A day in the life of Mitch Tonks at the Food Festival S
ince moving to Dartmouth and opening the Seahorse restaurant in 2008 there are a few notable
highlights of the year where madness and mayhem take over the town! New Year’s Eve is one of my favourites with fireworks and guests, who have become friends over the years, join us to celebrate, eat, drink and be merry; then there is Regatta where the streets become unrecognisable, the sun always seems to shine and the boats fill the river as the planes fill the skies, a joyous time. But for a foodie like me the Food
Festival is the most fun. Every year I think it might be a little slower, I might have a little more time to look around and taste and sample and try but every year I’m wrong - there are so many fabulous producers who return and who I must return to, so many new ones to join that I am tempted by and always a profusion of great chefs and food writers and food lovers to talk and demonstrate and share what they love about the food of the region. It is not quiet and peaceful but it is all good-humoured, informative and incredibly tasty. A typical day for me goes a little something like this!
l The day starts around 6.30am; I walk from home to Brixham fish market and see what is coming in on the boats, chat to the fishermen and pick up some amazing squid and scallops for Nieves from Fino who will be serving up her wonderful tapas all day at the Seahorse
l Because it’s going to be hectic I take my little boat over to Dartmouth and moor for the few days madness that is the festival; at least I have somewhere comfortable to sleep
l At 9am Mat and I sit down with the Seahorse team and discuss order of the next few days, so many guest chefs will be in our kitchens and the team needs to be fully focused and organised to make things run as smoothly as normal
l Around 10am I cajole Mat into grabbing a little brandy and an espresso and we pick up any issues; have we got the sea buckthorn sourced for Mark Hix’s night, what aperitivo to have on the menu for lunch?
l Next I am back on another boat, this time a small fishing boat with a journalist. We do a podcast and some photos and an interview to go online. The mackerel we catch gets turned into lunch on the run, cooked on a little instant bbq on the boat, squeeze of lemon and sea salt and nothing more
l Back on shore I have a 20
min conference call with Rockfish managers about the previous day and the day ahead, checking we have enough mussels in at Torquay
for the weekend, everyone seems to love them!
l At 3pm I do another quick piece to camera with Ed who does all digital media, a summary of what is on at our restaurants over the festival weekend.
l Off to Totnes station to pick up Mark Hix and drive back to Dartmouth and chat about the evening menu over a beer at the Royal Castle
l The evening is spent in the Seahorse, in the kitchen that I love, with Mat and Mark and the team and our guests, a great night
l 1am – it’s a wrap! Maybe I’ll finish tonight with a grappa sitting with the chefs and the team in an empty restaurant at the end of a really fantastic night and soak up the after-glow
l Head to the boat to sleep and get ready for the next day of madness
www.mitchtonks.co.uk
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