The Boat in Lichfield announces cook off with Michelin-starred chef Mark Poynton
On 12th November, Mark Poynton - a Michelin-starred chef from Ancient Shepherd's in Fen Ditton - will arrive at The Boat to have a cook-off against Liam Dillon in the restaurant’s Versus series.
How does it work? Both chefs will cook three courses each. Served to the customers blind, each dish will be scored by the diners. At the end of the evening once all scores are counted, one winner will take the crown.
Tickets are £110 per person, where guests can expect six exceptional dishes with a competitive edge behind them.
Mark Poynton has built his career in Cambridge, first as chef-patron of Alimentum where he held a Michelin star, and more recently at restaurant Mark Poynton at Caistor Hall, which opened in 2023 and has been awarded with a Michelin star for 2025.
Mark opened his latest restaurant Ancient Shepherd’s in Fen Ditton this July. The restaurant with rooms is located on the site of Mark’s former restaurant, MJP @ The Shepherd's. Now offering a tasting-menu only, this heralds an exciting next chapter for Mark and team where thoughtful, ingredient-led cooking is offered in a relaxed village setting, with a focus on seasonality, sustainability and the best of British produce.
Settled amongst the urban landscape and Staffordshire canalside in Lichfield, The Boat is a restaurant and micro-farm by Chef Liam Dillon. Recommended in the Michelin guide, and noted in the Estrella Damm Top Gastropubs list, Liam’s cooking ethos is immersed in the seasonal and sustainable, showcasing the best of modern British food. Three Rosettes, notable wine list with AA & finalist in their sustainability award for 2024.
Over the last eight years, Liam has transformed what was a pub into a restaurant and micro-farm, which supplies the restaurant with a number of its produce, grown on site.
The micro-farm is Liam’s ode to sustainability and is constantly evolving to make the restaurant more self-sufficient. In its current iteration, the micro-farm includes 5 bee hives to provide honey and to help pollinate the rest of the garden, pigs are reared for their meat and to reduce waste from the restaurant, 24 hens provide a plentiful supply of eggs, and vegetable patches and polytunnels support year round vegetable growing, including unique crops such as cicely and wasabi.
In addition to this, Liam’s aquaponics project has been a long time in the making – a full ecosystem that farms trout/carp and then uses the bi-product to feed and grow crops. In a totally landlocked county, The Boat now plans to grow trout to use in the restaurant that is fed with organic feeds.
This produce, alongside other sustainable and locally sourced ingredients, form the ever-changing, seasonal menu for The Boat, where guests can choose a la carte or a short tasting menu for lunch, then a focused short or full tasting menu in the evenings.