Fun-loving diners looking for an unusual gourmet experience, can pigge out with the launch of a new medieval banqueting service in Newcastle.
Blackfriars Restaurant is now inviting guests to celebrate a tradition harking back to its 13th Century origins in its historic Guest Hall, once used to entertain King Henry III. Originally used as a refectory for the Dominican Black Friar Monks, from 1239, Blackfriars is the oldest purpose built restaurant in the UK, making it the perfect place to hold medieval banquets.
Blackfriars is launching its regular banqueting service on the last Friday of every month (excluding December) where for £39.50, guests will be received with a reception of Lindisfarne Mead before being invited to sit at a large convivial table to indulge in a gastronomic celebration including roast suckling pigge served with Benedictine ale, wine and entertainment.
Using bespoke wooden furniture and hand-crafted pottery from the Northumbrian Craft Pottery, the hall is lit with hundreds of candles to create a mediaeval atmosphere. The specially commissioned 30 feet long oak table is decorated with apples, oranges and bowls of nuts. The only cutlery allowed are daggers, with drinks served by monks and wenches.
To recreate an authentic mediaeval feast, Blackfriars roasts a whole pig, sausages and chicken drumsticks, to be washed down with flagons of specially commissioned Benedictine Ale from Durham Brewery, Lindisfarne Mead and red wine. The restaurant also provides mediaeval entertainment.
The menu includes a 1st Remove of spinnage pye or watercress sallet with cowcumber and violet vinagre, followed by a 2nd Remove, a spit-roasted suckling pigge which is paraded before being served, accompanied by hodgepodge, petitoes roasted with apples, turnep root pudding and mead glazed cerrets. This is followed by the 3rd Remove, a traditional Michaelmas Pye for dessert.
