restaurant NC
Our most recent `chef' filming trip took us to Woolacombe, and the pared down reincarnation of Noel Corston's already minimalist venture in Woolacombe - Restaurant NC.
Noel had prepared three dishes for us to film, and the first one set the bar high! An amazing scallop dish using hand dived scallops from the Orkney Isles.
I have filmed scallops being hand-dived on the Hebrides - seeing the divers come to the surface with shells the size of dinner plates! The results were spectacular!
On the same day we stalked and shot a deer - for a Highland surf and turf beyond compare!
These scallops from a small-scale producer on the Orkneys (husband dives and harvests, wife packs and dispatches) were more than a match - rich, plump, glistening and redolent of the sea.
While Noel prefers to use local produce where possible (and the favors the North Devon Biosphere, right on his doorstep) he makes no apology for going somewhat further afield to get what he believes (and who am I to contradict him - Hebridean scallops notwithstanding) the best scallops in the British isles.
Noel cooks the scallops as simply as possible - sliced thinly and laid on a bed of warm artichoke puree (which warms them from underneath) - he simply blow torches them to caramalise the tops, ads a sprinkling of mixed seaweeds from the Devon coast, and finishes off with a spoonful of dark rich chicken broth.
The new pared down room (half the old space has gone) leaves ten seats at a bar overlooking the kitchen.
This is where Noel prepares his next dish - a subtly satisfying rhubarb desert which draws on the heritage of his Mexican wife Nora in the choice of hibiscus as a dominant flavor.
The rhubarb is prepared two ways - where the Mexicans would use fish in a ceviche, Noel uses thin cross-cuts of rhubarb marinaded in hibiscus. An he pairs that with tiny rhubarb cubes - this time infused by being vacuum packed to seal in the juices and flavours.
The dish is finished with a quenelle of hibiscus sorbet, and a sprinkling of seasonal flowers - this time mallow, and elderflowers gathered by him on his bike ride into work from his home in Croyde.
The final dish is a stunningly rich and complex duck pie - although `pie' fails to do it justice! A duck leg is stewed until the meat flakes off the bone into rich gravy. That is topped with a mashed potato that is insanely packed with taste - Noel mixes potato and butter 50/50 - but the secret is that he allows the butter to go slightly rancid for a punchier result.
That is topped with duck `crackling' and wild herbs gathered locally - jack-by-the-hedge (mustard leaves) and the last of this season's wild garlic.
I can vouch for the insane brilliance of the food, but I have not had the chance to sample the full performance - in which Noel (aided only by his wife Nora) cooks each dish and provides running commentary on provenance and technique for an experience that is so much more than the sum of its parts.
Restaurant NC only opens during the summer months, and then for only four nights a week.
Don't wait too long!
And if you need a nudge, check out the videos that we made! Here's one to be going on with.
