Chef profile - Tim Lawrence from Estbek House

From a once-sleepy backwater, the gorgeous tiny village Sandsend on the Yorkshire coast has become a popular destination helped in great part, by the terrific reputation of Estbek House under the watch of partners David Cross, front of house, and Tim Lawrence, heading up the kitchen.
Tim Lawrence at Estbek House. (Credit: David Chalmers).Tim Lawrence at Estbek House. (Credit: David Chalmers).
Tim Lawrence at Estbek House. (Credit: David Chalmers).

The pair took over the Grade II-listed Regency building with its sweeping sea views in 2004 and through hard work, sheer determination and a great team, turned to into a two AA rosette restaurant with award-winning accommodation. It now has a reputation for excellent standards, exemplary service, fabulous food and wine. Getting a table can be difficult on weekends and we are talking year-round, not just the summer.

What was the first dish you remember cooking? I smile at my first memory of cooking aged five, helping make biscuits and baking in a small baby belling oven at school. The smell of vanilla was so strong it still makes me remember it each time I use it.

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Who is your culinary inspiration and why? It’s hard to say one person as my inspiration focuses on natural flavours and uncomplicated dishes. But one chef who always inspires is Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall for his ecological mindset. Friends of David’s parents used to go to each other’s houses for dinner and one friend, Pauline, made exquisite desserts. I remember her pavlova, made with strawberries from the garden, soft folded cream and a perfect meringue and it’s still my benchmark for deserts.

Do you have any favourite cookbooks? One of my favourite books is Classic Conran by Terence Conran – most of the dishes are clean with pure flavours.

Who would you invite to your dream dinner party? Now this question causes some serious thinking – we could fill the restaurant. The first is Captain Cook, for the sheer amount of the world he saw, including Whitby and Sandsend all those years ago. Spike Milligan as his agent used to live locally and over the years she had told us a few snippets, so he certainly would be entertaining to say the very least. Finally, Winston Churchill; we love his one-liner quotes, but we bet he has some amazing stories. There’s bound to be plenty of champagne at dinner.

Do you have any guilty food pleasures? Yes that’s easy, raspberry trifle.

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What’s the secret of Estbek’s longevity? A restaurant is like a recipe where you have to have the correct ingredients. For me, it is our wonderful seafood, raw ingredients and, of course, the great team too are key to our success. Above all, it is about enjoying what we do, and meeting customers who have become great friends.

What did you do during the first lockdown and what are your plans for Estbek going forward? The horror of closing down was immense and neither of us could sit still, especially seeing so many people struggling to get food and here we were with an idle kitchen.

We teamed up with Coast and Vale Community Action in Scarborough and started cooking meals and delivering them in the Whitby & Moors area for people who would have struggled with the government food boxes. It was immense fun and great to be a part of the community effort to ensure people were not left isolated. We delivered over 1,500 three-course meals in June alone.

From this we started up “My Supper Club”, delivering home-style cooked ready meal packs to people just out of hospital, plus a range of foods selling in local shops and online for local delivery. Luckily, we have a team who have soon got used to the new normality we are all in and restaurant-wise we are lucky.

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They and our customers are all helping play their part in making sure everyone is kept safe in what’s a worrying time.

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