Harrogate’s newest eatery, The Square Bar and Restaurant, opens on Friday 26 October 2012.
After a five-month renovation of a former office building, the basement of 11 Princes Square has been transformed into a contemporary bar area and a restaurant seating 80 diners. An outside terrace will also seat a further 20 diners when the weather permits.
Proprietor Darren Gladman, together with his wife Debbie, open the doors to to a restaurant serving modern British dishes and a completely separate bar area that also serves light bites.
Darren Gladman formerly spent 8 years as head chef and proprietor of the catering franchise at Oakdale Golf Club. Before that he spent five years at Rudding Park where he became head chef, and prior to that, he had a spell at Ripley Castle.
Darren believes his dishes should be exciting but without being overly complicated. He’s aiming for a cross between fine dining and bistro style, with dishes that have a true English attitude albeit with a European twist – simple ingredients used creatively.
As much as possible Darren will be using Yorkshire ingredients and he has forged links with some of the best local suppliers such as Bolton Abbey lamb and Bleiker’s Smokehouse.
Dishes on the restaurant menu include:
- Starter – Winter parsnip, pear and whisky soup served with pancetta mash, wild watercress and toasted Wensleydale
- Main course – Griddled venison, served with roasted celeriac, stilton and white onion Wellington, gratin potato, cherry piccalilli and balsamic reduction burgundy jus
- Dessert – Malton honey cheesecake with smashed honeycomb and chocolate crunchy ice cream
The Square Bar’s Light Lunches menu features grazing slates for two people, such as the ‘Tempura of five locally hauled fish’, served with hand cut chips, purée of minted peas and homemade tartar sauce. Alternatively for those wanting a mid-morning break, coffee, tea, hot chocolate and a selection of small bites such as croissants will also be served.
Darren explains the thinking behind the menus and the restaurant:
We’ve aimed to provide a relaxed atmosphere with dishes that are exciting but uncomplicated, and using the best ingredients, including as much Yorkshire-sourced produce as we can.
We work with some great suppliers and we’re delighted to have finally realised our vision for running our own restaurant. Bookings have been flooding in so we’re looking forward to a busy time of it.
We firmly believe our location will help connect the upper and lower areas of Harrogate’s town centre particularly with the bar offering a definite area for people just wanting to pop in for a drink.
Working with the Gladmans are front of house manager Adam Cheesman and a team of up to 15 staff.
The Square is also planning to hold cookery demonstrations next year and will be keeping people updated through its website: www.thesquare-harrogate.co.uk
