Living on the West coast of Cumbria It isn`t every day that you can come home from work , take a quick shower and then pop 5 minutes up the road to eat one of the worlds best chefs food for the price of a takeaway meal. On this occasion Simon Rogan had travelled up from Lenclume in Cartmel to my local catering school – `Lakes College` near Whitehaven to inspire the next generation of up and coming young Chefs. Assisted by Dan Cox ( director of Aulis ) Simon would mentor and over see the 2012 graduates as they all teamed together to produce a 5 course meal in the `Rogan style`. The ingredients were all from within the region , local farms , foraged and Cartmel grown from the Lenclume gardens.
As far as the `catch of the year` goes then this has got to be the one… . Appetiser , starter , main , pud and a sweet treat with coffee. A glass of Champers , white , red and a dessert wine for £40…WOW. Obviously a total sell out from the off. Simon and Dan would spend the day carrying out a masterclass for the public and then straight to the kitchens to coach the students through the preparation of dinner using tips and techniques from the Lenclume.
A little amuse to start was a simplified Lenclume Crispy bread wafer with Cream Cheese , Vegetables and Herbs.
Scallops in Coal Oil with Vintage Beetroot , Mustard and Horseradish.
Yewtree farm Herdwick Hogget , Pickled Tongue , salt baked Celeriac , Leeks and Cowmire Cider.
Coniston Wholemeal Stout in Blackberry , Liquorice and Sea Buckthorn.
Parkin cake served with coffee.
A worried looking Rogan …deep in thought about my offer of a night out in Whitehaven…. ” Anyone know where Chef`s gone ” ?
All in all it was a great evening.The students loved it , the diners loved it and hiccups were rare…it worked well both front and back of house….Let`s make these events regular guys.
A few more pics here on FLICKR
Cumbriafoodie 
Well, the food looks basically the same as l’enclume. This sounds like great value, but also really good fun. Did you pick up man useful tips?
*Many*
Well hey Lee… It was a very simplified version so the students could get stuck in themselves. Oh yeah i`m always watching carefully , Mr R makes it look so easy though….he`s well laid back.
Bloody hell!
This looks like an absolutely fantastic experience. Amazing photos as always. And does Simon Rogan *ever* make a bad looking plate of food? These are all stunning.
(And did you get the Parkin recipe?)
It was a really enjoyable evening….sorry i didn`t get the Parkin recipe but thats easy to sort out….just Google , it`s a traditional Lakeland recipe.Cheers.