Chef and restauranteur Mike Robinson is set open a new 70-cover restaurant, cocktail bar and private dining room at Hotel Indigo Chester.
The Forge will open on 19 May and is Robinson’s fourth restaurant, and his third within a Hotel Indigo building. His other restaurants include The Harwood Arms in Fulham, (the only pub in London with a Michelin star) the Woodsman in Stratford upon Avon and the Elder in Bath.
Head Chef Curtis Tonge, a Chester local and former sous chef at the Chester Grosvenor and Northcote in Lancashire, will head up the team, bringing his passion for sustainable produce to the dining concept.
The menu at The Forge will use only British ingredients, with an emphasis on wild ingredients and sustainability. Oak, ash and beech from local forests will provide the fuel, while beef, lamb, game and pork will be sourced from farmers in the immediate area and will be aged for a minimum of 45 days in the dry ageing cabinets and cooked over wood and charcoal in an open kitchen.
Dishes will include wild wood pigeon salad with smoked bacon, apple and Lancashire black pudding; grilled haunch of wild fallow deer with roast bone marrow, dirty mash and deer gravy; and cherry Bakewell soufflé with almond ice cream and marzipan.
“Sustainability is so important to me in everything that I do. Here at The Forge, cooking, preparing and eating beautifully and consciously sourced free range and wild meat is as sustainable as it gets,” says Curtis Tonge.
Adding: “It fits into my ethos entirely and I can’t wait to show the public what it is we do here that makes us so special.”
Menus will be complemented by signature drinks designed for the bar by Head Mixologist Olly Hornby-Smith and served alongside a selection of bar snacks.
“I truly believe that hospitality will bounce back, and that quality, great service and value for money will be as important post Covid as before,” comments Mike Robinson.
Adding: “Being in such a beautiful city, like our other restaurants in Stratford on Avon and Bath, there is no doubt The Forge in Chester will have great appeal for those choosing to holiday in the UK this year, and eventually for overseas tourists, as well as our most important guests, the local business community and residents.”
