The Cross Keys in Chelsea to open with new menu
New owners Mark Dyer and Eamonn Manson of the DM Group recently bought the site, giving it a makeover and bringing in head chef Natasha Cooke, previously sous chef at Medlar, to take charge of a new kitchen and menu.
Manson previously told the Evening Standard that they wanted to Cross Keys to appeal “to all walks of life, from the local builder coming in for a scotch egg and a pint, to Lady Somebody who wants a dinner cooked by a Michelin-trained chef.”
Cooke’s menu includes dishes such as warm cured sea trout with toasted quinoa, pickled fennel and crème fraiche, rabbit ravioli with carrot and cumin purée, broad beans, mustard and pea shoots and Cornish mussels with ‘nduja, leeks and Samphire.
Desserts featured on the menu include lemon tart with blackberry sorbet and homemade vanilla yoghurt with rhubarb and ginger compote.
A selection of bar snacks will also be available including Scotch eggs, sausage rolls and Welsh rarebit.
Manson said he and Dyer had tried to recreate the interior of the pub as authentically as possible using wooden shutters, vintage Parisian street lights and French pig farm benches.
The Cross Keys was closed in 2012 by previous owner Robert Bourne, who said maintaining it was not economically viable and applied to convert it into a five-bedroom home.
But local residents and high-profile figures including Piers Morgan and Zac Goldsmith campaigned to save the 300-year old pub from development and the plans were rejected by Kensington & Chelsea Council.
