Food | STYLE
When considering the ideal location to base your first restaurant, the village of St Helens may not necessarily spring to mind, but in 2011 that’s exactly where owner and chef Dan Maskell opened Dan’s Kitchen. Its reputation spread fast, and this stylish eatery beside the village green has now become one of the Island’s top dining destinations
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rowing up in East Cowes, Dan never had great ambition to be a chef - he just followed his cousin into catering at the Isle of
Wight College. Now, having featured in the Michelin guide every year since 2013, and with over 80% of Trip Advisor reviews rating Dan’s Kitchen as ‘excellent’, it was clearly a good move.
Dan says, “There was a bit of negativity when we opened, because it’s a small village and people thought nobody would come, but we’re still here. I think that’s down to the high standard of food and the fantastic, loyal, staff who have helped to pull us through. The locals have been really supportive too, and we have lots of regular customers who keep coming back.”
As a teenager, Dan’s career began at The Folly in Whippingham. He found he enjoyed the buzz of the kitchen and the camaraderie there. “One day the head chef didn’t turn up, and I just cracked on with things. The boss saw I had initiative, so he took me under his wing and encouraged me on.”
Aged 18, he progressed to The Royal in Ventnor, and remembers, “That’s when my passion really started growing. The head chefs there were excited about what they were doing, and we had a good boss. He arranged for us to eat at Michelin star restaurants and work as a stagiaire in places like Le Manoir in Oxfordshire and L’Ortolan in Berkshire. This helped to further my fine dining career, and my palate.”
Feeling the need to broaden his horizons, Dan moved off the Island to work for less money at Le Poussin (now The Pig) in the New Forest, then to JSW in Petersfield, but he was back on the Island as head chef at The Royal when the premises in St Helens came up. With 15 years of experience now behind him, Dan took the bold move to see if he could run a restaurant. He says, “The passion to
be great was the number one priority. Of course, I was hoping to make money as well, but wasn’t chasing that at all. We started with nothing here, but because we were new everyone came to try the food, so family members worked here just to help us out.”
Since then, Dan’s Kitchen has gone from strength to strength, and offers a cleverly thought out menu. Dan uses fresh ingredients to prepare classic, simple and flavourful dishes. He says, “It’s such a cliché but less is more. I only use four or five ingredients on a plate. I don’t believe in adding sauce or an extra ingredient just for the sake of it. This was drilled into me at Le Poussin. If you use four elements cooked the best they can be, they speak for themselves. I’ve learnt modern technical cooking with baths and things, but it’s not for me so we don’t do that here. I just keep it simple and cook it well. I’ll also use elements like crab risotto or pickled vegetables on a couple of dishes. Because we have a small menu, we find ways to interchange things on the plate.”
Dan still eats in Michelin-starred restaurants to keep up with the latest trends, saying, “Finding new influences helps to refresh me. I take elements from lots of different places and trial my ideas, although one of our most popular desserts came about because we were running out of desserts one night so pulled different ingredients we had - lime curd, cream cheese, seasonal fruits, sorbet, honeycomb and ginger beer jelly to make Jimmy’s Mess. It’s named after one of the guys in the kitchen.”
Although it’s hard work, Dan’s passion for creating fine food in his own restaurant shows no signs of waning. He says, “I love the customers and the atmosphere - when everyone’s buzzing and happy, and you can hear the clang of the plates and glasses. It’s all I’ve known since I was 15, but now I have the freedom of doing what I want and being the boss of it all.”
What do you do to relax? I enjoy seeing the family or going out for a meal.
What do you eat for breakfast? A smoothie, or coffee. I often have cereal or yoghurt before I go to bed, so don’t feel like eating in the morning.
Any foods you don’t like? Hard boiled eggs. I don’t like the texture or smell. We serve hard boiled pickled quails’ eggs here sometimes, but I never eat them, I get the boys to taste them.
And foods you won’t eat? Hard boiled eggs and egg mayo sandwiches.
What does Style mean to you? To me it’s individuality - not following what everyone else does, just doing what you believe in.
September and October 2018
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