A restaurant in the grounds of a 14th century heritage building in Coventry is set to offer high-quality evening fine-dining for the first time.
No Ordinary Hospitality Management (NOHM), which operates Coombe Abbey Hotel, is launching a new evening menu at St Mary’s Guildhall – bringing a unique dining experience to the city’s historic cathedral quarter.
The venue is one of the finest surviving medieval guildhalls in the country, and reopened to the public in July 2022 following a £6 million restoration.
Visitors to Tales of Tea, which is located in the Guildhall’s Undercroft – the oldest part of the venue – will be able enjoy high-end à la carte dining offering twists on classic British cuisine using quality ingredients every Saturday from May 13.
The three-course evening menu is set to offer guests a relaxed dining experience in the atmospheric tearoom, choosing from a three-course menu including twice-baked applewood cheese soufflé, roasted Norwegian cod with a curried coconut broth, and a forced rhubarb and apple crumble tart.
Other options include spring chicken two-ways with butter braised potato and madeira, morel & baby leek fricassee, a selection of regional British cheeses, and classic sticky toffee pudding.
Abi Moore, heritage and venue manager at St Mary’s Guildhall, said the new menu would bring high quality dining to one of the most unique and historic settings in the city.
She said: “Our new and exciting dining experience will allow guests to experience quality food in a truly unique location in the medieval heart of Coventry.
“Since launching last year, Tales of Tea has proved extremely popular for brunch, lunch, and afternoon tea guests. Coventry is a great city for eating out, but Saturday evenings here will have an exclusive feel with a menu that offers interpretations of classic British cuisine using high-quality ingredients.
“The dinner service will draw from the same high standards of hospitality that Coombe Abbey hotel is known for, and help us to establish dining at St Mary’s Guildhall as one of the most sought-after reservations in the city.”
Tales of Tea at St Mary’s Guildhall also offers acclaimed daytime afternoon tea inspired by Coventry’s involvement in the textiles industry.
The tearoom, which can cater private dining for up to 70 people, has also expanded its popular brunch and lunch menus, offering a range of classic dishes.
The Undercroft, which houses the Tales of Tea restaurant, would have historically been used to store a range of items over the centuries from food, to building materials and even barrels of gunpowder during the English Civil War.
The recent major package of restoration and refurbishment at St Mary’s Guildhall has been made possible through the Cultural Capital Investment Fund resourced by Coventry City Council, Arts Council England, and the Government’s Getting Britain Building Fund through Coventry and Warwickshire Local Enterprise Partnership and with the support of The National Lottery Heritage Fund, thanks to National Lottery players.