Frontline NHS workers at a Norfolk hospital won’t be going hungry today.
Two gastro pubs and a bistro have teamed up to cook ready meals for emergency workers at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in King’s Lynn.
Ben Handley, chef patron at the Duck Inn at Stanhoe, near Burnham Market, was at the controls of the range on Thursday.
“We’ve got pasta arrabbiata with goat’s cheese or chicken with chorizo, broccoli, carrots and new potatoes,” he said. “It’s for the ambulance staff and paramedics at the QEH.”
Mr Handley prepares 30 meals a day on three days of the week.
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“I do three days a week,” said Mr Handley, who has run the Duck with his wife Sarah for seven years. “Kevin at the Neptune at Old Hunstanton does two days and Lewis at the Old Bank at Snettisham does two days.
“It’s helping me to keep my skills going. It’s nice to be in the kitchen.”
Mr Handley began his career 25 years ago, in his parents’ pub the Lifeboat Inn at Thornham, near Hunstanton.
The Duck, on the Burnham Road near the village pond, was named one of the nation’s top 50 gastro pubs last year.
But the award-winning pub has been closed and its 30 staff have been on furlough since lockdown began, along with most of the foodie Norfolk coast.
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The Handleys hope they may be able to reopen in early July so they can salvage some of their summer trade.
But they admit social distancing could make it almost impossible to operate the restaurant in its current form if staff and customers have to remain two metres apart.
Diners may well include NHS workers who have sampled their food on shift when the day finally does come.
“We’ve had some lovely messages from the ambulance staff about how much they appreciate it,” said Andrew Waddison, the Duck’s marketing manager.
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