Last month, I headed off with a posse of fellow jailbirds, to deepest Sutton in Surrey, to HMP High Down prison for a spot of posh nosh at The Clink. And I have to tell you, it's the best 'porridge' I've ever eaten! For those who don't know, The Clink is a restaurant within a high security prison which is open to the public and serves the most delicious Michelin-quality food, at staff-canteen prices.
My prison partners-in-crime were a lovely bunch of food lovers and bloggers. We all arrived at Belmont train station and were hoping to grab a glass of pre-lunch Dutch courage at the local pub (no booze served in prison, unsurprisingly), but alas the pub was closed, so we made do with a round of coffees at a local cafe. It was a lovely, warm summer's day as we walked the short distance from downtown Belmont village to the intimidating, daunting and slightly scary confines of the prison grounds.
Once we had checked-in, handed over our passports and banned personal luxury items such as mobile phones, cameras, chewing-gum and aerosol cans, we escaped without a frisking and were taken through to a 'holding bay'. The reality of being in a prison really started to hit hard with the faint disinfectant smell reminiscent of a school corridor; the jangling of large bunches of keys hanging from the sturdy belts of stern-faced prison staff; the depressing grey walls and stark fluorescent lighting. A vase of dried flowers on the table added a token sense of normal decor. It was a strange, yet fascinating environment to be privy to, but I was glad it was short-lived.
Before long, a prison guard came to collect us and lead us across a courtyard, surrounded completely by very high wire mesh walls and gates, all topped with lashings of barbed wire and endless security cameras. We all walked quietly and obediently across the courtyard, feeling a massive sense of relief that we were here doing lunch, not time.
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| Interior of The Clink |
As we approached a non-descript building on the other side of the courtyard, we stepped through a door into a completely unexpected world. A really stylish, modern and upmarket restaurant which wouldn't look out of place in the heart of Mayfair. We had arrived at The Clink! Kane Sterling, the Manager of The Clink, greeted us and showed us to our table. He is the man I met last year when I collected my very special prison Christmas pudding (you can read about that
here) and was in fact an inmate himself, but has since learnt the error of his ways and turned his life around brilliantly. We took our seats, took in the decor and were ready for a Michelin quality lunch with a difference.
All the staff at
The Clink are prison inmates including the waiters and chefs, all under the watchful eye of their supervisors. I obviously won't mention their names, this being a public blog n' all, but we did chat to several of the waiters and it was really interesting hearing their tales and their hopes and ambitions for when they finally get to leave prison. I think The Clink is brilliant for this as it means their staff have a positive sense of purpose and will (hopefully) leave with proper qualifications having successfully completed their City & Guilds diploma. One of the waiters has a matter of months left and is already planning on opening his own restaurant in Barbados! I'm of course more than aware that these guys are criminals and are in prison for a reason, but everyone deserves a chance and if they're willing and prepared to make an effort to better themselves for a more honest and respectable life on the outside, then good luck to them.
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| Bring on the porridge! |
At last the food arrived and it didn't disappoint. It took a moment to get to grips with the slightly comical plastic cutlery, although I'm not quite sure who's benefit that was for considering the prison staff in the kitchen work with knives, and the glasses we drank from were proper glass. Between us we had all chosen a good variety of the dishes on offer, so were able to sample most of them. The menu included all these tasty morsels:
Brawn terrine with toasted sourdough and pickled vegetables
Trio of homemade ravioli with sage butter
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Homemade Mediterranean sausage with lentils, ham hock terrine with pea & mint puree
Slow roasted breast of lamb, sauce vert, broccoli shoots with with rosemary & garlic potatoes
Breaded pan fried breast of pigeon with pigeon terrine,
sauteed girolle mushrooms, served with blackberry sauce, fried potatoes & green vegetables
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Roasted grey mullet with fennel & blood orange salad
Roast haunch of venison with red wine sauce, celeriac puree
served with a watercress, chestnut & mushroom salad
Cream cheese, tomato & basil frittata
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Fresh homemade ice cream (seasonal flavours)
A celebration of English raspberries (a trio of raspberry desserts)
Homemade apple & blackberry tart & fresh custard
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| Brawn terrine & toasted sourdough |
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| Trio of ravioli |
The presentation of each dish was excellent with huge attention to detail. You could really feel the sense of pride that had been put into every element of the food. I had the trio of ravioli to start which was superb. One with mushroom, one with pumpkin and another with ricotta. For my main course, I had the lamb which was also very good, although I had slight food envy when one of our diner's pigeon arrived, as that was a work of art and looked thoroughly delicious.
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| Mediterranean sausages & ham hock |
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| Cream cheese, tomato & basil frittata |
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| Pigeon with sauteed girolle mushrooms |
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| Venison with red wine sauce |
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| Roast lamb |
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| Roasted grey mullet |
The puddings were all very impressive and predominantly involved fruit, which I'm not that partial to in a pudding, so I was really touched when the waiter brought me a giant homemade chocolate chip cookie to accompany an enormous slice of strawberry shortcake which I rapidly distributed amongst the table.
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| Trio of raspberry desserts |
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| Homemade ice cream |
Soon it was time for us to leave as The Clink staff had to finish their shift and make their way to their cells, which made me feel a bit sad, as I suddenly remembered the reality of where we were. Next stop was The Ship in Wandsworth (one of my favourite pubs) for a prison lunch de-brief over a few bottles of wine.
We all agreed it was a really fantastic lunch and an absolute bargain at around £15 for three courses. It was a very unusual and surreal experience, and if you're feeling adventurous and fancy trying lunch with a twist, I highly recommend it. There's talk of The Clink opening up a couple of branches at other prisons too. You can find further details about The Clink on their website including information on how to book. Christmas is approaching fast and The Clink is reknown for their Christmas lunch menu which gets booked up months in advance. And don't forget they do a wonderful Christmas pudding too!
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| The Chain Gang |
A massive thank you to Kane and the team at
The Clink for being so welcoming. It was a great day and certainly a lunch to remember! I look forward to returning soon.
Note: As cameras are not allowed at The Clink, Kane kindly agreed to take photos on our behalf using the prison camera, so all photographs in this blog post are courtesy of The Clink. Thank you.
HMP High Down
Sutton
Surrey
SM2 5PJ
Tel: 020 7147 6524
