This month The Glaven Bistro at The Barns, Glandford, is celebrating its second anniversary. We meet owners Carron and James Noon
Please tell us about your backgrounds in food and drink…
Back in 2015, we moved as a couple from our home in London to undertake a new life adventure together in the wilds of Snowdonia and the Llyn Peninsula. Once there, we started our first business The Little Tea Rooms, a food and drink initiative to endorse and promote as much fantastic Welsh produce as we could by showcasing products across our menus, something at the time there was very little of in North Wales. We began by making handmade salt marsh lamb pies and homemade cakes from our kitchen in Porthmadog before eventually converting a horsebox into a mobile tea room. We sold great locally roasted coffee and a small menu of lovely local produce at events and beach/harbourside locations. In 2020 the opportunity came to take on an established beach café near the village of Abersoch. Prior to the pandemic, but shortly after the arrival of our first-born, Monti, we aimed high and signed the lease. The next few years turned out to be our most formative and successful, yet despite the initial stumbling block of Covid, converting an old boat shed and shipping container into one of the most successful destination beach cafés in North Wales, with more than 100,000 visitors a season. It was quite a thing!
What was it that brought you to The Glaven Bistro and what did you want to create in this lovely corner of Norfolk?
With the arrival of our son, our sights had been set on eventually making our way back towards family and given Monti's imminent start at school we made the decision to leave Wales and move closer to our family here in north Norfolk.
During the year of our relocation, a newly refurbished premises on the previous site of the Arts Café in Glandford, part of The Bayfield Estate, had become available. We arranged a viewing with the landlord, Roger Coombe, and immediately fell in love with the venue - a traditional north Norfolk carrot barn complete with flint facing and stunning beamed interior. It was a blank canvas for us to turn into a passion project, creating a modern bistro with a menu of seasonal food and drink, this time using the fabulous produce of north Norfolk.
Please tell us about what's on your menu...
Our menu changes every two months, making sure we use the best of what's available and in season. We have been very fortunate to discover so much great food and drink here already. For autumn we have selected local beers from Moongazer to cook with, creating beer braised mushrooms and porter ketchups. We love using hyper local produce and New Barn Farm grows incredible produce right next door to us. We have selected their Crown Prince squashes and use them with locally grown pears on a new vegetarian option of mille feuille. We also use Brancaster Bay mussels as they are bang in season at the moment and HV Graves butchers supply us with local muntjac venison, which we are using for a tartare.
Please tell us about how The Glaven Bistro combines your love of food and music…
James and I first met in the music industry. James was a composer and music producer and I a singer and songwriter. Music has always had a place in our relationship. Our live music nights bring together our early years of working together and allows us to further promote talent outside of our immediate industry in food. It's a great way to combine our passions and further support our community of artists and musicians.
Which local producers do you work with?
We work with HV Graves, Fresh Approach, Staithe Smokehouse, Burn Valley Vineyard, Chet Valley Vineyard, Moongazer, Barsham Brewery, Breckland Orchard, New Barn Farm, Mrs Temples Cheese, Brancaster Bay Shellfish and Haversfield Eggs. We also have direct links with fantastic crab and lobster fishermen from just up the road in West Runton.
Which ingredients do you particularly like to cook with at this time of year?
Autumn is a time for comfort food and warming dishes. There is also a bounty of the year's harvest to enjoy and a turn towards slower cooking methods and roasting. We love cooking with squashes and root vegetables as well as kales and autumn brassicas. Lamb is really good this time of year from Briston as it has had the benefit of the summer months to mature a little more as well as venison. We also love the mussels from Brancaster. They are so delicious and some of the best available. We prepare them with our recipe of Sandringham cider, local mustard, leeks and apples with a smoked cheese and confit garlic crouton for dipping in the sauce.
What have your biggest challenges been so far?
Winning a new audience and starting a new business in challenging economic times. We are both so passionate about what we do and the biggest challenge is winning hearts and business at a time where the food and drink industry is suffering huge losses and customers are becoming more selective with their spending. As prices continue to rise for everyone, small businesses dealing in what can be described as luxuries are having to work ever harder and more creatively to bring enough business in to remain. In some ways, it’s a good thing to continue to push boundaries and reinvent. It keeps customers engaged and eager to return for the next menu or event.
Please tell us about the special events you've got coming up for Christmas…
We have Jazz Club every first Thursday of the month and a live music celebration every last Friday of the month.
We are also hosting a late night Christmas shopping evening at The Barns on November 20. There is a special Christmas Jazz Club singalong dinner on December 19 and we are having a New Year's Eve dinner and music event too.
See more at theglavenbistro.com and follow on Instagram @theglavenbistro
