Now it’s two for dinner

May 9 2008 by Jane Hall, The Journal

TWO successful Tyneside restaurants have joined forces to encourage more people to eat with a conscience.

Newcastle City Centre eaterie Grainger Rooms and popular Gosforth Fairtrade restaurant The Open Kitchen hope diners will be bowled over with the blend of locally produced and ethically friendly foods.

The move – believed to be the first of its kind – sees the Grainer Rooms owner and head chef Chris Slaughter, and Chris Jewitt and Andreas Korovessis of The Open Kitchen, sharing suppliers, best practice and attitudes to food.

Mr Slaughter, 29, said: “Coming together with The Open Kitchen makes sense as we share a lot of the same values and attitudes to quality fare.

“Between us, we have over 40 years of experience in the restaurant trade, with each of us bringing our own unique skills and know-how to the dinner table.”

The Grainger Rooms, opposite Newcastle’s Laing Art Gallery, will act as an overflow to the smaller Open Kitchen, with customers being given the option to be ferried across to the sister restaurant at no extra charge.

It is hoped the Kitchen-Grainger union will between them now be able to handle 200-plus covers a week.

Mr Jewitt, 29, said: “There’s nothing worse than turning up at your favourite restaurant to find that they are booked up and you can’t get a table.

“At the Open Kitchen we have been turning people away at weekends, while the Grainger Rooms tends to be busy during the week and has an upstairs dining area.

“It was for this reason that we decided it would be a good idea to offer customers the option of dining at our sister, Grainger Rooms.

“Ethically the restaurants are very similar, and we share much of the same customer base, so it made sense to join forces to keep our customers happy.

“I don’t know of any other restaurants that would do this as they would see themselves as being in competition with each other.

“But the Grainger Rooms tends to attract those living and working in the city while the Open Kitchen is based in a residential area.”

Mr Slaughter will continue as head chef at Grainger Rooms with Mr Jewitt managing the restaurant’s front of house. Mr Korovessis will continue as head chef of The Open Kitchen, in Gosforth Squash Court just off Kenton Lane.

Mr Slaughter said: “We have a lot in store for the restaurants, which will see The Open Kitchen supporting more local producers in the region, and Grainger Rooms using more Fairtrade goods and ingredients. We also have a variety of event-based evenings planned for the year, including our own Italian wine-tasting week between May 13 and 16.

“We also have folk and fodder evenings planned for later in the year, where local music meets local ale and Northumbrian grub.”

The Grainger Rooms last Friday hosted the opening dinner for the Eat! NewcastleGateshead food festival which runs until May 22, featuring the best locally sourced spring produce prepared by chef Stephen Smith, who gained the region’s only Michelin star this year at County Durham’s Seaham Hall.