Swan House, Beccles, Suffolk NR34 9HE
Call us: (UK) 01502 713474
Posted on April 16, 2013 by Roland Blunk
“Stunning bedrooms with the most beautiful attention to detail. Fabulous food, excellent service and friendly staff. Excellent location in the heart of the town, close to the river and the tower. The 3 course breakfast is just yummy, so much food and beautifully presented”. TripAdvisor review
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Posted on by Roland Blunk
“Absolutely delicious meal!”
Roger Gowon, Haddiscoe, 15th May 2013
“Lovely meal, fab staff. Please don’t change anything”
Steph Rogers, Norwich, 15th May 2013
“Great music set and food with an extensive wine selection. Top hosting with a warm welcome and smile”
Graig Giuespie & Andrea Bailey, Falkirk, 13th May 2013
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Posted on April 14, 2013 by Roland Blunk
Throughout May you can enjoy a fourth evening’s stay with us entirely free, when you book for three consecutive nights. To be eligible you must book through our Swan House website and the first night must be either Thursday, Friday, Sunday or Monday. Please email or call Roland or Cassandra to arrange read more…
Posted on February 22, 2012 by Roland Blunk
If you are concerned about your health, click away now! For those still with us, we are both pleased and proud to share our best and most coveted ‘Delicious Desserts’ recipes on our new iTunes App. We have spent months eating, designing, photographing, writing and refining the desserts to ensure they will make the… read more…
Posted on February 14, 2012 by Roland Blunk
Carmela and I have just returned from a few days in Prague. The climate was fine but icy cold as temperatures were -8c and sank lower to -16c at night. But that comes with the terrain and if you expect that as we did, it’s not such a shock. In fact if you wear… read more…
Posted on August 20, 2011 by Roland Blunk
We’ve just returned from a couple of weeks at Carmela’s house in Casserta, Southern Italy. Situated in the foothills of the Apennines that run down the spine of Italy, it’s well positioned for exploring so much of what’s great about Italy. Rome, Naples, Pompeii, read more…
Posted on June 11, 2011 by Roland Blunk
We’ve just returned from staying with my good friends Helena and Raymond Turvey in Cornwall. I’ve known the two of them since our Art School teenage years in London and a few days away from the Swan House , as much as we love it, was a refreshing break. After visiting the ‘Eden Project’ and checking out the local terrain, we were introduced to the St Ives ‘Tate Modern’, with the most impressive work being this extraordinary conceptual piece by read more…
Posted on May 27, 2011 by Roland Blunk
The problem of how to celebrate my step daughter’s birthday is always a tricky one. Do I give her yet more clothes and risk bursting her wardrobe; treat her to dinner somewhere other than the Swan House Restaurant in Beccles, or dare to find an alternative… read more…
Posted on May 7, 2011 by Roland Blunk
Describing a Swan House dish in way that succinctly expresses the dining experience, is not an easy task. So many Swan House customers dining out in Beccles will say perhaps “Wonderful meal and excellent service”. Well no one is going to complain about that, but it’s hardly evocative of the dining experience. read more…
Posted on April 29, 2011 by Roland Blunk
Introducing new dishes should be the truly creative edge of restaurant cooking for any kitchen brigade. Shakespeare likened food with music as well as love, so lets just say that whilst music has an infinite capacity to be fresh and innovative, although little is, food is far more about embracing influences and reinventing classical or traditional dishes. read more…
Posted on March 26, 2011 by Roland Blunk
I was told this evening that Swan House is one of the few restaurants in Suffolk that genuinely strives and succeeds in having a ‘uniqueness’. And that customer’s comment has just got me reflecting on how we are perceived by others. It’s very difficult for me to see our own restaurant as others must see it, but the nearest I get is read more…
Posted on March 4, 2011 by Roland Blunk
I had a surreal and truly magical experience today, whilst I was uplifted to the piste in a cable gondola at Bad Gastein, Austria. Usually these brief journeys are a chance to reflect on the climate, snow conditions, plan where to have lunch and even borrow a few ideas to bring back to Swan House in Beccles… read more…
Posted on February 21, 2011 by Roland Blunk
Has anyone stopped tapping on a keyboard, to consider that so called ‘social networking’, is about as social as dining alone on a dessert island. Wracking one’s brain to remember the name of a long forgotten business acquaintant, … read more…
Posted on January 22, 2011 by Roland Blunk
I’m on the train returning home after a few days of cool skiing in Zermatt on the Swiss side of the border with Italy.
This has been my 59th ski trip to date, some of which have been pure holiday, most of which I’ve worked as a ski guide, occasionally attended training courses and other times coached. But on this occasion I was just a punter, … read more…
Posted on January 9, 2011 by Roland Blunk
Here’s a pic that reminds me of our excellent late summer visit to Sienna last year. Although the city is a wonderful experience and a place I have long wanted to visit, some of the less heralded nearby Tuscan towns, are even more interesting. And possibly even more so than Beccles!
Posted on December 24, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Before opening the Swan House doors to our Beccles diners this morning, I went for a quick browse around the town’s shops. Amongst the last minute Christmas shoppers and visitors to Beccles, I heard the very unseasonal “You’ve lost that lovin’ feeling”. read more…
Posted on December 22, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Whilst Julian ‘Mr Wikileaks’ Assange is holed up in Beccles, the world’s press eagerly awaits our response. In a world TV exclusive, our local Beccles market fishmonger was asked how Mr Assange’s presence, may impact on the neighbourhood: “Well if he doesn’t buy his fish from me, I don’t really care”… read more…
Posted on December 16, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Somewhere early stone-age man almost certainly won a design award for inventing a square wheel. And while 11 years ago we were the first restaurant in the area to have a web presence, our old site more recently appeared almost medieval… read more…
Posted on October 4, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Mondays are usually our chef’s day for new menu ideas and inventiveness at the Swan House Restaurant. Recently we were looking for some classic European light lunch ideas for our ‘bar menu’. I considered some Alpine dishes read more…
Posted on September 15, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Perhaps the all time classic ‘behind the scenes’ tale of kitchen life was told in George Orwell’s recollections of 1930’s Paris: ‘Down and out in Paris and London’. In one unforgettable scene he describes how a head chef, enraged over the return of an ‘rare’ steak, … read more…
Posted on September 10, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Just found this pic on my iPhone that I had forgotten about. Gioia in Southern Italy, pronounced ‘joya’, put on this excellent almost Bruegelesque ‘festa’ of music and dance in mid August. Oh for a little of their heat and dust to add to the annual Beccles Carnival!
Posted on September 5, 2010 by Roland Blunk
There are two sides to every restaurant and since working at The Swan House in Beccles, I’m honestly not sure which I prefer. But either way it’s great fun, whether having… read more…
Posted on August 31, 2010 by Roland Blunk
My Swan House staff so successfully organised a funeral wake whilst I was in Italy recently, that the daughter came back last night to personally thank and congratulate me. She was so completely bowled over in her praise of how we had organised her late dad’s wake into such an enjoyable occasion, that I’m now seriously fearing for her mum!
Posted on August 22, 2010 by Roland Blunk
Although Beccles and thoughts of the restaurant in Suffolk should be a thousand miles away from this sun-baked Italian landscape, I’m always on the look out for new ideas to bring back to the Swan House. For lunch today, Carmela’s cousin Gino, served us a gorgeous dish of… read more…
Posted on August 18, 2010 by Roland Blunk
It’s Wednesday early evening and I’ve just planted a couple of lemon trees in the hard baked ground outside Carmela’s house in Southern Italy. Using a pick axe and spade, I feel I now know what it’s like to be a fugitive from a chain gang! My hands are blistered … read more…
Posted on August 13, 2010 by Roland Blunk
We’re spending a few languid weeks away from Suffolk and Swan House in Carmela’s home in Southern Italy. Situated 30 miles due north of Naples in the foot hills of the Matese Mountains, it’s a region that’s poor by our decadent standards, but far richer … read more…