Here is Tommy Banks' dinner party menu. Impress your guests with a menu inspired by seasonal British produce using chef techniques that are easy to recreate at home. Start with a refreshing tomato salad with shaved goat's cheese, followed by sea trout, herb-poached chicken with a silky purée, and finally strawberries with herbs and hay ice cream for dessert.

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Tommy Banks heads up the kitchen at The Black Swan, a Michelin-starred restaurant with rooms in the picturesque village of Oldstead on the North York Moors. The whole family gets involved in the operation, with older brother James manning front of house, and dad and owner Tom Banks tending to the five-acre allotment that provides Tommy and his team with the ultimate kitchen garden.

Start by nestling into a booth in the cosy bar area for an aperitif of sherbety rhubarb schnapps with meadowsweet, lemon balm and rhubarb vinegar. Move through to the dining room to watch the produce-led tasting menu being prepared in the open kitchen with ingredients picked that same morning (courgettes are harvested just a week after flowering so they’re still small and crisp enough to use in a sea trout dish, garnished with cucumber flower).

Our highlight was a beetroot steak that had been roasting in beef fat on the grill for more than four hours. Puddings were inventive, too – a trio of lollipops had creamy, whipped frozen centres and a gummy coating. And Tommy plays with jelly and ice cream in a stunning woodruff ice-cream dish, served with wild strawberry jelly topped with popping candy, almond and shortbread hundreds and thousands. If you can fit anything else in, order an espresso and it will be served with the likes of delicate lovage macarons, or intense butterscotch truffles.


Tommy Banks' dinner party menu

Starter: Tommy Banks’ tomato salad recipe with shaved goat’s cheese

This seasonal vegetarian recipe is deliciously refreshing and gluten free, inspired by the celebration of midsummer.

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Tommy Banks' Tomato Starter with Frozen Goat's Cheese

Sharing dish: Tommy Banks’ sea trout recipe with courgettes

This healthy sea trout with courgettes recipe is low calories and packed with flavour.

Tommy Banks, The Black Swan

Main: Tommy Banks’ herb poached chicken with shallot and yogurt purée

This herb poached chicken with shallot and yogurt puree is simple, easy and packed full of flavour, a perfect dinner party show stopper.

Herb poached chicken with shallots and yogurt puree

Dessert: Tommy Banks’ strawberries with herbs and hay

This strawberries with herbs and hay dessert is the perfect way to end your dinner party, delicately sweet, creamy and super refreshing.

Strawberries with herbs and hay

Images | Hannah Webster

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Dinner party menu from Pilgrim, Liverpool
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Westerns Laundry dinner party menu
Little Duck The Picklery: restaurant review and dinner party menu
Linden Stores, Islington: restaurant review and dinner party menu

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