Squerryes Winery is throwing open its doors for ‘Seafood Tapas On The Terrace’ as it launches its new outside space.
The Westerham vineyard has teamed up with acclaimed chefs David Marsaud and Christopher Reeves to deliver a sumptuous seafood menu to compliment its champion wines.
A delicious la carte-style menu features the finest seafood from British coastal waters with a headline dish of fresh Cornish lobster. Ten smaller plates, priced from £4 to £6, also make up the carefully curated menu including Whitstable rock oysters and Dorset salmon Caesar salad.
Sparkling Squerryes, delicious still wines and Westerham Brewery beers will also be on offer, as will vegetarian dishes and mouth-watering desserts.
The new venture by Squerryes owner Henry Warde hopes to go beyond simply serving food and wine to guests but deliver the ‘joyous experience’ ethos his North Downs vineyard is becoming renowned for. He also hopes to attract visitors from Kent and nearby Surrey and London as a weekend destination to ‘relax and unwind’.
He said: ‘We are in the ‘business of joy’ and now we’ve bottled it in our wines, we are opening our doors for people to experience everything we have here at Squerryes.
‘It’s a simply beautiful place where people can relax and unwind and enjoy the English countryside at its best. We hope these Saturday sessions offer a chance for people to get away from the 9 to 5 drudgery and to feel re-invigorated.
‘We are incredibly lucky to have our chefs David and Peter on board who share our vision and have created a delicious seafood tapas menu which compliments our wines beautifully.
‘We have some truly delicious sparkling wines at Squerryes but unlike the vineyards of France and Italy where welcoming groups of wine-tasters is the norm, it still is an odd concept in Britain – but thankfully, eating is not!
‘We are hoping this new idea of bringing great food to our winery will lead to us sharing our wine and beautiful space to people in a unique and joyous way.’
Speaking of his ethos of bringing joy to Squerryes’ visitors he added: ‘Our family motto – ‘Licet Esse Beatis’: it is permitted to be joyful’ – is inscribed over our front door and it pours into the house with an energy that is fantastically infectious.
‘It also spills over into our work, to such an extent that we consider ourselves to be in the ‘business of joy’.
‘This is really what drives us – from nurturing the vineyard and winery, to creating our fantastic terrace overlooking the Garden Of England to providing this new food and wine experience – we simply want people to enjoy.’
Tapas on the Terrace will be open every Saturday midday to 6pm in the summer months from June 2nd. www.squerryes.co.uk
