Porridge not on menu at Clink

LONDON - It will be one of the world's most unusual dining experiences.

While the biggest hurdle for many diners is to get past a fearsome maitre d', visitors to one new restaurant will have to run the gauntlet of security checks, sniffer dogs and barred gates under the watchful eye of prison guards before reaching their table.

The venue, to be called Clink, will be the UK's first restaurant behind bars. When it opens its doors, as it were, paying members of the public will eat gourmet meals, cooked and served by inmates at Highdown prison in Surrey.

Instead of the unappetising slop and stale bread associated with prison life, diners will feast on langoustines, sauted guinea fowl and lavender-infused mascarpone. Porridge alas, will not be on the menu.

The dishes are a far cry from those on the 1.68-a-head budget, which pays for three meals a day for inmates.

Meals at Clink will be about 15 ($36.5) for a four-course meal, a figure which the prison's food supremo, Al Crisci, estimates would cost upwards of 70 a head for a comparable meal at a smart eatery.

The aim is to rival the upmarket restaurants of London's West End, as well as highlighting the training given to inmates.

"When people walk in I want them to feel like they have stepped into a trendy restaurant," said Crisci, the prison's catering manager and the driving force behind Clink.

Crisci has already turned around the food regime at the Category B jail, offering the 730-plus inmates four choices for lunch and six in the evening. Jean-Cristophe Novelli has tasted the food and approves.

Crisci received an award from Radio 4's Food Programme as catering manager of the year for the high standards of the food his team of 24 prisoners create. The BBC and independent production companies are interested in the Clink story.

Crisci has seen more than 60 prisoners pass through the training scheme he established and gain National Vocational Qualifications for their cuisine.

Prisoners need security clearance to work in the kitchens and must have a clean bill of health.

Among those working six and a half days for a weekly wage of 11.70 at Highdown is Dean Masters, 36, from south London, who believes the kitchen training is helping to transform prisoners' lives.

"If people go out of here with something, I think the rates of reoffending will be reduced." said Masters, who is serving 10 years for drug importation offences.

- INDEPENDENT