The Ryebeck, Bowness, has a new head chef, Dom Clarke, formerly Head Chef at Gilpin Hotel and Lake House.
Dom, a native of Altringham in Cheshire, is already making inroads in the kitchens at the stylish Arts and Crafts country house hotel in the heart of the Lakes, creating two new menus from scratch for the Two AA Rosette restaurant.
Dom has worked in the industry for over 20 years and brings with him a wealth of experience and innovation. He started out at Est Est Est, in Hale Village, and like many future chefs did a spell in the pot wash, working his way up to larder, and ever since has progressed through the ranks in a number of award winning restaurants, including Malmaison in both Edinburgh and Manchester and The Lowry Hotel, Manchester, firstly under Ryan Murphy and then Neil O’Connell before making the move to the Lakes.
Along the way Dom also spent a period of time in the Far East exploring Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Malaysia, picking up culinary hints and tips along the way and developing a love for the beguiling simplicity of dishes from the region, renowned for their depth of flavour, texture and beauty.
This love is reflected in many of the dishes Dom creates, a fact that has been recognised both by Director of Operations with Wildsmith Hotels, Tom Lewis, and owner Andrew Wildsmith, who have given him the freedom to create two very distinct menus for The Ryebeck, menus that firmly reflect Dom’s culinary influences.
The Classic Menu
Firstly he has created ‘The Classic Menu’, populated with firm British favourites such as Chateaubriand with mashed potatoes, carrot, game chips, wild mushroom, cherry vine tomatoes and a Béarnaise sauce or Coq Au Vin with mashed potatoes, hen of the woods, celeriac, micro carrot and pancetta crisps.
The Ryebeck Menu
Then there is Dom’s Eastern influenced menu, ‘The Ryebeck Menu’, this menu is bursting with complex flavours complimenting simple fresh ingredients, such as wild stone bass with a miso broth, braised lotus root, pickled mooli, sand carrot and seaweed or Cumbrian lamb rump and confit croustillant, with sweet potato, hen of the woods, king oyster mushrooms, popcorn cress and a black rice jus.
Dom’s food philosophy is straight forward, which is to use the freshest possible ingredients to delight and tantalise the taste buds, to have fun with the food he creates, for example his take on classically simplistic dish turned on its head – bananas and custard, consisting of banana bread, a caramelised banana, custard sherbet, chocolate all rounded off with a custard ice cream.
As Dom said, ‘’The food I aim to create is all about delighting the senses, it’s about texture, flavour, and the way its presented. Being given the freedom to create two very differing menus is refreshing and challenging, it allows me to be truly creative and bring a range of influences to bear on the plates I create. I’m pleased to say the team alongside me in the kitchen at The Ryebeck are already rising to the culinary challenges I set both them and myself. This is a great opportunity for us all and I’m going to really enjoy developing both my food and The Ryebeck’s food reputation along the way.’’
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