We love Rafters Restaurant for special occasions & have spent many an evening in their dining room, getting merry over some of Yorkshire’s finest food.

So, after weeks of drooling over “Rafters at Home”, we had it this weekend to celebrate. It’s my last weekend of maternity leave, you see; tomorrow I return to my paid job, after 13 months.

Of course, when I stepped away in June 2019, I had no idea that returning to work would mean working from home every day for the next several months… bizarre.

This week’s Rafters at Home menu was right up our street: granary & black treacle bread with Henderson’s relish butter; potted home-smoked salmon with cucumber relish, lobster butter & seeded wafers; free range chicken with French-style peas, salami, chicken fat potatoes & a lemon thyme sauce; and Bullion chocolate mousse with cherries & amaretto.

There were some easy-to-follow prep instructions provided, as well as videos posted by Chef Tom Lawson on Instagram (really helpful for plating inspo). I had a lot of fun assembling each dish, and we got even more enjoyment from eating them.

Whilst the ambience at home was quite different to the restaurant experience (hello, baby monitor on the table and leggings worn to dinner), the quality and flavours were still 100%. That lemon thyme sauce was incredibly moreish, the potted salmon tasted so fresh & the Bullion mousse was completely amazing. Everything was just perfect.

A bonus was having leftover Hendo’s butter for our bacon sarnies this a.m.!

Thanks Tom and Alistair for the care and effort you’ve put into translating the Rafters experience into an at-home treat. We really enjoyed it and look forward to many more Rafters meals in the future, be they at home or back in your beautiful dining room on Oakbrook Road.