The Orange Tree, Thornham

Set in the beautiful seaside village of Thornham on the North Norfolk coast, The Orange Tree has always been a favourite foodie haunt of my family. The building itself comprises a large rustic bar, 6 en suite bedrooms and the restaurant which is the self proclaimed 'jewel of their crown'. The most recent award this restaurant and it's very talented chefs have received is the 'Norfolk dining pub of the year' and after numerous evenings sampling the delights to leave their kitchen I can definitely understand why.



Outdoor seating at Orange Tree
  

The evening I shall be commenting on in this blog is in fact my Father's 50th Birthday meal and the photographs were both the dishes I ordered, and also had a little sample of - the perks of writing a restaurant blog hey! For the starter I opted for 'Slow cooked shoulder of lamb, with mezze garnish (a course kind of hummus), and harissa yoghurt.'

Slow cooked shoulder of lamb

I have to admit when I saw a few of the other starters being put down I had a little bit of food envy, however when I started eating the dish it was packed full of great Greek flavours. My only slight remark would be that the lamb and chickpea dip were both fairly dry (although delicious) so I'd have loved some extra creamy harissa dip to moisten the dish a little more.

Scorched King Scallops and Pork belly

When I put my starter order into the kitchen I spent a good while humming and haring about whether I should have chosen the scallop dish instead and when it arrived it looked and smelt absolutely fantastic. Served alongside a crispy smoked pork belly, homemade pork scratchings, sweetcorn panacotta and maple popcorn puree on paper I thought the sweetness of the other components would over power the delicate scallops, but I was wrong, it was absolutely divine; being a restaurant by the sea these chefs really know how to do their fish!

Broad bean fritters

Another starter I was really tempted by was the broad bean fritters, which was served with a bright green pea veloute, wasabi peanuts and heritage tomato salad. Being a bit of a carnivore I went for the meat option over this choice, however I was lucky enough to try a bit of the dish and I have to say out of all of the starters I'd tried that night this far surpassed them all in terms of flavour. The sweet pea veloute was amazing and the broad bean fritters were so tasty I could have easily eaten this plate of food every day for the rest of my life!

The OT Prawn cocktail

The final starter pictured above is a fail safe dish at the Orange Tree if you're ever unsure of what to order! It has been on the menu ever since we have started visiting years ago and it never fails to impress with three different types of prawns, including wonderful local brown shrimp sourced incredibly locally.

After some incredible starters we were all eager for our main courses to arrive and (knowing how wonderful their fish dishes were) I opted for the Pan fried hake fillet, with chorizo and brown shrimp orzo, tempura soft shell crab and local samphire.


 

Hake with Chorizo and Brown shrimp orzo

I hadn't ever tried orzo before but aside from the perfectly cooked hake, the mini sauce pan of risotto like pasta was the stand out component of the dish. The sweet creamy dish was made even tastier with the mini chunks of chorizo and shrimp, as well as sweet peas and tomato. What made the dish even better was the crunch of the tempura crab, and the salty local samphire (a personal favourite of mine at the right time of year).

Blythburgh pork - three ways

My Father ordered the Blythburgh pork which came three different ways, as a wonderfully moist loin, a slow roasted belly and a ham hock terrine. This was also served alongside a pina colada salad and tenderstem broccoli. The pork (as it should be) was the star of this plate of food, cooked absolutely brilliantly in the loin, and equally tasty but completely different, terrine.

Aberdeen Angus fillet with king prawn

Many of the people within our party ordered the main dish pictured last on this blog which was a Aberdeen Angus fillet steak, served with a smoked poacher and pancetta potato terrine, fresh water king prawn, and flavours of tomato, almonds and cauliflower. As you can see it looked pretty as a picture, and according to my Brother and Grandpa tasted just as awesome too!

For dessert I couldn't resist ordering an OT classic, residing on the menu for as long as I have been dining there The Fairground is a wonderfully executed dish bursting with flavour and is a real treat to share with someone.

The Fairground 

The Fairground itself is a pretty complex array of all things you would imagine receiving at a fun fair; flavoured candyfloss, sweets and bubblegum treats, popcorn and marshmallows and although these really add to the wonderful effect of the dish as a whole none of these components, I felt were completely necessary. The real stars of the plate, and indeed where the praise is required were the mini toffee apples, the jam filled doughnuts and most of all the bubblegum panacotta. The toffee apples had a crisp caramel outer layer but were filled with the intense sweetness of an apple pie like filling and the doughnuts were perfectly sweet and soft. The bubblegum panacotta to me was outstanding though, it really bought back childhood memories of playing in the sunshine and running to the ice cream van to pick up a screwball after school.



The Brick

The last dish I will mention was ordered by a number of my family members, and it was aptly named 'The Brick'...for no other reason than it is served on top of a real, clay (and very heavy) brick - not really sure why! The components were a flour less chocolate cake, a mandarin and chocolate lollipop and honey roast parsnip ice cream. My brother said that this was really a dessert for a chocolate fan, he enjoyed the lollipop but felt the cake was a little heavy and rich for the dish with all the bits combined as one - didn't stop him finishing the whole lot though! The thing I was most intrigued about however was the honey roast parsnip ice cream, and it really split our group into two camps. Many thought it was a step too far, or didn't really understand the concept, I on the other hand absolutely adored it, the earthy yet profoundly sweet ice cream screamed parsnip to me, yet it worked absolutely brilliantly in my opinion, and I will most definitely order a whole bowl full on my next visit (which undoubtedly will be in the very near future).


This meal was really excellent, the staff (especially our main waitress who I annoyingly didn't catch the name of) were efficient and (despite waiting a little longer for our table than we expected) did absolutely everything they could to make it a special evening for my Dad. This meal especially taught me the power of food, in bringing people together and evoking strong memories, both old, and new. The Orange Tree in Thornham is a real gem - you only have to look at all its accolades, I definitely suggest you visit, even if it means taking a bit of a detour (the surrounding villages are as picture perfect as the food!).


http://www.theorangetreethornham.co.uk/