A Suffolk pub, which had been transformed into a wine shop during the initial lockdowns of 2020, is now offering heat at home three course dinners and ready-to-eat Sunday lunch platters. Like the rest of the hospitality industry, times have been tough for the Gusto Pronto group, headed up by husband and wife Roxane and David Marjoram.
Last year, less than 24 months after re-opening their flagship pub The One Bull in Bury St Edmunds following a devastating fire in 2017, the couple were forced to shut all their operations.
“The last 12 months have been like nothing we’ve ever experienced to be honest,” says Roxane. “It’s (Covid-19) affected everyone hugely. Noone’s going to come out unscathed from this and it looks like we [hospitality] will be the last to come out, as was the case in 2020. It’s been a rollercoaster and hard work but we’ve pushed on. We just worked on trying to protect the business and as many jobs as we could, looking at where we could have areas of the business safely for customers and our teams.”
Determined to push forward Vino Gusto, a dedicated wine shop run by the group’s beverages manager Jake, was opened at The One Bull in 2020 – now offering same day local, and next day national delivery of interesting, boutique wines.
And, says Roxane, David has never pulled so many pints in his life, selling beer from The Brew Shed, also in Bury St Edmunds.
But as we entered a New Year with new uncertainty Roxane says the business needed a shake up to support their employees, and local people seeking new and different dining options.
“We needed to have some control over this stop-start, stop-start working so made the decision to just operate from The One Bull. We’d had in mind for a while to offer a takeaway type option but felt it would have to be fairly special, so we took a two-pronged approach. The idea of heat at home for Friday and Saturday evenings so you can re-heat the meal when it’s convenient – after work, or maybe when the kids have gone to bed. And then we thought we could do a Sunday roast. The Bull’s always been known for its roasts among other things, but we thought we could deliver a really good option that’s literally ready to serve, collected on platters you can just put on the table, pour over gravy and get stuck into.”
READ MORE: The Suffolk chef bringing street food to your doorstep
Heat at home menus are online at theonebull.co.uk for collection on Fridays and Saturdays. Three courses are £25 per person, including full instructions, and with pictures on the website showing how you can present your dishes restaurant-style at your own dining table.
The menu is set, with just one option per course, but with a separate vegetarian starter and main course available and dietary needs catered for.
Dishes have included gin-cured salmon with beetroot and horseradish, beef Wellington, clementine tart and, one of Roxane’s favourites, a salt cod Scotch egg.
For January 29 and 30 the menu starts with crispy braised beef or kohlrabi with red cabbage, avocado, chilli and lime, followed by venison or sweet potato Wellington with potato terrine, cavolo nero, parsnip, shallot and red wine jus, and ending with chilled chocolate fondant, peanut praline and orange.
Sunday lunch, changing every week, is £20 per person for a main course and dessert – most recently pork, followed by lemon meringue pie.
“You just need to let us know how many people there are, if there are any vegetarians or special dietary needs. Order and come and pick up the metal platter which is covered in foil to keep it warm, with a sealed bag of gravy you just snip it, pour over and dig in. Nothing extra is needed and the feedback so far has been really good.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here