The Art Of Coffee: The Gunton Arms
Art Deco Gaggia “does the job perfectly” at Norfolk’s latest high profile eatery, which mixes great food with great art (and great coffee)
The Gunton Arms in North Norfolk is a paradox: on the one hand it’s very much a community pub where all are welcomed, whether for a drink or a meal. On the other, following an extensive refurbishment, its walls are hung with fine art and the food it serves is gathering plaudits and pulling customers from far and wide – despite being well off the beaten track, even by Norfolk’s standards. In the restaurant, diners feast on venison from the adjoining deer park while in the bar punters play pool beneath Tracy Emin ceramics and original prints by David Hockney.
Tea and coffee form a critical part of the mix – not only for diners, but also for the customers who drop in throughout the day to warm up after a shoot or just catch up on the local news. As with food and wine, the Gunton Arms offers what if considers the best – so the tea is loose leaf from the Rare Tea Company, the coffee beans come from foodservice specialist Caravan Coffee and the espresso machine is a Gaggia.
“It was really important to us that the pub should be both a drinking and a food pub,” says Simone Baker, who manages the Gunton Arms while head chef Stuart Tattersall runs the kitchen – both formerly worked with Mark Hix in London. “We wanted people to be as comfortable about coming for a pint and a sausage roll as for a three course meal.
“When it came to coffee service, we needed a machine that could make great espresso and be reliable: we serve a lot of coffee, we get through 10 to 15 kilos of beans a fortnight. For me, with coffee machines the first name you think of is Gaggia.”
The Gaggia Deco at the Gunton Arms is a two group unit with a 13 litre boiler, giving it the capacity to cope with high volumes quickly, without compromising on coffee quality. Once the coffee bean grinder is correctly set up, the Deco produces rich, perfect espresso every time.
The unit’s features include individual brewing head temperature controls, which allow the coffee’s ‘sweet spot’ to be extracted every time, and a turbo-charged steam wand that can steam a litre of milk in just 40 seconds.
Given the focus on art in the pub, another consideration was how the coffee maker would look behind the bar, which is why Simone Baker specified a Gaggia Deco: the design combines vintage art deco looks with hi-tech features. “It looks great – it’s very curvy,” she says.
“We want the best on the market. I’ve used other coffee makers in the past, including pod machines, but you just don’t get the flavour or quality that you do from grinding beans.”
Consumers these days know their coffees so, even in deepest North Norfolk, operators need to offer a choice. “We do latte, cappuccino, espresso, Americano – the Deco looks the part and does the job perfectly. It’s also easy to look after. It’s a hassle-free machine.”
Editor’s notes
Links:
www.theguntonarms.co.uk
Opened in October 2011, The Gunton Arms is a traditional pub with 8 bedrooms in an extensive historic park near Cromer in North Norfolk. The chef Stuart Tattersall (ex head chef at Mark Hix) cooks from local ingredients including venison from the surrounding deer park.
Art dealer Ivor Braka and his artist wife Sarah Graham bought the Gunton Arms in 2009 and started a major restoration. Robert Kime helped design the bedrooms and interior, Martin Brudnizki the bar and restaurant. Stuart Tattersall and Simone Baker, the manager and front of house, both formerly worked at Mark Hix’s restaurants in London: Selfridges, Brown’s Hotel, and Hix Oyster and Chop. They bring with them the Hix ethos of using local, seasonal ingredients and a style of cooking which is vigorous and ingredient led. The Gunton Arms has its own venison; seafood, mussels and Cromer crab are caught by local fisherman.
“Powerful and reliable, with low running costs, Gaggia coffee machines are an ideal choice for bars, cafés and restaurants. “
“We have over ten years of experience with Gaggia in Ireland, where we’ve built the Gaggia brand to be one of the market leaders. We’re dedicated to putting our customers’ interests first, delivering a service that maximises your return from your machine. Our customer-centred approach ensures that your Gaggia machine is working at its best for your business.”