HOSPITALITY
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As restaurants move away from formal dining towards simpler ways of serving good food, Grahame Senior takes a look at a few operators getting it right
O
ne of the interesting trends of recent times is the way in which fi rst rate chefs in highly rated establishments have been moving away from the
formality and splendours of ‘fi ne din- ing restaurants’ and taking up their sabatiers in simpler surroundings. The Plough at Longparish and the White Oak at Cookham are two testaments to the success of this strategy. I might even suggest that the new ‘Marcus’ (previously ‘Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley’) at the Berkeley Hotel in Wilton Place also testifi es to some- thing of the same cultural trend. Perhaps this change in the direc- tion of the pendulum can be traced back to the legendary Bernard Loiseau in Burgundy. He was so caught up in the whole competitive thing that was the tune of the times that he commit- ted suicide in anticipation of losing one of his Michelin stars. In the event this didn’t happen and he retained his status having lost his life. His elegant widow Dominique carries on the busi- ness today with splendid insouciance and another practitioner in perfection, Patrick Bertron. Hopefully they now feel the pressure less. They certainly con- tinue to do what they do extremely well and I would recommend a visit. Today I’m concentrating on the prac- tical aspects of this trend exemplifi ed by two excellent chefs, Clive Dixon of the White Oak and James Durrant of the Plough. Dixon previously worked as head chef under Pierre Koffmann at the Berkeley Hotel in London and Durrant has spent more than 10 years in Michelin starred establishments including Maze in Mayfair. Right now they’re to be found cooking in thought- fully designed environments housed
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and they clearly have a great rapport with the guys in the kitchen.
Great cooking starts with the food Another defi ning characteristic of both these places is that while there are standard staples on the menu, there are very few of them and the whole essence of the approach is to cook what’s good on the day. The best fi sh, the most interesting local meat and, very importantly, properly fresh vegeta- bles of the season. Like the traditional bourgeois French approach of starting each day at the market and designing the menu from there, there is a clear commitment to letting the ingredients do the talking and the role of the chef is to present their freshness fulfi lled.
Some wise words
James Durrant previously worked at Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea and the Maze in Mayfair. He took over the Plough Inn in 2012
in old pubs in L’Angleterre Profonde. What marks them out as similar is not the decor, but the stunning quality of the food and the ingredients delivered on the plate – and the shared enthusi- asm of the staff.
Teamwork gets it done
One of the things about good food is that it tastes better when well served and it tastes even better when a young and enthusiastic team understands and can explain every aspect of the food and wine. Molly at the Plough and Alison at the White Oak share that attribute. They may be young but they certainly care about what they’re doing
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The change to more informality and less obsequious service does not mean that what arrives on the plate is any the less important. Rather the opposite. Along with greater informal- ity, the presentation of the food on the plate has become simpler. There is less in the way of foam, smears and blobs in evidence and rather more focus on letting the ingredients speak for themselves. ‘Less is more’ means that with fewer ingredients – and certainly fewer embellishments – competing for attention, the inherent quality of the core ingredients and the cooking can sing out more clearly. A piece of fi ne, fresh fi sh served with samphire is more likely to be just that these days, so that the two ingredi- ents create their own harmony without any distractions from other sauces. In the case of both the White Oak and the Plough, this is clearly evidenced and fi sh is very much a speciality. ‘Let
ISSUE 4 2014 © cybertrek 2014
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