Culture restaurant to open at Custom House Quay, Falmouth in June

Culture – the new restaurant from acclaimed chef Hylton Espey – will open in Falmouth during the summer and will celebrate local produce and hyper-seasonal cooking with a nature inspired menu.

The restaurant will see Hylton working with his with Petronella Espey to realise their long-held dream.

Hylton is no stranger to Falmouth, having spent six years at Rastella at the Merchants Manor Hotel, becoming head chef, earning three AA rosettes and gathering a reputation for inventive cooking, with Cornish produce on the way.

The restaurant's interiors will feature raw wood and open masonry with blackened steel countertops giving an industrial edge to the design. Art from local artist Jon White will adorn the walls.

The open kitchen will overlook the 30-cover dining room and guests can watch as Hylton creates seven-plus-courses from the kitchen. Outside tables will boast the view of a glance over Falmouth Bay.

Ethically conscious local suppliers and their produce will sit at the heart of Culture. From pasture raised Footes Farm chickens and sustainably farmed Cape & Cove pork; to re-generatively farmed Trenow Fields vegetables and Cornish Golden Grain’s sustainable local crops.

Hylton plans to collect fish himself from his favourite fisherman whose catch is line-caught off the coast of either Falmouth or Hayle depending on the season.

“By building and maintaining fantastic relationships with my suppliers, I aim to source the freshest produce available." Hylton began. "I work directly with farmers to produce sustainable and where possible organically grown food for my kitchen. I’m constantly experimenting with new flavours and techniques trying to utilise indigenous plants, so that I can include them in my repertoire.

"My food style is about unique flavour combinations, with a few surprises on the plate. I want my plates to resemble and represent the ingredients they’re comprised of in a fresh, natural and modern way.” said Hylton.

Menu's are inspired by produce or the team's experiences. An example of this is ‘The Journey Menu’ which is a story told over multiple courses, from a trip to the farm or a surf on the Lizard.

Dishes on the daily menu might include ‘Story of Lamb’; inspired by a coastal walk from Porthleven to Trewithick Farm, the dish was born from Hylton’s experience of the lambs grazing on the fields looking out over the Atlantic, their hedgerow herb diet and proximity to the sea. In this ‘surf & turf’ dish Hylton brings together the slow roasted Trewithick Farm lamb, hedgerow herbs and sea vegetables in Cornish butter, and Cornish Crab dressed in his signature B.O.F.G.A (a burnt onion and fermented garlic aioli).

Culture will also offer a vegan and gluten-free menu on set evenings exclusively to allow the small kitchen to welcome meat, gluten and dairy-free guests.

Hylton aims to cook sustainably with minimal waste and maximum flavour. He plans to minimise the use of single use plastic by choosing sustainable options and manipulating food in a natural way. Hylton’s philosophy is to reuse where possible rather than recycle and he asks suppliers to deliver in reusable boxes without plastic.

Culture will open in mid-June.