Investment puts food at centre of New Moon’s Lord Binning

The New Moon Company has pumped £60,000 into its Lord Binning, Kelsall, Cheshire, site as part of a wider estate update, which will put food at the centre of the business.

A new food menu has been developed for the pub, which was the first site in the company’s eight-strong chain founded by celebrity chef patron David Mooney and restauranteur Paul Newman in 2011.

Dishes on the menu include rare breed belly pork for £14.95, roasted cod fillet for £17.95 and British beef and béarnaise sauce for £19.95.

Managing director Paul Newman said: “With it being our first site, the Lord Binning, or the ‘the Lord’, as we affectionately call it, holds a special place for both David and I.

‘Started here’

“This site has propelled us to build New Moon Company across the rest of the north west, bringing with it several national opportunities now making themselves known. It all started here so we wanted to give the Lord a bit of New Moon love after 4 years.”

Keep them engaged:

“A chef should be proud of every dish they serve and a way of making them proud is giving the chef every opportunity to have their dishes on the menu.”

  • Paul Mercandelli

Other items on the menu include The Rushton grill, which, at a cost of £120, feeds four people and includes T Bone steaks, belly pork, short beef ribs, Cumberland sausages, 10oz gammon steaks and fresh-cooked chips, roasted carrots and beer basted onions.

Local ingredients also feature on the menu, including the Kelsall Hill Burger (£14.95), which is topped with Cheshire cheese and a secret sauce.

Chef patron David Mooney said: “We’re about good honest food; no fancy tricks and no fancy ways of doing things. That’s why people return to us time and time again.

“There is no big secret – have great produce, well-trained chefs to bring these dishes to life and away you go.”

Other sites owned by the New Moon Company include:

  • The Old Sessions House in Knutsford, Cheshire
  • The Bronx Bar & Pizzetteria, Knutsford, Cheshire
  • Casa Matta Ristorante, Weaverham
  • The Mockingbird Taproom, Chester
  • The Montgomery, in the Wirral
  • Beef and Pudding, Manchester
  • The Old Blind School, Liverpool

Meanwhile, the Publican’s Morning Advertiser’s round table on the chef recruitment crisis took place on 17 November and featured top pub chef trailblazers.

Take ownership

In a previous interview with the PMA, New Moon Company’s kitchen director Paul Mercandelli said chefs needed to be able to take ownership of the food they produced to maintain their interest in the business.

He added: “Apart from supplying them beer at the end of each shift, encourage chefs to put their own influences into each menu.

“A chef should be proud of every dish they serve and a way of making them proud is giving the chef every opportunity to have their dishes on the menu.”

Fancy a change of scenery? Visit Publican’s Morning Advertiser where there are hundreds of job opportunities available.