all day long which you’re not. I remember when I was there that other chefs would say things like, “I wouldn’t take that shit; I wouldn’t put up with that; you’re just a muppet for being spoken to like that” but what they didn’t realise was that Gordon has to be one of the most generous people I’ve ever worked for. He had such a presence and you just idolised him; and whenever he really gave it to you, he always backed it up with why he’d done it. He’d never let you get onto that night bus feeling like shit; he’d always make sure that the next day you were pumped and ready to go again – that’s the only thing that documentary didn’t show. Gordon would give you anything; if you gave him one hundred per cent, he would give you everything he’d got. Did your own food style come into its own when you moved to Padstow? When I first came here I just brought what I was doing in London to Padstow. I didn’t understand the demographics of the area and I was just kind of blinded by fine dining – amuse bouches, canapés, pre-desserts and that kind of thing – the food was good but I was probably a bit too adventurous; I probably had one too many components on the plate and at the end of the day I was just 26 years old.
After three years the two guys I’d been working with decided to go their own way so I decided to take the business on myself and completely change the way we were doing things. It was right at the height of the recession and real dark times financially, but fortunately by changing the business and actually working with the times, that played a massive part in me using a lot more humble ingredients. I put a lunch menu on - £5 a course, three courses for £13.50; I completely stripped away amuse bouches, pre-desserts and canapés; I got rid of the tasting menu and just did one á la carte with six starters, six mains and six desserts, and this is still the exact ethos we’ve got now. I love turbot and John Dory and those kinds of things but they’re really expensive ingredients and I try to hit the middle ground; I try to cook absolutely amazing food but keep the price point down so that it’s not just focussed on a certain type of person. It must have been eye-opening, having come from London to suddenly have all this quality Cornish produce on your doorstep? Yes and what’s nice about Cornwall now is that, yes the first thing you associate Cornwall with is world-class fish and that hasn’t changed, but what we’ve also got now is world-class beef and lamb. Pork is really starting to come into it down here too. We’ve got brilliant vegetables and we’ve got an abundance of artisan suppliers as well.
Is it possible to pick out a couple of Cornish ingredients which are your particular favourites? I’d probably say Cornish lamb and Porthilly Oysters also the vegetables from Ross and Claire Geach from Padstow Kitchen Garden who grow a lot of vegetables for us. Do you see yourself always staying in Padstow? Yes I do see myself staying in Padstow. Sometimes it would be nice to be nearer London and sometimes you feel a bit out of the way, but I’ve got Nathan [Outlaw] and Rick [Stein] here as well which just goes to show what a brilliant area it is. I love Cornwall and hopefully one day I’ll start a family. Just living within walking distances from my businesses and not having to jump on a train or drive anywhere is just really attractive. I love London and I love visiting London but there’s so many restaurants and so much competition there so I don’t know if I would add anything to the London dining scene. I feel that I’ve got a lot to offer in this beautiful Cornish village which makes it more unique and more personal.
