Suppliers

Seasonality and locally produced food are such important factors in the preparation of a menu at Tom’s Kitchen, and the team goes to great lengths to source the best British suppliers. And you can forget airfreighted food – for Tom’s Kitchen a disregard of food miles shows a lack of understanding about the environment. So the chefs here snub threatened species such as swordfish and tuna in favour of the catch from local fishermen such as Chris and Steve Wrightmann. 

Their boat, called Maximus Sustainable, is based in Lowestoft and was the first to qualify for the Responsible Fishing Scheme, and provides Tom’s Kitchen with its cod and sea bass – the former baked with sage and pine nuts and served with a pumpkin puree, the latter grilled and served with confit cherry tomatoes and black olives.

Another favourite is Cornish fisherman Chris Bean, who motors out to sea in his blue-painted boat, the Lady Hamilton, bringing back lobster, crab, red mullet and pollock – the latter Tom’s Kitchen will coat in a crisp beer batter and serve with chips and tartare sauce, a great British staple.

Back on the land, Tom’s Kitchen has spent many months researching the best meat suppliers, including Heaves Farm in the southern Lake District village of Levens, run by the Mason family. Their rose veal calves are from Holstein Friesian dairy cows, which have been bred there since the 1950s and are reared in welfare-friendly conditions - the farm is part of DEFRA’s Environmental Stewardship scheme. A Tom’s Kitchen favourite is grilled calves’ liver served with fried onion rings, bacon, mashed potato and a red wine shallot sauce.

And not forgetting Blythburgh pork. The happy pigs wallow on sandy Suffolk soil spending their entire lives outdoors, growing at a slower, more natural rate, which gives the meat its distinctive flavour and juicy succulence – Tom’s Kitchen slow roasts the belly, serving it with balsamic onions and parsley lentils.

The lamb Tom’s Kitchen use for its now legendary seven-hour lamb dish comes from Daylesford Organic. Convinced by organic farming, Daylesford’s breeds include all year rounder, Poll Dorset, developed from one of England’s oldest breeds of sheep, the Dorset Horn.

Ever wondered why the eggs taste so good at Tom’s Kitchen? They’re from Clarence Court in Liskeard, Cornwall. A cross between Old Cotswold Legbars and Mabel Pearman’s Burford Browns, the hens eat grass, herbs and cereals laced with sun-drenched maize, which help produce a more intense yellow yolk.