A Shaft of light Words Danny Nash
The Grosvenor Arms
W
hen invited by a top local chef to join him at his restaurant to taste some new dishes, you’re never really going to say no, are you? That’s what I thought and, me, I’m no different to the next man, except maybe now a tad hungrier.
So, when Neil Duffet called in and invited us over to The Grosvenor Arms in Shaftesbury we were on the phone to the babysitters (grandparents – thanks guys!) before you could say ‘poached duck eggs’. If you’ve had the chance to visit The Grosvenor Arms, you’ll know this is a boutique hotel with 16 individual, stylish rooms and beautifully designed ground floor spaces that include a restaurant, conservatory, bar, café and courtyard. The hotel is well known for its excellent food and, now under the direction of Head Chef Neil Duffet, previously of Lime Wood, the young gifted Chef and his team are offering exciting, inspiring, fresh food. The man at the helm makes a choice on his menu, then quite literally gets into his car of a morning to source the ingredients locally for the forthcoming dishes. Amazingly, he tells me that nobody actually delivers out to Shaftesbury as it is too far. We imagine that this may change once our artisan following read this! We soon recognise some of the wonderful producers on the menu – what we consider to be the best local suppliers, such as local organic butcher Simon Harvell, Chesil Smokery for smoked meat and fish, and Capreolus Fine Foods for charcuterie.
arkadia magazine
The restaurant has a very calm, laid back feel, which took me by surprise. They’ve built a stone baked oven which gives the place a chic, urban coolness – a feeling that is enhanced by the young, friendly, staff who are impeccably turned out in shirts, denim jeans, aprons and white Converse. In these urbanite surroundings you could be forgiven for thinking you were a world away from the quaint and charming Shaftesbury that appears on the postcards.