The October Dinner Menu

From the brilliant mind of Head Chef and co-owner, Sam, we’ve got another menu ready to tell you all about. Fetching inspiration from all around, whether that be friend and fellow chef James Stapley (the great mind behind Kika and Paloma, and fellow owner of arc), the motley crew working hard at arc both front and back of house, or, most importantly, what’s fresh and in season that month.

Indulge us as we natter on about what goes into making this month’s menu…

Arc Beer Bread

Welsh Rarebit butter, Worcestershire sauce, chive oil

Described by our chefs as ‘one of those amazing dishes that so regularly gets overlooked’.

In its classic form, a Welsh rarebit begins by making a roux with flour, butter, mustard and beer, rather than the usual milk. Cheese gets folded in to create a fondue-like consistency. The mixture is spread on toast before being baked under the grill and served with Worcestershire sauce.

Arc’s take on this begins by baking the bread with beer. The butter is browned and the mustard worked in. For plating up, our chefs crumble over Whitestone cheddar and create a ‘butter-well’ to fill with a drizzle of housemade herb oil and classic Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce.

It’s rich, it’s comforting, and it’s a bloody great start to the October menu in our not-so-humble opinion.

Sam I am’s

Green Eggs and Ham

asparagus, bernaise, confit egg, crispy ham

Dr Suess’ literary masterpiece has become a regular fixture in Head Chef Sam’s life, following the recent birth of his little boy. So the temptation to work it into his menu was simply too great.

To create the charming visual of green eggs on your plate, instead of putting fresh tarragon through the bearnaise as it’s traditionally done, our chefs sprinkle tarragon powder over the eggs. The extra flash of green from the asparagus certainly helps too, and provides a nice contrast to the rich orange of the free range confit egg, sourced from Parkside Farm.

It’s a pretty visually striking dish when it all comes together, fortunately, it tastes pretty good too.

West Coast Whitebait

Toast

Westcoast Whitebait, lemon mayo, hot box honey, Horopito salted lime

This dish is inspired by Chinese prawn toast and begins with a farce made from squid. If, like me, you thought that ‘farce’ was a spelling mistake, allow me to briefly explain as our ever-so-wise chefs had to do so for me. A farce is a finely chopped or puréed mixture of ingredients, primarily meat, that is used as a stuffing for other foods like poultry or vegetables, or served on its own. For this dish, the key element of the farce is squid, as the texture suits this format well and doesn’t over-power the whitebait. It’s spread over the toast, the whitebait pressed into it, followed by a coating of sesame seeds along one edge .

Whitebait is best served with a creamy dipping sauce and we’ve opted for a mayo packed with lemon to help make these little fish sing. But to take it the extra mile we’ve thrown in a drizzle of our housemade hot box honey, as a spin on the chilli sauce you would typically enjoy with a classic prawn toast.

‘Steak & Chips’

Lake Ohau Wagyu Flat iron, Mc Arc fries, mushroom beurre blanc

or

‘Fish & Chips’

pan fried market fish, Mc Arc fries, mushroom beurre blanc

both served with charred green cabbage with burnt onion ranch

Don’t fact check us on this one, but we heard on the grapevine (aka, the internet) that a certain fast food chain, famous for their golden arches, make their fries by first creating mash potato, mixing in cornflour, setting the mix, cutting uniform strips, and frying the strips - creating a crispy & consistent fry.

Who knows what really goes on behind the scenes, but the method piqued our curiosity and Chef Sam thought, ‘let’s give it a go’. Turns out, they are way too much hard work to nail and taste absolutely delicious when you do - typical. Naturally, they made their way onto the menu because taste will always come before an easy life for our lovely chefs.

If you’ve tried them, and thought they were pretty yummy, do let the chefs know, I can guarantee they’ll be pleased to hear it.

Apples & Custard

Arc’s garden apples, butter washed vanilla vodka, bubbles

We’re pretty pleased with the butter washed vanilla vodka element of this menu’s sorbet. Created via ‘fat-washing’ (stick with me here), meaning infusing a spirit with fat, because the fat is where the real flavour is.

In this case, our chefs brown butter with some vanilla and let this marinade with the vodka in a vacuum sealed bag for up to 4 hours. The boozy concoction is then frozen causing the fat component to go completely solid, whilst the infused vodka can be poured out and strained through a cloth. We add a small glug of this alongside our usual bubbles to create a brioche-esque flavour to work with the apple sorbet.

Tarte Au Citron

lemon curd, meringue, pastry

This light but mighty dish is on the menu simply because it feels perfect for spring. A generous portion of sweet, tangy lemon curd, delicate slices of meringue, and a light shortcrust pastry holding it all together. We’d eat it all day if we could.

We add a garnish of rhubarb from the arc garden when we can, although unfortunately it’s not a plentiful supply so if you manage to secure a plate with it, then well done!

And there you have it, the October Menu complete. If you haven’t already had the chance to try it for yourself, head to our booking page and let us know what you think.

Check back next month for the ‘Behind the Scenes’ of our November menu.

The arc team :)

Making October