetable 'bake' (pap in a tasteless cheese sauce) as the veggie choice. It's on every menu in Dorset! I can whip up a fine risotto at home. Eating out is a treat (more so in crunch times) and i want something imaginative, hard-to-make (good pastry maybe like filou) involving unusual ingredient/spices. Chefs like ignore veggies but they should realise that meat eating friends/partners have to put up with the long faces at yet another uninspiring tenners worth of rice - usually with cream thrown at it in a sad attempt to make it seem worth the money!
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  30. Matt, I go away for a while and come back to find you have already got your new restaurant!!!! - well done and I sincerely hope you do well - if you are careful and keep it simple you will do well - I'll book myself in when your up and running!
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  31. BTW, I know all to well the issues with GrdII listed buildings (I live in one) - I hope you don't uncover too many horrors!!
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  32. Hey Matt, many congratulations on getting your restaurant! When I'm back from my travels I'd love to come and try your cooking, it looks sublime. Much luck and every success,
    Steven.
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  33. Can't wait to find out where the Restaurant is - we're very much strapped for cash here, but I have made a promise to myself that I'm going to get the family to you, come what may! Hopefully it won't be too far away from us here in Poole!

    Good luck with getting it ready - I suspect that as the time to open draws closer, it'll become more pressurised than a MasterChef final! :-)
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  34. Thanks for being so polite yesterday when you were obviously up to your gills with decorating. I popped in to see if you need any "backroom" help. All the best with your venture - we shall certainly book a table - if your MC menus are anything to go by we're in for a real gastronomic treat. Best wishes CB
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  35. I'm so please someone sensible has taken it over! When it was Pickwicks we used it 3 or 4 times a month and it was always good. We gave the Black Cat a chance - but after two terrible meals - dried up burnt pork loin, and a shop brought meringue and old fruit with no cream as a pavlova.........well it's no wonder they failed - the Chef also refused to talk to local - not good move in Dorset! Looking forward to my first meal!!
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  36. well me and my lass have booked a week in broadwindsor and have commited to a 7 and a half hour drive and hopefully 5 good nights of enjoying that big food your offered greg and john, i know your gonna make a success of this venture and me and lynn want to enjoy your food before the menue gets a zero on the end of everything lol, im sure its gonna be great and we are realy excitted to both be getting away on our hols somewhere new and be almost gaurenteed of perfect food , if the sun shines whilst we are there theres the cherry on the top , good luck and all the very best kev and lynn,[hopefully you have our booking now from the 13/7/09 to 17/7/09 7pm ish ]
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  37. 3 times i have tried to book - always fully booked! Perhaps you should re-think turning tables? As a local who would (like too) use your restaurant 2 or three times a month - i will only keep trying for so long.....(3 weeks notice the last time i tried - i mean its August why would i want to book in mid September??)I hope that when we eventually get table it's as good as i'm hoping! - and that locals will be able to use this restaurant when the tourist season ends - just remember that it's the local who will keep you going in Jan and Feb...spare a thought. In the meantime Lord Poulet Arms here i come!!
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  38. Mat
    The final of Master Chef only aired here last night Tue 25th August 2009. Have followed it right through. Congratulations on a stunning performance.
    Roy & Gay Smith Masterton NZ
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  39. As a big Master Chef fan I'm so pleased something tangible has come out of all the effort and you have been able to open your restaurant, and it is doing so well.
    Look forward to being able to visit to sample the delights, but sounds like I'll need to book plenty of time ahead!
    Beth, London
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  40. My hubby and I visited your restaurant, unknowingly for coffee late June - you'd just opened. Saw this chap coming into the restaurant, chefs blacks - thought I recognise you, why, then it clicked - masterchef!! Thought your menu of mackeral, gooseberries and samphire sounded delicious, my sort of cooking. Sadly we weren't around long enough to sample your fare, but will be back.
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