You may have noticed that we have shaken our set menu up a little this month and each course on this month’s menu features our star ingredient – rhubarb! Each month we will be championing a star ingredient and sharing our tips, recipes and introducing the lovely suppliers that we are proud to work with to bring you not only our fabulously fresh and seasonal set menus but also our Sunday and a la carte menus too.

Our set menu dishes feature the Timperley variety of rhubarb which is known for its delicate pink and apple green stalks and its hardy nature. This means it is perfect to grow in Britain with our temperamental climate!

Rhubarb is also really easy to grow at home and, when Chef Clive was first creating the dishes featured on this month’s set menu, he used rhubarb grown in his own garden to experiment with.

Whilst we will be using up to 150kg of fresh rhubarb every week of this month’s set menu so couldn’t source all the rhubarb from Clive’s garden – it is very easy to grow at home on a small scale in planters or small beds at home in a sunny spot with good soil drainage. If looked after properly, you could be enjoying the fruits of your labour with ten years of harvests from the first plants. That will give you plenty of time to experiment with how to cook this versatile veg from jams and chutneys to crumbles and beyond!

Do you have any top tips for growing your own? If so, head over to Twitter or Facebook and let us know! #seasonalstar