Ludlow · A demo restaurant website by Apidea

The wood fire in the kitchen, burning in the half dark before service — fig. 1 The fire at a quarter to six, before the first tables sit down.

The fire goes in at seven in the morning and stays in until the last table leaves.

From the kitchen · Daniel Ashby

Most of what we cook spends some time near it. Bread at the back, fish on the grill above it, lamb necks in the embers for most of the afternoon, and beetroot buried in the ash at lunch and dug up again for dinner.

We burn vine cuttings and orchard prunings, which the farms are glad to be rid of. Never pine, which makes everything taste faintly of a sauna.

There is also a gas hob, for sauces. We don't talk about it.

The bill
of fare

Written each morning, printed at ten, and changed whenever something runs out, which it usually does. Today's was printed at 10.04 by Esther.

A block of old metal type, set and locked in a wooden case — fig. 2 Some of the type that turned up under the floorboards in 2011. There's a jar of it on the bar. Take a letter if you like.

Why it's called Ludlow

From 1923 until 1984, 14 Chandlers Lane was the works of Pell & Marsh, Printers and Stationers. They printed the tide tables and the ferry timetables for the harbour, raffle tickets for every church within ten miles and, in the spring of 1961, the wrong date on four thousand wedding invitations, which people round here still bring up.

When we took the lease the presses had long gone. What was left was a Ludlow typecaster bolted to the floor where the bar is now, a cast-iron Albion hand press that weighed too much for anyone to bother stealing, and a floor so soaked in ink that the sander kept clogging.

We named the restaurant after the first. We print the menu on the second, every morning at ten. And there's a patch of the third by table nine that we decided to leave alone.

Nothing else here is old for the sake of it. The chairs came from a school that closed. The plates are made by Nomvula Dube two streets away, who is slower than she'd like, and they're worth the wait.

Ruth & Daniel Ashby

Forty-two seats, nine stools and the fire.

The dining room is the old press hall. High windows on the harbour side, a long counter facing the kitchen, and tables far enough apart that you can't quite hear what the next one is arguing about. The counter is where you want to be if you like to watch.

Wine glasses and a carafe on a wooden table by a tall window, late in the afternoon — fig. 3 The window tables, at the end of a long lunch.

A cook in a white cap and apron working at the stove — fig. 4 The stove end of the kitchen, ten past seven.

Table nine has ink on the floor. People ask for it.

Black and white photograph of cooks plating dishes at speed during service — fig. 5 Service, about a quarter past eight on a Friday.

Logs burning down to embers in the kitchen hearth — fig. 6 The hearth, an hour before the first fish goes over it.

Who we buy from

Nearly everything on the menu has a name and a telephone number behind it. These are some of them. The distances are by road, from our back door.

A heap of glossy black mussels — fig. 7 Mussels off the ropes in the bay, before they go in the smoker.

Flour: Oakhurst Mill, stone-ground 94 km
Lamb & mutton: The Venter family, Fairhill 160 km
Cream, milk, cheese: Also Fairhill. Also the Venters 160 km
Fish: The Margaret Rose and two other boats the harbour
Mussels: Rope-grown in the bay 3 km
Vegetables: Lerato Mokoena's market garden 38 km
More vegetables: Errol, and whatever he has too much of varies
Wine: Small growers, most of whom we've met various
Coffee: Roasted on Quay Street by Juno 300 m
Firewood: Vine cuttings and orchard prunings never pine
Plates: Nomvula Dube, two streets away 400 m
Salt: We buy it in. We tried making our own, once never again

Notices

A few things worth knowing

I.
The counter and four tables are kept for people who walk in. On a Friday night they're gone by seven. On a Tuesday you'll usually be fine.
II.
Children are welcome, and there's a short menu for them that isn't chicken nuggets. There are also crayons, which we'd like back.
III.
If you have an allergy, tell us when you book and again when you sit down. We'd rather hear it twice than not at all.
IV.
There's a step at the front door. For a level way in, use the side gate on Rope Walk and ring the brass bell. Someone will come.
V.
Dogs can sit with you on the terrace. They get a bowl of water and, if the kitchen is feeling generous, the end of a loaf.
VI.
We close for three weeks every July so the kitchen can see some daylight. We open again on the first Tuesday of August.

Upstairs, the Composing Room

This is where the typesetters worked, at long benches under the skylights. Now it's one table for up to eighteen, with its own hatch down to the kitchen and a window over the harbour.

We cook a set menu for the room, agreed with you beforehand. It has been used for birthdays, wakes, two engagements, one divorce and a great many people leaving their jobs.

Seats: Up to eighteen, at one table
Menus: Set, from 55 a head. Wine by arrangement
When: Lunch or dinner, Tuesday to Sunday
Ask: Ruth, at rooms@ludlowdiningrooms.com

A long table laid for a dinner party, lit by candles, with flowers down the middle — fig. 8 The Composing Room, laid for a sixtieth birthday. Sixteen came, two sent apologies and a cake.

Finding us

14 Chandlers Lane,
on the corner of Rope Walk

(021) 448 0192
tables@ludlowdiningrooms.com

From the harbour ferry it's four minutes on foot. Walk up to Quay Street, turn right at the chandler's, and climb Rope Walk until you smell bread. We're the brick building with the green door.

There's no parking of our own. The council car park on Market Street is free after six.

Opening times
	Lunch	Dinner	Bread
Tuesday	12–2.30	6–10	11.40, 5.40
Wednesday	12–2.30	6–10	11.40, 5.40
Thursday	12–2.30	6–10	11.40, 5.40
Friday	12–2.30	6–10	11.40, 5.40
Saturday	12–3	5.30–10.30	11.40, 5.40
Sunday	12–4	–	11.40
Monday	Closed. We sleep.

fig. 9 Not to scale. Well, roughly.

Book a table

We take bookings up to three weeks ahead. Fill in the slip and Ruth will ring or text to confirm.

For tonight, or for more than eight of you, it's quicker to telephone: (021) 448 0192, any time between ten and six.

To change or cancel, reply to the confirmation, or ring. We don't charge for cancelling. We'd just like to know.