Ah, yes, another food blog. Just what the world (or at least that slightly podgy corner of the world that eats well) needs.
No, actually, we do need one more: there's a side of the enjoyment of culinary arts in the UK countryside that doesn't seem to be addressed by anyone writing about food--professional or hobbyist--at least not in English. We (Mr. and Mrs., based in central London) can't be the only people that think this way, can we?
London is a tough place for running a restaurant: competition is fierce, tolerance for mediocrity low, failure easy, and it's all a bit of a treadmill for a chef... hard bloody work. More and more chefs seem to be opting out of the London restaurant rat-race and setting up in the countryside. I'm sure it's a nicer life, with no commute, cheaper premises and help, and of course out in the country is where food comes from so you're closer to the source. There's places in the countryside that have become famous for clusters of restaurants (Ludlow, Marlow) and other places where there's only one restaurant of note for many miles, the only one in town or even in the middle of nowhere special. We rather like these sorts of places-- not only is it more likely the chef is having fun and tends to be more interesting food (Mrs. likes this) but is often much better value than London restauranting (Mr. keeps an eye on this, since we do rather a lot of restauranting, and nobody's sponsoring this blog)
The countryside is great for another thing too: a good long hike. The UK's combination of public rights-of-way, well marked paths, and high quality OS maps, along with a dense rail network for getting out of the city, make dayhiking from home easy. And we see enough people on the trails to know that we're not alone in liking a hiking.
Hiking leaves you hungry. There's great countryside restaurants. We can't be the only people to spot the coincidence here, are we?
I don't think we are, at least not entirely. A few years ago, we were sitting in a bar at the small village where the Coast to Coast path crosses the Pennine Way chatting with the barman, who was saying his little resto attached to the hotel/hostel did a roaring trade in good-quality food. The locals, he said, had initially made fun, saying the walkers wouldn't want that, they just want filling stodge and a pint before settling into their tents-- the ramblers won't pay for quality. He disagreed, and I still remember the locally-shot game pie ("it's quicker to shoot something than to drive to the supermarket") that he served that night.
But nobody seems to be writing about it. We can't be the only people sticking Michelin *'s onto our OS maps, can we?
We did get into this particular combination of enthusiasms by accident. A very good and very funny review of a then-new country restaurant in Kent caught our eye, and a Google check showed that the High Weald Landscape Trail marched right past the door. That was several years ago. The restaurant now has a * and we've done that walk more than once--when last I phoned to book, we gave the name and they said "you're the hikers, aren't you..."-- as well as other walks to other restaurants. And we're off again tomorrow for a late lunch on the same path that we first did. But after talking about it for several years (and running through several possible names for the blog) this time we're going to take notes, take pictures, and actually write about it. After all, we can't be the only people interested...
No comments:
Post a Comment