fine-dining-guide.com | The Home of Fine Dining | Chef

Tell us about your background
Originally from Wandsworth, I started my cooking career in 1978 and spent five years at
The Four Seasons (then called Inn on the Park). There were two different chefs during my
time there - Jean Michel Bonnin and a Swiss chef called Eduard Hari. I was lucky enough
to stage at Pierre Koffman's La Tante Claire in Chelsea, which proved inspirational as I
first encountered cuisine terroir: The concept of taking a variety of offal and making
gastronomic dishes was fascinating. The mixing and matching of luxuries with offal holds
true to my philosophy today.

We eventually found this property here in Cheltenham and have remained ever since. I’m a
believer in growing and developing your site in the French tradition and while our kitchen is
small (many domestic kitchens are bigger) it has served our business well and I've never
felt unable to achieve what I've wanted to achieve.

What impact has your progression in Michelin affected your business?
Well to begin with we found that the local clientele visited on a word of mouth
recommendation basis. The first star brought people calling on the basis of pre-
organized trips within the region. Since the second star we’ve found that we get calls from
France or the States making long term bookings. We’re now booked out 4 to 5 weeks in
advance for Saturdays and two to three weeks for Fridays. Weekdays have improved no
end with many of them being full as well.

How do you devise your creations?
Some might say that I’m a ‘masculine’ chef; I do always start with flavours and I believe
that the real, bold taste of the ingredients should shine through. I’m quite lucky as most
dishes are derived from tasting in my head. I’m confident that 90% of the time, if I’d
mentally constructed something that I believed would work, it actually does when
transformed onto the plate – the finished product comes from the detail of fine tuning

In what ways are you developing your cooking style?
I feel that I must always be developing my cooking, I’m not someone who can be happy
standing still and I certainly always avoid complacency. I’m currently looking at new
ingredients to add to my repertoire. I’ve done butchery, terroir and experimented with
molecular and the more strings you can have to your bow the more you can satisfy your
customer. In terms of new ingredients, to give you examples: the snail risotto has ground
Elder, which adds an earthy slightly eucalyptus note: Yellow Gorse Flowers, dried over two
days, result in ice creams with a subtle banana and coconut flavour: Red Clover flowers
have proven versatile for panacottas and parfaits.

What about sourcing of ingredients?
We pick much of our own wild food,mushrooms from the woods nearby and most of the
wild herbs and plants, but on the occasions that I'm not available, we have a trusted
person who helps out at relatively short notice. My butcher is a great supplier and I’ve
been with him from the start. With Highgrove we now have some reliable vegetable
supplies as well as a few trusted gardeners.We have a few people who shoot our wild
game for us, pigeon, rabbit, hare ,wild ducks and venison. Several local fishermen bring in
eels and pike and a variety of fresh water fishes.

Your pig’s trotter dish – talks us through the preparation
We braise the trotter first and then we keep it in the jus for 24 hours, take it off the bone and
dice it. We sweat some onions and some garlic down, add the trotter and jus and reduce
the mixture until it becomes coherent. We have some miniature drainpipe moulds that
stand up and put the mixture in there to set for 24 hours then flouring and breadcrumbs.
As you would expect, the dish is quite gelatinous.

And tell us about your sweetbreads dish?
We sprinkle with spices such as liquorices, orange powder and mushroom powder and
then vacuum pack and cook at 60 degrees for about four hours until they are just able to
hold their shape. They are then refrigerated until needed, when we roast them and put the
onion crust on (which is an Asian technique).

Are there any new deserts you are working on?
One example is a type of chocolate fondant – a cold one – in the middle it will have
caramel served with roasted barley and a malted milk ice cream. I’m so pleased with it,
we’ve even bought a new plate especially (laughing).

How do you view the modern fine dining experience?
From a restaurant management point of view it is more about delivering a relaxed
atmosphere to the customers that ensures they are not intimidated by the idea of
gastronomic dining. You look at places like the Fat Duck and they have shown you can
reach the heights of gastronomy while offering customers a relaxed dining environment.
Helen does a great job with our customers, many of whom may be intimidated at the
prospect of a “top end” restaurant, they leave happy and relaxed.

What are your favourite foods when eating out?
I love all offal and when I go out its always offal, foie gras, scallops or sweetbreads –
these are my favourite things.