Blackfriars owner opens Newcastle restaurant Dobson and Parnell
The 65-cover restaurant opened at 21 Queen Street on the former site of Terry Laybourne’s Michelin-starred 21 Queen Street and modern-British restaurant Pan Haggerty last week.
Chef-patron Troy Terrington, who has worked with Hook as head chef at Blackfriars, will run the new venture, which specialises in 'refined' British and European cuisine. Florin Stan is restaurant manager.
Terrington's daily-changing menu uses ethically-sourced local and seasonal produce with dishes to include Smoked wild duck breast, sea buckthorn, chicory, linseed crisps to start and Turbot cooked on the bone, salsify, oxtail, horseradish.
A three-course set menu (£21 at lunch and £25 at dinner) will be served six days a week with dishes to include Pressed wild rabbit, pickles, pumpernickel; Pressed shoulder of pork, parsnips, trivet onions, pickled walnuts, and Bitter 'manjari' chocolate with candied clementine and there are also plans to introduce a tasting menu.
Terrington said: “I’m really enjoying having the freedom to work closely with small producers and really nurture the relationship between supplier and chef. It means I get a better understanding of what’s coming through the door every day”.
Hook, who opened his second restaurant - Hinnies in Whitley Bay - earlier this year, added: “We’re branching out a little from the British dishes we focus on at Blackfriars and Hinnies, to specialise in perfectly-executed, refined modern cuisine. We’ll also have a strong focus on sustainability, and our kitchen will specialise in preserving techniques such as curing, smoking, salting, brining and fermenting.
Victorian dining room
The site, a Grade II-listed has been named in honour of two of Newcastle’s Victorian architectural stalwarts, John Dobson and William Parnell, who designed the original building in 1863.
Newcastle-based design agency Dakota House of Design has retained much of the site's Victorian features to give a Victorian brasserie feel with pendant track lighting, original brickwork, cast iron columns, high ceilings, banquette seating with glass partitions, rich dark timber flooring, a brass bar top and decorative tiled counter fronts.
Hook said: “I fell in love with this site the first time I saw it. That was back in in the mid-nineties when I used to peer longingly through the windows at the elegant Victorian dining room and happy diners. It’s perfectly proportioned as a restaurant with a cavernous kitchen ideally suited for Troy’s innovative and creative cooking.
“What’s more, Newcastle's Quayside has experienced a revival of top notch restaurants and bars in the past year, so when we saw an opportunity to open in such a vibrant location, we just couldn’t resist.
“It’s an exciting time to join the Quayside dining renaissance and we’re looking forward to being the new kid on the block within one of the most beautiful Victorian buildings in this area of the city.”
