Restaurant Spy

Spy: Rose, It’s a pleasure to meet you and thank you for agreeing to talk to Restaurant Spy.

Rose: Thank you for asking me.

Your latest book, “The New English Table” has just come out on Fourth Estate. What inspired you to write it?

I always hope that my writing will help others shop, cook and eat better food. At the time of writing, food prices had begun to rise and I was hearing a lot of bad news about the health of both people and environment. So how to eat well, affordably, and in a way that is ‘green’?

The answer is to eat a wider variety of foods; be more diverse and experiment with ingredients you may not have considered before. Also, to get into a healthy rhythm, choosing which foods are ideal for everyday, and which are luxurious treats. Sort of ‘fast and feast’ - an ancient idea once familiar to us, that is still practised in the Mediterranean countries whose food we so admire. So – soups made from homemade stock, dishes made with grains like rice or barley, potted cheap cuts of meat are foods for everyday and roasts, line caught fish and, say, asparagus are my treats.

You have often said that you were never really chef material. Why not and what advice would you give to people, particularly young women, who feel that they can cook and would like to enter the catering trade?

When I tried working in restaurant kitchens, I found them too male orientated, yet paradoxically producing the fussiest type of food. Now that we have Ruth Rogers and Rose Gray, Sam(antha) Clarke and people like Margo Henderson making big waves, it is easy to forget that cooking simple food from decent ingredients in a restaurant is relatively new. When I was interested in catering, every kitchen seemed obsessed with the kind of gastronomy that pleases the Michelin guide inspectors, and I just was not into that.

If I was a woman starting out now I would aim to work in a restaurant where women’s talents are recognised; where the emphasis is on great flavours and an imaginative but practical style of cooking. I would definitely avoid anywhere where there was a hint of bullying – if there is stress in the kitchen, you can taste it in the cooking.

One of your greatest beliefs is that we should be concerned about where our food comes from. How can we do that, and do you have any secret tips for our readers?

Where food comes from – provenance – is so important because everything we demand has an impact on our environment, our economy and our health. There is no such thing as cheap food – we pay for it in the end, one way or another. Curiosity is the key to buying honest food. Read labels, ask questions. If a retailer or producer will not answer your questions, avoid them. Be demanding – if you walk into a supermarket and make a demand, your voice will (eventually) be heard. I do go to farmers’ markets and am a big fan of farm shops. I try to shop at small shops because you can interact with the person selling the food. I wrote a book called the Savvy Shopper in 2006 – it is a practical guide to ethical shopping – it will help.

You are, of course, very active in writing your books as well as undertaking various other courses and events. What do you enjoying doing the most?

I love to find new stories. The food media is pretty saturated with information but if I can come up with something new, or open a debate that breaks new ground, I am happy. Writing is a wonderful job – but I am also teaching now, which is fun, and I have an ambition to open a bakery.

When we started up Restaurant Spy in 2000, our focus was on the dining experience you had, wherever you were! Can you tell us what your ideal eating out experience would be? And where?

That is so hard to answer – I have had my most enjoyable meals in restaurants with just a few clever ideas on the menu. My favourite place to eat in London, aside from my sister Sam Clark’s restaurant Moro, is the Blueprint Café. Jeremy Lee’s food is just a step ahead of everyone else. He finds fabulous ingredients, and just knows how to handle them beautifully. No other chef can get away with serving grilled pork liver to girls! Ideally I like a restaurant with no tablecloths (let them spend the money with their food suppliers, not on laundry) and where the waiting staff are knowledgeable about the menu – they should be able to describe the food on the menu in a way that convinces you that they have tried it and love it, too. Good value for money is important- and I do not mean cheap. It is always nice if the chef-proprietor actually cooks there - I loathe rolled out ‘concept’ restaurants that ride on a famous name. Recently I have had great meals in Wild Honey, St George’s St, London W1 – which eptiomises everything I have said about value, ingredients and tablecloths. And I love Bentley’s oyster bar in Swallow Street, London W1. There is also a great restaurant on the A30 – a proper French run provincial restaurant called Clos de Marquis at the Leckford Hut, run by chef Germaine Marquis and his wife Glanis. Lots of wild food, river fish – brilliant cooking and great value.

Have you had any disastrous eating out experiences (no names!)?

Of course. Usually it is a problem with service. It is so easy to get wrong but I blame the proprietors of such places. Rude waiters, ignorant waiters, managers that try to justify bad food or service exist because they work for people who care only about one thing – money. There is no substitute for taking time to train people properly, pay them properly and get their loyalty because this translates into the way they treat customers. I once spent half an hour arguing with a beleaguered waiter in a Belgravia gastro-pub, after I complained that the moules marinieres had been reheated. It was so obvious. Why did they argue? – because there is a cheapskate running the place who thinks they can get away with it. I also think the new fashion for mini helpings is irritating. All that happens is that you become incredibly hungry and – if you are drinking wine - rather drunk. Teeny weeny piles of lovely things costing main course prices are ruined by parsimony.

Nigel Slater, a great friend of the site, urged Spy readers to go and seek you out. What do you think you have in common with him, and are there any other writers on food you would like to recommend to our readers?

Nigel Slater is singularly the best and most original food writer today because he really works at giving people a great read. Not many writers bother to do this, especially some of our esteemed chefs - and their ghost writers. They think that if their recipes are good or if they have a name they needn’t smarten up their prose. Great food writing like Nigel’s prompted me to go into it. If I ever come close I will be happy. I think he really wants to help people cook, but do it in a way that is gently inspiring and not bossy. And he is funny, which is great because we all need a break from the seriousness surrounding food. Other good writers – Anna del Conte for subtle, clever Italian. Joanna Blythman is the best food polemicist, I loved Lori di Mori and Jason Lowe’s Beaneaters and Bread Soup; Chris Hirst’s food writing in his Weasel column in the Independent (Saturday) is wonderful. I rely on a lot of old books. All of Jane Grigson’s; the Time Life books for techniques, Alice Waters’ Chez Panisse books and both volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking…

Farmers markets. Yes or no?

Yes, please – but with less soggy pastry tarts and bad cakes, more vegetables, meat, fish, cheesemakers and fruit. I enjoy going to them – my Saturday’s are enhanced by them but the rural ones need to be weekly not monthly. I am too disorganised to remember when they are taking place, otherwise.

As a final question, we like to ask people what they would have as a last supper. What would yours be?

Amuse-thingy: 2 gull’s eggs with celery salt

First course devilled crab and Richard Corrigan’s grilled Oysters Rockerfeller

Second Course - Osso Buco Milanese – Elizabeth David’s recipe and no-one else’s

Pudding: A trifle made with my boiled ginger cake and lemon syllabub

Cheese: Berkswell, Stichelton, Mimolette and a creamy runny one like St Gall from Ireland, plus buttery oatcakes

All washed down with a lovely fresh white Burgundy and a Sesti Brunello di Montalcino.

Thank you for speaking to Spy and best of luck with your new book.

Thank You!