Stuart Forster interviews chef Ruari Mackay of Coarse restaurant Durham City’s independent dining establishment serving a tasting menu that is priced to be affordable.
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Coarse opened in September 2022 in premises that can seat up to 38 diners just off Durham’s North Road. Standing between barbers and next to The Head of Steam pub, the restaurant is less than a 10-minute walk from Durham Cathedral.
Chef Ruari Mackay
“This is something we have wanted to do forever. When we walked in, instantly we said this is a good space and it’s a good location,” says Ruari, one of the three co-owners of Coarse. It’s an informal dining venue and artworks by local artists are displayed on the walls.
His wife Gemma Robinson is responsible for the front of house while his friend Craig Lappin-Smith has management and finance roles.
“We know how each other works, each other’s moods and when to stay apart,” says Ruari of working with his wife and laughs.
“Just after the first lockdown, Craig got in touch with us. I’d worked with him years ago, when we were both a Bistro 21 in Durham. He basically said, ‘listen, I’ve got a proposal for you, we’d like to open a restaurant.’ So we met and went through everything,” he explains.
Tasting menu in Durham City
They decided to offer affordable tasting menus for lunch and dinner.
“We don’t want to come in at too-high a price point. That might scare people off, particularly when they don’t know us,” says Ruari of Coarse’s affordable tasting menus.
“A tasting menu has got a bit of a funny image. People think it’s expensive and they can’t possibly do that. But we want to make it a bit more accessible to people and a bit more fun,” he adds.
Ruari recalls visits to an upscale fine-dining establishment with Gemma and a meal in a less expensive, more modern restaurant: “We enjoyed the cheaper one much more because it was more ‘us’. It was more accessible, more fun and you didn’t feel like you couldn’t move or that you might knock on glass over.”
“It felt relaxed there and that’s what we want people to feel here. Anyone can come in. There’s no dress code; you don’t have to dress up in a suit and tie. Equally, we want it to look good and we’re serving people nice stuff,” he continues.
Locally sourced food
“We want to focus on fruit and vegetables. We’re not moving away from meat but nowadays a lot of people aren’t eating as much meat. I’m a big fish fan. I love cooking fish and I love eating fish…there’ll always be good fish on. We use a good supplier who I’ve known for years…we’ll be using the best seafood we can get,” says Ruari.
“We’re looking at rolling with the seasons. We’re looking at changing the menu every four to six weeks,” he adds about menus that allow Coarse to showcase locally sourced ingredients.
He will consider adapting menus when seasonal produce is available.
“That’s one of the reasons I wanted to do this. I’ve worked in pubs for the last eight years. You do a menu and that’s it for three months – you can’t change it. As a chef, you want to be flexible. You want to be using the best ingredients you can get. You want to be putting certain things on the menu that don’t necessarily work in a pub environment,” he reveals.
Ruari enjoys reading about cooking and cuisine. Terry Laybourne is also one of the chef’s main sources of inspiration.
“He champions local produce, uses good ingredients and doesn’t mess about with them too much. I think that’s essentially what has always stuck with me,” says Ruari, who admits that he isn’t comfortable with the idea of molecular gastronomy.
Coarse is sourcing its ingredients from more than 20 local businesses and suppliers. Everything sold in the Durham restaurant is made within 100 miles or sourced from a small company within 100 miles. That includes the likes of Durham Gin and Marlish Water.
Coarse restaurant
“I like to do good food with simple ingredients. Not too many ingredients on a plate and doing the best that you can to each one. You get a really good chicken and you don’t need to do that much to it. You just got to cook it well,” says Ruari of his approach.
“We want to do things with a little bit of a twist. So we’re looking at good ingredients but making them a little bit different to what people would expect. We have purposely undersold the menu a little bit. The first menu has venison, leek and potato and one of the desserts is cookie and milkshake. We play around with people’s perceptions by giving them things they know but slightly different,” adds the chef.
Rebel and Peace and Loaf in Newcastle are two of the restaurants where the chef enjoys dining: “There are so many influences and good restaurants. You look around and take a bit of inspiration from everyone. I love Ynyshir, run by Gareth Ward in Wales. I love everything that he does but that’s a two-Michelin-star restaurant.”
Food and wine pairing
The team at Coarse have collaborated with Daniel Jonberger, who was the sommelier of Raby Hunt, which was James Close’s two-Michelin-starred restaurant in County Durham.
Facts about the vineyards and the families that operate them are conveyed at tables during the wine pairing so that guests learn about the stories behind them.
Restaurants in Durham
The restaurant opened at a time of soaring price increases. Yet with a good team, Ruari feels confident that Coarse can successfully meet the challenges ahead. The team includes Niall Watson, a chef whom Ruari previously worked with at Bistro 21 and the Garden House Inn.
“We work well as a team and that’s important. It’s a team thing. The whole team works together and you need that in a restaurant,” says Ruari. “We want to do something a little bit different. There are chains opening up in Durham. They’ve redeveloped the whole Riverside area, which is really cool, but there’s no independent stuff going on.”
Dining out in Britain
“There aren’t that many places that we would look at and think ‘we want to go and eat there.’ We enjoy eating out and have to go to the likes of Newcastle, Leeds or Edinburgh to find places. We wanted to do something where we live for the local people that we’ve had so much support.”
“I’ve been a chef for years. I’ve worked for other people and I’ve seen what they’ve done right and what they’ve done wrong. As a chef, you are only one part of it. You need people who can serve the food and talk about it confidently. We want to do the. This is the first time I feel like I’ve ever been able to do my food exactly the way I want to do it. There are no restrictions and no rules. That’s where I think we’ll thrive. We’ve got the freedom to do what we want,” says Ruari.
“Hopefully we’ll inspire other people to have a go,” he concludes.
Coarse restaurant Durham
Coarse (tel. 0191 374 1123) is at Reform Place, North Road, Durham, DH1 4RZ. See the restaurant’s website for opening times, to see the lunch and dinner menus, and to reserve a table.
I dined at Coarse about a month after it opened and enjoyed the experience. Three of us took the wine pairing while one preferred to drink local craft beer with the food. Each of the courses was attractively presented and packed with flavour.
Map of Coarse restaurant
The location of Coarse is marked on the map of Durham City below:
Accommodation in Durham City
Thinking of staying over? The map below provides an overview of hotels in Durham and the surrounding area:
Further information
Stuart Forster, the author of this post, is a travel and food writer based in northeast England. His work has been published by BBC Good Food, Great British Chefs and Love Food.
The food and exterior photos illustrating this post are by Why Eye Photography.
Thank you for visiting Go Eat Do and reading this interview with chef Ruari Mackay of Coarse restaurant in Durham. Thinking about visiting Durham for a short break? You can find a post about some of the reasons to visit County Durham on this website.
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A version of this post was initially published on Go Eat Do on 15 October 2022.
Maureen Eley
March 3, 2023 at 15:51Hi, are you wheelchair friendly and is there parking ????
Go Eat Do
March 26, 2023 at 17:05Hello Maureen, I think you would be best calling or emailing the restaurant directly. My impression was that Coarse is accessible. For car parking near Coarse, The Gates car park is one option. Hopefully you get an authoritative answer direct from the restaurant.