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NEWISH ROLODEX

Frerejean Frères Champagne Evening

We are delighted to welcome champagne house Frerejean Frères to Aldeburgh for their exclusive tasting dinner tonight.
As part of the evening, Frerejean Frères will be previewing their two new champagnes not due for release until later this year.

This evening’s events will be hosted by Rodolphe Frerejean Taittinger and White Lion’s general manager Peter Osborne. Head Chef Jason Shaw is serving an exclusive 4-course Champagne region themed menu.

We look forward to welcoming guests with a pre-dinner glass of bubbly at 7pm…

Burns Night Celebrations

A great time was had by all at this year’s Burns Night celebrations.

The evening started with a traditional piper welcoming guests in to the brasserie, before the master of ceremonies addressed the Haggis and after a toast to the lassies, our very own Juliet Stone gave the replying toast.

Guests were treated to a typical Burns Night supper complete with cock-a-leekie soup, Haggis served with neeps and tatties and a wee dram to end the meal.

Everyone appreciates a good knees up and themed nights, celebrations and events at the White Lion are a team effort. Staff get involved and participate to make the event the best it can be.

And this was the case on Burns Night where the waiting and bar staff donned tartan bunnet’s and ties getting in to the Scottish theme; guests commented that the night “was most enjoyable and the staff dressed in tartan really added to the ambiance.”

And the award goes to...

Yes the exceptional team at the White Lion in Aldeburgh have once again walked away with another award win, this time for the Best Customer Service at this year’s East Anglian Daily Times Suffolk Food and Drink Awards.

The awards, held by Archant and sponsored by Adnams, Southwold and the East of England Co-operative recognise the independent establishments in Suffolk and celebrate the fantastic range of services, local produce and local heritage of farming, coastal fishing and brewing.

The Best Customer Service Award was judged by Ruth Bolton, co-blogger of www.suffolkfoodie.co.uk and Quality Assessor (Hotel Inspector) for Quality in Tourism, so really knows the meaning of good customer service!

Ruth was looking for an exceptional customer experience, from first encounter to delivery and follow-up.

Commenting on her experience at the White Lion Ruth said; “The Bar and Brasserie at the White Lion offers an outstanding customer experience. From the booking through to the departure it is evident that all staff understands their role extremely well. All are cheerful and take pride in their work. Dynamic service together with a well sourced menu, make for a most enjoyable meal out.”

Commenting on the award win, general manager Peter Osborne said; “We are delighted with this win. Our staff work incredibly hard and so it’s good for them to see the recognition for their efforts.”

“We were also delighted to be named finalists in the Best Family Friendly Dining award category and our congratulations to winners Elveden Inn.”

This is the second high profile win for the White Lion Hotel after scooping Pub Dining Food Service Award, recognising our fabulous and talented food and beverage manager Juliet Stone at this year’s National Academy of Food Wine Service Awards.

New menu launches

We’re delighted to unveil our new dining menu. After much planning, debate and testing our Head Chef Jason Shaw has come up with what we think is a stunning set of dishes. Just as you’d expect it remains local, seasonal and skilfully prepared. Don’t worry you’ll still find some of your old favourites but there are lots of fantastic new dishes we can’t wait for you to try, such as a stunning Beef Bourguinon for two people to share, the rosemary and garlic rolled shoulder of lamb and the lemon and sage scented gnocchi, oh and of course whatever fish looks good on the day from the fishing huts across the road.

If you enjoy Sunday Lunch at the White Lion, not only does all day Sunday dining continue, we now have an addition of our Live Music "Jazz on Sundays".

This take place between 2pm and 4.30pm on the second and last Sunday of every month. Great fun and great atmosphere! See you there.

Get white behind us!

We’re delighted that our head Chef Jason Shaw is taking part in the Aldeburgh Food Festival’s Battle of the Chefs on 30th September.

In a competition of heats between the hottest Chefs in town, we’re certain Jason will do the White Lion proud – but to do so he needs your support on the day.

Please come and join us at the Jubilee Hall, Aldeburgh on the 30th to get behind Jason and all the chefs taking part in what promises to be a really fun and entertaining event.

Tickets are available from us or any of the other participants and with all proceeds going to the Jubilee Hall.

Our ‘Brilliant chef’ comes highly recommended

Our ‘Brilliant chef’ comes highly recommended

We were thrilled at the great review of our Head Chef, Jason Shaw, in the East Anglian Daily Times on 20th August.

As well as describing as a ‘brilliant chef’ journalist Emma Crowhurst also discovers Jason’s early career influences and his passion for local produce. Oh and there’s also a great recipe for Jason’s fabulous fishcakes too.

Follow this link to check out the review.

Our Sunday Roast Reviewed - BestSundayRoast.co.uk

We absolutely love to hear about your experiences when you visit The White Lion and Aldeburgh.

We can't thank John and Claire, from BestSundayRoast.co.uk for taking the time to not only visit us but to also write such a lovely review.

To read the review please click here

“Cool 38-room boutique hotel", The Independent

The White Lion and Bar & Brasserie received a great review recently by the journalist and broadcaster Tracey MacLeod in The Independent.

Tracey describes the hotel and brasserie as a “cool 38-room boutique hotel” where “the townhouse-meets-driftwood décor makes the brasserie easily the most sophisticated-looking lunch spot for miles around, if not exactly ideal for the younger customer, with its cream leather chairs and velvet-upholstered booth seating...”

Click here to read more

Ladies who lunch...

It is no doubt that our Ladies luncheons are popular. We had over 100 gorgeous ladies attending our last one on the 31st of August which was all about the fish and shellfish from our stunning Aldeburgh Bay.

Visit our facebook page to view all the pics from the event. Here are just a few...

Summer fun...

Well, here we are again, another week gone and we are now into July! The sun continues to shine on Aldeburgh and the Hotel and Bar and Brasserie continue to be busy. Our strawberries ladies lunch was another success with guests enjoying a true summer menu, compliments to the Chef for keeping our ladies happy. The next date for your diaries is the 27th July and the theme will be ‘inspirational vegetarian dishes’, book now as places are filling quickly.

Looking ahead and this month promises to have something for everyone. From the 11th – 15th we will be hosting our vegetarian week and our menus will be featuring an exciting and eclectic selection of dishes. On the 14th July our Bastille Night promises to be an exciting evening celebrating all things Gallic! We only have two tables left for this night so if you want to experience ‘live’ theatre by our Chef, accordion playing and the staff in costume book now!!

On the 16th July the White Lion is delighted to host our first Moules et Boules event. Five teams will compete to win the coveted trophy, come and support them and enjoy the BBQ and beer tent that will be available throughout the event. Keep your eyes peeled and you may spot a celebrity here to present the trophy to the winning team!

On the 30th July to round off our busy month our Fire and Ice Dinner Dance promises to be a fabulous event. Chef will be serving a delicious four course dinner and there will be live music to dance to after dinner. Our band for the night is Liquor who play a lively mix of music from throughout the decades. We still have space available for this night so book now!

The staff this week have been busy playing the new board game ‘The Art of Service’. Devised by Fred Sirieix the General Manager of Galvin at Windows, a Michelin starred restaurant at the London Hilton, and mentor from the BBC series Michael Roux Service - the game focuses on customer service. www.theartofservice.co.uk Wow what a tool! Really made us think ‘customer service’ and ensure our customers have a truly fabulous visit, thank you Fred!

Finally on a personal note, I am sad to announce my departure from the White Lion and the company. I have been with the company for nearly eight years and I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here. I am moving on to pastures new, having learnt much of what I now know from my time here. I wish everyone well and promise to keep in touch.

Pimm’s, strawberries and Wimbledon...

Summer is here and the nights are just getting longer and longer…. We were delighted to welcome back some regular faces to stay with us as well as new guests here to enjoy the delights of the 64th Aldeburgh Festival. Our Bar and Brasserie has continued to play host to many guests that are all here to enjoy the treats the kitchen has to offer. And, more treats to come this week...

Looking ahead to this week we are happy to be hosting our awesome "Pimm’s and Strawberry week". So, why not try White Chocolate Dipped Strawberries or Pimm's and Strawberry Jelly with Vanilla Ice Cream and Shortbread? Our menu is guaranteed to put you in the mood for Wimbledon which starts today! The UK's Andy Murray plays Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round and we all wish him success in the tournament.

Finally, for those of you who are regular guests you will be delighted to know that Tom Scrivens has been promoted to Assistant Food and Beverage Manager. Tom has been with us for five years and is a much loved member of the team, congratulations Tom.

Welcome bank-holiday weekend

Another ‘buzzy’ week at Bar and Brasserie and really good to see some local faces dining with us...

The hotel has been extremely busy with conferences taking place during this week and a lot of requests for functions for the future.....which I am sure that our new Accommodation and Events Manager, Anne Musolino is very delighted about.

We had our first Ladies Lunch on Wednesday and this was hailed as a success and we have the date for our next one which is to be held on Wednesday 29th of June. We already have a few booked in so if you would like to join those already booked for the special strawberry inspired lunch then book soon! Who can resist a strawberry?... With the Bank Holiday ahead we are looking forward to another good weekend and hope that the sun shines for our guests...