As before all meals are hand prepared and cooked with care in-house using fresh and seasonal local produce.
Starters on The Dining Rooms restaurant menu include Rich Crab Bisque with cream and sherry; Coarse Pork and Ham Terrine with prunes, courgette pickles and toast; Binham Blue, Beetroot and Orange Salad with Croutons and Toasted Pine Nuts and a tasting plate of smoked seafood with sherry vinegar.
Main courses feature Fillet of Trout with Fennel, cucumber and radish slaw, new potatoes and tartar sauce; Local Roasted Chicken served with summer vegetables and herbs; Woodforde’s Braised Pork Shank with bacon, mushroom jus, mash and spinach; Manchego, Sage and Three Onion Quiche with buttered new potatoes and salad leaves.
There are tempting puddings including a Chocolate Tarte with oatmeal biscuit and steeped cherries; Peach Melba served with cinnamon ice cream, macaroon with d’Arenburg Noble Riesling and McLaren Vale, Australia 2006; Vanilla Bean Cheesecake; Crystallised Ginger Ice Cream with warm lemon curd and chocolate fingers.
There is also a specially priced pre and post theatre menu.
Lighter options are available in the Bar menu ranging from Poached Eggs and Bacon to salads, nibbles, doorstep sandwiches, burgers and cakes. There is a select wine list and a comprehensive selection of teas and coffees.
Norwich born head chef Steven Smith has created the new menus with the season in mind and has significantly extended the range on offer.
The buildings that house the Bar and Dining Rooms provide perhaps the most historic and spectacular eating and drinking locations in Norwich. The Bar is in the stunningly restored Great Hall of Suckling House with the Dining Rooms taking up a spectacular paneled room and two vaulted areas, not forgetting the atmospheric covered medieval courtyard and the new outdoor eating area at the front of Cinema City.
Suckling Hall has had a long association with fine food and drink. As far back as the 16th century the section of the building that is now The Dining Rooms was used as a buttery, pantry and kitchen by the Suckling family. In 1820 the Great Hall, was owned by wine merchant Philip Rose who raised the floor to store wines, spirits and ales.