In the past 20 years, British food has become stylish. No longer associated with watery gravy, overcooked carrots and stodgy pies, the UK is now home to some of the globe’s best restaurants, serving a diverse range of fresh and exciting flavours. But, before the new millennium, there were far fewer Michelin-starred restaurants in the country, and those we did have tended to serve heavy French fare in a starched and stuffy setting.
While modern chefs still make use of classical techniques, there has been a marked shift to a more relaxed, welcoming way of dining in recent years – particularly within the self-contained worlds of hotels. These restaurants have formerly held reputations as being dreary last resorts for hungry, weary travellers; but now, many have become destination draws for discerning gastronomes. As the ultimate markers of excellence, Michelin stars have been the ambition of chefs for more than a century, and there has been a long history of the most luxurious hotels and the finest chefs forming partnerships to earn them. So, how have such establishments evolved to contend with the present-day desire for informality, while still creating a memorable experience?
Accessible sophistication
For Paul Leonard, the head chef at the Forest Side in Cumbria, an easy-going atmosphere makes for a more satisfying meal. “I think, back in the day, you’d sometimes feel a little on edge in a restaurant and you’d have to wait to leave to feel relaxed,” he says. “Here, I want people to feel comfortable when they walk in, because if people are enjoying themselves, they’re going to enjoy the food.”
Having worked as a chef for two decades, cooking under legendary names including Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley and Andrew Farlie at Gleneagles, Leonard celebrates the move away from ‘elitist’ attitudes of the past. “When I started, some people didn’t think they could eat in hotel restaurants or restaurants with the accolades, because they might get looked down on. Whereas, everywhere you go now, it’s a lot more welcoming and dining’s become more accessible.”
He joined the Forest Side from the Devonshire Arms in Bolton Abbey, where he won four AA Rosettes. Set on the outskirts of Grasmere, near to the north and central lakes, the restaurant grows most of its ingredients in a large kitchen garden (which has 160 raised beds and several polytunnels). Leonard’s ethos is to allow these ingredients to shine without over-complicating dishes. “We’re not really following any trends,” he says. “We’re just following the seasons and cooking good food.” His set six-course lunch tasting menus and eight-course dinner menus change on a daily basis “depending on what we can get from the garden and what the fishmongers get”, allowing for seasonality and locality to dictate what they serve.
“In the summer, we do a native lobster dish barbecued on pine, which we get from just behind the hotel, until it’s just cooked – then we serve it with a sauce made from the lobster head and some vegetables from the garden,” he says. “It looks simple, but it has taken us maybe two years to get it absolutely bang on.” Other standout dishes include hand-dived scallops and langoustines or, as Leonard says, “anything people can’t really get hold of at home”. “If you go to Spain, you’re going to try paella; you go to Italy, you’re going to eat pasta and pizza; you come to the Lakes, I want you to try the best of what we’ve got to offer, because we’re really representing the county.”
Leonard and his team are constantly developing new dishes, and often ask guests to try them so that they can be involved in the process. With many diners staying for two or three nights, the chefs have to consider what they can offer across these days. “It needs to stay interesting for them, so we’ve really got a think about the balance – using what’s seasonal and local.”
Dining as a journey
This is not such a challenge for Steve Smith, head chef at the Latymer at Pennyhill Park in Surrey, because although his team also serves up a set tasting menu, the hotel has a second restaurant on site, where guests tend to eat for at least one night of their stay. “If they want to dine with us a second time at the Latymer,” he says, “then we will make sure that three to four of the courses that they have the next day are different, but also absolutely at the same level of execution as the night before.” The restaurant does see customers returning every few months, though, meaning they are continuously thinking of new ideas for the menu to maintain an element of surprise.
Set within 120 acres of verdant Surrey land, between Ascot, Sunningdale and Wentworth, the Latymer follows a seasonal model too, making good use of local suppliers when sourcing their ingredients. The food is rooted in tradition, but is technically spectacular, featuring popular dishes of Orkney scallop with celeriac, smoked eel and truffle, as well as Aynhoe fallow deer with blackberry and chocolate, winning the restaurant a 2021 Michelin star. “I’ve always worked in starred properties, whether they be restaurants or hotels,” says Smith, who began his career in the kitchen of Jean Christophe Novelli before going on to work with Shaun Hill, Simon Gueller and Paul Heathcote. In that time, he has seen service become more customer-focused. “There’s a much bigger desire to try and give customers a journey, an experience from when they arrive until when they leave,” Smith says.
This is certainly the goal at the Latymer, where the team is constantly pushing to exceed expectations through service and food, whilst maintaining a welcoming atmosphere. “When we’ve got guests in the dining room, we want to treat them as if they’re our friends rather than our customers,” says Smith. “We want to make them feel wanted throughout, to give them an experience that they’re going to go away and talk about.”
Smith notes that, in recent years, customers have become much more interested in food, and more knowledgeable as a result. “So, it’s really trying to keep in front of them,” he says. This goes hand in hand with sustainability, with diners increasingly concerned with where their food has come from – a concern shared by both Smith and Leonard. “Climate change is quite worrying, so if we can do our small part, then it can only help and spread the word,” says Leonard, who reflects that while working in London at the beginning of his career, this was not always the case. “We were using beautiful rabbits and pigeons from France,” he explains. “But in Grasmere, we’re blessed have a lot of the best stuff we can get on our doorstep – and I truly believe in building relationships with the suppliers, which I can then pass on to a guest, and then they can know everything about what we’re cooking.”
Customer-focused dining
The Forest Side and the Latymer are testament to the future of hotel dining, where a majority of people who book a room do so for the enticement of the restaurant. “I’d like to think a good 90% of people who stay with us are here for the restaurant, and our occupancy is through the roof,” says Leonard. “It’s very rare that people stay with us and do not dine. We’re a one-stop shop: guests can have a beautiful room in a beautiful area and come for a banging dinner as well.” He credits the lasting appeal to the warm welcome diners receive, because many guests return time and again. The other side of it, as Smith reveals, is that a hotel setting enables guests to fully unwind. “It gives people an opportunity to make a clear break and get away for a few days,” he says. “As a result, it’s easier to fill our restaurant on Wednesday nights and Thursday nights than if we were a neighbourhood restaurant.”
One thing is certain: while a hotel and a chef can have individual prestige, when you combine them, they elevate each other to another level. This is because hotels give chefs a platform that is consistently busy, meaning they are not shackled to ephemeral trends and pomp. Instead, they can focus on creating enduringly delicious food and responding to guests’ needs with a consistently friendly service. “Ultimately it comes down to being able to cook for your customers and giving them a good experience,” Smith states. “If you don’t have happy customers, then it doesn’t matter a jot about the property or the chef.”
