The standing menu
Autumn at the table
The card is rewritten the week the light changes. Nothing is written down until it has been cooked twice and agreed upon by both seats.
Chair 1 has not eaten meat since before the café had a name, so the card is written vegetarian first. Meat turns up now and then, and the husband declares nothing.
veg — vegetarianvegan — no dairythe occasional — there is meat on the plate
Lunch
12:30 — 14:00
Autumn service
Served at the kitchen table, or in the Oasis while the light holds.
Cider & oat porridge, heather honey
veg9A quiet first plate for a cold morning.
Garden leaves, walnut, aged cheddar
veg11Whatever the beds gave us that week, dressed in cider and honey.
Turnip, cider, dill
vegan12Sliced thin, dressed cold, gone in four minutes.
Roast squash, brown butter, thyme
veg14The first squash off the vine, roasted whole in its own skin.
Wild mushroom tart, aged cheese
veg16Foraged under the oaks, in a butter pastry baked the same morning.
Oak-smoked trout, apple, dill
the occasional18Cured overnight, smoked over a single oak log, eaten slowly.
Dinner
19:00 — 21:30
Autumn service
Two sittings, one table, and no hurry whatsoever.
Celeriac, hazelnut, sage
vegan22Baked in salt for four hours, carved at the table.
Roast beets, buckwheat, horseradish
veg18Buried in the ash, peeled at the sink, eaten before it cools.
Wild rice, oak mushrooms, cream
veg20The pot we keep warm for the second helping nobody orders.
Charred leeks, walnut, aged cheese
veg19Blackened on the dry pan, dressed while they are still too hot.
Duck, quince, black garlic
the occasional26Roasted on the bone, glazed with the last of the quince paste.
Cheese from the cellar, oat crisps
veg14Chosen by whoever opened the door last.
Chocolate, oak, sea salt
veg12Set overnight in the cold pantry, salted at the pass.
House note
Substitutions are always possible. Nobody has ever asked.
The kitchen is one burner, one oven, and a great deal of patience. Anything can be made without dairy, without wheat, or without conversation on a bad day.