In this interview, we sit down with Ritchie and Lauren Stainsby, the husband-and-wife duo behind No. 12, a plant-based bistro in Nottingham that has been delighting diners since its opening in 2017. With a passion for creating unique, vegan fine dining experiences, Ritchie and Lauren share insights into their journey from running a small café to transforming a historic red-brick mill into a sought-after dining destination. They talk about their creative process, the art of developing innovative plant-based dishes, and the exciting new additions to their autumn menu. Along the way, they offer a peek into what’s next for No. 12, hinting at more exciting developments in the pipeline.
In this conversation, you'll discover the inspiration behind celebrated dishes, the challenges of working with plant-based ingredients, and the techniques they use to adapt traditional methods in their kitchen. Whether you're a seasoned vegan or simply curious about plant-based fine dining, this interview promises to offer an inspiring look behind the scenes of one of Nottingham’s rising culinary stars.
Hey! Can you tell us a bit about you, no. 12, and how you got to where you are?
We're a family run business based in the heart of Nottingham, led by husband and wife Ritchie & Lauren Stainsby. With years of experience in the hospitality industry, in 2017 we decided it was time to run things our way and opened up our plant based bistro/cafe. In 2019 due to popularity, we relocated to our latest location, a converted victorian, red brick mill to chase our dreams of running a fully vegan, fine dining venue, the rest is history!
What a journey! We'd love to learn more about the processes you follow when developing plant based dishes, especially with a fine-dining spin on things...
Inspiration for writing a dish can come from anywhere for me. A colour scheme, a style of plating, flavour combinations, maybe starting off with a sauce, or a glaze. It really can come from anywhere and I think that's when things get exciting. Naturally though, I'll always stick to the rules of cooking - ensuring to balance flavour, so that each plate of food has the right amount of salt, sweetness, fat, sour etc.
What a delicious process to engage with. Are there any challenges or surprises that you face in particular when working with plant based cheese?
I think the biggest surprise is simply how similar it is - which is great! What I enjoy the most about Honestly Tasty products is the fact that the cheese follows similar behaviours when cooking with it, it melts, it can pull apart, it can be whipped etc - so it's brilliant and a standalone for flavour, rather than a compromise because you don't want to consume dairy.
It's lovely to hear that - we are undoubtedly focused on creating truly (or should we say honestly) tasty plant-based cheese to change perceptions. Do you find that you have to adapt traditional techniques when working with plant -based ingredients? How do you do that if so?
I think people often forget that in traditional food 75% of your plate is made up with veg, so it's a lot easier than you think. I constantly use traditional methods of cooking which I've learnt through cooking meat in previous jobs, i.e searing, sealing, braising, there are so many methods of cooking that can be applied to vegetables to achieve maximum flavour.
Speaking of which - what inspired the charred peach salad with our blue cheese and how do the textures/flavours work together?
For me, the charred peach salad is the perfect combination of creamy, tart, fruity, rich and delicate. We've all had far too many boring dressed lettuce leaves in our time. This is something different, the peaches are caramelised bringing out their natural sweetness and the blue cheese feels decadent, rich and creamy - balancing the tartness of the peach.
Drooling as you speak!! We're so excited by the new seasonal menu, everything sounds so good. Can you describe the flatbread dish to us? Obviously we're biased because we know our 'bree' makes an appearance... but we love the idea of using leftover ingredients to make something new!
Our current flatbread dish offered a way to combine leftover ingredients with top class ones. We roast down varieties of beetroot until sticky and sweet, the pesto is made from the tops of carrots and beetroots, and the hummus is made from our spare chickpeas (because of the copious amounts of aquafaba we go through!). Of course the star of the show is the Honestly Tasty plant based brie - which is added on last and fired in the pizza oven until charred and gooey. It's a banger.
Love the pesto recipe - what a great idea! And the creativity injected into creating something new with 'by-products' is genius.
Honestly tasty cheese aside, what else are you excited about on the new autumn menu?
Our new tasting menu is something else. We've all put a serious amount of work into developing it. It's a celebration of autumnal ingredients meaning we're using veg at the time it's grown. Without being biased, it's our best work yet.
We don't doubt it for a minute! Before we go, is there anything else exciting /in the pipeline that you're able to share?!
Let's just say, it's going to be an interesting few months for us! We've been working on some stuff in the background for the past few months and we're very close to being able to tell all. Watch this space!
As excited as we are? Make a reservation here or treat someone to a tasting menu or gift voucher this Christmas. You won't regret it!
