Behind every great menu is a great chef, who cooks with only the best ingredients. At the Greyfriar we pride ourselves in the quality and provenance of our ingredients, so we think it’s important to share some information about our suppliers with our customers.
Sole Butchers of Alresford
Our butcher is a family owned business located in the historical market town of Alresford in the heart Hampshire’s watercress country. John Sole started his training as a butcher in Selborne, Hampshire in 1960, moving later to Lindford near Bordon. Some years later he moved back again to Selborne to start his own business with his brother. In 1989 Mark, his son joined the family business and they moved back to Lindford to open their own shop. After three years, they sold the shop and moved to Four Marks near Alton, and then in 1994 moved the business to Alresford where they have been serving the local community ever since. Sole Butchers of Alresford is not only known for their range of quality farmed meat and poultry, but is also well regarded for their range of fresh game. Mark also provides our meat raffle.
Gentlemen Baristas
Despite its relative youth, this coffee house has developed in to a place where people from all over London, from all walks of life, come to meet. Everyone from students to successful entrepreneurs, actors, doctors, and nurses frequent our house.
Since 1698, when the London coffee house cemented itself as the quintessential melting pot of political, philosophical and creative debate, independent businesses have competed to serve the best cup of ‘syrup of soot and essence of old shoes’.
Today, no more will ‘essence of old shoes’ satisfy our discerning palettes, but the vibrant social scene has remained as popular as ever. They opened their doors with the aim to recapture the spirit of coffee houses of old; offering the best coffee and best service we can.
The Cheese Stall
Dealing directly with producers where possible, located from all over the United Kingdom and Europe. Giving them confidence in quality, consistency and price.
Having this vital communication with small producers also helps them to understand and communicate information to their customers, such as processes involved in production, the regional and cultural differences in techniques of production and the seasonal effects and trends that affect our product.
Their ethos as a company is a simple one… to stock cheese that is traditional to the place of origin, this way we help protect the great history and roots of this fantastic product!
Blackburn & Haynes Ice Cream
Blackburn & Haynes ice cream is made on a family farm using the milk from their own pedigree Jersey cows to produce award-winning ‘Meadow Cottage’ farmhouse ice cream. Other products include: natural unpasteurised double cream and raw whole milk, animal product-free fruit sorbet and sucrose-free ice cream, suitable for diabetics. The farm also runs a Jersey/Hereford cross herd for beef production.
Kingfisher, Brixham
Kingfisher supply quality fresh fish and seafood to the catering industry in the South West. From our premises in Brixham, with a prime coastal position; we source, prepare and deliver fresh and frozen, fish and seafood; directly to professional kitchens.
Kingfisher’s staff hold a wealth of knowledge and experience with many having grown up in the local area so almost have fish in their blood! This experience enables the Kingfisher Brixham team to not only take fish orders but also offer customers advice on menu planning, fish and seafood availability and recommend specials each day.
Brothers Bakehouse
Our passion is for reviving traditional flavours by using the very best classical recipes combined with high quality local ingredients. With this attention to detail, we ensure that our bread and pastries are served to perfection. All baked in our thoroughly modern kitchen in Hampshire.
All of our flour comes from a local mill, milling grain that comes from within a 30 mile radius.
Tempus Foods
To make exceptional charcuterie you need exceptional pigs. So what makes the right pig? What we know is that age and size are the two key factors in delivering a special product. Tempus, the Latin word for time, underpins everything we do to create our range of charcuterie.
At Tempus we only use ex-breeding sows and ex-dairy beef in our charcuterie, which in the case of the pigs means animals that are in excess of 4 years old and weigh more than 180kg, as they deliver marbling, fat ratios and intensity of flavour that simply cannot be matched by younger and smaller animals.
This ethos is also part of our commitment to utilising the food-chain correctly. We have a responsibility to use animals already in existence as these, often overlooked animals are truly special. They should be treated with the respect reverence they deserve. In this instance, old is indeed better.
At our purpose-built facility in Weybridge, we butcher, cure, ferment and age our products, finishing them for up to a year in our custom-built ageing room where the natural moulds have been allowed to colonise. Alongside our technical know-how is our obsessive exploration of flavour through our understanding of spices which together have led to our unique and multi-award winning range of exceptional British Charcuterie
Txuleta
Old Cows.
There are many great steaks; Angus, Scotch, Longhorn, USDA Prime, Belted Galloway, Wagyu to name a few. All are unique in their own right but are same in the way the cow is slaughtered at the age of two or three. Our cows are led to the abattoir at the age of eight. These older cows are chubbier animals, have a higher fat content and as such more marbling, giving these steaks a distinct and unique flavour. We are the exclusive importer of Goya from Tolosa in the Basque Country and Discarlux in Madrid. Our aim is to distribute this Basque delicacy to top restaurants in the UK.
