Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

FOOD AND DRINK / What the new-wave restaurateur ate in one day

Sally Clarke
Saturday 23 October 1993 23:02 BST
Comments

BREAKFAST - nil. I got up, had a bath, rushed out to the car. One of the first things I do when I get to the restaurant is make a pot of English Breakfast tea for everyone - I had sugar and milk in mine. This was about 7.30 in the morning. I had another half cup at eight, and at nine we had a cappuccino all together in the kitchen. I always have to check all the vegetables and fruit for ripeness. This time I had about a quarter of an appalling plum, and a blackberry. We have staff lunch at about eleven; I had a leaf of trevisse, a kind of bitter lettuce, a raisin and a dried apricot. I was cooking all day, so tasting all day - I was making a stew of wild mushrooms with celery, garlic and rosemary, so I was tasting the juices. After lunch service we treated ourselves to a dessert. I had walnut shortbread with poached plums, blackberries and figs in spiced red wine syrup with a scoop of whipped mascarpone and cream. And I had tea as well - more English Breakfast with sugar and milk. In the afternoon, we had some fantastic runner beans in from Staffordshire so I ate some of them, raw. Later I had half a glass of some sweetish, Germanish wine at an art opening. I sat down to dinner, which I do two or three times a week, at 8.30 in the restaurant. I chose a slice of green olive bread, and the first course was three different types of tomato with the Staffordshire runner beans and buffalo mozzarella, all jumbled together with a dribbly sort of pesto and freshly baked focaccia bread. The main course was a duck's leg made into a confit, on a bed of roasted endives. On the side, a little salad of rocket, trevisse, and spider frisee - a fine, feathery lettuce. Then I had two kinds of cheese, Ticklemore and Gubbeen, both fantastic, with oatmeal biscuits and a fresh cobnut salad. For dessert, autumn fruit crumble - poached apple, plum and blackberries, with a crumble of fresh toasted breadcrumbs mixed with lots of butter and brown sugar. To drink with the meal, Chateau de Boursault champagne, then a Californian wine called Edmunds St John, and a Savigny-les-Beaune 1980. To finish, mint tea and chocolate truffles - we make them here and they're the best in England. I drank lots of sparkling water, which I make myself do. And that's the lot.

(Photograph omitted)

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in