Andrew Swann 'does a Kerridge' with a £15 menu at his Brazz restaurant

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Executive chef Andrew Swann is following in the footsteps of Tom Kerridge with the introduction of £15 and £20 two and three-course menus at his Brazz restaurant at Castle Hotel in Taunton.

Served at lunchtimes on Tuesday to  Saturday, the menu has been devised to help people in the current cost of living crisis. Dishes on the no choice set menu will include starters such as heritage carrot soup with spiced croutons; chicken terrine with apricot and toasted sourdough and mains such as Quantock venison cottage pie; and Cumberland sausage with creamed potatoes and sage crisps. Desserts may include lemon posset with Berry Compote or a steamed ginger sponge.

“I love to see a busy and buzzing dining room full of happy diners, and we hope by offering such great value that more people will be able to enjoy lunch out even with things as difficult as they are,” says Swann.

“Simply prepared dishes but with great local produce is what this menu is all about.”

The new menus follows the decision by Kerridge to introduce what he describes as a “too good to be true” two-course set lunch across three of his restaurants from the start of this week to help diners struggling with rising costs.

“Beth and I came up with what sounded like a ludicrous idea but could be fun…’why don’t we do a set lunch menu that’s price feels like it is too good to be true,” he said.  ”So, we launched a one choice lunch menu that made absolutely no money but filled the pub with noise, excitement and laughter.”

Castle Hotel general manager and director Ronan Hunter says: “As Tom Kerridge states, with a menu like this, we won’t make any money from it, but we want to be able to offer people on a tighter budget the opportunity to still come out and enjoy a lovely lunch in Brazz.

“Whilst the current situation with energy prices & rising costs across the board are in many ways more challenging than Covid, it’s a good time to put out a ‘Too good to be true value menu.’”