Hi guys, welcome to another episode of Chef Life where we're with one of my good friends
Marty from the Clarendon Hotel near Grassington. Yeah really keen to be looking forward to
this one. I think while coming. Should be good. Did some filming back in January but
never we weren't quite at the podcast stage. We've come back for a second tour type thing
but yeah man so yeah really keen for this one so what have you been up to? Just got
back from Australia? Yeah so me and my partner went to Australia early Feb. We were there
for six weeks because Tess is actually a dual citizen and then we got back first of
April after the award ceremony in London for the E-Game Awards. It's just been non-stop
really from then. Feels like we haven't actually been. Fantastic awesome. So where did you,
so we've been working with you now probably a year and a half I'd say. So what kind of
brought you to here? What brought me to the Dalles was actually Chefs of Chefs, I didn't
say that's the way I met Will and Andy from Shibton Mill actually. I said yes to just
one day in Crescenton, loved it. So I was there for about six months. Being the head chef
there where we were trying to implement a taste in menu trying to bring something a
bit different to what was just a basic pub. Winner then at the Woolly sheep. That then
sort of in our opinion slowly slide the brewery weren't warning what we were wanting. Then
I got a message from one of the guys in the kitchen here who I worked with previously
and just said look we're looking for a chef. Did you fancy it? So looked online. I kind
of knew about Lionel and what he'd done. You know like the ethos of the pub and that
was it really. Been here two years. I wanted to do something a bit better. I wanted to
improve myself as a chef. I wanted to get away from just pub food. Focus on more of
the fine dining bits and being able to experiment properly without someone behind you saying
you can't really do that. He's very good at letting me have free rein and experiment with
different flavours. So that's why we got in touch with the other guys. We still use
you guys now. It's just an incredible place to work. We are massive on game. The amount
of game we go through is sickening at times. I think it's really interesting what you're
able to do with that. So I really like game. But then I'd say not everyone feels that way.
But then when you taste your food I think it opens it up. I've always been a fan of
game. We've got family in Scotland who love the stuff. So when I came here I was already
quite knowledgeable of it but not to the extent I am now. A lot of people either love it or
hate it. So what we try and do is even though you know you're eating either grouse, patridge
or pheasant which some people go, ooh it's a bird, I don't want to eat it. We try and
implement it so it's you know what it is but you can't actually tell it's standard game
kind of flavour. Pigeon, malard and grouse are very ironing, very game strong in my opinion.
Whereas your patrues, your pheasants are very quite vanilla. So a bit like chicken in a
bowl. We did a taste of menu recently actually and so many people said I didn't know game
could be done this way. That was the whole point. Everyone can do like a red bird, grouse
or malard with beetroot and chocolate which we have done before but we want to try and
broaden it with the Japanese influencers or the Korean influencers or Indian influencers.
And we are slowly slowly getting to where more and more people are eating or choosing
game off the menu which you know it's fantastic.
What we found really interesting of late is your setting I mean besides it's what I imagine
an American would think of the Oxford Ales. It's a very country pub, it's very old school
you know. It's a location, location, location but then do you find with your customer base
is it predominantly locals or are you getting people travelling?
I mean depending on what time you are, I mean especially now we are coming into the summer
it is I'd say it's more 60-40 in the favour of tourists. We've got a lot of holiday cottages
in here then we've got loads of B&B's in Grassington who do venture out. Obviously in
the winter times it is more locals but even the locals now are coming in and they used
to have just pies or fish and chips. They are experimenting more with the alacaca.
I think that to me is really interesting because if you look at again, chip willow,
chip de millon, you've got a localish pub that I imagine you know Joe's had the same
beer for the last 12 years from behind the bar but then you are allowing him to venture
into these Japanese flavours which is the other side of the world.
To what they've probably grown up with. I think that's testament to you as a chef and
again what Lionel sort of said out here, enabled to push that and I think it's a really cool
little experience getting an amth try something new.
It's mad, I'm from Halifax so I'm always looking at what Will's doing. He's ridiculous.
We've had a conversation before, he's scary what he can do and he's done such a good job
there. Like I said a bit like here, he's taken something which has always been known as a
very good pub but if you didn't know where it was you'd never find it. It's just middle
of nowhere in a way, down by a river bank and you walk in and I feel like the chip de
millon is more of a traditional feel than here. It's a bit dark, it's a bit, it's very
pubby here. I mean my partner went, last year we walked in and he'd go right we're in a
proper pub and then all of a sudden the food comes in and you go okay we're not in a pub
anymore. It's incredible. We are trying to do that here but we also have to remember
the roots of the pub. There aren't many people in Hebden, we have to cater for everybody's
needs. Some people just want to come in and have a gammon and it is frustrating sometimes
because all you want to do is come on try this. We've worked really hard on this but
then again at the same time other people just come and they go we've actually heard of,
we've seen you guys on whatever. We've come to try.
Don't you think that's the beauty when you step back from what your core job is, whenever
you decided to get any chef in, you've got all these other elements in play for that
role. So you're not just in the kitchen, you've got to figure out right okay well you know
Margaret and Sue want a gammon steak but then actually Dave is really interested in
trying a teriyaki whatever and then I'm doing this with Enison and then I'm going to try
this different ingredient and then you've got all these different sort of levels to your
role. There you're having to bring into the way you influence that menu and then equally
run the kitchen. I think it's fascinating just that at different levels as to how your
job, probably what you imagined it would be, then spanning out.
I mean whoever goes into a kitchen and thinks all you're going to do is cook, you need a
reality check. If you're a commie or a CDP that's pretty much what you're going to be
doing but I never realised until I mean this is my first head chef position and I didn't
realise at all how much I actually went into running a kitchen. It's not a laser, it's
not just cooking and playing up some food, it's you know this person can't have this
or this person can't have that because you know there'll be pearl eggs and you've got
to be so on it and so on the ball.
Then pushing yourself as well with it.
Exactly.
You know I think that's really like it inspires us to a degree in terms of what we do because
I've said before with some of our other customers you know like when I look at innovation I
do have you in my mind and Will in my mind is something to be like okay cool I think
Will might like that but I think Matty might like that and Matty's both something similar
before and I reckon I'll go for that so that's pretty wicked.
So that equally pushes us to get out of my comfort zone and try and think more like you
guys which yeah that gives me sort of energy within the role you know within the business
which is pretty cool.
Yeah it's a bit like that when you do a menu because you know we're all up for trying
to complete different things but also you've got to look at the past couple of menus you've
gone on and then you look back at what sold the best and then you've got to go well that
sold really well so not necessarily keep it the same but you keep it similar or change
it up slightly because you know it's going to sell or do you take that risk and a couple
of times you know we've gone over going to completely change it and it's backfired and
you go right okay we need to kind of bring it back to this because again with it being
very Yorkshire pub and the people around here are very traditional once they've stepped
out of their comfort zone they're only going to step out of it further a tiny bit they're
not going to go from one to nine they're going to go one two three four so you've got to
slowly bring it back.
But it keeps things exciting it really does you know some dishes will go around we're
going to complete change it I mean we've got a tartare of trout on which we get from 400
yards down the road and that is very very much cottage food based.
All the ingredients there from you guys and that influence so we haven't really changed
it and then we changed it actually last week but still we've kept that Japanese influence
so we've got you know we've got the wasabi going on it now instead of egg yolk we've
got roasted sesame dressing on it instead of the aged soy so we're still kind of keeping
the initial idea of the dish there but we're trying to change it up just level it up a
tiny bit and just you know to change it up so we're not you know we don't want to be
stagnant we don't want people to come in and predict what we're doing we want people to
go around what they're going to do next time we're here.
I think it's interesting though because if you live in little villages like round here
you know you're given those customers access to somewhere they can have miscellaneous quality
food as well as you know having chips you know whatever and that's that sort of back
that sort of old school world water like heart of the community I think that's we've talked
a lot with customers recently around what we're seeing more of is people like yourself
people like Will and those sorts of outlets where actually you catering to a variety of
needs and price points where you know I can go celebrate my daughter's birthday and have
fantastic meal for a celebration that I wouldn't have anywhere else in the world or you can
go and come and have gammon eggs. You've got one location for lots of different occasions.
And that's why we're so lucky to be in the position we are with the game I mean going
back to Shibdon Mill we ate there last year we had the tasting menu and we had the tasting
menu we did the wine pairing and the bill came and we were both staggered at how little
it was and we you know if you'd shut your eyes and just eating the food you would not
have known you were in Yorkshire in a pub. I mean with the game here we get four or five
different types of birds we get deers most of the year we get rabbits most of the year
and we're getting them first we're getting them for cheap you know we pay a fraction
of a price most restaurants would say deers we get the whole deer in we get we skin it
ourselves we break it down so we take the bones for stocks and it allows us to give
people that sort of Rolls Royce cut of meat without having to pay 40, 50, 60 quid for
it and it's a nice feeling when people come in and they go why can we have that for such
a little amount of money and we use that to our advantage because we have such a great
variety of different meats and we have such incredible access of them we are able to do
it for slightly less money so people don't have to come out and break the bank they
can have a rosette awarded meal and not have to break into a 50 pound note.
Yeah but then it's interesting because I think that you know we talked a lot with the lockdown
thing and stuff about keeping it open all this stuff it was kind of a vibe and I feel
like it's gone away but actually what I really like sort of personally is again that so you
know and I know as a consumer that you know the guy who shot the deer exactly I know the
deer like you've butchered itself which is a total different skill set and then it's
served on a plate it's a whole farm to fork thing in the alley.
We know exactly where it's come from we know how old it is you know the guy who shoots
deer as far as it comes in here once a week and eats our trout farmer and he's drinking
here every Saturday night and the actual shoot they shoot from maybe half a mile up the road
they're all personal friends of Lionel's they're all obviously now friends of mine and you know
you'll just come out on any night of the week and one or two of them will be here and we'd
like to keep it as like a close knit community so then we know exactly where things are coming.
We've got you know locals who live in Grassington and you know one of them they'll knock on
the door and just have a massive box of artichokes because you know they've got there's three
or four allotments down the road and it's go look if you ever need anything let us know
so we'll go pick herbs from there we'll go pick you know nasturtiums from there we'll
go you know there's apples as fennels and everything and we try and keep it as local
as we can.
That's inevitably you know again going back to the tourist thing like if you want to
experience Yorkshire and Yorkshire but like that to me is true what you'd read the name
of Blighton or Tarknobble isn't it?
Exactly.
It's that local community local village like where you're getting the full experience
of what Mother Nature's given you and then you're you know pimping it up to a degree with
awesome ingredients you're getting from around the world you know and then allowing them
those flavours but with things that you know where they come from you know even through
and through our arse that's really cool.
I mean don't get me wrong you can never you're never going to be able to supply a full menu
from a small area so we do use Hodgson's fish they are based in the Hartley pool we
use R&J which in my opinion are the best butchers that they are fantastic I mean but they're
in Rippon so that's still Yorkshire.
Cheeses we get from courtyard dairy which again, well he's Lancashire now isn't he?
Yeah.
I mean you guys are Yorkshire but yes you know he's Japanese and green but it's still fairly
local suppliers and especially with the times we're in it's scary you know we'll sit down
once a week once a couple of weeks and go through all the bills etc and it's you see
things slowly going up and how the hell are we going to get through this time.
Use local suppliers, use the people in your community and use your friends for you know
you scratch our back we'll scratch yours and it's saved us so many times.
I think that's the thing I think what's interesting with the UK I find is I listened to a lot of
podcasts but it was by an American guy and he was saying like there's a real disconnect
nowadays around like people don't know the name from and that local community and I think
the Brits are built on that you know being an island nation but then you go into a larger
city and stuff you know you don't have an A.
No I mean we've just moved house and we know one neighbour because she's lovely and she's
taking our bins out for us but that's it but I mean in Hebden you walk down the road everybody
knows who you are because I'm sure it's especially working here but you know who they are you
know where they live you know roughly how old they are you know what family members they've
got and it's such a beautiful place to work and to be a part of and it's just it's amazing
you know we're very keen on that.
You're all given that versus say Wakefield where I'm sort of sent me from like you know
I don't know the enough of the locals there to know what I'm eating just pick up up whereas
those guys I you know I know Bob and Sheila or whatever they'll come here till the day
they die because they know you they know what they're eating but they're getting that experience
of again Rosette missing quality food in my opinion on the table which you wouldn't get
in a major city.
No you wouldn't.
For the price you'd be paying in a rambiana, what would you put them here or something
like.
Probably not.
Yeah so it's not so I just think it's really cool what you guys are delivering in this area
and again in my opinion like a really strong representation of what Yorkshire is you know
how Yorkshire is going through and that's where my heartland is isn't it.
I think it's really cool and then equally bringing in these different flavours and giving
people those experiences of how you've infused it into quality Yorkshire project.
That's it you know we completely understand people can't always afford to eat out and
we know people can't afford to eat out more than twice a week maybe on occasions.
But don't you think people find the money if it's worth the quality.
Oh 100% if you know I'm a firm believer in if it's worth it I'll happily pay for it.
If it's not and it's someone doing it because just to make an extra few quid then I'm not
going to go and support their business.
And again that's what we try and do we want people to go and get you know what no that
was worth every single penny we paid for.
And sometimes it batches in the foot you know we sometimes go right we haven't you know
the margin is good this time but people come back.
Exactly and it's about how you wive lint in this business the last six years.
A sleep's over eight it's apparently.
But you know you've got to you've got to fail you've got to fail you've got to fall
and you've got to figure out what you do with that and then how do you come back.
Exactly.
You know if you can't then.
It's all a learning curve if you start something as a business what I've been shown I mean
Lionel's fantastic at showing me the in and out of the business because obviously.
But you're heavily involved in this place you tell me.
Yeah I try to be and it's it's sort of using him for his knowledge which he'll openly
admit he wants me to do you know because the end goal is for myself and my partner test
to have our own business whether that's a restaurant or a pop-up stall or whatever.
And if you think you're going to go into somewhere and not have any issues you need a reality
check whether it's food costs are too high or your water bills too high or even something
simple the chair like broken.
Yeah.
You've got to either pay someone or you've got to find the time and the money to repair
that and I know someone who went into a restaurant first ever head chef job first years nothing's
ever gone wrong you know my GP's this high and it's like okay sweet.
And then the reality was his GP was a third of what it should have been because he hadn't
been checking it he just thought it was this living in a cloud situation is like you've
got to be prepared to fall and it's how you like you said it's how you get back up from
that.
Yeah you've got to dust yourself off and go again because it's not easy.
No.
And that's how you determine the good from the great.
Yeah.
In my opinion.
Yeah you just got to keep going.
That's kind of the key with it but it's no I think you know you're definitely on that
trajectory of doing your own thing so just going back a bit so how what's the next step
what brought you into chef and then what kind of take me from young Matty to.
I mean my story of this and my mother's story of this will be very different I've always
enjoyed cooking and I hate to say because I think he's an horrendous chef but Jamie Oliver
got me into cooking.
Yeah he was the first people man.
He was the first people sorry he was the first person who made cooking look cool.
Yeah yeah yeah.
And then he ruined school dinners.
Yeah.
And my mum would say out from two years old he was on a stool staring empty bowls in the
living room pretending he was a TV chef which is probably true.
Yeah.
But I've always loved cooking and it's only it's really the only thing I've ever been
kind of half decent at.
Yeah.
I was never fantastic at school.
Yeah.
I was always the kid at school parents evening he goes he tries his best he makes him laugh
but he tries his best which is the worst thing you can ever hear as a parent because
it's he's not doing very well.
It's not practical.
So yeah going to cooking starting an apprenticeship.
So I was like you know what I really want to see what I can do with this.
Easy as glamorous as people say or is it just an absolute nightmare it's both.
Yeah.
And then I never really looked back started a little deli in a little deli in Linley in
Huddersfield.
Nice.
They had a restaurant a couple of doors down which is Tapas.
Yeah.
So I was there three nights a week deli three days a week and then that was it really moved
to a restaurant called Erics.
Yeah.
Which is you saw the Huddersfield celebrity shall we say.
Yeah.
I learned a lot from him of some things what to do some things not what you know what not
to do.
But he drilled into me.
Yeah.
Nothing leaves until it's perfect.
Yeah.
Whether it is the first time played it all the night of the time you've played it you
have to make sure things are perfect.
That's it.
And it's fell in love with it.
I fell in love with the hours which is a very strange thing to say because I have no
social life.
Yeah.
I'm very lucky to have a partner who's also in the trade.
Yeah.
We both work here now.
Yeah.
She moved up here in May.
What's she doing here?
She's running out of print or she's helping run out of print.
Yeah.
We wanted to work together before we take the big step there.
Yeah.
We don't kill each other.
Yeah.
I always love cooking.
I still love cooking now.
People say to me you're not tired of cooking when you get home.
I was like well no because it's sometimes when it's 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock at night
I don't want to cook.
Yeah.
But I mean I'm a days off.
I'm going home today.
I'm cooking a lot of food for a couple of people.
I just love it.
I love exploring different flavours, different cuisines.
It's just a real passion of mine.
It's the only craft brother.
It's not normal.
Exactly.
I love the feeling of creating something and there's a smile on my face.
As soft as it sounds or as cheesy as it sounds.
Someone tries that and they go that's fucking nice.
Yeah.
It's a good satisfying feeling.
Yeah.
And I don't think that ever will go away.
Yeah.
So I can't see myself ever doing anything other than cooking.
Yeah.
Which is rare because I know a lot of chefs sadly who have fallen out with the trade.
Because maybe the hours are just, you know, in summer especially the heat of the kitchen
is unrailed.
The levels are great.
Yeah.
The levels are great.
I think what I've learned in this is that, you know, you get some people it's just a
job.
Yeah.
It pays the bills.
I've worked with a lot of people it's just a job.
Yeah.
And then, you know, you go from that to people like yourself, well, you know, like, there's
just, there's a marked difference between care and interest and everything else amongst
it.
But then equally you can tell that in terms of what you serve.
And inevitably I think why I've always got frustrated with some people in different roles
being like, but you can earn a lot more, you can fulfill life goals, earn money, whatever
it is that's on your agenda, just by putting more effort into whatever it is that you're
doing.
Exactly.
Yeah.
I mean, not necessarily just in our industry, but in any industry you go to, the more,
yeah, the more what you put in, the more successful you'll be.
And I'm a firm believer in money doesn't mean you're successful.
Yeah.
Going home happy every day in my eyes is being successful.
I would rather get by and have a smile on my face and, you know, know that I've done
well.
Yeah.
Then I'm miserable, but it's all right.
I've got 100k in the bank.
Yeah.
But don't be buying them.
So my best friend's Leah, she went, no, we'll be listening to this to shout out to him.
Like he epitomizes to me like, you know, I try and surround myself with people like you,
him and things that were the sort of the level up their own game.
So I know Lee started with NHS direct just on the phones and now he's some senior director
in DHL, you know, and he's just grounded out, not be focused on money, but being focused
on being the best at what he does.
And then I see elements that you in will and all these other people are like, that's, that's
why I want to inspire, you know, you inspire me by being like that.
I don't want to come to you with some subpar problem.
Oh, it's from Japan, bro.
Yeah.
What is it?
Yeah.
Some Japanese stuff.
I wanted to be shit hot.
Yeah.
I think if you can find your passion, whatever you do with that, whether it's like running
a deli, doing what you do, doing what I do, doing what Rihanda's were, but like that's
the key.
Like just you want to be the best we do.
Don't worry about money.
So it takes, I think he's taken me too long to realize that message.
Yeah.
Once you get it, you get it.
Exactly.
I mean, it took a while for me to sort of get that sort of philosophy about, you know,
how working hard, not necessarily had to work hard, but obviously the harder you work,
the younger, the more beneficial you'll get when you're older.
You will be able to take more time off for your family, you know, because ideally you've
got your own place.
And I said, money doesn't bring happiness, but you know, you work harder, you sacrifice
your young years.
It does give you that stability in life so you can treat your family, you can treat your
friends, etc.
But it gives you an experience like you've just been Australian.
Exactly.
Like if you were doing some better job that you weren't asked for, you're not having that
experience.
Oh, God, no.
I mean, when Australia was absolutely fantastic and some of the food over there was unbelievable.
Some, you know, certain food I knew I'd be getting, but others I've never thought.
Is that giving you inspiration?
Oh, 100%.
Where do you take your inspiration from?
Is it through travelling and trying like we'll?
Yeah, so I'm a big fan of eating out.
We don't always have the time to do it.
And obviously with everything going on, we've got a wedding to plan for, etc.
We don't necessarily always have the funding to go out.
So we always look for little local restaurants.
Nice.
There's a restaurant in Skid to Call of Fendi.
It's not the prettiest food, but I got it taste like it's fantastic.
So eating out always gives me inspiration.
Things I see on either YouTube, you know, I'm always watching chef videos on YouTube.
Just what, you know, what are the chefs doing?
Whether it's a pasta restaurant down the road or it's a three-much thing.
So just what ingredients does it take to make this kind of dish?
So I always get inspiration from that.
Even reading a book, you know, I've got several cookbooks at home and I'll just pick one of
the ones I've read, not necessarily for the pictures or, you know, the food, just to get
your mind going.
Exactly, yeah.
It's constantly going.
I've got notes and notes on my phone and just dish ideas or elements I've seen or thought
of.
You know, I'll take Larry out for a walk in the morning and you go down there.
There's wild watercress, there's three-corned leeks, there's wild garlic, there's crab
apples, there's elderflowers and you just get your mind going.
What can I do with that next week or what can I do with this when it comes up?
I think that's, for me, we've sort of taken on board from people like yourself.
Like we're trying to be a creative business for creative people, which I think is a different
approach from Greetings to Fly because I think it's underrated how creative you have to be
in your role, like, you know, painting a picture or whatever and the typical creative person
that you think.
But yeah, it's really interesting in terms of how your mind has to work to see that and
then go, right, cool, like this and wild watercress there, what can I do with that?
I've got really wild venison and whatever you're doing and your mind, it's just the
steps that you must be taking, like subconsciously to a degree.
Yeah, there are things really interesting.
Yeah, I mean, Gordon Ramsay talked to me a point a minute, years ago, he said, you bush
your ass for 14, 15 hours a day and the plate goes out in two minutes and then the customer
will eat that and go, that was nice.
A lot of people don't actually appreciate how much time goes into not even being a headshed,
just a chef, me and my lads in there were working 12, 13, 14 hour days and then someone
goes, oh, well, that wasn't to my liking.
It hurts, it does hurt, but then it's, you've got to understand you're never going to please
100% of the people.
Sad Bains once said, I'm not a master in food, I'm a master in my food.
So once you sort of listen to that and you get that into you, well, if you don't like
it, I'm sorry, you don't like it.
I know it's good.
My boss knows it's good and he backs the pub on this decision, etc.
Will, Andy, Tommy Banks and things like that, they'll all say the same, like, someone don't
like it, they don't like it, you can't please them.
It's funny, Mark at the hour yesterday, you made a similar good comment there, so he was
like, you might, on a chef advisor, whatever, you'll get 20 good reviews that week, five
stars and you'll get one.
And that one is the one you look at?
Yeah, and he's like, that's it, we'll trash my week.
And I'm like, oh, I get it.
But then I feel the same in our industry, like if we deliver something, you're so poor
and you were unhappy about it, we'd do 400 deliveries a week.
Oh, it'd be devastating.
You want that perfection, even though that perfection is, it's not realistic because
you're never going to please everyone.
No, no, it's just going to move them parts.
But then I find that the suit of that keeps you sharp.
Oh, 100% it keeps you on top, it keeps your head going, it keeps you on top of your game
because you want to be the best you can do.
But then I also feel going back to the sort of Brit's relationship with food, to the
center of my orchestra, what I've learned through meeting and getting close to people
like yourself and willing things is that actually when I come somewhere like this, you know
about what I like, it's about what you're going to show me, what food should be like.
And it's my experiencing your taste.
And that's why I like the tasting and you've really got into that because I'm like, oh,
Jesus, that's fucking awesome.
You know what I mean, and I think that's, I think there's the need to be a sort of cultural
shift with Sarah Averidge, Joe, in terms of that's how you should experience.
If I just want to say can choose, I'll go to a green king.
Yeah, exactly.
But then it's more around treating my pound note as an experience and viewing it in a
different way.
Exactly.
I mean, a lot of, a lot of people, I'd say a lot of people, but you know, people who
go into a random pub or whatever, they don't necessarily appreciate food, they just want
to be fed.
Yeah.
And it's a difference to people who go to somewhere for the experience.
They go, you know, we, we're wanting to get into the tasting menu is a bit more because
it allows us to again, experiment with different things.
Yeah.
And it's, it just allows people who actually do appreciate food cooked well and the time
taken to just go, never thought of that.
Yeah.
And it's not just a meal, it is the experience.
It's the wine that we pair with it.
It's the knowledge of our front of house team and myself and Lionel and we'll, we'll, we'll
come and talk to it.
But it's heartbreaking sometimes when you come in and that's my pie.
It's like, oh, come on.
Don't get wrong, there's nothing wrong with a pie, but it's just food, isn't it?
It's like, that's the worst thing you could take.
It's just food.
It just keeps me going for the day.
It's like, I go, get out.
We don't want your cuskin.
But then don't you find it really strange that like, so for example, I'm on with that,
could go on a holiday and they'll try something new on holiday, but they won't try something
new in the UK.
And I'm like,
Oh, it's different culture.
Yeah.
Fuck off.
But again, it's my mindset is that I would want to try something new from you because
I might not have eaten with you before and I'll try something different will because
I've not eaten well before.
And it's that you, you're understanding that chef's creativity on the plate.
What can they do with different ingredients?
What things I'd never have experienced again because you will cook different.
Will cook different things.
Oh, you can give, you can give me and will like I already said, a cook bag with a piece
of lamb, tomatoes and something else.
Yeah.
And the dishes wouldn't nothing would be the same.
Yeah.
I might steal a few things from him.
Yeah.
But you know, I find it really interesting that like, and people's approach towards it.
I just think, you know, my one of my friends, Johnny, there's a nice Italian restaurant
in Wakefield and it's, we go there quite frequently, his friends and he's like, why would you order
steak and telling us you want to order the most Italian thing you can have because that's
going to be the best thing I do.
And the same with like, if I come in here, you know, rejected place, I want what the
chef exactly thinks is the best.
There's a place in Burma market.
Right.
If you've ever been, you need to go.
Yeah.
They may pass the pressure every day.
It's very cheap as well.
A plate of pastries about eight quid.
Yeah.
I mean, for London alone, that's a piece.
And we went a couple of years ago, we had a trip to London and we just sat down, we looked
at the menu and it was one of those places where you go, I would have one of everything
if I could.
Yeah.
So the waitress came over and said, what would you like?
I was like, not a clue.
Just bring us anything.
Yeah.
Best thing we've ever done.
Really?
Some of the food was incredible and it's, one of them was the manager's favorite, one
of them was the chef's favorite.
And then they chucked us something just to say, there you go.
Really?
And one of them, he was literally pasta, pounds and anchovy emulsion with like a focaccia
rosemary, breccone on top.
That was it.
Lovely.
And it was one of the best dishes I've ever eaten.
Simple.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just trust the people cooking.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
That's what you need to do.
Yeah, absolutely.
And with your time in Australia, what have you taken from, how did you find the food
team out there?
I'd say the best way I can describe it is, across between England and America.
Yeah.
Without the sizes at the same time.
So we went to a few barbecue joints and it was some of the best meat I've ever eaten.
Awesome.
I've taken that from, things like that.
They've got a lot, I mean a lot of Japanese influence over there.
There's so many sushi restaurants, so many restaurants who are, you know, our inspiration
is Asian.
There was a restaurant called Yakimono, which we went to for my birthday actually, in the
city.
And again, some of the best food I've ever eaten.
And it's things I've had before, but not done in that way.
And it's the Japanese culture of food, it blows my mind.
It's so simple, but at the same time it's some of the most complex food I've ever tried.
And it's just unreal.
And at other times, you know, you can go to the Chippy, get fish and chips and some fried
dim sum.
Whoever out there, I'm stating this on record, fish and chips in Australia is not as good
or better than English fish and chips.
It's just not.
I think that, I think a Brit I've got that name.
They don't do curry sauce, don't do mushy peas.
Mushy peas are violent anyway.
But my partner did say, I'll wait till your fish and chips are Australian, as I was expecting
this amazing, it's gummy shark, I've never had it before.
Fantastic.
Nah, it just doesn't hit the same.
They cook it in oil, don't cook it in oil, cook it in beef fat.
That's how it should be.
End of.
Three years of your life.
I'm very sorry if I offended any Australians, your fish and chips are as good as ours.
But the food over there is, it's another level.
I would always say to someone if they've never been, just if you can, go, yes it's
expensive to get there, depending on what time of year you go.
But just go, you'll never regret it.
And has Tess given you any recipes from ours that you've tried?
What's her speciality in the home?
Do you know what, she enjoys cooking but she doesn't.
Why would she when I do?
Some of her bacon is unreal.
Her cookies are incredible.
Dad's cheesecake is probably the best cheesecake I've had.
I'll probably say her best recipe is her fudge recipe.
It's like no other.
Solid.
Yeah.
Cooking wise, she knows the basics.
You can do a good stir fry.
You've got to answer this carefully.
I know, she will listen to this.
She knows what she's good at and that's, she'll stick to that.
She will occasionally try something.
When we've got an air fry for Christmas and the first thing she'll have to do is cook
belly pork.
She will try different bits.
But she's very comfortable with what she knows.
So if there's any experiment in the house, it's maybe burning the kitchen down probably.
And if you take in, because I think it must be interesting from your perspective, sort
of, you know, having a relationship with a foreigner, it's possible.
Like, because you must get influenced from her in terms of time in Australia and then
like how that changes your thinking on the menu.
I do kind of wonder like how much is like subconscious there, where you're thinking
of the boys and then obviously live with an Aussie and he's brought, he's opened my mind
to another part of the world.
Again, we said before we started the podcast, I never thought I'd go.
Yeah.
And different food styles that I never thought I would not necessarily be interested in,
but ever come across.
Yeah.
And it has opened my mind to, you know, even down to how they season and cook a steak.
The method is very similar, but the preparation before that is different, you know, and their
smoking meats is, you know, they've created their own way.
That's the Americans having never been to America.
So I wouldn't know, but it's going to have to be really good to be the Australians.
Yeah.
And Tessa's dad is, if you were to sort of look at an Australian without knowing they
were from Australia, you'd go, you're definitely Australian.
Big guy, big beard, kind of thing.
Loves his smoke.
He's got two smokes in the garden and it's, it's just a completely different lifestyle
over there.
Yeah.
Awesome.
Because I think it's interesting, especially seeing that you guys specialising in game.
In my head, game is a very British thing.
And then, you know, how you're going to use those influences from your travels and equally
your personal life into that.
And I'm sure there will be some, you know what I mean?
Because game is such a, like I say, this classic pairing, but then it's like how you
take up the next level, which you've already done.
And then how that continues to evolve.
I think it's really interesting.
We did have a few conversations over there, but like, BBQ's are everyone knows.
Australian BBQ's are another level.
And we were talking about how we'd implement.
So like a deer, because they don't really, they do get a venison over there, but not
the rate we do.
But if you ask them what a pheasant is, they have no idea.
Right.
But we know, how could you implement, instead of doing like a brisket, do it with a venison
leg.
So me and my dad, my dad, we're talking about how he prepares a slow cooked piece of meat.
How I would.
Yeah.
And then we would sort of jot things down to it.
What could we do with this?
We've got a few ideas in the making, obviously.
Yeah.
Don't want to say it in the interesting case, it backfires.
And we go, that was a stupid idea.
Yeah.
That's awesome though, man.
And again, going back to where we sort of started this conversation, I'm like, you
are a little village pub in the Oxydage.
We are.
You couldn't get any more middle of nowhere than this.
Yeah.
I think there's one pub, maybe three miles away, which is more nowhere than we are.
I know you're taking about like 17 tractors coming in.
So yeah, it's what it is.
Oh, we had an incident down there the other day.
That's one of the dog.
But yeah, I mean, but that's really cool.
Like I think that's really good.
And I don't know whether you see it as cool because you're in it, but looking from the
outside in like that's cool.
Like you're taking all this, like from literally to the side of the world, there would be our
Japanese ingredients or your experiences with tests and being abroad and then putting
it into this tiny little country pub.
I mean, you walk through the doors, the last thing you're going to expect is to see the
obviously we've got quite a few walls on the wall.
Yeah.
So the last thing you're going to expect to see from you look at it and you go, this
could be a pub.
Yeah, you've got a fucking musket on the wall.
I mean, like, exactly.
There's a deer head.
There was a deer that was being taken down.
But all you can see is game and you go, oh, it's just country.
Yeah.
This is what we are.
This is what we live and breathe.
And then you're going to implement in that person's experience those sort of ostracian
type, their ingredients and taste and flavours and the way down in the methods that you're
talking about.
I just think that's really cool.
And again, equally testament to you in terms of how your mind's thinking and that creativity
again.
Yeah.
It's really cool.
I mean, when we started talking with you guys, when we first started, this relationship
with suppliers, et cetera.
We were talking about the game with the Japanese team and someone said to me, why would you
do that?
Why wouldn't it work?
Yeah, exactly.
At the end of the day, it's a piece of meat.
Everything goes together.
Yeah.
And that's a bit different to that one.
And it is working so far.
Yeah.
Don't get me wrong, not all meats we would do with the Japanese ingredients.
Some we do try and keep things, or certain things fairly classical also with Lionel
being French.
Yeah.
You know, we don't want to just be, oh, we do that or that.
We want someone to come and get, well, there's three different types of cuisine on here,
but they're all the same, they're all, they all work in the same way.
But you've got to keep trying.
You've got to keep the same with us.
You know, I could, we carry now pretty much 200 Japanese products and we've gone quite
hard in Italian, especially at the moment.
I could just sit there and go, that is a good enough range that would take you two years
to work your way through everything and try and it will lots of different bits of both.
But I'd be bored of shit.
I want to come to who's fucking awesome.
You know, but that keeps me entertained, so it probably gives everyone else, you know,
headaches, but it's worth it though, isn't it?
You've now got to be careful with your salt boost.
But I think that, but then it keeps us fresh, keeps you guys fresh and you've got to keep
trying and trying.
But if you come to me absolutely buzzing off your head because you've just got this new
product in, I'm going to be more intrigued to try it.
I was like, well, if he's this excited, it's surely going to be good.
He wouldn't blow smoke up his house for no reason.
There's been the hot fuck with that.
I'll tell you what though, that's Sancho powder you brought with blue mad.
We tried it last night and I was like, what is this?
Tell you what though, try it and then drink still water.
It tastes like, it tastes like soda water.
It's mad, we've just created this new thing.
But yeah, like, you know, you've, you know, if there's any...
That's not a soda screen company, brother.
Write that down, write that down.
Million dollar idea.
There you go.
Fuck cooking.
But yeah, you know, your message me and just say, interested in this, you know, what do
you think?
And you'll send me a sample and you go, sometimes it's not for us.
And then other times we go, fuck, right, get it written on a, like, get it onto the dish
now.
And then we just work, we just work it into something.
If you can't, so we just create it.
My job, as I see it, or our job as a little business is I just want to give you ideas.
It's you who's got to build the play.
Yeah.
So even if like, we've just got these two new awesome me, so it was listed on the distedy.
So I love them.
Nice.
I love them.
That's like, brother, I'm not gonna lie.
But we unpack up, we're off.
No, but it's like, it's, it's how do you, I'd rather you try it and go, it's not for me
now, but at some point you may revisit it because you can, you'll be on the little walk, you'll
find something about, oh, actually I'll work really well.
Yeah.
And that's why we appreciate you guys coming up when we first met here with doing a, you
know, sampling and tasting things.
I mean, some of the ingredients I'd never heard of, some of the ingredients I'd never
tried or again, never thought I would try.
And then whilst I was tasting, I was like, well, that I've worked with this, that I've
worked with this.
And then the other two doing it were like, oh, that's really cool.
And I'm like, right, what can we do?
And it's just forever like that.
I mean, we came down to see you guys in the new warehouse and we left and Tessus went,
you get to do that for a living.
And I went, no, I get that's a perk of what I kind of do.
And you sold it to her, you know.
I worked really hard all the time.
And I was in a hard life.
It was an hard life.
Someone's, you know, not here as well, Kate.
But, you know, even she was going, why don't you do, you know, one of those saws, it was
actually the Koji saw.
We use that a lot.
Yeah.
We actually got a bottle at home and she was like, why don't you do it with something
like this?
And it's like, for someone who she loves food, she loves good food, but she doesn't have
that sort of foodie drive that I would have.
Yeah.
But you even got her going on ideas.
Yeah.
To me, that's somewhat different, you know, not, you know, you wouldn't go to R&J and
they go, yeah, try this beef fillet.
I like working with customers or suppliers who will take the time out to look after you.
You go down to Kort, you had dairy.
They'll mean to us when last summer and we were there an hour trying different cheeses
just so we can get, so they could sell us the right cheese for us.
And it's the same with you guys.
You know, if I'm not going to take something, you're not going to get, why do you try that?
Yeah.
But if you think I'm going to be interested, you go, yeah, look at this.
But that's the thing.
I think why I like, so when I bought this business six years ago, we did the, although
I did just cat, he was baking beans or that.
It's a very niche market.
Yeah.
I was like, it was just price.
So you know, we'd bring on Bob's cat beer and Bob would say three feet on his beans
and go somewhere else.
And then all that effort just got washed on the table.
Whereas an equally didn't interest.
Yeah, I could just go work for name, the food company, manage the nail.
Yeah, exactly.
Whereas what this is allowed me to do is get passionate about the course we work with.
And it feels like a pitch, but we genuinely stand by it around, I'd rather work with
50 of you, right?
Versus 500 standard places.
Because I get passionate about what you do.
It keeps me interested and on my toes.
And then equally, if Bob comes in and he's going to save you three P, I don't think he's
going to deliver the relationship.
No, we will deliver on that.
And I'd rather grow with you over the years and be excited about your success.
And it comes back to what we're saying earlier on.
Like my group of friends is smaller than it used to be.
But it's based around they kind of inspire me.
Do you know what I mean?
And that positive energy about getting too hippie about it.
You know, that positive energy, it pushes me forward.
And the same with the customers we work with.
And that works for me on personal life and then equally in business life.
And the same with the guys at work.
It was taking a long time to get the right team, but right now, got an awesome little
kick-ass team.
It's because today it's not just a job.
It's they're invested into this company as much as you are mentally.
Yeah, a bit like you were lying.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah, that's kind of there.
That to me is a fine lie then.
Probably what, two years ago after COVID and stuff.
I know a lot of our customers had issues getting standard ships, like Pommies.
Oh, shit.
Yeah, yeah.
But then you look at the teams, I'm like your little crew and stuff, you know, hardcore,
they're equally disciples of what you're doing, what I was doing.
And I really matter as well.
We are lucky to have the team we have, especially after COVID.
I mean, COVID ruined the hospitality trade through the group.
It was like, I don't know why chefs are going, it's like, I don't know why.
Tesco's and Morrison's were paying people.
It's when they put them out to stack shelves for six hours a day.
I'd do it over COVID and then it's hard to get out.
And it's hard to bring people in because we're not the biggest company you'll ever come across.
So we do, we have a very small financial background.
Yeah.
And it's hard to bring, you know, I know you're doing that and earning that over here.
We'll come over here.
Yes, you will earn a bit less.
But I promise you you'll leave better.
Don't you think though that takes age and experience?
Oh, hundreds of times.
When I was, you were around 10 years ago, I was all asked about age.
So I was going, you know, I'd do job three years.
I'd say five, 10 grand bomb kind of go.
Whereas what this business is allowing me to do is, yes, I earn less money than I was
six years ago, but I get a lot of enjoyment from it.
I get to do some cool stuff, get away with some cool people like you, Rianne, like everyone
involved in this.
You know, Rianne has an idea one day and we fucking do it the next.
You know, like that's fucking awesome.
Is that bringing it back to what I said earlier about, you know, being successful for me is
being happy and enjoying what you do and you go home with a smile on your face.
That to me is just that.
I'd rather earn a bit less, but go, I'm really enjoying what I'm doing at the moment.
Why I'm actually making an impact on something.
And I find it, I find it really interesting with the sort of coming chefs and stuff.
So working with people like you or Will or Mark and things that what they're going to
learn in a year here versus going to work for, let's say five grand more at a big pub
chain or whatever, that you're not, there's no value on that.
You're not going to get the same experience from it.
And what you can potentially do three years with you guys, like you've just banged on
20 grand money salary because of the experience and you can go in and work with all these
sort of obscure-ish type products and deliver this again, Rosette Misland's like into experience.
Exactly.
I mean, the issue, one of the issues the trade has in the moment is because the, like the
chef life has been so glorified.
Yeah.
So you get to do this, you get to do this.
People actually come into the trade and they go, this is nothing what I thought I was going
to be.
I mean, I believe it.
Yeah.
You know, we'll always say to someone, you know, you come here, you will get experience.
I mean, within my first six months of being head chef here, I was doing live demos, which
I never thought I'd do.
I was then invited to the Scotia Disciples evening, which is based in, it's held at the
ward off every year.
I was then, I was then invited to become a disciple.
So you come here and you've got that look forward to, potentially if you're wanting to
do it, you've got two disciples of an elite, you know, satubic, of an elite sort of group
of people.
You know, we've got Monagur Gullete, we've got Rem and Blanc, we've got Michelle Rupier
Kaufman, Gary Rogers in this.
And it's, it's people you never thought you'd get to meet.
And I mean, I haven't met them yet because they've all been busy when the night is on.
But it's, that to me is worth more than, than running.
Because all it takes is one conversation and then that's it.
You've made it.
And that's what we try and tell people.
We've got a lad who's been here four years now, he's 23 and he's like, I don't know
what I want to do.
I do know what I want to say in the trade, but I feel like I've got nothing left here.
It's like, no, if that's how you feel, sound, we will help you look for another job.
We've got contacts across the country.
You know, we'll ask guys like you will ask will will ask anyone like anywhere will take
it.
That's very short sighted in my opinion.
Exactly.
Because again, it's what the way I see it, right?
Because we back you and Nathan and Will and all these guys, but if you win, we win because
you'll level up again.
You'll put challenge on us to go and find X, Y and Z and then we've got to go do it or
we'll have to come up with a new idea or something.
Exactly.
And the same, I suppose, for the people who work here, I'm like, but they get to go on
this journey with you and you're not sat here going, okay, I'll block off as soon as I can.
I'm not asked about doing anything new.
You're very much at the forefront all the time with doing new interesting gear.
And again, I come back to what he'll learn at that age, fast forward at 25, then he can
start commanding more money if he decides to move on.
Exactly.
And I just said to him, look, as long as these days keep coming through our door, which for
eight years we have managed to maintain a one rose that we just missed out on to last
year, not going to get into that because it's like right.
But as long as these plaques keep coming through, you will learn every, you'll learn some in
you every day.
Yeah.
I mean, he's doing an apprenticeship at the moment.
He's had a one to go down the college route.
He thought, right, it's going to be better for my CV and look at there in the future.
And it's like, right, what have you got to do?
And he just gave me a massive list.
I went, you would never have done these without doing this.
Yeah.
And you've got to learn so much.
You know, we've got Halliburts coming on Friday, which is the first time we've had Halliburts
coming in, but he gets to experience what it is, what it's like to prep a premium ingredient.
You go down to Weatherspoons or a Green King or a Marsden.
You ain't going to do that.
You're going to get a booklet with a brief in it.
You've got to be willing to not feel like you're getting anywhere, but maybe a year
or two years.
And then all of a sudden, everything just clicked into place.
And you go, I can now go here and I'm experienced.
Yeah.
And that's where your big money move goes in.
And that's where your bigger accolades come in.
Yeah.
You know, say to him, you do another two years.
There's nothing to stop you going to go and say, Mr. Wignall or the angel.
Yeah.
Because you've got that experience.
Yeah.
And I think, I agree with everything you say, and the point I think you're not mentioning
there is like the way your mind works in terms of that creativity, like that.
I think you have to learn a framework around that.
And he is not to your point there about Marsden's or Green King.
You're not learning that there because to a degree, what you need is a level of robot.
You know, I'm not saying people don't have their own saying they're good businesses and
stuff, but there's something in getting your mindset, Will's mindset and Nathan's mindset.
And that's, it's like, how do they harness that power and start thinking more like you.
So then should an opportunity arise at one point, he wants to own his own business, then
he can start making his own decisions and be creative with that.
And that's that to me is really important as well as getting to lay hands on all sorts
of different things here.
But it's that again, it's that mentorship.
I've been lucky I've had quite a few mentors in places I've worked over the years and that
looking back at the grand old days of 41, although I'm 27, but you know, we, you know, that allows
me that, you know, you can make mistakes and you, someone's got your back like I said there
with you online, but then equally, you've got that skill set to deal with mistakes when
you're not there.
Exactly.
That's important.
And that to me is, you know, it's underrated.
Yeah.
And a lot of people in the industry, especially the, the look at it and they go, if I make
a mistake and we get told off, I'm not going to tell anyone off if they make a mistake.
Unless it's the seventh or eighth time I've said, look, come on, do it this way.
Yeah, there's a learning.
Yeah, maybe.
But I wouldn't be here now if I hadn't made mistakes, whether that's cutting an onion
wrong, cooking a piece of meat wrong or taking the wrong job.
Yeah.
Every mistake is a life lesson.
Yeah.
And people need to realize that if you, if you've never made a mistake in your life,
you've done something wrong because it's life's not that easy.
No.
So that's what we try and drill into the younger chefs.
And if someone comes and asks us how to get into the trial, we had a, he already used
to potlush for us actually.
And he's like, I want to, I've left you and he's not for me.
I want to get into shipping.
What do I do?
Yeah.
Right.
This is what you do.
You just go for it.
Yeah.
But you need, you need that in here.
You need that sort of inquisitiveness.
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
You need that drive that not just, oh, well, Lisa, if I do this, I'll be sound.
You need to be better than that.
I always look at it.
If I could be better than the mental or even as good as the mental, I've done okay.
Yeah.
And so far I'm doing all right.
Yeah.
Oh, mate.
I'm killing it.
But then it's, it's evolution.
I found, especially with this, like I had a big team, my last role, you know, big cellar
and all this stuff kind of thought it was the shit.
Oh, my God.
It's been five, six weeks, hell of a nail.
What an obnoxious.
I got goose.
But, you know, I think though, but it's evolutions.
Like, you know, I'm six years into this now and I'm a different person than when I was
then.
And again, I'll be a different person next year.
And, but it's different issues, you know, and dealing with different people.
And the people side of, of any business side, I think is probably the hardest bit.
Trying to get that right and getting the team on board and on your mission and all this
stuff.
And I think it must be more intensified in the kitchen because you need everyone to
work to a certain tempo.
Yeah.
And hit it.
I think the biggest thing that helps me though is I've always been taught whether it's being
in a kitchen by a head chef or like even down to my parents, never forget your roots.
Like, doesn't matter how long you've been in the kitchen, you could have been in the kitchen
35 years.
You were once that comic.
Yeah.
So you're going to look at it and go, I've done that before.
So you've got to, they've got to understand that someone isn't going to get it done first
time.
You've got to realize that it's going to take time.
Whether it's like, so whether it's been a head chef, whether it's been head nurse, whether
it's running your own business, you've got to, one, you've got to look after the people
who are looking after you because without your team, you're nothing really.
And again, doesn't matter what position you are.
Yeah.
And you've also got to realize that you were that bottom position once.
So you've got to reign yourself back from either going absolutely ballistic or trying
to show off because you think you're the shit.
Do you know what I mean?
Always stick to your roots.
No, no, no, it's fair.
It's fair advice, good life advice.
It's one of our parent advice.
Do you know what?
My mum or dad are going to listen to this and go, I told you, listen.
Yeah.
Always good to have to hone you.
Yeah.
Do your mum and dad still come here and sort of it?
They came yesterday actually.
Awesome.
They come up when they can.
Nice.
They came to the taste of many new couple of weeks back.
Lovely.
They normally just pop up for lunch just because they'll come a bit later on and we'll get
our break and we'll see them.
But they will occasionally treat themselves to a meal.
Or we'll treat them to a meal.
And they love it.
I must be quite nice, but especially if you cook for your mum when you're younger.
It is, yeah.
I mean, my mum will always sort of tell her friends what I'm doing, where my dad's very,
he's doing all right.
He'll never blow smoke.
Yeah.
And he'll say, I'm going to get a full miss, I'm going to get into this taste of when you're
going, you're actually all right, you are.
I've tried, I've tried.
Thanks, thanks, thanks, dad.
But it is always nice to know that your parents are, yeah, I'm trying not to go too cheesy
here, but it's always nice to know your parents are proud of what you're doing, regardless
of how much money you're making, where you are.
Yeah.
It doesn't matter if you're the lowest position of kitchen or CEO of the Microsoft or whatever.
Yeah.
You know, if they're proud of you, that's it.
It's Andy's still cooking, mum.
Now, and again, she's still quite a big eater.
I suppose she's influencing your food, I feel like.
Oh, my mum was an amazing cook when I was younger.
She was always the cook at the house.
My dad's very, again, my dad's limited, you know, he can poach an egg.
Yeah.
He's an all right baker.
My brother burns scrambled eggs.
And again, he'll probably listen to this and shout at me.
But my mum was always an inspiration in the kitchen.
Yeah.
She always jokes about, you know, I showed you everything you knew.
And since you've been doing this, do you find does she get more adventurous with what
she's doing?
Yeah.
Somewhat with what I do.
Others, you went through a bit of stuff that she had to go a certain diet for.
Right.
And we're going to that.
But you actually, I actually saw her looking into different sort of styles or cuisines
or ingredients because she couldn't have the things she would like.
But yeah, if I ever go back home and cook, he's in the kitchen and some of the things
I say you're doing, you go, I'm not going to say anything.
I'm going to keep quiet.
Yeah.
And the other time, well, how would you do it?
And she'll quiz me and then she'll turn around and she'll go, well, I do it like this.
I'm like, well, you do it that way.
And then she'll be like, well, why doesn't it work?
So it's because you didn't do it the right way.
And so I believe she think you are.
I went, I'm a ward woman now.
Like, surely you're going to listen to me at some point.
And she's, she's brilliant in the kitchen.
She's like me.
She just loves cooking.
Yeah.
We were talking about it a couple of weeks ago about Christmas as you know, we can, we've
now got a big enough space to host Christmas.
Yeah.
Our house and she's like, no.
But what do you mean no?
She went, I do Christmas.
Right.
Whatever.
And then the time before that, she's like, I can't wait until you host Christmas.
So I don't have to do it.
She, you can't predict yourself all the time.
She just loves, she just loves cooking.
Brilliant.
She just loves it.
Oh, man.
That's awesome.
Being able to share that with people you love and stuff, that's a really cool experience.
Oh, I do.
Especially the job you do.
Like, you know, if you go down to the basics of what you do, it's just, you know, you're
feeding people, you're feeding people love without being double cheesy myself, you know,
and all that sort of stuff.
And that's such a cool experience to pass on to your kids or to share with your mum
and dad or share with Tess.
And that's, that's really cool.
It is cool.
Like a lot of, I don't know what to say, a lot of people don't realise what food can
actually do.
Yeah.
So it's, you're going out with your mates or it's a business meeting and, you know, everything
to hold around food.
And sometimes it brings memories back to you from a, you know, I brought a dessert on a
couple of weeks back.
And then something my dad used to do as a kid and it's like, how do I bring that into
a find out any element?
Yeah.
You know, one of the elements of the fish dish, like we used to have barbecues all the time
as kids and mum always used to do new potatoes on a barbecue.
Yeah.
And just tasting one just sort of brings that back to being a kid.
So, right, put it on the menu.
But refine it slightly.
Yeah.
Food is an amazing thing.
And I wish more people would appreciate it more than it's just a, it's just a play.
It's back to the roots though, isn't it?
Exactly.
If you could find out any of Mum's tuna fish casserole with crisps on the top of it.
I'm impressed brother.
I've, you know what, I've used, I've used my mum's smoked macropath.
Right.
Nice.
She bollocked me for it.
That's my recipe.
I'm borrowing, I'm borrowing it more, I'm sorry.
But, you know, it's, you just do it.
Yeah.
It's cool that I like that.
Like, you know, how you're able to, you're using, if you go back to sort of summarising
the podcast here, like, you know, you're taking all your experience at this point,
and you're taking your influence from tests, your travels, and then equally, you know,
your roots at the moment.
That's really cool.
In terms of how that bolds you, and then, you know, like I'm always excited with what
you're doing, like, because you always push the boundaries, which to me equally pushes
me.
Yeah.
You know, but I think that, that works really well, and it's exciting to see where, where
you go from here with that.
So what do you feel, just kind of round off, brother, because I know we've taken a lot
of your time.
That's all right.
Like, where do you see the future?
What's kind of in the next game plan, really?
Game plan for me, obviously, stay here for a bit.
Yeah.
Do our best to get that second rosette.
Nice.
If he doesn't come, he doesn't come.
Again, I'm over the, well, I haven't won it, so I haven't done anything, kind of, mental
play after this place.
Me and Tessa looking next year, setting up on our own.
Nice.
We're wanting to do, like a pop up street stall.
Awesome.
So we travel around Yorkshire, going to different micro breweries, setting up outside and stealing
their customers.
Yeah.
And then we are also wanting to, on the side, do like a private dining event.
Nice.
So we're going to people's houses, and then we, you know, we can give them a ward winning
food and service.
That's a cool vibe.
I'm like, there's been a lot of people do that recently.
I think that's a really interesting space.
I mean, some of our really good friends, they have a stall called Nico's Come for Kitchen.
Shout out to them.
And he said it's the best thing he's ever done.
And some of the food he's doing, it's not, it's just, it's a bit with the food.
And it's just, again, he just has a pure passion for it.
So we're looking to do that.
We're not necessarily over the whole restaurant thing, but we wanted to do something on our
own, something completely different.
That makes people look back and go, that's pretty good.
Makes people happy.
And what better way to do that than shoving a burger in someone's face.
Probably first customer mate with that.
Jesus.
Well, free food for you, mate.
So yeah, that's our next step for us.
Awesome, brother.
Listen, man, we really appreciate your time today, brother.
You are a constant inspiration.
Love working.
Yeah.
You're also my tattoo inspiration all the time.
You've always got new ink.
Oh yeah.
That was Melbourne as well.
Thanks mate.
So yeah, man.
Well, yeah, excited to see what the future holds for you, brother.
Thank you very much.
But yeah, people can catch you at Instagram.
Yeah, so either the Claremont and Instagram are mine.
I think the Claremont is on TikTok as well, actually.
Oh, you are?
Yeah.
I don't have anything to do with TikTok.
No, no, no.
Rianne, I was written by Rianne, I thought, oh, it's your TikTok.
Way to all for that.
Claremont and Country Pub are at Mattie Hindot chef.
They are the hunter-gatherer, your option, which is Lionel's.
That's probably the most, that's the way to catch us all, really.
Try food.
Yeah, come and try it.
We'll hopefully change your concept of what game is meant to be and should be.
Awesome.
Cheers, brother.
Thanks, man.
Appreciate it.
Thank you for joining some of the Chef Life podcast that has been your host, Alistair.
If you'd like to learn more about our business, you can visit us at www.cottagefoodsltd.com.
Give us a follow and a like on Instagram and we'll see you soon.
Thanks.