The Dial House takes a place in the Michelin Guide 2019.

When the chance to take on the Dial House presented itself, it felt the next natural step; to take on a venue with beautifully finished bedrooms and quirky private dining spaces to create special events and experiences utilising Andrew’s skilled cooking.

We spoke more to Exec. Chef & Owner Andrew Jones about The Dial House’s incredible achievement…

What are the restaurants ethos and goals?

Our ethos at The Dial House is exactly the same as at Farmyard, our sister restaurant in Norwich; to provide consistently exceptional food, drink and service in a relaxed, friendly environment. That doesn’t mean we are relaxed, our teams at both places work incredibly hard to create a fun, welcoming atmosphere for our guests! As a chef I like working with producers directly so that we can guarantee the quality of the produce before its even in the kitchen. Our central concept for dining at The Dial House is “Luxury Bistro”. That means prime ingredients, served simply, with a few decadent touches like native lobster (when in season!) and black truffle.

Our goal is to deliver affordable luxury for locals and guests from further afield, we have 8 beautiful bedrooms, each individually decorated and offer very competitive Bed & Breakfast rates. We are targeting a Michelin “Bib Gourmand” for the food side of the business.

What does it mean being in the Michelin guide to the dial house?

We only took over in May 2018 so it’s a huge achievement for the whole team and recognition that we are pushing the business forward. We have also achieved 2 AA Rosettes for dining and 5 AA Silver Stars for accommodation this year, as well as an award as ‘2019 Quirky hotel’ with The Good Hotel Guide, so we have surpassed our own expectations in a relatively short time.

What are the restaurants strengths?

I think The Dial Houses’ strengths are its location and the beautiful building itself. We are pretty much equidistant between Norwich, the North Norfolk coast and the Norfolk Broads so we are the perfect base for long weekends and staycations in our 5 Star rooms. Aside from the 2 AA Rosette restaurant, the Grade II Listed Late Georgian building houses a thriving antiques business ‘Objects’. Everything is for sale on the ground floor so you can take the grand Georgian candlestick or quirky G-Plan dresser away with you after dinner. We also cook over charcoal, just like we do at Farmyard, which gives carefully sourced produce incredible flavour.

What cuisine can we expect at the dial house?

We are calling our concept “Luxury Bistro”, which means fantastic produce and great cooking with a few decadent touches but at bistro prices and without any pompousness.

Our menu features dishes like 45 day dry-aged Rib-eye cooked over charcoal on our Bertha oven with Sauce Reform, a classic English sauce given a bit of an update. We’ve also got English snails on the menu, served in the shell with a vibrant green herb and garlic butter.

What is the next move?

The next move for Hannah (my wife, co-owner and Ops-Director at both Farmyard and The Dial House) and me is to keep on driving the business forward. We won’t be happy until The Dial House is firmly established as Norfolk’s go to destination for dining and accommodation, there is so much potential here, we have only just begun.

The Dial House 

www.thedialhouse.org.uk | @thedialhouse