Autumn on the menu

Autumn has truly arrived at The Seafood & Grill Restaurant at The Brudenell Hotel with a lovely new menu celebrating seasonal produce, warming flavours and the very best of land and sea.

Head Chef Darran Hazleton introduces a wonderful collection of sumputous dishes designed for the changing season.

“Autumn is one of my favourite times of year to cook because you can really start building those deeper flavours into a menu,” says Darran. “We still want the sea to be at the heart of what we do here in Aldeburgh, but this time of year also gives us fantastic game, root vegetables, mushrooms, squash and fruit to work with.

“For me, the new menu is about food you genuinely look forward to eating when the days get cooler. There are some big flavours on the menu, but they're still dishes that let really good ingredients speak for themselves.”

The evening menu brings together the restaurant's signature seafood with some distinctly autumnal additions, including roasted partridge with pickled blackberries, game jus, potato rösti and duck-fat roasted carrots and slow-cooked venison stew with braised red cabbage and Suffolk Brie potato gratin.

From the sea, Darran's chef's recommendation is stone bass with red wine-braised octopus, squid ink risotto, herbed leeks and parmesan, while another new dish pairs spiced monkfish with coconut curry sauce, sweet potato, green peppers and braised pak choi.

Starters include poached salmon ballotine with golden beetroot relish, cucumber gel and crispy salmon skin, grilled south coast mackerel with lime, chilli and coriander butter and a suitably seasonal haggis and ham hock Scotch egg with celeriac and apple rémoulade.

The autumn theme continues through to dessert, with a rich dark chocolate and pumpkin-spiced tart and cinnamon panna cotta with poached plums and shortbread joining comforting favourite sticky toffee pudding with warm toffee sauce and clotted cream ice cream.

Designed for sharing, an apple tarte tatin for two combines caramelised apples and puff pastry with vanilla ice cream.

Lunch at the seafront restaurant has also had an autumn refresh. New and seasonal dishes include tiger prawn and ’nduja tagliatelle with saffron, fennel, chilli and lemon butter cream sauce, flat iron steak tagliata with wilted spinach and sauce bourguignonne, and the classic fish pie with cheddar cheese mashed potato and buttered leeks.

Diners can also choose from the restaurant's Tapas by the Sea, including Orford oysters, crab arancini, whipped taramasalata on toast and salt and pepper squid, with any four tapas available for £28. The Daily Catch continues to showcase the day's available fish, including day boat fish served with herb-crushed new potatoes, green beans and lemon-caper butter.

For weekday diners, the Let's Lunch set menu offers two courses for £23 or three for £29 from Monday to Friday, with guests choosing three courses this autumn also receiving a complimentary small glass of house wine.

The new autumn menus are available at The Seafood & Grill at The Brudenell this month (October).

To book visit here.