It had finally been a week of rain and chilly mornings, but I’m walking through the gates of Careys’ Secret Garden under a clear blue sky. Summer has returned. A hummingbird hawk moth zips past, as a retinue of painted lady butterflies curtsy to each other at a patch of asters before scuttling off. The garden has grown wilder and richer since it opened to the public in May 2021, and today it’s a delicious jumble of fruit-laden hedges, hide-and-seek pathways, tomato plants, and gently waving Verbena bonariensis.
But I’m not here for the garden: I’m here for the food. Specifically, a six-and-a-half-course vegetarian tasting menu served from Carey’s open-fronted pop-up kitchen. Conducting this fine-dining performance is Alex Naik, head chef, food wizard and co-owner of Michelin-recommended Poole restaurant Thirteen.
There are 14 of us for lunch. I have a hunch there were supposed to be 13, but I’m keeping quiet. After a refreshing non-alcoholic sparkling White Rosé – a green tea made with kombucha fermentation – and super-thin cheese sablés, we pull up our stools at the chef’s table. Alex, kitchen assistant Isabelle, and junior sous chef Alex perform a canapé-prepping ballet with graters, tweezers, foamers and spoons, just centimetres away from us.
Meanwhile, Frances, Alex’s sister, ensures we have everything we need, while co-owners – and Alex and Frances’ parents – Hems and Elizabeth are in charge of the wine and helping in the kitchen, respectively.
Surprising celeriac
The opening canapés are tiny explosions of taste. For me, the quinoa and mushroom duxelles with white truffle emulsion, pickled shimeji, and a healthy sprinkling of Italian truffle, cushioned on a bed of moss, is one of my favourites of the day – but it’s a close-run thing.
Alex crafts his menus while foraging or working in his rooftop garden – his ‘happy places’, he tells me. Provenance is clearly important. Tomatoes picked from his garden arrive in a sharp, sweet, glossy dressing with wild garlic salt and tomato espuma, topped with nasturtium leaves and petals from Careys’ garden. Pair this with Elizabeth’s slightly smoky tofu and basil cornbread, and you wonder whether anyone will notice if you lick the bowl clean.
Then there’s a nod to Hems’ Indian heritage: a chickpea and mushroom samosa with lime pickle gel, raita, crispy shallots and fried curry leaf. It looks delicious – and it is – with just enough spices to set off a bit of a tingle on your taste buds.
This isn’t poncy food; this is food to savour. Artichoke and lion’s mane mushroom with pickled walnut sauce and freshly grated truffle is followed by a plate with celeriac purée, pickled celeriac, and celery and apple salad.
I’m surprised by how much I enjoy both, not least because these are foods I would normally avoid like the plague.
After a ten-minute garden-wander, the apple, fennel and kale dish is the first time I waver. Granny Smith cubes provide plenty of palate-cleansing acidity, but the overwhelming greenness and oily soupiness are a little offputting.
Then comes the showstopper: dark chocolate mousse, beetroot gel and beetroot compote transformed into the shape of a beetroot, edible sugared leaf and all. Alex’s food isn’t just eaten – you experience it. And this is pure theatre, delicious and, conveniently, the biggest dish of the afternoon.
A trio of petit fours completes the menu: Elizabeth’s tiny Victoria sponge with strawberry and rose buttercream, a soft, deliciously chewy apricot pâte de fruit, and a salted mushroom caramel chocolate bonbon. All are good, but give me a box of those bonbons and I swear I’ll be your friend forever.
If you venture to Thirteen in Ashley Road – surely one of the most incongruous settings for a fine-dining experience in Dorset, wedged as it is between a laundrette and a rather run-down-looking Branksome Library – you’ll find both six-and-a-half and 13-plate tasting menus, as well as a six-course à la carte lunch on selected Sundays. Local produce runs through the veins of this restaurant, from fish and fungi to meat and vegetables.
We’re pushing four hours since we started. I can’t help but wonder how long the 13-plate menu would take to eat. No matter. I have all day. I’m an amuse-bouche convert, it seems, and ‘mouth amusement’ doesn’t come much better than this.
Thirteen: 222 Ashley Road, Parkstone, BH14 9BY
Dinner Wed to Sat, lunch Thu to Sat and selected Sundays.
Booking essential – 01202 376635
thirteenrestaurant.com
Next pop-up: Thirteen’s Chef’s Table will be at Careys Secret Garden, Wareham, on Sunday 25 October as part of the Secret Fungi Festival. Just 13 places are available – call Thirteen directly for details.
by Jane Adams
