Minnis Bar & Restaurant adopts food techniques introduced by the Romans 2,000 years ago

Beachfront restaurant cures, dries, smokes and pickles

Nestling between the fishing ports of Whitstable and Ramsgate, The Minnis Bar and Restaurant overlooks the golden sands of Minnis Bay in Birchington, with coastal views towards the ruins of the Roman fort at Reculver.

Fittingly, chef-patron Jason Freedman is reintroducing food preservation methods brought to Britain in the first millennium by the Roman invaders.

Set on the “Isle” of Thanet – separated from the rest of Kent by the River Wantsum – Birchington, like the rest of the “island” which is home to the towns of Ramsgate, Broadstairs and Margate, lay a mile out to sea in Roman times.
When the Romans came to these shores 2000 years ago they brought with them many new culinary methods. Originally, these techniques - curing, drying, smoking, pickling and preserving – were used to keep food from spoiling.

Although we now have refrigeration to preserve produce, Jason isinterested in the unique flavours that these ancient culinary crafts bring to the abundance of high quality meat, game, fish and seafood available in Kent, where the garden of England meets the sea.


Constantly setting themselves new challenges, Jason and his team of chefs decided that they would follow in the footsteps of our ancestors and learn the art of home curing, smoking, brining and pickling their own foods in house for the new spring and summer menus.
This year they will have Salt Beef, Corned Beef with Dripping, Smoked Pancetta, Home Cured Streaky Bacon, Sweet Cured Air Dried Pork Loin, and Pastrami and Smoked Pastrami. Their local butcher cases their own home produced, such as Spicy & Sweet Chorizo, Wild Venison & Merguez and also their Salami Milano, Salami Parmarello and Cured Slicing Chorizo.
The Bacon and Pancetta is cured in their special mix of salts and spices, vacuum packed for two weeks and then hung to dry for a further two weeks. After this time some of the Pancetta will be lightly cold smoked. The Air Dried Sweet Pork Loin is cured for 3 weeks in salts, sweet spices, sugars and honey and then hung to air dry for two to three months. Some will be served as they are, air dried, and some will be gently smoked over maple wood.
The salamis are hung for a minimum of three months to mature. The salt and corned beef are the only meats that are soaked in brine and left to cure for three weeks to infuse with the flavour of salts and spices. The salt beef is then cooked in a water bath for 24 hours to ensure it is fully tenderised. For the corned beef they strip down some salt beef and add beef dripping, seasonings and a little gelatine, set it in terrine moulds and press for 48 hours. It is then turned out and sliced.

“There is great sense of self-satisfaction when you make your own produce and to have it on the restaurant and bar menus,” said Jason, adding, “We are using traditional methods with a few modern technology twists, to create a whole range of produce.”
The Minnis Bar and Restaurant will be serving their creations in a variety of dishes such as, Chorizo with Grilled Oysters, Platters of Home Produced Meats with Home Pickled Seafood, Home Pickled Vegetables and Home Made Chutneys, Corned Beef Hash with Spring Greens and HP Sauce. There will also be Corned Beef, Free Range Eggs and Chips, Home Cured Bacon, Cockle & Mussel Pie, an Open Sandwich of Home Made Pastrami, Home Pickled Gherkins, English Mustard and Home Made Piccalilli. The list is growing endlessly as new dishes continue to be introduced.

The Minnis has also produced a range of pickles and chutneys to accompany the cold meats and enhance some of the other dishes on the menu.

Minnis began life as a beachside café in 1934. Today the long sandy beach enjoys prestigious Blue Flag status. It enjoys unparalleled views over the Kent shoreline and the Roman fort at Reculver, where the Barnes-Wallace's bouncing-bomb was tested. The stunning skies at sunset have attracted many artists over the years, most famously JWM Turner, in whose honour the new Turner Contemporary gallery opens in nearby Margate April 2011.
The restaurant hosts a number of live music events.

Jason Freeman’s introduction to cooking when presented with a live chicken by his first Head Chef, the first of an impressive list mentors that includes Anton Mosimann when head chef at The Dorchester and local chefs David Pitchford at Michelin-starred Reads Restaurant of Faversham and Stephen Harris of The Sportsman, Seasalter. He trained as a kitchen porter in Canterbury and as an apprentice at The Park Hotel, Southampton, before working at a number of top London hotels & country restaurants before acquiring The Minnis in 2003, which he has transformed.

There are 72 covers in ground floor restaurant, 20 in the bard, 50 upstairs (which is available for private dining. The al fresco area is the biggest in England – 4 miles long – and has a dedicated take-away service for those who wish to have their lunch on the beach
Children are welcome with their own annual; drawing competition and have access to a large stock of beach toys, inflatables and boats and an ice cream kiosk in the summer months.

Homemade preserves on offer are: Pickled Onions, Pickled Mooli (Japanese White Radish), Pickled Red & White Cabbage, Pickled Beetroot, Japanese Style Sweet Pickled Vegetables, Pickled Baby Cucumbers, Pickled Carrot, Sweet Onion Chutney, Tomato Relish, Piccalilli, Plum Chutney, Apple Chutney, Chilli Tomato Jam, Home Made Ketchup and Tartare Sauce. A variety of different vinegars are used – Red Wine, White Wine, Sherry, Cider, Raspberry, Japanese Rice, Chinese Sweet White and malt Vinegars with different blends of herbs, spices and sugars.

Open: 7 days a week, 10am – 11pm

The Minnis Bar & Restaurant
The Parade, Birchington, Kent CT7 9QP
T: 01843 841844 E: the.minnis@virgin.net : www.theminnis.co.uk