You’d have to be crazy to start a new business during the height of lockdown in a pandemic, wouldn’t you?
Well, back in November, that’s exactly what we did when we took the keys to a former barber’s salon near to Waitrose in Buckingham and opened the doors to Cornwall Place Kitchen, a coffee shop and chef’s table experience in Buckingham.
Since then, we – Sarah, George and the team – have learned so much about Buckingham, about running a business of our own and about how important it is to give people an experience that they can enjoy during these times.
If you’ve been able to visit us, you’ll know that we’ve brought our range of hot and cold drinks to Buckingham, with homemade cakes and food to order, such as our amazingly popular French toast and brunch rolls, but that’s only a small part of what we do.
Having worked for many years in catering and hospitality, we’re passionate about excellent service, local high-quality ingredients, operating in an environmentally sustainable way and ultimately creating an unforgettable experience for our customers that they will remember and want to share with their friends and family.
When we took the keys to our venue on Cornwall Place, we worked with Willow Kitchens and Interiors to fit out a bespoke kitchen and private chef’s table experience upstairs for 10 people. Unfortunately, the ever-changing restrictions around social gatherings have meant that we haven’t yet had a chance to welcome people to our place, but instead we’ve been able to bring the same experience to our customers’ homes in a few ways.
Even during lockdown, we’ve been able to create and provide some of our dishes as a hot takeaway service; this has been extremely popular on Saturday evenings, with customers local to us collecting their orders to enjoy at home. Some of our most popular menu options – which we update regularly to reflect seasonality – include our Pork Belly, Mushroom Suet Roll, or Beef Ragout with celeriac mash.
While it still remains impossible for us to welcome customers to our place, we believe that our ‘At Home’ service is the next best thing, as this way you can enjoy your food with no shopping, very little washing up and no food wastage.
Taking inspiration from our taster menu experience that will soon be our full menu, we’ve adapted some of our dishes so that we do the majority of the preparation, then we deliver everything you need so that you can finish the dishes at home, in your own kitchen – with full instructions, of course. The menu is designed for you to be able to take your time, have some fun and eat the restaurant food we are all missing.
Whether you’re looking for a night in meal for two, a weekend brunch or midweek pie, our ‘At Home’ menu has something for everybody, including optional extras such as a selection of sweet treats, beers or cocktails.
So far, our best opportunities to showcase our ‘At Home’ selection have been New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, where on both occasions we’ve had great feedback and plenty of bookings with customers from Towcester, Aylesbury and Newport Pagnell.
We can’t wait to welcome you to our place but in the meantime we’d be just as excited to bring our passion for local, high-quality food and drink to you. You can find out more about us at cornwallplacekitchen.co.uk or by following us on social media at @cornwallplacekitchen on Facebook or Instagram.
Team CPK.
To visit their website head to cornwallplacekitchen
