You know how awesome it is when you see a chef/patron with such total passion for their business it’s more ‘a cause’ than an eatery?  Meet Leon Borja Coelho Malheiros – Chef patron of BA:RN, an exciting new restaurant/bar/live music venue in Deptford, south east London.

BA:RN specialises in ‘farm comfort food’, though all needs are catered for, from vegan, to paleo, low salt to raw. The vibe is rustic, simple, farm to table, with only best quality meat sourced from small farms.

Bold, uncompromising and 100% committed – he even has ‘Beef’ and ‘Pork’ tattooed on his knuckles! – Leon embodies the food he offers up to his diners.  His steaks are further aged in-house in his own ageing room and cooked simply over charcoal, according to weight and thickness.  Just don’t ask for it to be cooked well done!

“It’s like you were eating in your grandma’s house,” says Leon, who’s Brazilian. “You wouldn’t tell her how to cook it.  We’re right, not the customers!  We take their hand, lead them on a flavour adventure.  And if you don’t like what’s on offer, just like grandma would find something else for you, tell me what you eat, and I’ll make something for you.

“We balance flavours, textures, colours to work together – if we take one little element out it collapses.  Everything is very simple, rustic – it needs to be cooked perfectly, it’s simple, there’s nowhere to hide if it’s not.”

We were so impressed with Leon’s passion and dedication – like ours at Lamb Weston – that we asked him to create some standout dishes using our Sweet Potato CrissCuts®.

CrissCuts are part of Lamb Weston’s vast and exciting range of quality fries and potato products offering a unique mix of sweet potato taste with a savoury coating, to ensure crispness.

We of course already know the exciting appeal of our Sweet Potato CrissCuts and we have to say we were wowed by the two sharing dishes Leon created with them…  Awesome!

If meat’s your thing, you’ll love British Summer Poutin, which features CrissCuts, mutton, homemade cheese curds and gravy.

In Leon’s take on this classic Canadian dish, our CrissCuts were fried, then topped with a ragout of Manx Loaghtan mutton (smoked and slow cooked for nine hours) and homemade raw milk cheese curds before being finished with meat gravy and lime wedges.  Tastebud-tantalisingly tasty!

And for flavour hunting veggies, vegans and flexitarians, prepared to be amazed by Leon’s Vegan Nachos where he used our CrissCuts in place of tortilla chips.  First fired, the CrissCuts were then topped with vegan sausages which had been sliced and coated in cornflour before frying to make them crispy.  Fresh guacamole and cashew nut sour cream topped off this sharing dish - pure heaven on a (large) plate!

Leon says: “I love the CrissCuts – the texture is great and visually it’s appealing, vibrant, it’s got a great colour and shape.  If we fry them off, they’re already beautiful as they are – but here we’ve added more…

“The CrissCuts look more natural than other frozen sweet potato products – and they’re the right thickness, not too thin so they get burnt, but thin enough to be crunchy.  They’re the perfect size for sharing, also great for canapes, great size, versatility.

“Being Brazilian I prefer sweet potatoes, they bring a nice balance, flavour and texture.  We don’t have any pre-prepared veg on the menu, but the CrissCuts are a special exception because I like the product so much.”

Take inspiration from Leon and keep your menus fresh and appealing with on-trend sweet potato fries.  A little tastier, a little better for you and customers will pay more.

Like most of our frozen potato products CrissCuts are totally perfect served up naked or dressed up for additional profit – the only limit to toppings is your imagination.