A new fine dining restaurant is to open at Sandsend retreat Saltmoore - and reservations are now officially open.
Led by Saltmoore executive chef Adam Maddock, Calluna will offer an intimate tasting menu experience inspired by the landscape surrounding the estate, from the Yorkshire coast and kitchen garden to the wild beauty of the North York Moors.
The restaurant takes its name from Calluna vulgaris, the heather that blankets the surrounding moorland.
Seasonality, preservation and a close relationship with local produce will shape the restaurant, with menus evolving throughout the year based on what is growing, being caught and available from its network of producers.
The experience begins with dishes including sea bream with toasted nori and pickled cucumber, and a mutton doughnut with pickled bilberry. Black Sheep sourdough follows, accompanied by burnt onion and beef-dripping butter, cultured butter and beef tea.
As the menu unfolds, dishes include Fortunes with swede, pine and spruce tips; crab with kohlrabi and fermented turnip; and Mulgrave Estate venison, smoked over bell heather and served with black apple and celeriac.
A venison faggot with preserved elderberry and elderberry balsamic continues the restaurant’s exploration of the landscape and seasonal flavours.
An optional cheese course pairs Baron Bigod with Yorkshire tea cake, damson and truffle, before sweeter dishes of fermented cherry and meadowsweet, and milk chocolate with brown butter, dandelion coffee and yoghurt. Pineapple weed Canelés de Bordeaux and pear with juniper bring the menu to a close.
The tasting menu is priced at £125 per person, with the Baron Bigod course available as a £15 supplement.
An experience that unfolds through the evening
Calluna has been designed as more than a traditional restaurant service, with guests moving through different spaces as their evening unfolds.
Those dining in the main restaurant will begin with a welcome drink in Saltmoore’s Lounge Bar before being invited to the Kitchen Counter for the opening snacks. From there, guests will be taken to their table for the remainder of the tasting menu.
With just 24 covers each evening and no table turns, the restaurant has been intentionally designed to feel intimate and unhurried, allowing the team to deliver a highly personal style of service.
For those wanting to be even closer to the kitchen, the 8pm Kitchen Counter seating offers a different perspective on the experience.
Up to six guests are seated in one line at the counter, remaining there throughout the tasting menu with a front-row view of Maddock and his team at work.
Adam says: 'Calluna is about creating a restaurant that belongs here. We’re surrounded by an incredible landscape, the coast, the moors and the produce that comes from them, and we want that sense of place to run through everything we do.
'The menu will continue to evolve with the seasons, so what guests experience in October will naturally change as we move through the year. It’s been a long time in the making, and I’m incredibly excited to finally welcome people into Calluna.'
Opening Calluna marks the next chapter in Saltmoore’s evolving food and drink offering.
Calluna will be open Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings from October 15. Reservations now open.
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