Damian Wawrzyniak

When you think of gastronomic destinations, Peterborough might not be the first place that springs to mind. For a city of around 200,000 people, the choices have always been a little limited. But that’s changed over recent years with a number of new restaurants opening. One of the most notable has been House of Feasts, which began offering European and Polish rustic fine dining in June, 2017.

It’s actually located in Eye Green, which is a short 10 minute drive from the city centre. And noted chef Damian Wawrzyniak recently invited a group of bloggers and journalists to sample a new 12 course tasting menu to demonstrate why it’s definitely worth the journey.

House of Feasts Smalec & Sourdough Bread & Pickles

Damian has a comprehensive pedigree as a chef. He’s been voted a UK Top 10 Food Pioneer by BBC Good Food, appeared on the BBC Mary Berry Easter Feast programme, gained experience at the world-renowned NOMA, and was a Head Chef at the London 2012 Olympics. And he’s also recently become the first chef to be awarded the Polish Knights Cross, a prestigious award equivalent to an OBE in the UK. He also cooked for Prince William and Kate Middleton during a Royal visit to Poland, including the traditional Polish Smalec pictured above.

But despite his accolades, House of Feasts mixes tasting menus including the ‘Feast 5’ and ‘Feast 7’ with more affordable set menus and roasts from £18 per person for two courses, and outdoor events including hog roasts and barbecues. And the vast majority of ingredients come from nearby East Anglian suppliers, including Damian’s own garden on some occasions.

The House Of Feasts: ‘Feasts 12’

The menu for my visit actually consisted of 13 courses. And that certainly wasn’t unlucky as it allowed the dishes to cover a wide range of British and Polish influences. Obviously it was a considered selection, which encompassed a variety of meat, fish and vegetable delicacies in a way which allowed the meal to flow from one combination to the next.

And it started strong, with an Aged Beef Tartare, accompanied by a cured egg yolk and pickles. If House of Feasts occupies a light, airy and pleasant former pub location, the food delivered the impact you might be needing. The beef was perfect, and the dish was lifted by the sharpness of the pickles to be the perfect starter for me. In fact, I could have quite happily eaten 12 more portions and not tired of it.

House of Feasts Aged Beef Tartare

The tartare was followed by the Smalec, which is a traditional Polish pork lard spread. The House of Feasts interpretation is made from three cuts of British Pork with apple, herbs and in-house made pancetta. Plus a choice of Sourdough bread, charcoal bread, and pickles.

Charcoal then reappeared as a Tuile de Pan, alongside a beetroot puree and lemon pear to accompany another of the highlights of the Feast menu, which was a Cured Herring. I’ve tried various cured and pickled herring dishes in various trips to Europe, and this was certainly one of the best. Delicately balanced, moreish, and just delicious.

House of Feasts Cured Herring

Next up was the visually impressive Leek Tree in tempura, with a light cream and smoked cheese. Served on hot coals, it provided a break before the double act of Beetroot Cured Salmon, followed by a particularly nice Sea Bass with fermented asparagus and lovage leaves. If the salmon was another delicate fish dish with leek ash and star anise cured beetroot, the sea bass was perhaps even better.

It was time to move towards the meatier end of the menu, via a Potato Cottage Cheese and Ash dish with spinach and potato ash to lift what might have otherwise been a little too plain, even as a palate cleanser and respite. And with hindsight, it was a good break in the menu before we were served a deliver Short Rib of Beef with preserved elderberries and cured carrot, a wonderful Lamb with preserved nettles from Damian’s own garden and a lamb jus, and a Brined and Slow Cooked Pork Belly with Pickled Tindora. In the midst of this meat trio, there was an unusual vegetable dish with ‘All about Parsnip’ involving lemon preserved, honey cured, and pickled examples of a generally overlooked vegetable.

House of Feasts Short Rib of Beef

Just about the only criticisms of the entire meal came with a perhaps slightly underdone example in my trio of parsnips, and a pork belly which was perhaps a tiny bit over. Which meant both dishes were only good, rather than amazing. But when it’s up against the sublime Beef Tartare, Cured Herring, Sea Bass and the extremely tender and tasty Lamb, it’s hard to keep perspective about any dish which is good but not great.

Finally came the desserts and two more highs. First was a Faworki Mille Fuille. The combination of the French pastry slice with deep-fried Polish pastry worked brilliantly. It’s possible to order home-made sourdough bread for collection from the House of Feasts online shop, but I could quite happily order a box of the Faworki Mille Fuille and finished them before I finished the 10-minute drive home.

House of Feasts Faworki Mille Fuille

The final of the 13 courses was an aerated chocolate mousse which rounded everything off nicely. And it’s fair to say that after so many delicious plates of food, it was almost a struggle to finish the final spoonful. Although I probably could have been tempted by just one more plate of tartare or another mille fuille.

The House of Feasts Tasting Menus are available on selected dates, and start from £48 for a five dish selection accompanied with Amuse Bouche. Normally, you can choose from the A’La Carte Menu from Wednesday to Saturday, and the Sunday Roast, along with the special events offering a more set menu at a lower price. It’s certainly something I’d recommend as a treat for anyone with an interest in amazing food and casual fine dining. Damian has also opened a similarly modern Polish-influenced restaurant named Jan in Clapham, London, so it’s proof that you don’t need to travel to the capital from Peterborough any more to experience extremely high quality food from an accomplished and renowned chef. You don’t even need to drive down to Cambridge. Instead you just need to take a trip out to Eye Green. And if you’re not from the area, it’s more than worth making a detour and a stop-over for.

House of Feasts is located at 41 Crowland Road, Eye Green, Peterborough, PE6 7TP. Find out more and make a reservation, book a wedding or BBQ, or purchase from the shop on the House of Feasts website.

Disclosure: The above meal and drinks were provided to us for the purposes of unbiased and independent coverage.

Last week I got an invitation from Eat Peterborough to try the new 12 course tasting menu at House of Feasts. Conceived and run by world renowned Polish chef Damian Wawrzyniak, it’s safe to say, I (and my +1 Dan) jumped at the chance.

Not only is head chef Damian famous for his celebrity clientele (Kate and Wills) but his culinary C.V. reads like a foodies dream. His past accolades include working at NOMA – which perhaps has influenced his style of working with seasonal and local produce to create simple, great tasting dishes – and he has also recently worked on the BBC2 programme Mary Berry’s Easter Feast, where he made Polish babka for Mary in the studio.

House of Feasts itself is a light, airy modern venue with an eclectic decor – with a quirky mix of murals on the ceiling, clean lines and rustic touches including bare brick walls, unfinished wood tables and fake fur throws dotted around the dining area. It has a laid back ambience and I felt very relaxed in the subdued glow of candlelight (although in hindsight this could have been due to the extremely large gin and tonic which was served in a fishbowl sized goblet!)

The menu was a selection of courses created from almost entirely local produce, influenced by Damian’s Polish roots, resulting in some beautifully conceived and crafted authentic Polish dishes.

Aged Beef Tartare with cured egg yolk and pickles – this House of Feasts favourite was rich but equally yummy and I found just the right sized portion.
Smalec and Sourdough Bread and Pickles – three cuts of British pork, Apple & herbs, in house made pancetta – a dish that was served to Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2017. The infamous activated charcoal sourdough made an appearance and it was divine.
Cured herring with beetroot puree, activated charcoal Tuile de Pan and pickled onion – this was delicious but I’m not really a fish fan so the flavour was a little over powering for me. However, the texture of the cured herring was incredibly melt in the mouth.
Leek Tree tempura with light cream and smoked cheese – served on hot coals, the tempura leek was delicious. Could have eaten a whole lot more of the smoked cheese that came with it had it not disappeared in between the hot coals!
Beetroot Cured Salmon with Star Anise Cured Beetroot and Leek Ash – The ash really gave this a punchy aftertaste which I didn’t mind but may not be to everyone’s liking. The salmon fell apart beautifully and was served on a beetroot ‘splash’.
Sea Bass with Fermented Asparagus and Lovage Leaves – perhaps the stand out dish of the night for me, simply because I thought both the flavour combinations and textures worked so perfectly together.
Potato Cottage Cheese & Ash – a potato fondant, topped with a spinach cottage cheese and potato ash – the potato was cooked to perfection and the cottage cheese and spinach on top cut through some of the richness.
Short rib of beef with preserved elderberries and cured carrot – the elderberry sauce was the winner here for me. The cut of beef was great but the preserved elderberries really brought out the flavours of the dish with a real smack.
Honeyed parsnip, Lemon preserved parsnip and pickled parsnip – I thought the honeyed parsnip puree was amazing and the tiny twirl of pickled parsnip had just the right amount of acidity. The honeyed parsnip was fine but this wasn’t a great dish if you’re not much of a fan of parsnip – like me!
Lamb with preserved nettles and lamb jus – the quality of the lamb was just incredible and this dish had so much flavour.
Pork belly and pickled Tindora – brined and slow cooked pork belly on mashed potato. By this point I was starting to feel a little full but I persevered (I knew dessert wasn’t far away!) – the pork was lovely but I was a little disappointed with it being a little too fatty but the crackling was cracking.
Faworki Mille Fuile – this came with a side of ginger and orange dust and a raspberry sauce. It was an amazing combination of textures and the flavour reminded me of a fresh jam doughnut.
Aerated Chocolate Mousse – the final course was a decadent chocolate mousse with orange. I adore this flavour combination and even after the previous courses, wasn’t too heavy an end to the tasting menu meal. The texture was velvety smooth too.

All the food created by Damian Wawrzyniak shows a huge respect for both seasonal and local ingredients – which is exactly my kind of food and ethos – but also the quality of the produce was superb. The stand out dishes for me were definitely the Aged Beef Tartare and the Sea Bass, whereas Dan (who has recently been spending much more time himself in the kitchen due to his new favourite gadget) happily devoured every morsel of all the dishes but I believe he enjoyed the three fish dishes the most.

Whilst writing this, I’ve realised it was in fact a 13 course tasting menu not 12 so we even had a few bonus bites! And now we’ve sampled the tasting menu from House of Feasts we’re already looking at returning for a Sunday roast. Pyszne!

House of Feasts Restaurant Review

The House Of Feasts: ‘Feasts 12’

House of Feasts with Damian Wawrzyniak

The House Of Feasts: ‘Feasts 12’

Join Us…