The Richmond Hotel and Miss Lizzies are cooking something new

AS COVID-19 restrictions begin to ease, Miss Lizzies Cafe and the Richmond Hotel in Lismore will take a new menu direction.

GRILLED TO BITS: Carola Woods with new Head Chef, Mark Thorne.

MISS LIZZIES CAFE and the Richmond Hotel in Lismore have a new head chef.

Food services manager, Carola Woods said they were in the process of looking to fill the role as their current chef had been with them for around five years and was moving on.

"Five years is a really long time for a chef in one spot," Ms Woods said.

"We're taking our business in a new direction too so we had a good idea of what we wanted (in a chef).

"We had put out feelers and Mark (Thorne) was looking, too," Ms Woods said.

Mark Thorne was born and bred in Murwillumbah, leaving home at 15 and now returning to the Northern Rivers as he was looking for something more "authentic, rural" and 'genuine".

"I remember being in a rural area when I first started, and I loved it,"
he said.

"People have time for you, they like to know where things come from - involvement, influence, that sort of stuff whereas cities are more (snaps fingers quickly).

"I had really good teachers with a strong European influence. French is my predominant background."

Miss Lizzies Cafe will be embracing a Mediterranean cuisine featuring banquet tapas with a lot of "share volume".

"Honest food for reasonable prices. You do the right thing and give them what they want - provincial food, which is the starting base of any cuisine. It is the original gastronomy." Mr Thorne said.

Ms Woods added that it's about the customers and customer experience.

"We want to give our customers something back, and also give them something new and exciting," she said.

"We're leaking a few new menu items out there, and even though we have a reduced menu at the moment, they're still going to get a bit of a taste of what's coming.

"That's what it's all about - it's a celebration, have a great time, great food."

Mr Thorne said: "Enjoy it and share over it."

"The dining experience is all about having something you can't cook at home, to give you resemblance or a memory you have had before - when you know what you're eating and you go 'wow, I remember that, and it takes you back to that place - it's pretty special'," he said.

 

 

GRILLED TO BITS: Carola Woods with new Head Chef, Mark Thorne

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