At Moor Hall, this meal is about the journey. But it is also important to visit the elegant British country courtyard. Located in the picturesque Lancashire countryside, Moor Hall has become a British cooking Mecca, an identity that won the third Michelin star earlier this year. For chef Mark Birchall, creating this sensitivity has been a constant advancement since Moor Hall debuted in 2017.
Birchall was formerly a chef at Simon Rogan’s L'Ecf cumbria and worked with investors Andy and Tracey Bell in 2015 and spent nearly a year finding the right website. He was attracted to Lancashire because it was where he grew up, but he wasn't sure what the actual website would look like. They visited abandoned country bars and old barns, and then eventually took place at Moor Hall, a large Grade 2 real estate dating back to 1282. The current estate house was built in 1533 and its history is still evident, although it is still evident in the building, despite the fact that it has spent a lot of work to transform it from a private residence to a food shop.
“I wasn't quite sure when I first watched it,” Birchall told Observer while speaking at the restaurant's private restaurant in late April. Although Moor Hall's many praises include the Green Michelin Star, his spoken and modesty are modest. “I think the building is a bit dark, maybe too old,” he admitted. “But on the second visit, I could start to imagine what we could do on the building, where we could put a restaurant, how to plan the expansion. I could imagine what we could do with the garden.”
When I arrived at Moore Hall on a sunny day in late April, many of Birchall's imaginations were already coming to life. The original manor house has been expanded to blend light-colored dining rooms with high-end kitchens. The garden is well grown and preserved, with several greenhouses and herbs and herbs. 14 newly opened luxury hotel rooms surrounded by a small lake, which was the welcome of London buzzing. Since then, the former barn has been converted into a properly named barn, one by one, one by one, one Mitchelling star restaurant, and invited nighttime guests from Moor Hall to have breakfast. Soon, the private restaurant will be remodeled in partnership with Macallan whiskey. People want to have other ingredients in planting fields, such as potatoes, or even hazelnut trees that are inoculated with truffle spores.
This is a major responsibility for those who initially only signed as chefs. “I'm in charge of two restaurants, and that's a lot of work,” Burchar said. “We have bedrooms. It's a lot worth it. I love it when the weather is clear.”
The menu continues to evolve, although Birchall doesn't simply change things to change them. Some of these dishes have been part of the tasting experience since the restaurant first opened, including carrots served with doddington cheese, radish and crab plates, and a properly balanced senior beef tartare (my personal highlight). “They are far more than what we looked like when we first opened, and we got the original star,” Birchall noted. “We just tried to keep refining. There were different textures on our carrots. The demo has changed. The board itself was fired [in a kiln] With a byproduct of the kitchen to make it look right. ”
What has not changed is Birchall's spirit, who said he always wanted to “start at our doorstep and work hard to get out.” This could mean ingredients from Moor Hall's garden or strawberries from nearby vendors. Lobsters come from North Yorkshire and Guinea hens from St. Seville, France, but Birchall usually focuses on Lancashire and what the area has to offer.
“I consciously strive to not move on the way we work and the goals of our restaurant philosophy,” he said. “It all depends on the produce. I want to leave a clear direction for myself and the team. I really stick to things. Especially in quiet times and tough times, I'm a little stubborn. But I stick to what I want, what I know. It's the only way to keep moving forward right.”
In Moor Hall, lunch and dinner serve as a tasting menu. (Lunch starts at £125 per person, and the source menu starts at £235 per person.) However, this is much more than just sitting down for a meal in the restaurant. The experience begins with a lounge located in the old part of Moore Hall, where wooden beams pass through the ceiling, and the fireplace reveals several historical eras in its layers. Snacks are served with drinks and are artistically gifted. One is a warm black pudding, paying tribute to Lancashire, a dish. Another invited guests to spread aged Kaluga caviar to homemade cookies that adorn the garden’s herbs and flowers.
Despite the sun, it was still cold when I visited, so my dinner continued in the kitchen where I got the last snack. But during the warmer months, Birchall invites guests through the garden and then into the kitchen. “We are trying to do this wonderful journey throughout the place,” he said. “So, when you get to the table, you’ve been blown away.” At the heart of the meal is a series of dishes, rhythmically perfectly and presented in the style of some tables. Those who choose cheese courses (I'm too full) can visit the refrigerated cheese room. A third dessert is served in the lounge and completes the cooking tour. “You need to feel crescendo,” Bill Joel pointed out.
A kitchen stop on the way to the table is purposeful – not only to make guests happy, but also to inform them. When I visited, the countertop was piled with ingredients that make up the meal: lobster, carrots, beets, asparagus, rhubarb, oysters, caviar, preserved ginger, and more. For Birchall, who greets every diner in person, it is a way to create a visual connection between ingredients and dishes. “It's about this connection,” he said. “You might walk through the garden and see the carrots growing.
Birchall also draws local culture into the menu. Between the delicious lessons and desserts, the chef showed off a clever gingerbread ice cream that was actually shaped like a piece of ginger. It pays tribute to the neighboring Ormskirk, which dates back to the 17th century. “That was another dish that was on the menu from the beginning,” Bercholl said. “It started out as a bowl of ice cream, topped with these little sugar ropes, and candied fruits underneath. In fact, there is no gingerbread in the dish. Now, we use candied root vegetables, pine and spruce to create this flavor with the ice cream.”
For those who spend the night in one of the rooms, the wake-up journey will continue. Breakfast is served in the barn as a mini tasting menu and it is as thoughtful as everything offered the night before. It's almost too much food (almost stressed), and it enhances the scope of what Moore Hall does with ingredients. There are also some necessary black puddings, and a sculptured egg Benedict, which looks like something from a museum of contemporary art. It's all for afternoon tea service that arrives shortly after boarding, which is a charming element.
“We want you to feel like you want to come back,” Bochall said. “When you're here, you don't want to leave. When you come to a place like this, it should feel like it's valuable. All restaurants are expensive – everything is expensive now – but you want to feel your money, and it's worth it, whether it doesn't have stars or three stars.”
Of course, the third star in dreams had an impact on Moore Hall. There are fewer three ice cream restaurants in England outside London, and even fewer in the north. With five Michelin stars and only 8,000 residents, Aughton is a huge achievement of a village several hours from the culinary capital. “Because we are close to Liverpool and Manchester, it's not where we are everywhere, but it's unheard of to have three stars here,” Birchall said. “It's amazing that London's attention is far from London over the past decade.”
Still, the chef admits that when Moore Hall has two stars, it’s not that different. “I see fewer family members and we're too busy to do it,” he said. “More attention, including international attention. But life hasn't really changed. The restaurant is the same. The food is the same.”
From the exterior, the track of Moore Hall to the decorative height of the dining room seems seamless. But that's what Birchall calls a “bloody effort,” especially as the pandemic is interrupted. Despite all the awards and stars, the chef feels it's just the beginning of a longer story, like the original architecture of Moor Hall.
“The eight-year-old restaurant era has no help,” Beckall said. “It's definitely what. It's just home before, so we actually have nowhere to go. I think we still have a long way to go.”
