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• The Swan Restaurant at the Globe Theatre - River-Inspired Menu
Details
In celebration of the Thames Festival, The Swan restaurant will be serving a menu throughout the month of September inspired by and overlooking the famous river.
Cost: £19.95 for 2 courses and £22.95 for 3 courses
Tel: 020 7928 9444
Web: http://www.swanattheglobe.co.uk
Email: reservations@swanattheglobe.co.uk
Address: 21 New Globe Walk, Bankside, London, SE19DT
Please download the menu below
The life-giving River Thames has been an essential trade and transport route dating back to the prehistoric era. At times the river in London has bustled with 2,000 boats each day, transporting goods and moving people around the city. In the 17th century the river welcomed home travelers who brought riches and exotic tastes from the far-flung corners of the globe; “Within the river’s banks came tea and china, as well as cotton and pepper from the East Indies; from the West Indies came rum and coffee, sugar and cocoa.”1 The river’s offer of food has also been of great significance and commercial value. In the 15th century fish of varied types were all caught in nets baited with cheese and tallow, fish such as eels, kipper salmon, mullet, lamprey, smelt, sturgeon and ‘white bayte’.
The Swan’s Thames Menu, created by Head Chef Kieren Steinborn, includes Thames produce, such as brown shrimps, cockles, herring and Theale Mallard. Spices and exotic fruits, first brought to London in the 16th and 17th centuries are also used in dishes on the menu to tell the story of this magnificent river, past and present.
There is a relatively new edition to the Thames that has been classed as a pest, burrowing and destroying riverbanks and ridding the river of crayfish and other crustacean, however at The Swan, it will take pride of place on the Thames Menu. The ‘Chinese Mitten Crab’ first arrived in London in the 1930’s in the ballast of ships, but in the last 10 years or so their numbers have dramatically increased. Experts suggest Londoner’s embrace this new invading delicacy, a familiar south east Asian street food, in order to curb the population growth. The crab will be served as Mitten Crab Bisque with a roast garlic brioche crouton.