Winter comforts at Kota and Kota Kai, Porthleven

With a view that every season is exciting and new, Jude Kereama takes us through his plans for the coming season at Porthleven restaurants Kota and Kota Kai.

When the autumn and winter season comes around and the battle to keep the central heating off as long as we can is lost, we start thinking about what changes we have to make to our menus. As it gets colder, we are looking for the food to be a little bit more warming and comforting to see us through the winter months.

At home I love to make hearty stews, chowders, roasting joints, pies, ragus, soups, meatloafs, curries, bolognese (I can eat this even in summer), lasagne, tarte tatin, poached pears, crumbles, strudels, sticky toffee pudding, game – just to name a few things that I love to cook at this time of the year. We all seem to crave warmer, richer foods that stave off the winter months, and there’s nothing more comforting than a roaring fire while outside the winter storms come blowing into Porthleven and we have a big warming dinner on the table to share. 

There’s obviously a change in the ingredients available too. At the moment we have lots of squashes, brassicas and root vegetables coming from our organic farms. The game season has started, and oysters are at their prime as well as mussels and other shellfish. Mushrooms are also plentiful, bringing their wonderfully rich flavours to our dishes, and I love autumn and winter lamb and venison. Autumn foraging is in full swing and we will try and pickle, freeze and dehydrate as much as we possibly can to get us through the darkest of months, with jars full of ingredients fermenting on the shelves too.

Our December menu at Kota will encompass a lot of Christmas flavours within our incoming tasting menu. As always, the menu will be about the best ingredients at the time; every course will be a take on a dish you may have on the Christmas dinner table but twisted into something new. Even the mince pies have been tarted up with a grate of Yuzu (a Japanese citrus), ginger and a miso, Japanese whiskey butter. It was a pie I created for Kirsty Allsop’s Christmas Show that went down a treat. The wine list will encompass a few wines that will be warming as well as being picked to match every course, and you can expect some top cocktails too.

At Kota Kai, we have a three-course Christmas menu which is also a bit funkier than the usual stuff available for December. Most importantly, we have a roast turkey that will rival the best with all the trimmings, with the other dishes typically given a bit of Asian treatment, but are equally seasonal. We will also be serving mulled cider and warming our cocktail list up a touch with a little Christmas spice. The wine list will be warmer too with a few extra reds and some big whites coming on board. Kota Kai is a great place for a
fun atmosphere and a Christmas party, so don’t forget to check out the Christmas menus online.

We also have wreath-making classes and our ever-popular Asian Nights starting in November. Asian Nights have been a really fun night to come and dine at Kota Kai as each week we cook food from different countries around Asia. We are also looking to add Cobra beer to our offerings which is a fantastic beer to go with all Asian food, which I am very excited about. As usual booking is essential to avoid disappointment, we hope to see you over the next couple of months!

Kota and Kota Kai
01326 562407
01326 727707
www.kotarestaurant.co.uk
www.kotakai.co.uk