Hi Richard here again from EFD TV, as you can see, I'm in the car and I'll be heading to Boston House in central Norwich. I'll be chatting to Chef Tim Irvin who's a local up and coming chef, doing fantastically well in the city.
These revisits to old sites, I think, are really important, they act as inspirational guidance for the future and also keeping in contact with the customer which is something I personally love to do.
It's absolutely great coming back to a site after six months, there's a little bit of excitement and there's also a little bit of trepidation but let's go in have a chat with him and see how he's getting on.
Tim
Hi Richard
Richard
Hi there Tim how are you? Good to see you again and yeah what a great day. It’d be good to catch up again it's been a while.
Tim
Yes, it has been.
Richard
Should we get into the kitchen?
Tim
Let's do it
Richard
How's it been going for you?
Tim
Yeah, been good yeah, everything's been going well, customers are loving it. We're enjoying what we're doing it's been great fun.
Richard
That's absolutely fantastic is there a particular dish that you find goes down well? you know is a bit of a favourite with the customers?
Tim
Yeah, something like our chashu pork belly it's been going down really well with that kind of Asian influence and ingredients anything like that's well received.
Richard
So generally, the restaurant's been busy, really buzzing and coming together?
Tim
Yeah, we seem to have created a nice atmosphere where customers are loving what we're doing here and coming back again and again
Richard
Oh, that's fantastic. How are you finding the open style of cooking?
Tim
Yeah, is it good, it's good, customers as they come through, they love to kind of have a pear in and look, and they always compliment us on the kitchen and how smart it looks and they're always surprised how we can put out the volume of food we do in such a small little kitchen.
Richard
That's brilliant, personally I love the theatre style, you know, it's just that connection with the chef, just sitting at the chef's table seeing everything being cooked, I can't think of anything better.
Tim
That's the kind of places I like to go, you have that little insight into the kitchen, seeing it prepared, there's nothing hidden
Richard
Should we have a little look at the bar area? You know just as you come in I think that's just another great experience of the restaurant
Tim
Yeah definitely
Richard
So, Tim, this bar it's literally a full tree, isn't it?
Tim
Pretty much yeah, we had these huge slabs of rough sawn wood, a sliced through oak tree. Took a lot of sanding, polishing down, to make that real kind of natural feel to the bar.
Richard
It's just so welcoming when you come in, how's it been going with drinks? and you know, what types of drinks have you been doing?
Tim
Yeah, doing very well, cocktails has been a real hit for us we've been making all our cocktails from scratch making our own purees, syrups and then selecting nice spirits. So that's been a real hit with customers and we wanted this to be a big part of the kind of the business as a standalone bar that people can come enjoy the space, not necessarily just coming to dine with us. So, we really wanted to make the bar impactful first thing you see as you come in, enjoyable space, welcoming and I think we've achieved that here.
Richard
I think you have, it's got that very relaxed feel, I can imagine a lovely summer's day, nothing better, for me it'd be a Mai Tai! But coming in, maybe having a cocktail and a glass of wine just before your meal, what could be better?
Tim
Yeah, fantastic isn’t it.
Richard
So, from an operational point of view Tim, I think this combination of the natural wood and then going into the stainless (steel) for cleanliness works really well. Because I know in a busy bar if there's any spillages, from a hygiene point of view, it's absolutely great having all this stainless steel, you know, from the operator side. How are you finding that?
Tim
We had a small space to work with and to try and tie in the kind of natural elements as well as the hygienic tidy efficiency of the bar, you know, it seems to work really well we've definitely achieved that kind of linking in of the wood, the stainless, it's easy to keep clean, tidy, works really well.
Richard
These glass shelves, to me, a lovely element of the design as well.
Tim
Yeah definitely, we had quite a large, kind of, gap to fill, worried that it would feel very open and exposed but these glass shelves filled that space, they're functional as well as, you know, looking decorative and even as people just walk past looking in it definitely grabs your attention.
Richard
Yeah, well I have to say it's been an absolute pleasure catching up again, you know, and seeing the restaurant and the bar so successful. I'm feeling really thirsty and really hungry so can't wait for the meal to come!
Tim
Definitely let's get it sorted.
Richard
Brilliant thanks Tim.
Tim
Thanks Richard, nice to see you again.
Richard
Yeah, lovely to see you.