“The Dining Room at TerraVina” invites guests to choose from a nine or twelve course tasting menu comprising of dishes created entirely with foraged and fresh produce exclusively from Hampshire and Dorset. From the bread flour to the meat, sea herbs and locally landed fish, every single item of fresh produce is of Hampshire or Dorset origin with only one exception, the Snails (which come from Aylesbury). Even the plates are made from hollowed local bark and cocktails sticks created from New Forest Hawthorn branches. Standout dishes include a Pumpkin and Dorset Truffle Velouté, Lymington landed Turbot with hand-picked tidal greens and cockles and a Dorset Acorn Brûlée with Chocolate Sorbet.

Heading the kitchen team is George Blogg. Dorset born and bred, Blogg is a hugely talented chef whose previous positions include Sous Chef at Le Champignon Sauvage and The Square, both of which hold two Michelin-stars.

The Dining Room at TerraVina is the latest restaurant in The 10 in 8 Group’s collection, which includes some of the finest restaurants in the UK. The 10 in 8 Group, led by Michelin-starred Chef Alan Murchison merged with the award-winning Hotel TerraVina last May to substantially strengthen both businesses.
Nina Basset, owner of Hotel TerraVina & Managing Director of The 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group commented ““George is a super chap, born and bred in Dorset. We feel very fortunate to have him with us. He brings a passion and enthusiasm for food which is infectious and we love all of the forest foraged treats he is tempting us with. We are very excited by this slightly quirky, fun and interesting restaurant concept and so far those guests who have dined here have all been wowed by it.

Said Chef George Blogg, “I am very fortunate to be working alongside such a great team and in an area so varied and rich in its produce. Restricting the use of ingredients gives me a real direction and interest, forcing me to constantly evolve the menu and create dishes that reflect the region and its locally changing climate.”

The Dining Room at TerraVina is open on from Saturday to Monday for dinner only.

We are currently looking for enthusiastic and talented individuals to join our team in the role of Restaurant Manager.  With a collection of Michelin-starred restaurants and a cookery school the 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group offers huge potential for growth and development within the team.  To submit your CV for consideration, please email it together with a covering letter to ania@10in8.com.

December 2012

Restaurant Manager – Paris House, Woburn

Restaurant Manager – La Becasse, Ludlow

This is a fantastic opportunity for two driven and ambitious individuals to join a small, friendly and passionate team, headed by our award-winning chefs. A friendly disposition, hard working ethos and a love of people are musts for these roles.

The ideal candidate will:

- have previous experience in a fine-dining or Michelin-starred establishment.

- have operations experience in a fast moving environment.

- have an understanding of finance.

- be immaculately groomed, polished and professional.

- be self motivated and disciplined.

Core responsibilities will include:

- Managing sales targets and conversions.

- Understanding and effectively communicating financial information to support decision making.

- Training, developing and motivating; driving the team performance to achieve business objectives.

- Interacting with guests in a professional yet friendly and relaxed manner ensuring consistent and seamless customer service.

- Driving service and ensuring all staff are exceeding customer expectations through acknowledgement, regular table maintenance, knowledge, customer care, anticipating requirements, warmth and hospitality.

Benefits:

In return for your hard work we are offering a competitive salary, 28 days paid holiday, staff meals on duty, 20% staff discount, structured training and the chance to move within the company internally, amongst other staff benefits.

If you think you could have the qualities we are looking for, then please send us your CV in the first instance to ania@10in8.com 

The boutique wine hotel founded by World Champion sommelier, Gerard Basset OBE, picked up Best Drinks Offering in a Hotel beating The Dorchester and The Connaught at the inaugural Harpers Awards held at the London International Wine Fair earlier in the week, whilst Nina Basset, co-founder of Hotel TerraVina and Managing Director of The 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group was presented with the Condor Lifetime Achievement in Business prize at the Venus Awards recognizing businesswomen in the South West.

The award wins cap a momentous month for The 10 in 8 Group.  Its amalgamation with Hotel TerraVina led to the announcement of a world class cookery and wine school jointly led by Michelin star chef, Alan Murchison and Gerard Basset.  This week the group also announced that it has entered into a joint venture with Macdonald Hotels to operate the restaurant at The Bear Hotel in Woodstock, close to Blenheim Palace.

Nina says, “This has been an extraordinary few weeks of exciting announcements that will cement TerraVina’s reputation as one of the UK’s leading destinations for food and wine lovers.  2012 is shaping up to be a momentous year and we are relishing the challenges ahead.”

On announcing the merger Richard Pursey, Chairman of 10 in 8 said “we are delighted to have joined forces with Nina and Gerard and their team at Hotel Terravina. This merger substantially strengthens The 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group. Led by Alan Murchison, we already have a number of the country’s leading chef’s in our team but now, we have probably the most decorated Sommelier in the world spear-heading our fine wines business. Perhaps as importantly though, Gerard and Nina’s experience in hotel management will give us great depth to our Board and I am delighted to announce that with this merger, Nina Basset has been appointed as the Group’s Managing Director.”

Nina commented, “we have been watching 10 in 8’s progress over the last few years and admire their vision and strategy to develop individuals with raw talent into some of the industry’s most renowned chefs and restaurant managers. This merger will enhance that strategy as we intend to develop the Terravina concept wherever 10 in 8 has a fine dining restaurant. We will also create a world-class Cookery and Wine School based in the New Forest that will further strengthen our already established Fine Dining Academy.”

For more details about Hotel TerraVina, please click here.

The seventh series of the programme kicked off with the Scottish heats which saw Alan battle against chefs Mark Greenaway and Colin Buchan.  As the winning chef, Alan will go forward to represent Scotland in the national finals.  This time the chefs are competing for the honour of cooking for sporting heroes at a banquet hosted by Sir Steve Redgrave.

Says Alan, “It’s a great honour to represent Scotland again in BBC’s Great British Menu. I’m hugely motivated and excited by the brief, cooking cutting edge food for the Olympians and I will be certainly give it 110%”

To view Alan’s winning recipes please visit the BBC website by clicking here.

As Bedfordshire’s only Michelin-starred restaurant and set in 22 acres of stunning deer park on the historic Woburn Estate, the restaurant has won numerous awards and is a ‘must-do’ for food-lovers.

Phil went head to head in a final cook-off competition with Tom van Zeller, Enzo Mauro and Christopher Cleghorn filmed at Dawnvale’s recently launched North West Design Centre’s theatre kitchen.

Elizabeth Carter, Editor of the Good Food Guide and Food Writer and Restaurant Critic Matthew Norman from the Daily Telegraph were joined by Hi-Life member and Sponsor Denise Jones of Dawnvale.

This year’s Hi-Life Awards (www.hi-life.co.uk) or HILDAs as they are fondly known in the industry took place on Friday 3rd February, 2012 at The Midland Hotel, Manchester.

The Hi-Life Dining Awards are considered the leading food and drink awards in the industry, with nominees and winners voted for by the dining public.

Presented by TV presenter and journalist Paul Ross, guests enjoyed a champagne reception followed by a four-course dinner and a glittering line-up of first-class entertainment including American singing sensation Gwen Dickey of Rose Royce fame.

Stars from stage, screen and sport presented thirteen awards to some of the best restaurants and chefs in the UK and Ireland.

Said Lisa Lund, Hi-Life’s Commercial Director:

“Tonight was a fantastic showcase of the very best in dining excellence and congratulations to all our winners and short-listed entries.  The calibre of participants this year has been exceptionally high.  With more sponsors and partners than ever before this has been our most successful event to date and I would like to thank everyone for their wonderful support and enthusiasm, including, in particular, our loyal Hi-Life Dining Club members and restaurants.”

This year’s nominated charity was the Five Stars Appeal.  A live auction and raffle raised over £10,000 pounds for the charity.

Chef Stephen Bulmer commented: ‘I appreciate it seems a bit strange to change the name again, but my wife Jo and I felt that a straightforward, English name was more appropriate to my style of cooking and atmosphere we want to create in the restaurant. However, we respect and recognise the long culinary heritage of the restaurant, thus we felt ‘The Angel, Dartmouth’, fits the bill.’

Just as the menu features local and seasonal produce, so the restaurant interior now reflects it’s beautiful waterside location, with the colours of the sea and the work of local artists helping to create an informal, relaxed environment. Steve’s new menu launched this week and has been very well received by customers.

A selection from the A la Carte menu might include:

Duck Confit with Celeriac, Caramelised Apple and Sherry Vinegar £7.50

Braised Fillet of Brill with Lemon Sabayon, Wild Mushrooms and Watercress Purée £17.50

Vanilla Pannacotta with Spiced Pear Compote and Madeleine £6.50

There is also a daily-changing, set price menu available from Wednesday to Friday offering two courses for £18.50 and three courses for £22.50 and a Sunday lunch menu at £15.95/£19.95.

Steve also has plans to get out from behind the stove. An enthusiastic and gregarious Yorkshireman, he will be holding regular demonstrations and cookery classes at The Angel, including a daily demonstration of the ‘Dish of the Day’ at 12 noon and 6.30pm from mid February.

The partnership has arisen as a result of the longstanding friendship between Alan and Gerard. To launch the 2012 partnership, Murchison and Basset will be creating three days of unique food and wine events, from the 29th February to 2nd March 2012, at Basset’s award-winning boutique hotel, Hotel TerraVina in The New Forest. The exclusive menu will be created and cooked at each event by Michelin-starred chef Alan Murchison and his team and the wine selected and paired to Alan’s menu by Basset. Hotel TerraVina’s award-winning head sommelier, Laura Rhys, (Master Sommelier and UK Sommelier of the Year, 2009) will be hosting and introducing the wines at each service. It is hoped that these events will be the first in a series in the new partnership.

Says Murchison: ‘We are thrilled to be working with not only a great friend but one of the most skilled and respected figures in the hospitality industry, who shares our values in service, quality and excellence. We are so pleased to be able to offer our guests a incomparable food and wine experience in such a perfect setting as Hotel TerraVina.

Basset commented: ‘I am delighted to work with Alan, whom I have known for over 10 years and to introduce our guests to his truly remarkable food. I’m also very excited at the prospect of further educating not only our guests but the “Foodies” who regularly visit the 10 in 8 Group’s restaurants. This is the beginning of a very exciting partnership.”

To view the menu for these exclusive wine events, please click http://10in8.com/about-us/alan-murchison-gerard-basset-menu/.

Stephen will teach regularly at the cookery school but has also been appointed as Head Chef at 10in8’s Restaurant Angélique in Dartmouth. Joanna will become 10 in 8’s Head of Marketing.

Joanna Bulmer commented: ‘We are delighted to be joining the 10 in 8 Fine Dining Group. We share in its values and ambitions and look forward to playing a significant part in their development and growth.”

Richard Pursey, Chairman of the 10 in 8 Group commented: ‘We are delighted to have reached an agreement to bring Jo and Steve into our Group. Developing talent is crucial for our long-term sustainability and is core to the Fine Dining Academy’s rising star apprenticeship programme. Steve and Joanna bring to 10 in 8 specialist skills that complement our existing talents. Our Fine Dining Academy has probably the strongest teaching line up of any restaurant-based cookery school in the UK and as such, provides a unique offering to customers and apprentices alike. Stephen will expand this offering further while Joanna will help us to build and maximise the potential of our customer base across the Group.

Stephen Bulmer is widely acknowledged to be one the UK’s leading cookery school teachers. His combination of top-level expertise with a relaxed, light-hearted teaching style has built a significant customer following. Before opening Brook Hall he ran the Raymond Blanc Cookery School at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons following in the footsteps of 10in8’s Executive Chef, Alan Murchison.

Joanna Bulmer has a blue-chip advertising and direct marketing background as well as top-level hospitality management experience, also gained at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons.

“Our fish course comprised a pan fried fillet of Loch Duart salmon, curried lentils, cauliflower, apple and citrus jelly. It was exceptional, my favourite course of the day. The salmon had been so adroitly cooked that each flake fell away beneath the knife. It was translucent, delicately pink and the crispy skin was exquisite.”

To read the full review in the Shropshire Star, please click here.