Island Life Magazine Ltd October/November 2006 | Page 73

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Easy Eating

at Morgans

36-38 High Street . Shanklin. Bookings Tel: [phone]
meals will range from
£6.95 to £16.95.

Morgans Restaurant owned by
Tim Morgan, a young energetic
chef who has recently arrived
home from London, is on the
verge of introducing a range
of new and exciting menus.
Tim has been trading in Shanklin
now for 6 months; we asked Tim
How has the first 6 months gone?
“We have been pleased with our
first summer season, our customers
have been very complimentary. One
of the criticisms initially was the
fact that we charged for vegetables.
I’m sure this discouraged some
diners from returning, however I do
not charge for vegetables any more.
Apart from this hiccup its gone
really well.”
So what’s next?
“I have had 6 months to get a feel
for the area and the type of diner
who uses Morgans. What I want
to do now is to move forward. I am
very keen on using local produce and
producing simple but wholesome
food, so I have sat down and devised
a new set of menus which will run
throughout the day and evening.
For instance I now open at 9.00am
for coffee (£1.50) and freshly baked
pastries (£1.50), or later on, midmorning we have home baked cakes,
coffee, lemon swirl, etc (£1.50). I
think that pricing is very important.
I must ensure that the customer gets
freshness and value for money and
for this reason I have introduced a
new specials board.
We asked Tim, what was the idea
behind the Specials Board, isn’t
that for pubs?
“No, not at all, many top
restaurants have adopted this
method, because as a restaurant we
can use the freshest of ingredients

Where from here?…
6 months has gone by
and for me personally
it has been a great
Steak & Kidney Pudding
experience, I have
learnt a lot. Perhaps
the biggest lesson is to
ensure I provide fresh
Mediterranean Vegetable with Goats Cheese
local produce together
with a sensible choice
at a fair price. I think
that our new specials
board will achieve this.
Running a successful
restaurant is all about
Home Made Crab Cakes
Stuffed Chicken Breast with Spinach and Wild Mushroom
keeping up with the
as and when they become available. have got all afternoon, I offer our
latest trends, for both food and
With a set menu, unless you are lunchtime menu with such things as
atmosphere, and that’s what I will
using one of the big frozen suppliers Godshill Duck, locally farmed Steak,
strive to do at Morgans. It’s all about
and have a bank of microwaves, you Fresh Pastas, ranging from £7.95 to
listening to your customers, it’s
cannot guarantee your customers £15.00 per head.
what they want, not what I want,
freshness. If scallops are not good
that’s what it’s all about.
that week we can take them off the How will the Specials Board affect
specials board, but it’s not so e