Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2010 | Page 144

food

Island Life - August/September 2010

It doesn't get much more local than
this when you eat at the Garlic Farm
There is no disputing the fact that when
you call in for a meal at the Garlic Farm
Café, Newchurch, you can hardly get
more ‘local’ than some of the excellent
food that is on offer.
Take for example wood pigeon or
rabbit. Maybe not everyone’s first
choice, but both are proving very
popular at an establishment that has
now been open for 18 months.
The pigeons and rabbits are caught
and prepared by farmer Kevin Kill on
the Garlic Farm land, and then passed
on to head chef
Charlie Bartlett,
ably assisted by
Aaron Bushel
and Adrian
White, to turn
into innovative
cuisine.
“We like
to keep ever
growing and
ever changing,
then we don’t
get bored with
the food, and
neither do our
customers,” says
Charlie, who
worked as a chef
at the Seaview
Hotel, The Net
at Bembridge, and for five years at
Lugley’s in Newport, before joining the
Garlic Farm team. “Only recently we
put pigeon schnitzel on the menu and it
proved extremely popular.”
The likes of Pigeon Kiev and Rabbit
Fillets are also among the more unusual
dishes on offer along with the more
traditional pheasant and partridge, and
a fine array of fish, including locally
caught bream, and crab ramekins.
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Colin Boswell, owner of the Garlic
Farm and Cafe, explained: “The cafe
was opened by Alan Titchmarsh in
March 2009, and initially we thought
we would be doing tea, coffee and
cakes, because that is what everyone
seems to want.
“Then Charlie started working in
our production kitchen making all the
pickles and chutneys, and eventually we
ended up building a restaurant rather
than a cafe, although we still call it a
cafe. It has proved very popular, and

we are constantly working on trying to
improve on what we do all the time.”
There are around 100 covers includin p