About
A room built
around one fire
EMBER opened in 2019 in a disused kiln yard off Kilnwharf Lane. A hearth went into the back wall, and the menu has been written around it since.
The building
The yard spent a century drying clay. When we took it on, the sandstone walls and the old flue were the only things worth keeping — so we kept them, put a grill where the kiln had been, and left everything else dark.
Sixty covers, one fire, a kitchen open to the room. Service runs long: last orders at half ten, the bar until one on Friday and Saturday, and no one is asked to give a table back.
Fire is not a technique here. It is the whole kitchen.
No gas, no induction, no water baths. Wood and charcoal from within forty miles, lit at four and banked down through service.
It keeps the menu short and the timing honest — dishes arrive when the fire is ready rather than when the ticket says so. Produce comes from six growers and two boats, all within a morning's drive, and what turns up decides what gets cooked.
Head chef
Mara Aldenhoff
Trained in Copenhagen, then eight years cooking over open fire in Lisbon. Came back to open EMBER in 2019 and has kept the same week since: markets on Tuesday, fire lit at four, on the pass every service.
The kitchen is eight people. It is open to the room on purpose — if you want to see how a dish was cooked, look up.
