ETHOS
The ethos of the restaurant can be summed
up as follows:
- Primary use of local suppliers and producers
(low food miles)
- Menus using Seasonal ingredients (no
asparagus in January)
- Championing Organic and Fresh Produce
- Serving Traditional and Regional Cuisines
from around the world, but mainly Europe
- Caring for the Environment and Animal
Welfare
- Embracing the ethics of the Slow Food
movement
- Family Friendly
- A Passion for REAL FOOD
- All dishes made on the premises from
raw ingredients
We would like to take the opportunity
to tell you a little about us, what we do and how we do it.
Our aim is to provide good quality
food, made to order from fresh ingredients on the premises. We take
great care in sourcing top quality produce from local suppliers who
are mainly organic. We try to be as environmentally friendly as possible
and only use products manufactured by eco friendly manufacturers; from
the paint on the walls (www.thelittlegreene.com)
to our cleaning products from Ecover (www.ecover.com ).
The Meals
We do not specialise in fast food. If it takes a little longer for your food
to arrive please bear with us; we are after all mortals! Wherever possible
everything is made freshly to order. Most of our spices are ground as we
need them and not stored ground, ensuring maximum flavour, just try the Carrot
Cake which has freshly ground cinnamon blended into the mixture just before
it is baked.
Raw Ingredients
At the Bell Street Café we do not buy in any pre-prepared foods. This
means that we start with basic raw ingredients. Most of our pulses, nuts and
dried fruits are supplied Essential Foods (www.essential-trading.co.uk)
. Speciality spices are supplied by Seasoned Pioneers (www.seasonedpioneers.co.uk).
Coffee
All our coffee is Fairtrade and supplied by the Dorset Coffee Company, based
near Dorchester (www.dorsetcoffee.co.uk)
. Why not try our Bell Street Special, a blend of Dark Colombian, Mocha Sidamo
and Java beans. We buy whole freshly roasted beans and grind them every day.
Coffee is served either in a french press (cafetière) or from a coffee
machine as espresso, cappuccino or latté.
Cold Drinks
We aim to offer a wide variety of interesting soft drinks to suit every pallette.
From Luscombe Organic juices (www.luscombe.co.uk)
to Fentimans range of ‘Botanically’ produced drinks (www.botanically-brewed-soft-drinks.co.uk)
Water
Our bottled water is supplied by Belu (www.belu.org).
This organisation invest all their profits in water projects around the world.
Water is supplied in glass bottles so as to avoid contamination from plastic.
Olive Oil & Olives
We buy all our olive oil from Olio-Peddio in Shillingstone; single estate oil
from Sardinia. This is superb oil whether it be for salad dressings or for
cooking
(www.olio-peddio.co.uk).
We offer this oil for sale in the café.
Wines, Beers & Spirits
Our wine list comprises mainly of wines that are produced in Europe. Our chief
suppliers are Yapp Brothers of Mere (www.yapp.co.uk)
& Quantock Abbey Wines (www.quantockabbey.co.uk).
Beers are all bottled and supplied by Nectar Imports of Zeals (www.nectar.net).
We now stock 'Large One' & 'Gold Spice' beers from Keystone the new brewery
near Tisbury.
Cakes
Cakes are made on the premises from organic ingredients and whole spices. We
use Green & Blacks
Chocolate in our Brownies and freshly ground cinnamon in the carrot cake.
Bread
Reeves the Baker
are our main supplier of finished bread. We also make bread on the premsises
from flour milled by N.R.Stoate & Sons (www.stoatesflour.co.uk).
Marriage’s
(www.marriagefeeds.co.uk)
and Doves Organic Flour are used in cakes and puddings. Milk and Cream
We buy all our organic Jersey milk and Jersey cream from Ivy House Farm, Beckington
and Brewhamfield Farm, Bruton. WE DO NOT USE NON-ORGANIC MILK OR CREAM
Meat
Our pork (Duroc x Saddleback) is supplied by an organic farmer in Twyford.
Chickens are supplied by Pythouse
Organics and
Cracknell’s Farm. Beef from L.J. Doggrell of Sherborne and local butcher,
Prime Cuts of Shaftesbury. All bacon is dry cured and comes from Sandridge
Farm (www.sandridgefarmhousebacon.co.uk).
Cheese
Crook & Churn Dairy of Farrington, near Childe Okeford supply most of our
cheese. They supply both local and speciality chesses.
Eggs
Eggs are supplied by Organic Farmer Michael Coward of Lower Berrycourt Farm,
Donhead, nr Shaftesbury & Vanessa Mogridge, Lakesbrook Farm, West Orchard,
Shaftesbury, Dorset
Trout & Fish
Smoked trout fillets and whole rainbow trout are supplied by Purely Organic
at Longbridge Deverill. Purely Organic are one of Rick Stein’s ‘Food
Heroes’. (www.purelyorganic.co.uk).
Paul Williamson supplies our fresh fish and crabs. Oakford Shellfish are
our main suppliers for Oysters and Mussels.
Vegetables
We buy the majority of our vegetables from Gold Hill Organic Farm at Childe
Okeford. We are also supplied by Purely Organics and from time to time other
local suppliers.
Bell Street Café
The premises itself is a grade II listed building with remarkable character.
The previous owners renovated the premises with love and passion and converted
it from a second hand bookshop (The Book In Hand) into the Café as
you see it today. The essential character of the building has not changed
- only the wall colour. The kitchen has seen a state of the art cooking range
installed enabling us to produce wonderful food for your enjoyment and gratification.
Theme & Music Evenings
We hold regular food theme Evenings throughout the year, live music every Friday & Saturday
evenings as well as Jam evenings on Wednesdays and Thursdays. All our events
are published in the Blackmore Vale Magazine under ‘Food & Drink’,
on the leaflets in the café as well as on this website.
Parties
We would be pleased to act as hosts for private parties, business entertaining,
works outings, coach parties and functions for up to 50 guests (74 in the
summer weather permitting)- please ask for details.
31st October 2007 |
