And what is your thought process in a dish changing? What do you go through? Do you think - We have got Partridge coming into season now ... do you look back at a little repertoire that you have got?
You do look back to a certain extent, but I make a fairly conscious effort not to repeat dishes in their entirety.
Is that for you? Or for the customer?
If I am honest, it is probably more for me than anything else.
Fair enough.
And it is about the guys in the kitchen as well. If they stay with us for a reasonable length of time it's nice for them to see the same seasonal ingredients but you are doing something different with them.
Do you always try and progress things?
I think you always look at something and ask the question "Can we do it any better?" and part of the time that is about taking something away rather than adding something to it.
It takes a brave chef; a confident chef to do that, I think?
Umm, yes it does but I am very lucky in that if I present dishes to Eléna she is very good at saying "Why have you got that on there? Does it need it?" And we try and have an open discussion about it - Martin & Al will get involved as well. And hopefully, that then makes the dish stronger.
OK, Russell, what makes you drop a dish? Is it going out of season?
Yes, predominantly. For example, we have a Saffron Crème Brulee on the menu at the moment, now we are serving that with Lemon curd and English Raspberries - the Raspberries are now moving towards the end of their season; we are still getting English Raspberries but they are kind of borderline to drop off the end, so I have been thinking about the new dish that is going to replace it for the last two or three weeks. So, again, it's the seasonality that drives it. Very occasionally you will put a dish on and it just doesn't sell and then you have to look at it and say "It needs to go"
Yes, it does happen.
Yes, it can be a dish that you think is amazing and, in your mind, it ticks all the boxes but the customers just don't want it, so you have to change it.
So, how important is customer feedback in terms of the way you structure your menus and what goes on?
Customer feedback is very definitely important. At the end of the day, a lot of chefs may disagree but we do cook for our customers
Yes.
But it is also about the interaction with your waiting staff and the customers.
Yes, absolutely. Is there flexibility in one of your menus to accommodate specials? You know, if the fishmonger phones you up and says "Russell I have got some absolutely stunning ...."
To a certain extent, yes. Because of what we do, we try to strive for absolute consistency all the time then putting specials on is something we don't do a lot of, what we tend to do more is put specials on at lunchtime when we are trialling new dishes to go on the a la carte. So that tends to be the way it works.
You mentioned earlier, it is your own business and it is important to make sure that you are selling and you have got good interaction with the guests, but how important is costing your menus?
It is important, obviously, at the end of the day I have got wages to pay and rent to pay and so on and if we don't make margin then we don't achieve that.
What do you work to?
Umm, we have been working to round about 65%.
That's good for a restaurant, isn't it?
Not bad. We have been achieving that fairly consistently for the past few months and we are actually driving for 70 at the moment and we are doing pretty good, actually. The boys in the kitchen have bought into it - how the portion costs work, it's good for them to learn it.
Absolutely.
You know, they fillet a fish now with the invoice in front of them! (Laughter) and they can see how much the fish has cost; they know from the costing sheets that we have got that they have got £3.80 to spend on the protein section of the dish and then, "OK, how many portions can I get out of that?"
Absolutely.
But then I would always come back to "I'd rather lose a portion and make it a generous piece" because that is partly what we are about. There is nothing worst than looking at a plate of food and thinking "God, that is a tiny bit of Bass on there"
Absolutely, you don't want to have a six course tasting menu and walk out hungry.
Absolutely. No. It's about the balance, we are aiming for the margins but if we look at something and think "No I can't get five portions out of that" then I get four.
Yes, and dishes on your menu. Umm, take the 6 course tasting menu are there certain items on that menu that, perhaps won't hit the GP but you'll balance that with other dishes that will give you a greater margin.
To a certain extent. You have got to be careful with that when it is a short menu, particularly on the carte because there is only five choices and if you have one dish that is selling 60% of your sales and you are not making GP on it, then you are in trouble, so you have got to balance it. But the tasting menu probably gives you more flexibility to have the odd dish that is more expensive - you can get a better mix from that.
And in terms of your menus, you were talking about Partridge and that, how important is it to build a strong relationship with your suppliers?
Very important, I suppose because we are so small - 15 seats; tiny little kitchen; storage space we have quite rigorous requirements from our suppliers.
Do you structure your menus around your size and capacity?
Yes, because there is a limit to what you can do. You have to write a menu around the capabilities of your staff; the equipment you have got; what your suppliers can deliver. I think, if I had no restrictions, the menu would be completely different, but that is not the case and in reality it very rarely is. So yes, menus are written around all those criteria and suppliers are very important.
I think you name them on your website, don't you?
Yes, we do... and on our menus. And we always try and credit our suppliers if we are doing demos if we are using their products. We live in an area, where for me, I think the seafood and dairy produce are the real kingpins in Dorset - you know, anything from Hand-dived scallops to Lobsters; we have been getting some fantastic Brill locally; Hand-lined Portland Seabass at the moment - we are very lucky. And then you have the dairy industry - the cream; the butter; the cheeses - anywhere in the West Country they are fantastic.
OK, last but by no means least, what is your favourite menu season? And why?
It's a tough choice because all the seasons have nice elements.
You are often looking forward to the next one, aren't you?
Yes, I think your right and I think you are forced by your business to be thinking ahead. It's one of the funny things about the industry, you know you haven't had your summer holiday and we are thinking about the Christmas menu. It is hard because what you are doing now, you have almost forgotten about in one sense. Umm, I would have to pick Autumn and Winter - it brings in more variety in the cooking techniques, you start to bring in the braising and the slow cooking; good solid flavours.
And then by Spring you are looking for the lightness and all the little herbs!
Exactly. Looking forward to that first Asparagus and all the rest of it.
Russell, thank you very much.
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