We booked a table at Socius for lunch on Wednesday 19th May, which turned out to be their first service after lockdown.
They were ‘so thrilled to be back’, and so were we.
The view from Table 6
Husband and wife team Dan and Natalie describe their menu as ‘snacks and small plates to showcase a modern, British version of tapas’, allowing you to order as much or as little as you want.
Don’t expect the tapas to have a Spanish accent; the Socius style is more influenced by Scandinavia and Japan.
Socius Plates
We thought most dishes were good for two to share; we ordered four between us, and didn’t forget to have the focaccia on the side, it’s essential for mopping; light and fluffy with a savoury crust, it came with a herb butter, whipped to a light green creaminess.
We chose the sticky king prawns with chilli glaze (Natalie says ‘we’d get into trouble if we tried to take them off the menu’).
Tuna tartare is dressed with a loose mayonnaise seasoned with chilli and ginger, bringing a well judged background warmth to the dish; it comes with a crisp wonton to scoop it up.
Tuna tartare, chilli, ginger, wonton
‘BBQ beetroot, yoghurt, horseradish, cucumber, dill’ was elegant, earthy and sweet, a salad transcending the sum of its humble parts.
BBQ beetroot
Hasselback potatoes were earthy too, with nutty skins and warm fluffy flesh. They were served with asparagus ‘salsa’, charred to retain a slight crunch, and spiked with capers.
Hasselback potatoes, asparagus salsa
Everything at Socius is cooked and presented with precision.
We finished with an affogato (a scoop of excellent vanilla ice cream. ‘drowned’ in espresso).
Lunch, with a glass of manzanilla and a couple of glasses of fresh zingy Verdejo, came to £58.
If there are two of you, try to ask for Table 6 – it faces the pass and you’ll see pretty much every dish plated in front of you. When it’s ready, head chef Dan calls for ‘Service please!’
If you’re a group of four, Table 2 by the window is a good alternative. We booked it for a return visit, when perhaps we’ll share the aged beef rump; it looked too much for two to share.
Table 2 on the right
The building has been designed as a restaurant, and has an unexpectedly urban feel. It faces the new car park which serves Burnham Market – if you know the town, it’s behind Satchell’s, the wine merchant.
There’s a gallery above the main space, and a table with high stools next to the ‘Wine Wall’ by the entrance.
There are about a dozen staff, half in the kitchen headed by Dan, and half waiting tables, led by the ever-smiling Natalie.
It’s a wonderful addition to the North Norfolk food scene. Booking ahead is essential.
In the heady days of July, after lockdown lifted, we cautiously put our minds to where we might like to reconnect with the pleasures of….
Now, what was it called again, that activity we had been looking forward to for months?
Ah, yes! It was called ‘Eating Out’.
We could leave home and go away for a few days. We would go to Norfolk!
We’d go the pub!
The Dun Cow, Salthouse
It’s a pub with a large garden, overlooking the marshes.
View from a window table
We booked a table for supper on the evening of our arrival; we unpacked the car, got ourselves organised, and then it was a few minutes drive away.
Norfolk had escaped the worst of the pandemic, so while restrictions were duly observed, the atmosphere in the pub was relatively relaxed.
We sanitised our hands on arrival, and waited to be shown to our table. The waiting staff weren’t required to wear masks then, but the menu and wine list were ‘single use’, and we were asked to order at the bar; there were no stools for customers to sit and drink there.
We had taken two or three bites from our starters when I put down my knife and fork. They were good, but I realised what was really remarkable: this was the first plate of food I had eaten in several months that had been prepared by someone who was not sitting at the table.
And behold, for it tasted good.
Carpaccio of Beef
Carpaccio of Red Poll beef with remoulade, truffle oil, Parmesan and ‘Blakeney leaves’
And to drink? It’s an interesting wine list for a pub.
Hungarian Furmint by the glass, anyone?
I met her in a Club down in old Soho
Back in London, to lunch at The Union, the members’ club in Soho.
After lockdown they asked their members to book twice, once in July and once in August. This would enable them to keep going through the summer.
We went during what then seemed to be the never-ending heatwave. The bar and dining room were empty, everyone had elected to sit outside on the small roof terrace.
We ordered a bottle of rosé ‘to show willing’, which came with glasses that had been frosted in the freezer.
Photography is discouraged in the club, but this is a view from our table, looking up.
Blue sky over Soho
I snatched another photo.
The Upstairs Neighbour had gone fishing.
After a leisurely lunch we were able to repair to the cool shade of the bar (and enjoy the briefest snooze) before making our way home on an almost empty tube.
Inside The Union
….and a Caff (indulge me here)
During lockdown, many restaurants had asked regular customers to invest in vouchers which could be redeemed against lunch or dinner, when such activities became possible again.
We bought them for a couple of local independent places who we wanted to support.
A birthday was approaching, so we also decided to splash out at one of our favourites.
The River Café
Despite their masks, the staff were clearly enjoying being back in the business of looking after their customers.
The menus were disposable, and we had been encouraged to study the lengthy wine list online, and choose something before the Big Night.
I’m sorry the photos are a bit blurry; we were so excited!
Turbot, yellow pepper, gremolata
Simple and perfectly executed, as ever
Scallops, cod, clams, cannellini
After dinner, one of the floor managers made a point of coming over to ask how we had enjoyed our evening.
‘I say to the people who come here that archery is a very egalitarian sport. It doesn’t matter how old or young you are, whether or not you’re able-bodied, or your gender, religion or the colour of your skin’.
Jon Hancock
‘We’re all archers’
Since the easing of lockdown, Jon hasn’t put signs out on the road outside. He’s hoping to control the number of casual visitors, while continuing to attract ‘archers who know what they’re doing’.
However, from Wednesday to Sunday the club continues to welcome individuals, small groups and families who want to try their hand with a bow and arrows.
Having a go at archery
Anyone is welcome, but Jon doesn’t allow children under the age of eight to shoot, saying:
‘THEY HAVE THE ATTENTION SPAN OF SQUIRRELS’
The club attracts a number of former servicemen, who are better at paying attention.
On one occasion I got chatting to a chap wearing a regimental cap badge, who described his experience in Northern Ireland.
“I was on foot patrol when I heard the tearing sound of a Thompson gun, you can’t mistake it. I hit the deck”.
Afterwards he saw the row of bullet holes in the wall behind where he had been standing.
To this day he won’t sit with his back to a door, even in his own home.
Home on the range
‘Nothing clears a troubled mind like shooting a bow’
So said Fred Bear, an American who Jon describes as one of the greatest archers who ever lived.
The club gives me a chance to work on my technique; in the early part of the week I’m often the only person there.
There’s a mixture of conventional target faces and 3D animal targets at different distances, which is useful for practising field archery, which is more instinctive or intuitive than what I’m used to in Richmond.
Jon charges £5 per person to newcomers using club equipment which, he says, just about covers the cost of lost and broken arrows. For the same price, experienced archers with their own kit can come any time, and shoot all day long.
If you’re lucky, Jon will give you some tips, and recommend suppliers such as Clickers Archery in Norwich, and Eagle Archery in Tyne and Wear, “they’re lovely people”. (I’m a believer in supporting businesses I rate by spreading the word).
Demonstrating how to anchor the bowstring to the corner of the mouth. ‘It helps if you have a tooth missing!’
And the Archery Physician?
That’s not Jon, it’s me.
3D target
I can cure heartburn and floss teeth, all in one appointment.
I haven’t posted much here recently. I’ve been feeling a little apprehensive.
I was scheduled to have surgery on my arthritic foot on 1st May, after which I would be pretty much off my feet for at least three months, so pretty much confined to the house.
While I knew that an outbreak of Coronavirus was expected to hit the UK, I wasn’t really anticipating that the rest of the country would also be unable to leave home.
The local school anticipated social distancing
We made travel plans accordingly: a few days in Norfolk; a quick Eurostar trip to Ghent in March, to see the major exhibition devoted to Van Eyck (inventor of European oil painting), and his altarpiece; closely followed by a few days in Venice.
First on the list was Norfolk. I was planning to make a batch of demiglace on our return, so I bought an ox tail and some beef cheeks, which I find work well. On impulse, I bought enough cheeks to make a quantity of beef daube for the freezer. I am now the go-to ‘source of sauce’ in Southwest London, but unfortunately, no-one can come and get it….
Actually these are lamb bones, but you get the idea
My method for making demiglace originates in Anthony Bourdain’s ‘Les Halles Cookbook’.
Daube de Boeuf comes from Alastair Little’s ‘Keep it Simple’.
As the weeks went by, it became apparent that it would be unwise to travel, if not impossible. We started to dismantle arrangements.
We were expecting a Lockdown, but somehow it still took us by surprise when it came, and the implications sank in.
My archery club closed its doors on Wednesday 18 March.
Last shoot at the club for the foreseeable future
I brought my kit home, and have since set up a (very) short range to practise in the garden.
Needs must
Mrs C was possibly the last to play tennis at her club last Tuesday.
Our local farmers’ market is still going, as are food shops, but the staff are working shoulder to shoulder behind the counter, which is a worry, and some punters seem oblivious of the two metre rule….
Recipe of the year, 2019: foolproof fillet of beef.
My brother-in-law Richard Groves cooked this for his birthday dinner last year, and directed me to the recipe by Tom Kerridge, who serves it with Yorkshire puddings as a Sunday roast.
It’s counter-intuitive, in that it seems to take almost no cooking. It’s rare, deep pink and juicy, but releases no blood. (If any of your guests are squeamish about rare beef, you could flash fry their slices).
I cooked it on two occasions, and both times it went down a storm.
In summary, marinade a piece of beef fillet overnight in a mixture of black treacle and water. The next day, drain it and reserve the marinade. Pat the meat dry and sear it briefly in butter, then roast it for 45 minutes on the lowest possible setting of your oven.
Reduce the marinade by about half, and season to taste.
If you are a regular follower of this blog, you will by now have a supply of Anthony Bourdain’s demi glace in your freezer; this is the occasion to employ it.
“Some dishes know when you’re afraid. They sense it, like horses, and will ‘misbehave’. . . Do not be afraid”.
“Let me stress again: DO NOT EVER BOIL YOUR STOCK!”
“Your butter for finishing a saucewill be ready and on station. It will be f**king SOFT”.
If you failed to follow his advice, (and mine) you will have to make do with a splash of red wine. Add it to the reduced marinade, and finish with a knob of butter (soft, of course) if you feel cheffy.
Serve with Horseradish Crème Fraîche: mix crème fraîche, grated fresh horseradish and a good dollop of Dijon mustard. Taste it.
‘Do try this at home’
It was so successful, we decided to repeat the exercise as dinner for four in Norfolk, on two consecutive evenings during the August heatwave. We served it at ambient temperature, with a potato salad and simply dressed tomatoes.
It was possibly even better the next day, as a sort of deconstructed Surf ‘n’ Turf.
I’ve never really seen the point of steak and lobster on the same plate. We ate the lobster first, a good decision as it was the best and freshest lobster we’ve ever eaten.
Surf. Then Turf.
Friends had recommended C. A. Seafoods, run by the Westons, as purveyors of the freshest and cheapest crabs on the Norfolk coast (there are several Weston families in Norfolk who fish or deal in seafood).
Driving out of Weybourne village towards the station (the North Norfolk Railway, which runs steam trains from Sheringham to Holt) it’s one of the last houses on the left, with refrigerated vans outside, and a little sign on the pavement.
It went like this:
I walked up to the window, which opened as I approached. “I’m hoping to buy four half lobsters”
“Do we have any lobsters, Eileen?”
“I think so, I’ll go and look. Do you want ’em dressed?”
There were about eight ladies inside. In the time I waited, they finished picking and packing crabs (a couple of hundred at a rough count), and cleaned down, leaving the place spotless.
Sure enough, Eileen re-emerged with my lobsters, priced at a reasonable £6 a half.
In December 2019, the Westons opened a fishmonger’s shop in Sheringham:
Rocky Bottoms reopened after their winter break, on a gloriously sunny Monday.
Yes, it was windswept on the clifftops at West Runton, but this is Norfolk after all.
Beach and clifftops, West Runton
The heap of lobster pots outside boded well for lunch. The owner catches crab and lobster off nearby Weybourne beach.
Lobster pots, Rocky Bottoms
The new-look menu has some new additions alongside the old favourites. We couldn’t resist a shared plate of fat whitebait with tartare sauce, which was followed by a mighty crab sandwich (her) and the grilled lobster with garlic butter (me). Both come with a generous mound of salads: shredded beetroot and carrots, capers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes.
The fat whitebait, thick as your finger
Grilled lobster, garlic butter and a pint of Yetman’s
Rocky Bottoms now serves a limited selection of wines, and four varieties of Black Shuck Norfolk gin. They’ve always offered BYO, and continue to do so; I took a bottle of Yetman’s beer, which is brewed in Holt along the road.
The manager, known on social media as “Little Boss”, noticed this, and let me know that three of Peter Yetman’s beers would soon be a fixture.
(I understand “Big Boss” is Alison Matthews, wife of Richard the fisherman, so I assume it’s an extended family business….)
in Salthouse, with dinner at The Dun Cow on Friday evening. We’d booked a table in their dining room at the side. The main bar has much more atmosphere, but the tables there are first come, first served.
The barman offered to let us know if a table in the bar became available, and by the time we’d ordered our meal he was as good as his word, and moved us through; fortunately for us, people tend to eat early in Norfolk.
“Later that evening”
I went for “Spanish style cod” from the specials board, with tomatoes, chorizo and saffron potatoes.
Spanish style cod
A last minute change of plan the next day meant we went back to The Dun Cow for lunch, with a beautiful view of the marshes from our window table (it was March and windswept; you know the score by now).
Salthouse marshes from The Dun Cow
Smoked haddock Scotch egg with horseradish sauce (for her)
The Dun Cow, Purdy Street, Salthouse, NR25 7XA 01263 740467
Lunch at The Ship Inn, Weybourne
A couple of days later the weather broke, and it rained all day, so a lunch at the local seemed the best option.
The Cley Smokehouse platter at The Ship, with horseradish and tapenade, ticked the box: citrus smoked salmon, hot smoked salmon; smoked mackerel and prawns.
Cley Smokehouse platter at The Ship
The selection of gins at the Ship has crept from 75 to over 150 since the first instalment of my pub crawl – https://wp.me/p7AW4i-6a
The Ship Inn, The Street, Weybourne, Holt, Norfolk, NR25 7SZ. 01263 588 721
https://www.theshipinnweybourne.com/gin
Cley Smokehouse
The fish I ate for lunch at The Ship was supplied by Cley Smokehouse, a small business founded over 35 years ago. Like Rocky Bottoms, it’s a family business. Glen Weston and his wife Andrea took over the smokehouse 11 years ago; the Westons are well-known in Norfolk as fishermen, and as Glen says “you can take the fisherman out of the sea, but you can’t take the sea out of the fisherman”.
Their shop is open 7 days a week, and products are available online:
If you’re ever in Norfolk and fancy having a go at archery, there’s a patch of woodland opposite Voewood House in High Kelling, east of Holt. On most days there’s a sign at the roadside advertising archery; it’s a tight turn, but you can drive in through the gate.
The woods are owned by Jon, a genial bear of a man who’ll look after you; pay him a fiver and he’ll provide you with a bow and arrows, and talk you through the basics of shooting. If you have your own kit and already know what you’re doing, you can pay the fiver and he’ll leave you to it for the day, “stay as long as you like”.
“As long as you’re enjoying your archery, that’s the main thing!”
It’s a hit or miss affair
Some arrows you win, some you lose. Sometimes you have to look for them in the undergrowth (difficult). Sometimes they’re really obvious (when they’re 10 feet up a tree).
How did I do that?
Fortunately Jon is usually on hand with a ladder.
Help is at hand
I was shooting there on the August bank holiday weekend in 2017.
Without really registering where it was coming from, I noticed a rhythmic thudding noise in the woods during the course of the afternoon. Later the cause became clear, as Jon explained:
“It’s the woman over there, she’s lovely…. the one teaching knife throwing.”
At home on the range
Archery IN kELLINGSIDE WOODS
“20 targets in 11 acres of private woodland”
Cromer Road, High Kelling, Holt NR25 6AJ
Usually open Wednesday and Friday from 2pm, Saturday and Sunday from 11am.
As well as eating in the café at Rocky Bottoms, you can buy their crabs and lobsters to take home. They’re landed at Weybourne Beach nearby, cooked and sold at West Runton, and we took our crabs back to Weybourne for lunch; “from boat to plate.”
Crab boats on Weybourne beach. Crab and sherry for a Weybourne lunch
The crabs from Rocky Bottoms were a perfect lunch with lemon mayonnaise and a savoury glass (or two) of the freshest, saltiest fino sherry, Tio Pepe “En Rama”. It’s released each year by Gonzales Byass, and is best drunk at the height of the same summer.
Known locally as The Hunny Bell, the pub was reopened by its new owners, Ben & Sarah Handley, in August 2017. On an early recce we were impressed by the “Bar Bites”. (To read my earlier post Click here) http://wp.me/p7AW4i-6a
Bar Bites at the Hunworth Bell
We returned in November for dinner. I ordered chicken, which I very rarely do as it’s something I cook at home. I remember it as moist and juicy, branded by the chargrill, it came with strips of bacon, and a deeply savoury jus that tasted as if it had made the acquaintance of some game birds in the kitchen. I took some photos with my phone, which I dropped down the loo a week later; that was a post without illustrations that didn’t get written.
Scotch Quail’s Egg with mustard and tarragon mayo from the Bar Bites menu
Our third visit took place in the heatwave of July 2018, and while there were a lot of meat options of the menu, it was fish that appealed for mains.
The menu credits the local farms and producers who supply the meat, and intersperses them with more adventurous options: grilled sardines, pigeon, octopus. Influences for sauces and side dishes range farther afield: adobo or chimichurri sauces from Mexico and Argentina, caponata from Sicily.
Roast pigeon starter
A starter of rare roast local pigeon breast came on a slice of Fruit Pig Co black pudding, and a rich, velvety celeriac puree. A “bonbon” on the side was a crunchy little croquette of gamey sausagemeat.
Pan-roast fillet of hake, chorizo, Maris Peer potatoes, samphire, roast garlic velouté.
Presentation is creative and appetising, with accents of vivid colour and intense flavour (although a dusting of powdered beetroot made me wonder if Jackson Pollock had been reincarnated and pressed into service on the garnish section)
We drank a Côtes de Provence Rosé, which had more bite and structure than most, and ticked all boxes with both the meal and the hot weather.
Mimi en Provence
Cracking sweet wines are recommended with desserts: Muscat Late Harvest, Tabali 2011, from Chile, was grapey, with an edge of fresh acidity, perfect with a lime and basil posset, crème fraîche, and ginger biscuits.
Apple tarte tatin, crumb, and toffee ice cream (superb) and a glass of Rivesaltes, Chateau Lauriga, Ambre Hors d’Age Bouchon, 2015; amber in colour, with flavours of prune and lychee.
Apple tarte tatin with toffee ice cream
Dinner ended with a glass of Ayala (for the Birthday Girl, one of her favourite champagnes) and a glass of Judith Beck’s “Ink,” a fresh, juicy Austrian red for me; mulberries and raspberries, with a hint of tannin.
