From Garden To Kitchen
Grown at Candlemaker. Served at Candlemaker.
Step through into the Candlemaker courtyard and you’ll find much more than somewhere to sit with a coffee or glass of wine.
Our Kitchen Garden has been growing alongside Candlemaker from the very beginning, filled with herbs, fruits, vegetables and edible flowers that our kitchen team can quite literally pick from the garden and bring straight onto your plate.
It’s our little patch of the Mediterranean, right here on Church Street.
The Garden Kitchen
We wanted the courtyard to be beautiful, but we also wanted it to have a purpose.
Throughout the garden we grow an ever-changing selection of fresh herbs, edible flowers, fruits and other produce that can be incorporated into our food and drinks.
You might find freshly picked basil accompanying our Caprese Bites, garden produce making its way into one of our house sauces, fresh mint finishing a dish or cocktail, or edible flowers providing the final touch before a plate leaves the kitchen.
What’s growing changes with the seasons - and increasingly, so will the ways we use it.
Growing Naturally
We’re working towards creating a thriving little ecosystem rather than relying unnecessarily on chemical pest control.
That means working with nature rather than against it.
Ladybirds have been introduced into the garden to help naturally control aphids, blackfly and greenfly amongst plants such as our nasturtiums.
Marigolds are planted amongst fruiting plants, where their strong scent can help discourage unwanted flying visitors while bringing plenty of colour to the courtyard.
We also use beneficial nematodes around ground-level plants as part of our approach to managing some garden pests.
It’s a constantly evolving experiment - and one we’re thoroughly enjoying.
Herbs, Flowers & Plenty More
Walk around the courtyard and you'll discover produce growing throughout the space.
Fresh herbs play a particularly important role in the Candlemaker kitchen, giving our chefs access to incredibly fresh ingredients just outside the door.
Our garden also provides edible flowers and seasonal produce, allowing us to bring colour, fragrance and flavour into dishes without travelling any further than the courtyard.
And sometimes the best ideas for the menu start simply by seeing what's ready to be picked that morning.
A Garden You Can Sit In
The Kitchen Garden isn't hidden away behind the building.
You're sitting amongst it.
Our courtyard was designed to give Candlemaker a completely different feeling during the warmer months — somewhere tucked away from the street where you can sit amongst the plants with good food, coffee, cocktails or a bottle of wine.
We've always wanted it to have the atmosphere of discovering a little café or wine bar down a Mediterranean side street.
As the garden has matured, it's become an increasingly important part of that.
Watch It Grow
The Candlemaker Kitchen Garden will never really be finished.
As the seasons change we'll continue planting, experimenting and finding new ingredients that our kitchen can make use of.
Some will work brilliantly. Some probably won't.
But that's part of the fun.
So next time you're sitting in the courtyard, have a look around. The garnish on tomorrow's plate might be growing beside your table today.
