The September menu

The board changed this morning, as it does on the first of every month. September is a good one — it is the fortnight where summer produce and the first proper autumn things overlap, so there is more on the list than usual that we are genuinely pleased about.

The tomatoes are on borrowed time. Hannah at Ebbor Farm reckons two more weeks, three if the nights stay mild. They come with sheep's curd from Whitecross and a lot of black pepper, and when they go the plate goes with them rather than being propped up with something from a box. That is the whole point of writing the menu monthly.

The fish is whatever the boats send. The main is listed as whole plaice with brown butter and capers, and most nights it will be plaice. Some nights Marden & Son will call at six in the morning and say the small boats did not go out, or that there is brill worth having instead, and we will cook that. Same treatment, same price. Ask the room when you sit down and someone will tell you what it actually is.

Hogget over the embers. Shoulder from Ebbor, slow over the fire, with borlotti beans and salsa verde. It is the dish this kitchen was built to cook — one fire, three hours, very little intervention.

And there are damsons. They came in a fortnight early and there are a lot of them. Some are in vinegar with the chicken liver parfait, the rest have gone into an almond tart with clotted cream. We make one tin a night, so it does sell out, and we would rather that than have it hanging around until Sunday.

The vegetable main is a whole roast celeriac with barley and wild mushrooms, and it stays for the month. The cheese is three from Whitecross, cut to order.

Sunday lunch runs the same list with a roast added — Ebbor beef or hogget depending on the week, £24 a head. It goes from noon until it is gone, which is usually before three.