The Bildeston Crown in the Media
Anglia etc Magazine Article – August 2010
Don’t miss the fabulous article all about us in August’s edition of the Anglia etc Magazine.
Click here to view our pages as a pdf download (copyright Anglia etc magazine)
or follow this link to see the whole magazine online (scroll down to the middle of the page)
Jeannine Williamson reviews The Bildeston Crown:
Brighton Argus magazine (August 2010): click here for article
The Telegraph Online “Enjoy England: The Bildeston Crown”
April 30th 2010
“The Bildeston Crown – winner of Enjoy England’s Taste of England Award – serves top quality British food fresh from its own farm.”
Read the full article here:
Olive Magazine April 2010
Gregor Shepherd visited Bildeston and listed The Bildeston Crown in his feature – EAT OUT – Exclusive weekend deals at 8 foodie hotels
The Bildeston Crown on Channel4.com
Craig Butcher goes in search for the Top 10 romantic British restaurant experiences for Channel 4.com and finds The Bildeston Crown:
This stunning original 15th century coaching inn is owned by local farmer, James Buckle, in an area bursting with top notch gastropubs using excellent local produce. The Bildeston’s red poll beef comes from James’ own cattle but wild game comes from nearby shoots. With a roaring fire in the front lounge, quality produce well utilised on the plate and a good wine list, this standard of cooking is a rare find. Why not indulge and head to one of twelve luxurious bedrooms for the night.
For full article see
http://www.channel4.com/food/features/top-10s/top-10-romantic-british-restaurants_p_3.html
Times Online – June 24th 2009 Mark Frary reviews The Bildeston Crown summarised as “romantic Suffolk foodie inn”
The Crown, Bildeston, Suffolk
A Norfolk boy grudgingly admits that Suffolk is quite pleasant and that its hotels are rather good
Mark Frary reviews The Bildeston Crown summarised as “romantic Suffolk foodie inn”. For full review visit Times Online Travel: www.timesonline.co.uk/travel
The Hairy Bikers visit The Bildeston Crown
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24 August 2009 – Update:
Chris Lee took on The Hairy Bikers …and won!
The Hairy Bikers’ Tour of Britain – a new series in which Simon King and Dave Myers get on their bikes to find the best of each county’s larder and meet the local producers who are keeping traditional recipes alive, started tonight on BBC2.
In this first programme of the tour, which was filmed last February, the duo start with Suffolk. Si and Dave cook a traditional county favourite at Snape Maltings, collect flour from a working water mill, and then pit their new-found knowledge against our Chris in a cook-off. Restaurant diners decide who has created the dish that best defines Suffolk and Chris emerges as the winner with eight out of the nine votes.
Chris’ winning dish is now on The Bildeston Crown menu and you can also view the recipe at http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/database/roastedbreastofduckw_92120.shtml
Or read more on the BBC Suffolk website
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13 February 2009
Motorcycle-riding cookery experts The Hairy Bikers visited The Bildeston Crown, while filming part of their forthcoming BBC series. The series follows Simon King and Dave Myers on a tour of the British Isles, during which they will source ingredients unique to each county and go on to cook the local signature dish.
At each stop the bikers have a “cook off” with a well-known local restaurant chef, in which they compete to create a new dish from the county’s produce. For Suffolk, independent production company Cactus TV, which is behind the programme , chose The Bildeston Crown and chef Chris Lee to take up the duo’s challenge.
John Bonny, an associate producer with Cactus TV, explains the format: “We’re visiting 28 counties across the UK, discovering and celebrating the local produce available. We’re using local producers and sourcing ingredients to create a mixture of traditional and modern recipes that reflect the county’s cuisine and sense of identity.”
The Bildeston Crown is well known for being a champion of local food with dishes like Head to Toe Nedging Pork, Semer Lamb and Suffolk Beef Stew using owner James Buckle’s red poll beef as regular dishes on its menus. The Bildeston Crown chef, Chris Lee was delighted that he asnd The Bildeston Crown had been selected for a visit: “It has been great fun to work with Si and Dave. I share their passion for great local produce and truly believe that modern food is at its best when traditional methods are treated with a creative twist.”
To learn what was cooked and who actually won the “cook off”, you will have to wait until the summer when the programme will be screened on BBC2.
The Observer – 13th July 2008
20 Great Gourmet Inns
For a new series of guidebooks, David Hancock and his team of inspectors visited hundreds of country pubs across England and Wales, searching out the finest food, best beer and most stylish bedrooms. In the Observer on the 13th July his pick of the best was showcased in an article entitled: 20 Great Gourmet Inns.
We are pleased to say that the Bildeston Crown made the shortlist with the following review:
The Bildeston Crown, Bildeston, Suffolk
“Seven hundred years on from its construction, the Bildeston Crown is attracting more than its fair share of the county’s gastronomic acclaim, thanks to its new custodians. Revealing its history at every twist and turn, the charming building now revels in opulence and warmth, no expense having been spared in complementing the original period features. Chef and patron Chris Lee is cooking at the top of his game, with masterpieces such as the indulgent Pork Head to Toe. Consisting of eight cuts of pork, from cheeks and ears to trotters, each cut is cooked separately and individually garnished, down to the perfectly crisp, salty crackling presented in an extraordinary 10-inch strip.”
Delicious Magazine – April 2008
Crown Affair
Helen Renshaw visits The Bildeston Crown
Memo to anyone making the decision to dine at The Bildeston Crown: take a good map. Buried deep in rural Suffolk, this 15th century coaching inn can be tricky to find. But it’s definitely worth the effort.
As you step through the door, the exposed beams, ancient brickwork, oak floors and open fires place you firmly in a classic country inn setting. But there’s also a surprising whiff of sophistication in the air, which is confirmed by a menu that’s a million miles from ‘pub grub’.
In fact, Chris Lee – an ambitious self-taught chef whose wife Hayley runs front of house – has created a menu that would look more at home in London’s swankier restaurants, yet the prices are a fraction of what you’d expect to pay for such food in the Big Smoke. Chris specialises in modern British cuisine with quirky flavour combinations. Dishes such as seared scallops and lobster with chutney, and confit of duck with Earl Grey tea jellies sum up Chris’s vision – and the sheer yumminess of the food quickly banishes fears of pretension.
We especially loved the ‘pork head to toe’ with its eight different cuts of ‘piggy delight’, starting with crispy cigarillos from the ear and ending with a parcel of trotters topped off with a whisker of brittle crackling. So enlist the help of an Ordnance Survey map and get yourself there. Oh, and leave space for dessert – the peanut butter parfait will haunt your dreams for weeks.
The Times – 19th April 2008
Times reviewer Giles Coren “finds a place (The Bildeston Crown) so good, he recommends it without even eating there”.
Apparently he stumbled upon “the best little progressive kitchen in Suffolk” on his way home from another Suffolk hotel that would have been the subject of his main review if he hadn’t happened upon Bildeston. Sadly Giles claims that “To review it properly, I’d have to come again, but I won’t have a chance to get out this way for ages” but we do hope that he continues to salivate over the promise of “eight-piece symphonies called “Head to Toe of Nedging Pork” “and to recall the “awesome” apple crumble served in a shooter glas and that we do see him again very soon.
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