Grub Kitchen: A Must Try 'Bugs on Menu' in Britain's First Insect Restaurant

There have been many cases where restaurants get temporarily or permanently shut down and one of the most common reasons for the closures was due to the presence of rodents, insects, or animals found within the area.

But one kitchen in rural Pembrokeshire has even won a social entrepreneur award for welcoming these unwanted guests before it even opened.

Grub Kitchen, a business partner of Bug Farm at Lower Harglodd, Haverfordwest, is the first restaurant in UK dedicated in serving insects to show how these bugs can address the crisis in food globally. The restaurant recently opened and is already up for Christmas bookings. One of the most important ingredients in the food they serve is insects.

"Protein is a big part of their value nutritionally, but they also tend to be calorie- and lipid-rich and they are generally good sources of vitamins and minerals," says May Berenbaum, the head of the Department of Entomology at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "There are ecological and economic benefits, too. [In general] some insects can be raised on foods that aren't consumed by humans and rearing insects tends to produce far fewer greenhouse gas emissions."

According to Rachael Pells of The Independent who paid visit to the bug restaurant, Grub Kitchen has a bright ambience and was like made to feel at home.  The tables were uniquely made from materials such as disused railway sleepers and a bar from floorboards.

The resto offers a variety of insect dishes and it also desires to establish eating bugs on a daily basis. The guest can select from the daytime and evening menus ranging from toasted cumin mealworm hummus and breads to zesty black ant and olive-crusted goat cheese (approx £6.50).

Chef Andy Holcroft recommended Pells to try a cricket, locust, mealworm and grasshopper burger with polenta chips, side salad and grasshopper garnish for her main meal. Pells said: ''the burger tasted very much like any gourmet veggie burger - soft in texture but with a little added nutty crunch.'' Everything felt and looked very odd yet the taste is agreeable.

The cricket cookie which is made 90 per cent ground cricket flour has a rich nutty flavor and a must try.  Bug burger is among the 'safer' meal kids can order but in Chef Holcroft's experience, the kids are more fearless and courageous to try the bug-based dishes.

"Some people come in wanting to see the bugs they're eating - for them that's part of the experience. But others need easing in a bit more.

"We're putting into place a scale of insect-iness, with one being something very mild on the palate and an easy way in to the idea of bugs as protein.

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