Cuvée Rosé. The Ultimate.
photographe Iris Velghe
Our new magazine brings you a breathtaking look at the life and times of The Waterside Inn. We mark an incredible milestone with this issue and a journey that began in 1985. I was a youthful 43 and awarded my third Michelin star. Along with my wife, Robyn, plus Claude, my PA –working with me still but now a company director – we are the surviving three musketeers. Having vested control in my son, Alain, for the last decade, we have notched up 30 consecutive years. Such an achievement is due to seamless teamwork, and inside you will discover insights from Fabrice and Diego, and witness the brigade on duty behind the scenes, ensuring the place is tiptop every day.
2014 was packed with amazing events, and I hope you enjoy both reports of the highlights and a fun insight into my role as global ambassador for The Waterside Inn on page 9. And while I’m not someone who would ever claim to relax, I strongly recommend Thailand’s wonderful Chiva-Som, on page 78, as a great place to try!
On a personal note, I welcome my beautiful new granddaughter (number four), Louise, born to Alain and Laura in March 2014. Meet the whole family on page 61 as they tuck into Daddy’s home cooking. Big brother Paul, I am told by his parents, is just like me – he never stops, and constantly takes himself to the Naughty Seat. I bet Robyn wishes she could train me to do the same!
Finally, thanks to you, our regular clients, because without you, I would not be writing this today. Sincerely, we thank you for your loyalty.
Michel Roux OBE , Global Ambassador, The Waterside Inn
Contributors
Award-winning food writer William Sitwell is the magazine’s editor.
Rising star India Whiley-Morton has a passion for food photography.
Simon Brown is one of Britain’s leading lifestyle photographers.
Lee Whitlock of The Waterside Inn consulted across the title.
Photographs
Simon Brown
Delivering outstanding customer service is something that as a family run business, Raycross Interiors prides itself on. So when Robyn Roux first came to us requiring the complete service to design, supply & install a stunning new bathroom for the Mallard Suite at The Waterside Inn, it was the perfect opportunity for us to mirror their high level of client expectation with our high level of design expertise along with our unique project management service and our high-specification products. The results speak for themselves…
Work got underway just before Christmas to totally transform the existing bathroom to give future guests staying in the Mallard Suite a very enjoyable & relaxing experience:
A bespoke walk-in shower is the centrepiece of this design utilising digital controls for both the shower and the bath. Porcelain wall & floor tiles in a Suede colour way feature throughout with a very stylish brick mosaic in the shower. A gloss grey vanity unit with a stunning LED mirror will ensure that guests staying in this luxury suite will have everything they could possibly need.
To find out more about our unique customer service, providing you with the same member of our experienced team from your initial visit to us, through the design stage, to project managing your room until its completion, visit our new website at www.raycross.co.uk. You will see our full portfolio of images from this stunning new bathroom created for the Waterside Inn, along with many of our other completed client projects. To truly appreciate our full range of Kitchens, Bathrooms, Bedrooms & Open Plan Living Furniture, we look forward to welcoming you to our extensive showroom in Byfleet, Village, Surrey, KT14 7QH.
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H ors d’oeuvre News and historic highlights to whet your appetite
Roux’s who? The culinary clan tha t changed the face of British dining
Star quality Head chef Fabrice Uhr yn on maintaining impeccable standards
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COVER STORY
The food, the service, the team A day at The Waterside Inn
Singing our praises Mick Hucknall on his passion for g ood food and wine
Tour de France An introduction to the re staurant’s remarkable wine collection
Michel’s masterclass Recr eate this heavenly chocolate and raspberry tart
One fine stay The enduringly stylish r ooms designed by Robyn Roux
Where are they now? Waterside alumni shar e their memories
COVER STORY Perfection on a plate Classic dishes from The Waterside Inn
COVER STORY Alain Roux’s weekend feast What the chef cooks for his family
COVER STORY The secret of great service The world of Diego Masciaga
A taste of ho ney Meet the local producer behind this prized ingredient
Chef’s retreat Michel unwinds at Thailand’s Chiva-Som resort
Michel & Alain’s pancake challenge Father and son face off in the kitchen
Editor William Sitwell
Art editor Katerina Varnavides
Managing editor Karen Yates
Senior sub-editor Susannah Ewart-James
Art director Kerry Wakefield
Account director Christine Cavaleros
Group production manager Joanna Mead
Chief executive Andrew Hirsch
For The Waterside Inn
Michel Roux OBE, Alain Roux, Diego Masciaga, Lee Whitlock
For reservations, please call 01628 620691 or email reservations@waterside-inn.co.uk
The Waterside Inn, Ferry Road, Bray, Berkshire SL6 2AT waterside-inn.co.uk
To view a digital version of this magazine, visit waterside-inn.co.uk /magazine/
TheWaterside Inn magazine is published on behalf of The Waterside Inn by John Brown. Please address correspondence to John Brown, 136–142 Bramley Road, London W10 6SR Tel 020 7565 3000 johnbrownmedia.com
With over fifty years of experience supplying wine drinkers nationwide, our portfolio contains some of the most recognisable and pre-eminent names in the wine world.
For information on our wines and our services please contact: Peter Lowe, Chairman on 0207 609 4711.
Highlights of last year’s Roux Scholarship trip to the Big Apple included a private view of works at the Museum of Modern Art followed by chef Dan Barber’s dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns
The 31 courses included trout caviar (pictured above) and pigs’ liver with chocolate sandwich. The trip also featured a chef’s dinner at Per Se, where top US
Michelin-starred chefs Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud (le to right, below) designed the menu (also below) for Michel Roux and his visiting scholar chefs. Among them were Alain and vice chairman and fellow scholarship judge Brian Turner CBE, who described the three chefs as “the kings of New York”. Discover more at rouxscholarship.co.uk.
below)
If you’d like to learn more about the Roux Scholarship trip to New York in November 2014, a limited-edition journal is published by Quadrille and available to purchase at The Waterside Inn. The book is packed with scholars’ stories, photos, anecdotes and commentary on highlights from the tour, including visits to restaurants, bars, farmers’ markets and suppliers to the great restaurants of the city.
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My dad always made this place feel like a second home “ ”MICHEL WITH HIS SON ALAIN THE WATERSIDE INN, JUNE 1982 FLASHBACK! Words Karen Yates Photographs 9 News & archive views Lyn Hughes
Global ambassador Michel Roux OBE travels the world to spread Waterside’s good name
Since becoming the 2014 Roux Scholar, Tom Barnes (pictured le with Roux chefs) has been promoted from sous to head chef at two-starred L’Enclume in Cumbria and enjoyed a threemonth stage at three-starred Hof Van Cleve in Kruishoutem, Belgium, with chef Peter Goossens.
In May, Michel joined culinary luminaries at a chef’s dinner by Thomas Keller at Per Se ahead of the Roux Scholarship trip to New York.
CHINA ALUMNI Michel caught up with 1987 Roux scholar Richard Stuart (right) at the Galaxy Hotel in Macau. Richard is now the Galaxy’s assistant vice president of food and beverages.
Half of all Polish TV viewers watch MasterChef. In October 2014, they would have seen Michel as a guest judge with (pictured above, le to right) Anna Starmach, Michel Moran and Magda Gessler in the Krakow studio.
Michel and his team visited Le Normandie at Mandarin Oriental, Bangkok, to cook a tasting menu, a five-course lunch and a six-course dinner for a record 600 guests over six days in November 2014.
This unique, limited-edition souvenir book, by kind permission of Michelin, commemorates Waterside’s retention of three Michelin stars for 30 consecutive years. It covers the beginnings of the restaurant through to the present day with neverseen-before photos and anecdotes from the Roux family archive, along with contributions from guests including Sir Terry Wogan and Heston Blumenthal.
To watch Michel’s video about cooking in Vietnam, go to tinyurl.com/ lj8aa3f
As part of the Chef to Chef series shown in Asia and Australia, Michel worked with the National Geographic team to create a short film (see above).
MICHEL OPENS HIS RESTAURANT ‘LA MAISON 1888’ IN DANANG, VIETNAM, DECEMBER 2012
Photographs Lyn Hughes Illustration istock
•
Whether
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Grande Cuisine tel: 01908 745540 email: info@grandecuisine.co.uk visit: www.grandecuisine.co.uk
MICHEL AND ALAIN WITH ALAIN’S SON PAUL THE WATERSIDE INN, 2012
HOW PRICES HAVE CHANGED SINCE THE EARLY SEVENTIES, WHEN AN OLD MENU SHOWS SOUPE A L’OIGNON WAS 35 p; THE SPECIALITY CASSOULET TOULOUSAIN, £1.75; AND TART AU CITRON, 45 p . CAFE AND PETITS FOURS TO FINISH WERE 25 p
JAMES WINS SERVICE AWARD
Waterside maître d’ James Dougan, who came to us with no experience and worked his way up, has won a coveted Royal Academy of Culinary Arts Annual Award of Excellence in recognition of his talent as one of the UK’s finest hosts. The ceremony took place at Claridge’s last July.
The purpose of the awards is to encourage young people to achieve the highest possible standards in their chosen profession of service, kitchen or pastry and offers clear guidelines for success in their future careers.
In March 2015, we celebrated three stars over 30 years with a five-course tasting menu paired with vintages chosen from the Dom Pérignon oenothèque by chef de cave Richard Geoffroy.
Michel Roux devoted many months to researching his latest book The Essence of French Cooking (Quadrille), and travelled from North to East, South and West of France with his team. They are pictured above at his home in Gassin, South of France.
MICHEL ROUX, PATISSERIE APPRENTICE PARIS 1956
Photograph Lisa Linder
WINNER! Best Cookbook of the Year in the UK at the 2014 Gourmand Awards
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DIED 2004 Dressmaker for Givenchy
BORN 1963
Gymnastic instructor; lives in Champignysur-Marne, east of Paris
BORN 1965
IT project manager; lives in Champignysur-Marne, east of Paris
Her passion was to feed her children beautifully
Ran a charcuterie in Vincennes, east of Paris
BORN 1941 GLOBAL AMBASSADOR FOR THE WATERSIDE INN
MARRIED 1984
Worked in theatre production; now oversees design of The Waterside Inn
PAUL BORN 2010
BORN 1968 CHEF PATRON OF THE WATERSIDE INN
MARRIED 2010
Former trainee at The Waterside Inn from Montpellier; runs family home
LOUISE BORN 2014
Illustrations Andrea Turvey
BORN 1934
Retired charcutière; lives in southwest France
ALBERT ROUX OBE BORN 1935 FOUNDER OF LE GAVROCHE, RESTAURATEUR, HOTELIER AND RETAILER
BORN 1946
Worked in marketing and communications; lives near the Eiffel Tower, Paris
MONIQUE DIVORCED Lives in Normandy and Paris
BORN 1965
Lives in Nice and has three children
MARRIED 1990
Works as secretary to Michel
EMILY BORN 1991
Trained at Paul Bocuse Institute; works as a chef in Paris
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My first job at The Waterside Inn was as chef tournant in 2001. It was a roving position, floating around the kitchen, understanding every part of it and working out where my skills were best suited. I got the job after sending in my CV – I was working at the time at a twoMichelin-starred restaurant in Belgium.
I still visit Belgium once a year to see my parents and so they can catch up with my two children (aged two and five) and my German partner Stephanie Munsch. We came as a package, and before we had children she worked as assistant manager.
We’re a very close-knit family. And when I’m not working, I just want to be at home with them. We’ve never hired a babysitter!
I do like a quiet kitchen, but sometimes at The Waterside it can be too noisy. Some of the younger chefs can’t seem to keep quiet, and as there are many different nationalities it can be a loud and interesting noise!
It’s an honour to have three Michelin stars, but while keeping up the standard is relentless, I don’t feel an enormous pressure. I don’t take it for granted, but I maintain the standard as a matter of normality. I do it as much for me – a matter of natural pride – as anything else.
It’s not often that a dish will come to the pass and be sub-standard. It is the job of my sous chefs, Alex Beard and Raj Holuss, to ensure the other cooks are doing it right. So if something goes wrong, I blame the senior staff not the juniors. They just need training.
It can take a young chef in his or her twenties six months to a year to show me they have what it takes to work
here. Most have the potential if they are trained properly. But if a chef aged around 30 comes to work here, I’ll know within a week if they’ll last.
Our guests don’t often send dishes back. If it does happen, it’s normally not because the dish is wrong, but because it doesn’t suit someone’s taste. For example, a guest might order foie gras for the first time and then decide they don’t like it.
The most important thing is that every guest leaves The Waterside Inn with a smile on their face. We would never argue with a customer and Diego
[Masciaga, general manager, see page 71] is wonderful at dealing with any problems.
When a young chef starts work here, we offer them a bedroom in one of the two houses we have for staff. They pay a modest rent and we ask them to find somewhere local to live during the first six months.
My day starts at 8am. We break for lunch at 11.30am, lunch service is between midday and 3pm and then in the evening between 5pm and 11pm. It’s a busy life and I might have sent one dish out 1,000 times, but it’s a wonderful place to work.
I have 25 suppliers and am very much in touch with them. I call – I prefer human contact to email – to discuss what I need and what they have. I like to keep an eye on new trends, like the differentcoloured vegetables you can get these days.
Half of the meat is from France, half from Britain. The fish is from Cornwall, the shellfish and beef comes from Scotland, and much of the veg is from Britain, France, Italy or Spain. All the duck and chicken is from France. No one in Britain can produce enough of the quality I need.
If there is one dish I’ll never tire of cooking, it’s hare. Our classic Lièvre à la Royale is filleted and stuffed and then served with tagliatelle in a rich game sauce. There’s a young chef who helps me do it and we have fun each time!
Keeping up the standard is for me a matter of natural pride as much as anything else “ ”
Head chef Fabrice Uhryn on the art of three-Michelin-starred food at The Waterside Inn
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Meeting the exacting requirements of professional clients is what we do. And exacting requirements do not come any more challenging than those of the award winning Waterside Inn. So we are delighted to have been part of the team that achieved the dream kitchen for Alain and Michel Roux.
For further information please call Charles Parker on 01438 750022, or e-mail kitchens@gratte.com.
Design, sales, installation and maintenance of commercial catering facilities
From the moment the pastry chefs arrive in the early-morning darkness and begin to weave their magic until the final plate is cleared and the last guest retires to bed at the end of the night, The Waterside Inn is a bustling hive of carefully choreographed activity. This photo essay goes behind the scenes to chronicle 12 hours in the life of Britain’s finest restaurant
Photographs Simon Brown, India Whiley-Morton
Orders arrive. Clockwise from top: Mattia, pastry cook; Gian Marco, commis waiter; Gaurav, chef baker; Ylenia, chef de rang
7:45AM DAY BEGINS
Robyn (left), wife of Michel, arrives at the restaurant. Adam (above), chef cook, is changed and ready to start in the kitchen
Behind the scenes
Michel carries out a quality-control check on breakfast while staff continue preparations. Clockwise from right: Ludovico, demi chef de rang; Olivier, doorman; Manuela and Eleonora, receptionists/cashiers
Front-of-house team prepare the dining room. Clockwise from top: Frederic, assistant general manager, Francesco, chef de rang, and Maxime, head sommelier; Ylenia, chef de rang; Dean and Jordi, maîtres d’; Dario, commis waiter »
The kitchen is in full swing. Clockwise from top: Stefano, chef cook; Luca, chef cook, and Fabrice, head chef; Stefano; Mattia, pastry cook; Phil, chef cook; Alex, sous chef; Simone, chef cook; Fabrice and Alain
Staff assemble before guests arrive. Clockwise from top: Dario, commis waiter, Alain, Grzegorz, restaurant porter, Krzysztof, chef de rang, Jessica, commis waitress, Marcus, chef de rang, and Stanislas, commis sommelier; Diego, general manager; Frederic, assistant general manager; Valentino, first barman
Dishes leave the kitchen as Michel travels to an interview. Clockwise from right: Tony, chef cook; Fabrice, head chef; Krzysztof, chef de rang
Michel attends an interview and a book signing before rejoining Robyn (below) and Henry the spaniel. Assistant general manager Frederic (below left) oversees lunch service
Service continues. Clockwise from top: Phil, chef cook; Dean, maître d’; Diego, general manager; Marco, maître d’; Dario, junior sous chef; Valentino, first barman
Guests arrive for dinner. Clockwise from right: Alain; Olivier, doorman; Marcus, chef cook
’ll always remember the first time I visited The Waterside Inn. I was with my now-wife Gabriella, and my first, vivid impression was of the relationship the place has with the river. What struck me was an overwhelming sense of continuity. It’s a rather subtle but wonderfully reassuring feeling. It’s like life. Time ebbs on and from time to time we seek comfort. And so the River Thames keeps flowing, but The Waterside Inn remains steadfast, a graceful but strong island of civilised comfort, like a resilient and reliable old friend.
I suppose this is why people come here for special occasions. You just know they won’t let you down. And so I’ve been here for wedding anniversaries, birthdays and sometimes a luxurious Sunday lunch.
As to what I eat, I like to be guided by the wonderful Diego Masciaga, the frontof-house legend whose genuine smile and warmth when you arrive makes you feel at home. I listen to what he suggests, and I’m always excited by the notion of what might be coming our way. Whatever it might be, you know it will be creative and excellent.
I seem to have drifted into the world of restaurants, perhaps by meeting people like food writers Richard Vines and Bruce Palling, who I see from time to time and who introduce me to new places. I would say that my favourite chefs include Angela Hartnett – who works so hard to achieve excellence – and Bruno Loubet, whose bistro in Clerkenwell is such a lovely place.
Meanwhile, at home I’m the house chef and I cook most days. I’m not a recipe
hound but am guided by ingredients. When I left home in my teens – I was raised by my father – I moved to a very rough area of Manchester called Moss Side. But there were great local markets run by Bangladeshis who would always be helpful, give me incredible information, and so I learnt how to cook with spices. My housemate stuffed the cupboards with tinned food. I said, “What are you doing?” I’d cycle to the market on Tib Street and
which I have built a huge interest and a wonderful cellar. The other two things are music, of course, and my family.
It’s a healthy obsession and I have a tendency in conversation to bring whatever we are discussing back to food!
When I’m performing, I’ll eat something light between 4pm and 6pm and then I’ll come off stage and be ravenous. So I might eat a dry-aged rib eye of beef. And the adrenaline gives me quite a capacity to drink alcohol. I’ll knock back half a bottle without knowing and won’t go to bed until four or five in the morning.
Otherwise, on a normal day I’ll give my daughter Romy breakfast, make her packed lunch then Gabriella will take her to school.
My favourite breakfast dish is an egg concoction. I sauté spring onions, add scrambled eggs, then asparagus, some salmon eggs then garnish on the plate with parsley. It’s absolutely delicious.
come back with all sorts of things. I was unemployed for four years and learnt to survive on £25 a week. It taught me to appreciate the value of good food, and my wife still says the best thing I cook is Indian.
My father had a basic love of food and cooked a lot. We ate roasts and dishes like Lancashire hotpot on Sundays. As a boy, my father would cycle from Barrow-in-Furness to the Lake District and bring back trout, which he’d sell to the local fishmonger.
I would say food is one of the top three things that make me function in life – and when I say food, that includes wine, about
As for wine, I remember the day I fell in love with it. It was 1988 and I was with an Italian friend. He opened a bottle of barolo and I noticed these amazing dimensions it had. It changed and developed as we drank it in a way that beer never does.
As my interest grew, I sold my Ferrari and turned the garage into a temperatureand humidity-controlled room. Now I’ve got a drinking cellar that will last me the rest of my life. I now know quite a bit, so when I come to The Waterside Inn, I like to test the sommeliers and put them to work. If you push them, you can make some wonderful discoveries. And that can be the icing on the cake as you sip an incredible wine and watch the old river drift on by.
The Simply Red front man reflects on Waterside lunches, a love of food and a serious wine collection…Guest star
I sold my Ferrari and turned the garage into a drinking cellar
greatest vineyards in France, with some amazing discoveries on the way.
The wine at the Waterside is just the start of an extraordinary collection built up by the restaurant, the bulk of which is stored 100 feet below the Wiltshire hills at the Octavian Vaults. There, in cellars encased in Bath stone, thousands of boxes of the finest vintages are kept in perfect conditions.
Back in the Waterside cellar, I spy Ostertag, from the commune of Epfig in the Bas-Rhin area of the region. “This is my reliable friend,” says Maxime. “If a customer asks for an interesting wine from Alsace, a riesling, for example, it never lets me down.”
Next, we’re off to the Loire Valley, stopping at a bottle of Dagueneau, a clean sauvignon blanc. “This is top quality,” says Maxime. “The owner died, it was so tough. His son took over with his sister, but what they did was so impressive…”
As a lover of French wine, this is paradise. Ahead of me is Champagne: an area that includes some of the most famous drinks on the planet. There’s Moët & Chandon, Laurent-Perrier, Taittinger and Pol Roger. Not to mention some chic but lesser-known champagne houses, such as Sanger.
To the right there’s Alsace, one of the smaller regions in the east of the country, bordering Germany and Switzerland, with its wonderful rieslings and gewürztraminers.
I could be on a magic carpet as I waft between France’s most majestic vineyards. But actually I’m in the cellar at The
Waterside Inn. It’s located through a narrow doorway and down some tiny steps, just behind the bar where Valentino mixes his nifty cocktails – you’ll catch a glimpse on the left as you head for the dining room.
This is the kingdom of head sommelier Maxime Walkowiak, a 26-year-old from northern France. And I’m getting a quick, albeit rather agonizing, tour (there are wines here I could only ever dream of tasting, bottles that are almost from wine mythology).
The bottles, stacked floor to ceiling in narrow racks, are arranged geographically, so you really do drift through some of the
Then we fly past the Rhône valley; there’s a Condrieu, which uses the viognier grape, then it’s along to Burgundy, with its diverse wines from Chablis to Mâcon. Maxime pulls out a bottle of chardonnay; a Montrachet from Marquis de Laguiche. “One of the best wines in the world,” he says. “The making of Montrachet wines dates back to the Middle Ages. They have been drunk by tsars of Russia and kings of France, and are perfectly balanced.”
From Burgundy we travel south to Provence, then to the Languedoc and the Rhône valley. There Maxime plucks out a Paul Jaboulet Aîné Hermitage from 1978; a magnum. A perfect syrah apparently, and yours at the table for £2,800.
After returning briefly to Burgundy to consider a pinot noir from Romanée-Conti (1988) – “This wine gives you memory,” says Maxime simply – we head for the magnums of Bordeaux. He draws out a 1947 Margaux. “A wine like this is like an old gentleman. You wouldn’t ask him to run 100 metres. You must first change your attitude to understand it. I would probably take the cork out half an hour before, then decant it immediately before drinking.”
After a brief sojourn on an island of glorious little half bottles, my journey nears its end with sweet wines (Yquem, for example), before stopping at the only non-French imposters in the cellar: Portuguese port.
It’s time to come up for air. I feel like a drink and I’ve come to the right place.
The editor of The Waterside Inn magazine explores the restaurant’s French-only cellarStock photograph Getty Images
Photographs Simon Brown
Serves 8
Prepare 35 minutes, plus chilling Cook 30 minutes
• 280g pâte sablée (see below)
• 200g ripe fresh raspberries (or frozen ones, defrosted and well drained), halved if large
• 250ml whipping cream
• 200g good-quality dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids (preferably Valrhona), broken into pieces
• 25g liquid glucose
• 50g butter, cut into small pieces
1 On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry to a 2-3mm-thick round, use to line a 22cm tart ring with 2.5cm-high sides and put on a baking tray. Chill for 20 minutes.
2 Preheat the oven to 190°C, gas mark 5. Prick the pastry base lightly in a dozen or so places with a fork. Line the pastry case with greaseproof paper, fill with ceramic baking beans and bake blind for 20 minutes. Remove the paper and baking beans, lower the oven temperature to 180°C, gas mark 4 and bake the pastry case for another 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and leave until cool enough to handle, then li off the tart ring.
3 When the pastry case is cold, arrange the raspberries in it, pressing down lightly with your fingertips so they stick slightly.
4 For the ganache, slowly bring the cream to the boil in a pan over a medium heat. Remove from the heat and add the chocolate, using a balloon whisk to mix it in. Add the glucose. Once the mixture is smooth, incorporate the butter a little at a time.
5 Pour the ganache over the raspberries to fill the pastry case. Leave to cool, then chill the tart in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
6 Use a very sharp knife dipped in boiling water to cut the tart carefully into slices, wiping the knife between each slice. Serve cold but not straight from the fridge.
Recipe adapted from Michel Roux Desserts (Quadrille)
Makes about 650g
• 250g plain flour, si ed, plus extra for dusting
• 200g butter, cut into small pieces, slightly so ened
• 100g icing sugar, si ed
• 2 egg yolks
Heap the flour in a mound on the work surface and make a well. Add the butter, icing sugar and a pinch of salt. With your fingertips, mix and cream the butter with the sugar and salt, then add the egg yolks and work them in delicately with your fingertips. Little by little, draw the flour into the centre and work the mixture delicately with your fingers until you have a homogeneous dough.
Using the palm of your hand, push the dough away from you 3 or 4 times until it is completely smooth. Roll into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and chill until ready to use. If well wrapped, this delicate, sweet pastry will keep in the fridge for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
The key to the simple yet opulent look of The Waterside Inn is the passion and flair of Robyn Roux, Michel’s wife
Robyn’s idea was to create a riverside haven where bold hues contrast with the serene setting. Furniture is by Mark Wilkinson, with lighting by Best & Lloyd. “I love the lamps; it’s important to be practical as well as attractive,” she says.
Photographs Simon Brown
A freestanding bath is positioned below the window to take advantage of the breathtaking river view, while bespoke ash and marble furniture has been cra ed to fit the space perfectly. Light from the window casts dramatic shadows onto the walls and vaulted ceiling.
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One of two suites, La Rivière features rich, deep colours and bespoke timberwork. An 18th-century picture frame is combined with Abbott & Boyd fabric to create a canopy over the bed, which is dressed with a Missoni throw.
An adjunct to the private dining room, this intimate space is filled with pieces from Michel and Robyn’s personal collection. These include photographs of a wedding cake made for a client and a pair of pigs named a er Michel and Albert.
»
Marble-tiled walls and bespoke ash timberwork are timeless, and the arched doorway adds a dash of panache and character. Rooms at The Waterside Inn are small, yet inviting. “This is a restaurant with rooms, not a hotel,” says Robyn.
A magnificent trompe l’oeil mural by Loraine Schneider depicts scenes from the Thames. Original porthole windows looking into the bathroom, nautical striped fabrics and curiosities are a nod to the riverside setting. »
“Panels painted by Loraine Schneider depict the natural landscape through the seasons,” says Robyn. They were fitted in January 2015 and are interspersed with bevelled mirrors, which refract light from the glass walls that overlook the river.
Blue Vision is one of the best yachts of her size for charter. With the space and features more like that of a 60 metre yacht, her contemporary Italian interior is superbly arranged for entertaining. The exceptional crew will help guests of all ages to make the most of the sports equipment. Three decks provide space for every hour of the day, from sunbathing around the Jacuzzi, to a shaded candlelit dinner. The sun deck in particular, is outstanding. Blue Vision is just one of the Edmiston elite fleet for charter this summer. If you do not want second best, you know who to call first.
Waterside alumni share their memories and tell us how what they learnt there served them well in their later lives
Interviews Karen Yates Photographs Selfies
JOB AT WATERSIDE: HEAD WAITER, 1995-7
NOW: GENERAL MANAGER OF ALL SITES AT L’ENCLUME, CUMBRIA
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “Arriving at The Waterside Inn was like a breath of fresh air. Their exceptional setting on the river, together with the quality of the cuisine and service, provided a totally new approach to catering and a new work environment for me. It was a very busy restaurant with an extremely well-oiled service team. Working at Waterside was a daily pleasurable challenge, punctuated by long hours of work among a professional yet light-hearted team dedicated to delivering the best to the guests. We were very much encouraged to engage with them and create a homely feel, which would in turn encourage them to visit the restaurant again and again.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “It is not possible to single out just one memory of The Waterside Inn, because it comes as a package. Good things included the daily dedication and investment of everyone in delivering a top-quality experience to the guests, and the way every employee felt like they were part of a family under the watchful eyes of Michel Roux and Diego Masciaga, who were always there to teach, assist, encourage and push us towards developing skills for our own good and that of Waterside. All these things combined to create a special memory of a special place.”
JOB AT WATERSIDE: PASTRY AND CANAPÉ CHEF, 1997-9
NOW: FOUNDER AND PROPRIETOR OF LH FINE FOODS
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “There are so many things I learnt. Very importantly, I learnt that you can’t take short-cuts and always to think ahead. Delivering the best-quality results requires starting with ingredients that speak for themselves, preparing and cooking them with precision and understanding. Since starting at Waterside, my attention to detail has changed for ever.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “The truffle cage. Oh, to have a truffle cage! All the truffles were kept under lock and key; even infused truffled eggs were closely supervised by the head and sous chef. There was no admittance to the truffle cage without authorisation! Also the foie gras, the preparation of which was to be performed only by the head chef. But I’m happy to say they let me have a go at it. Just the once.”
MARCUS ASHENFORD
JOB AT WATERSIDE: TRAINEE CHEF, 1991-4
NOW: CHEF OWNER OF 5 NORTH STREET, WINCHCOMBE, GLOUCESTER
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “I wouldn’t have achieved my goals if not for The Waterside. The list is too long to mention, but it includes cooking the best food in the land and what I learnt as a person. For me, the most important lesson was the discipline that was instilled into us –there were no bad services or corner-cutting, just absolute perfection every time with no excuses. I was taught to respect others, how to conduct myself in the kitchen and how to behave with other people.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “Highlights include cooking for A-list celebrities almost every night, for King Hussain of Jordan on a boat on the Thames and, in 1994, making blinis and caviar for the thenpresident Boris Yeltsin with Mr Roux. What an honour.”
Lucinda’s lica en lies canapés to H r a ’s fi es
JOB AT WATERSIDE: COMMIS DE CUISINE, 2000, TO SOUS CHEF, 2007
NOW: CHEF PATRON AT THE CHECKERS, MONTGOMERY, MID-WALES
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “My work as a chef at Waterside taught me that every ingredient, whether noble or common, has a space in the larder and can be cooked to reach unimaginable heights of deliciousness. It also taught me scrupulous cleaning but, most importantly, I learnt to embrace the future while respecting the past.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “In seven years I gathered many great memories and made friends for life, but having my first á la carte dish – a poached John Dory with carrot and vanilla emulsion – on the menu at such a great restaurant was a very special moment.”
JOB AT WATERSIDE: DEMI CHEF, 2000-7
NOW: PASTRY CHEF PATRON AT THE CHECKERS
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “The key things are discipline to work in an organised, clean and efficient manner, and respecting others – we started the day by greeting all other chefs with a quick handshake, and farewell at the end of the day was in the same manner. This is such a simple and effective way to build a good team rapport.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “I loved the big clean on Boxing Day with the huge feast and the prospect of the January holidays. The first time I saw Mr Roux through the window also sticks in my mind. I’d adored his recipes for years and was about to meet him!”
hin
JOB AT WATERSIDE: COMMIS TO PREMIER COMMIS CHEF, 1988-9
NOW: REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENT, FOOD AND BEVERAGE, HYATT, ASIA PACIFIC
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “What I learnt from Michel Roux OBE is that it’s important to engage with young people to get the best out of them. He would ask if we knew how to make a dish, such as watercress soup, and we’d make it for him. We’d taste it together, and he’d say perhaps a little of this or that needs to be added. Before you knew it, it was on the specials board and you felt so proud. I suppose it’s what today is called ‘coaching’, believing in people so they believe in themselves and perform their best. Michel taught me the true meaning of leadership, and I consider him my mentor. Now, although I’ve been in Asia for 20 years, we are still in regular contact. He is not just a friend, but his family and my family are friends. Today, when I work with young people, I continue Michel’s philosophy of coaching them, respecting what they are able to do and bringing out the best in them.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “When I first started, I’d travelled from Stuttgart, where I grew up, to Bray, and was in awe of working for a three-star restaurant. Michel called all the young chefs ‘Mon petit’. A er three months, I was walking outside one day, Michel stopped his BMW, rolled down the window and said, ‘Hello, mon petit, what is your name?’ That was the moment I felt I’d made it as a chef. He later let me read his collection of antique cookery and pastry books to learn more, so I must have done something right.”
That was the moment I felt I’d made it as a chef
MANAGER, 1980-8
NOW: RUNNING BISTRO THIERRY IN MELBOURNE
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? and a great mentor. I learnt from him that hard work and perseverance lead to the achievement of perfection.”
special memory of The Waterside Inn is without any doubt the day Robyn Roux told me, with a huge smile on her face, that our hard work had paid off – we had received the third Michelin star! Michel then invited his chef Michel Perraud and me to France for a few days. I can still remember the incredible dishes we ordered and the fabulous wine we shared when we dined at some of the best three-Michelin-starred restaurants. What a treat – and what an unforgettable experience!”
JOB AT WATERSIDE: ASSISTANT MANAGERESS, 1980-8
NOW: OWNER OF FRENCH FOR YOU LANGUAGE SCHOOL
WHAT DID YOU LEARN THAT HELPED YOU LATER? “So many things, but the most important for me would have to be l’amour du travail bien fait (the love of a job well done). Merci, Michel!”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENT? “When Michel asked Olivier and me to spend six months at Le Gavroche with Silvano Giraldin. We went not knowing that we were in training for something special. A few months later, Michel offered us manager and assistant manageress at Waterside. It was a dream come true –we were about to embark on a wonderful experience that would have an impact on us for the rest of our lives.”
Olivi ’s en b o es ab t 170 pe le a day
The experience would have an impact on us for the rest of our lives
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As this selection of daily dishes shows, every meal served at The Waterside Inn is a masterpiece
VELOUTÉ
RACINES GARNI
PARFUMÉE
Root vegetables velouté garnished with beetroot and black truffl
Pictures Simon Brown
PARFAIT À L’ANANAS, SUR UN SABLÉ DE STRUZEL AU PAIN D’ÉPICES
Iced pineapple parfait, served on a gingerbread struzel sablé
RAVIOLES FARCIES DE QUEUE DE BOEUF BRAISÉE, DOUILLET PARMENTIER ET JUS DE DAUBE
Ravioli of braised oxtail, served with a smooth Parmentier purée and daube jus
Roasted breast of partridge wrapped in a game farce, served with pumpkin subric, parcel of wild mushrooms and spinach, and poivrade sauce
LE FRISSON AU CHOCOLAT KALINGO, SORBET
POMELO PARFUMÉ AUX BÂTONS DE CITRONNELLE
Refreshing Kalingo chocolate frisson, served with lemongrass-scented pomelo sorbet
photographs Alamy, Getty Images
Jérôme Bryon / Les Gens de l’Atelier
As planter, sourcer and expert in assembling rare cocoa blends, Valrhona has been creating exceptional chocolates preferred by the top chefs and pastry chefs around the world since 1922.
Food lovers can enjoy the 16 Grand Cru chocolates, selected from a range of more than two hundred aromatic pro les, and join the exclusive circle of experts.
A journey into the heart of the nest chocolate ingredients.
©
For chef patron Alain, cooking doesn’t end at The Waterside Inn. Come the weekend, you might find him preparing a relaxed lunch for friends and neighbours Geoffrey and Sonia Allison, along with his wife, Laura, and their children, Paul, four, and Louise, one
Photographs Simon Brown
Warm asparagus mimosa
One of my favourite ingredients has to be fresh asparagus from Wiltshire. I love to use it – or the white or violet varieties – in this unashamedly seasonal dish. Some additional ingredients, if you have them to hand, work very well with this dish, namely anchovy fillets, morel mushrooms and Parmesan. And when asparagus isn’t in season, my ultimate substitute is large garden leeks!
Serves 4
Prepare 15 minutes
Cook 5 minutes
• 24 asparagus spears, woody stalks broken off
• 80ml extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp finely chopped shallot
• 4 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley leaves
• 2 free-range eggs, hard-boiled and chopped
• 1 large fennel bulb, very thinly sliced
• 20 baby spinach leaves
• 12 caperberries with stem, in brine and drained
• 4 slices bread, toasted
1 Peel and wash the asparagus, if necessary. Tie loosely with string in bundles of 6 spears. Cook in boiling salted water until tender, about 2 minutes for medium-thickness stems.
2 Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the oil, vinegar, mustard, lemon juice, shallot and parsley. Fold in the eggs and season to taste.
3 When the asparagus is cooked, remove the bundles from the pan and plunge into iced water for 10 seconds; this helps to retain the colour. Drain well, untie and arrange the asparagus on a large, flat dish or divide among 4 plates.
4 Drizzle a little mimosa dressing over the asparagus. Garnish with the fennel slices and spinach leaves, and scatter the caperberries around. Serve immediately with the toast and the extra mimosa dressing alongside.
The poussin can be substituted for guinea fowl or chicken, which are equally delicious. I love to add ground cinnamon or paprika to the glaze, unless I’m preparing for my children, who find it too powerful.
Serves 4
Prepare 35 minutes, plus chilling Cook 45 minutes
• 500g new potatoes
• 2 x 450g corn-fed poussin
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil
• 100g clear honey, warmed
• 3 tbsp lemon juice
• 5 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1⁄4 onion, finely sliced
• 300g fresh ceps, cleaned and sliced (or 100g dried ceps)
• 4 tbsp chopped parsley
1 Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender, about 15 minutes, then peel and slice.
2 Meanwhile, prepare the poussin. First, remove any string that is holding it in shape, then trim away the flap of skin at the neck and remove the ends of the legs. To remove the backbone, put the poussin breast-side up on the chopping board, and carefully place a large knife into the body with the blade facing downwards, just to one side of the backbone. Press down with the knife, cutting through the backbone. Turn the poussin over
and cut away the backbone by cutting just to the other side of it. Discard the backbone. Break the breastbone by laying the poussin flat on the board, breast-side up, and hitting the breast hard with your hand until the bone breaks.
3 Turn the legs so they are facing inwards. Cut two incisions, one on either side, into the flap of skin near the poussin’s tail. Thread the legs through. Tuck the wings under the poussin; it is now ready for cooking. Repeat with the second poussin.
4 In a bowl, combine the olive oil, honey and lemon juice. Whisk well together and season with salt. Place the poussins in a roasting tray and pour the honey mixture over the top. Cover with cling film and chill for 30 minutes.
5 Heat an ovenproof cast-iron griddle pan on the hob until very hot. Place the two spatchcocked poussins, breast-side down, onto the hot griddle. After 4-5 minutes, turn over and griddle again for 4-5 minutes. Return the poussins to the roasting tray skin-side up, season with pepper and cook in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until cooked through. Keep warm.
6 Heat 3 tbsp groundnut oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the potatoes and fry until golden all over. Add the onion and fry until caramelised. Keep warm.
7 Heat the remaining 2 tbsp groundnut oil in another large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the ceps and fry until golden brown. Season, then mix with the potatoes, onion and parsley.
8 Cut each poisson in half. Place half a poussin on each plate and add the potatoes and ceps. Pour a little of the cooking juices from the roasting tray over each plate and serve.
Grilled spatchcocked poussin with honey glaze, sautéed potatoes and ceps
Grilled spatchcocked poussin with honey glaze, sautéed potatoes and ceps
I grew up in an area of France where this cheese was locally available, so it evokes happy childhood memories. The cheese is not only seasonal, available in spring, but still handmade by a couple of artisanal producers in France, so it’s not widely available in the UK. It has a mild, buttery flavour and becomes more meltingly gooey with maturity. You can choose the plain or linseed variety; I prefer the latter as the linseeds lend a delicious nutty flavour. A Belgian chicory salad, fresh walnut halves and some toasted bread provide the perfect accompaniment.
Apricot and almond bourdaloue tart with vanilla ice creamBray Picard Bray Picard
My entire family – children, grandparents, mums, dads, uncles, cousins – adore this luscious tart, a firm favourite whatever the occasion. Apricots are delicious when in season but can be substituted for other fruits including mirabelles (the little golden plums) or pears.
Prepare 40 minutes, plus chilling Cook 35 minutes
• 300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 130g unsalted butter, cubed and so ened
• 100g caster sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 large free-range egg
• 90g unsalted butter, so ened
• 90g caster sugar
• 90g ground almonds
• 2 medium free-range eggs
• 2 tbsp rum
• 16-20 very ripe apricots, halved and stoned, or tinned apricot halves in syrup
• 2 pinches of vanilla sugar
• 2 tbsp sliced almonds, toasted
• 4-6 scoops vanilla ice cream
1 To make the sweet pastry, put the flour on the work surface and make a well. Drop in the butter, sugar and salt, and gently mix together with your fingertips. When the flour mixture becomes
slightly grainy, make another well and drop in the egg. Work the dough until all the egg is incorporated. Wrap the pastry in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
2 Meanwhile, make the almond cream. In a bowl, beat the butter and sugar until pale, then add the ground almonds. Whisk in the eggs one at a time and, finally, the rum.
3 Preheat the oven to 180°C, gas mark 4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured work surface to a circle 0.3cm thick, and use it to line a greased 22cm flan tin. Prick the base with a fork, line with greaseproof paper and fill with baking beans, then bake blind for 10 minutes. Remove the beans and paper, and bake for another 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Lower the oven temperature to 170°C, gas mark 3.
4 Spoon the almond cream into the tart base and arrange the apricot halves on top, round-side up and overlapping slightly. Sprinkle over the vanilla sugar and bake for 20 minutes. Let the tart cool slightly before removing from the flan tin.
5 Before serving, sprinkle the tart with toasted almonds, and scoop some vanilla ice cream into a bowl to serve alongside.
He was born in 1963 in Oleggio, a village near Stresa in Italy, and his inspiration was his mother. Diego Masciaga explains: “She taught me by her example about the importance of service. Whenever I needed something, she was always there ahead of me. She always seemed to know what I needed before I had to ask.”
Thus inspired, his career path was set from an early age. The 14-year-old Diego
began taking seasonal work at five-star hotels in France and Italy. His instinct for service was immediately obvious, and the relationship between service and profit revealed itself to him equally quickly.
“One of my first jobs was in a very prestigious hotel in La Baule on the west coast of France. The hotel was popular with the Parisian aristocracy. Because of my youth and lack of experience, I was
allowed to provide service only to children and dogs. At 5pm, I had the food orders given to me for the many dogs staying in the rooms while their owners had dinner. I knew that if I got this wrong, I could ruin the customers’ holidays. I didn’t want that. I wanted to play my part in making it wonderful for them.
“These people talked to me a lot and I listened very carefully. So I learnt many
This man knows what you want before you know you want it and delivers with peerless charm. Welcome to the mind-reading world of Masciaga, Diego MasciagaWords Chris Parker Photographs Simon Brown
things. I also got more tips than anyone else! When guests left, I would often give them a gift for their child or dog. They appreciated that and the care I’d given.”
Diego’s smile disappears. He leans forward almost conspiratorially. This wasn’t, I realise, just a pleasant memory. There is a lesson here, too. And he has to share it. It’s the other essential part of his nature. He loves to teach. But maybe serving and teaching are not so far apart. “You see,” Diego says, “in business you have to be a great listener. If you don’t listen, you don’t learn. When I listen, I seek to enter into their conversation.”
At the age of 17, Diego made the brave decision to leave home and move to France, to work in Alain Chapel’s three-Michelin-starred restaurant. It was to be a challenging and lonely time for the young Italian. The world-famous restaurant, owned and run by a chef widely acknowledged as one of the greatest of his generation, was in the village of Mionnay, 12 miles outside Lyon. As an inexperienced Italian, Diego was not allowed to work in the restaurant during service. Instead he was required to organise the empty green and brown bottles ready for collection.
Living apart from his family for the first time in accommodation that was several miles away from the restaurant, Diego found the isolation and the long hours stressful. He talks of the many times he travelled back to his room in the early hours of a winter morning, struggling through the intense cold and the snow, knowing he would be making the return journey in a few short hours.
He admits that it was a time in which he cried often. His resolve was clearly tested and yet never beaten. “My desire
to learn,” Diego says without emotion, “was always stronger than my tears.”
Alain Chapel took a liking to the determined young man and instructed him to serve lunch and dinner to the Chapel family every day before service began. It was at these times that the great chef rewarded Diego’s desire to learn, personally teaching him the fine arts of serving and carving.
He stayed there until 1983, when he moved to work for Albert and Michel Roux OBE at the three-Michelin-starred Le Gavroche in London. He was promoted quickly to the role of chef de rang. Two years later, he become the manager at Le Mazarin, another restaurant owned by the Roux brothers. It achieved a Michelin star within months of him taking charge. After this, there was a spell working for Michel Roux OBE in California, then a return to Alain Chapel’s, this time as maître d’.
Then, in 1988, Diego moved to The Waterside Inn. Since then he has played a pivotal role in the restaurant’s success and established his reputation as one of the great restaurant managers of his generation. As such, he has, by special request, organised many private dinners and banquets. Occasionally he teaches
service skills at the Istituto Professionale Alberghiero ‘E Maggia’ in Stresa and has an honorary doctorate from the institution.
Not surprisingly, he has been winning awards and accolades for years. In 2000, he won the Master of Culinary Arts, awarded by the Royal Academy of Culinary Arts. In 2007, he won the Maître de Maître award from the Academy of Food and Wine Society. A year later, the same society named him Restaurant Manager of the Year. In 2011, he was honoured with the title of Cavaliere, the Italian equivalent of a knighthood, for his services to fine dining and his commitment to the development and training of others. In the National Restaurant Awards 2014, The Waterside Inn received the prestigious Service Award.
Throughout it all, Diego says the lesson he learnt from his mother remains his core principle. He still measures the quality of the service his team provides by asking, “Are we pleasing our guests and meeting their needs before they are expressed?” For him, everything comes back to this.
So service means never having to ask? He nods. “Absolutely. If the guest has to ask, it means we have not been watching closely enough; we have not understood them well enough. You see, we are here to create contentment. Serving is all about pleasing people, making them feel happy and good, making them feel comfortable. This is true whether it is in a restaurant, a shop, a bank, even a call centre. It is true anywhere.”
If only this were true of everywhere we go, life would be so much more pleasurable, I ponder as Diego leaves me to lead another unique lunchtime service.
From The Diego Masciaga Way by Ch ris Parker (Urbane Publications)“ ” If a guest has to ask, it means we have not been watching closely enough
is proud to support
and his staff at The
Head Chef Fabrice Uhryn describes this fragrant dish as ‘the sea on a plate’. He created it to showcase beautiful Scottish halibut and a wild British native plant with oyster-flavoured leaves. You can make and enjoy this Michelin star dish with Thermomix doing all the work for you – perfectly reducing and blending the delicate green sauce as well as gently cooking the halibut with seaweed steam. Serves 4.
• 20 g shallots
• 20 g button mushrooms, cleaned
• 20 g fresh butter
• 225 g dry white wine
• 225 g fish stock
• 225 g double cream
• 45 g oyster leaves (or 1 rock oyster plus 45 g baby spinach leaves)
• 1-2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice, adjust to taste
1. Place shallots and mushrooms in Thermomix bowl and chop 2 sec/speed 6, then scrape down sides of bowl with spatula, add butter and sweat 5 min/90°C/speed spoon.
2. Add wine and reduce 12 min/Varoma/ speed 1 without measuring cup.
3. Add fish stock and reduce 12 min/Varoma/ speed 1 without measuring cup.
4. Add cream and reduce 12 min/ Varoma/speed 1 without measuring cup.
5. Add oyster leaves and lemon juice then blend 1 min/speed 10. Adjust seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer sauce to a sauce pan and keep warm.
• 500 g water
• 30 g fresh sea lettuce
• 4 halibut fillets (e.g. Gigha), 140 g each
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 100 g samphire
• 8 slices smoked salmon, approx. 8cm x 3cm
• 12 slices kohlrabi, blanched in boiling salted water then reheated in a little water/butter emulsion
1. Place water and seaweed in Thermomix bowl then bring to full steam 6 min/Varoma/ speed 1. Meanwhile, season halibut fillets with sea salt and place on Varoma tray.
2. Place covered Varoma in position on Thermomix lid. Steam 6-8 min/Varoma/ speed 1 or until fish is tender then set Varoma tray aside.
3. Place samphire in Varoma dish, cover and steam 2 min/Varoma/ speed 1.
4. Divide 2/3 of the steamed samphire between 4 hot plates, place the halibut, arrange smoked salmon on top and kohlrabi slices around. Scatter with remaining samphire then sauce generously and serve extra sauce in a small jug. Serve and enjoy.
“Thermomix saves so much time – it blends our soups and sauces so fine that we can often eliminate passing and it takes the effort out of making polenta and spice pastes.” Fabrice Uhyrn
“Thermomix helps us achieve consistent results with accurate and repeatable settings for time, temperature and speed.”
Alain Roux
“We have four Thermomix in constant use in The Waterside Inn kitchen and at home I have a Thermomix to help feed my young family well.” Fabrice Uhyrn
Rich, delicate and highly complex, the artisan nectar produced by Bray resident Anne-Marie Eve is one of The Waterside Inn’s most treasured ingredients
Local producer
Words Daniel Tapper Photographs India Whiley-Morton
I decided to make my garden a haven for wild flowers “ ”
BBe it drizzled over pork belly or simply paired with a piece of Parmesan – if you’ve ever been lucky enough to sample The Waterside Inn’s unique honey, then you may well have been left wondering where this delicious delicacy comes from.
But while many of the biggest-selling varieties of honey herald from such far-flung places as Mexico, Turkey and New Zealand, you might be surprised to learn that this honey comes from the parish of Bray.
Less than two miles west of The Waterside Inn is Long Lane apiary. It’s not a professional honeyproducing factory but an 18th-century cottage at the end of a rambling bridleway, where Anne-Marie Eve tends to a small collection of wooden hives at the end of her garden.
A physiotherapist by trade, Anne-Marie moved back to her birthplace from London six years ago, not only to raise her two children and to escape the hustle and bustle of city life, but also to follow her dream of making honey. The only problem was that she didn’t have a clue how to do it.
“Basically, I read lots and lots of books,” she admits. “And I taught myself everything I could about honeybees. The most important thing I learnt? That bees love variety and that the flavour of their honey is entirely dependent on the quality of nectar available to them. From that moment on, I decided to make my garden a haven for wild flowers.”
Anne-Marie’s determination to create the best honey possible paid off. Last year she was visited by The Waterside Inn’s chef patron Alain Roux, who was so impressed by the rookie beekeeper’s produce that he agreed to use it in some of the restaurant’s best
dishes and asked if he could start selling jars of it to his customers.
What makes Anne-Marie’s honey so good? “It expresses the terroir of the local area, just like a fine whisky, wine or cheese,” she says. “Its flavour changes throughout the season, depending on the weather and what flowers the bees feed on. So it’s always slightly different and every mouthful is interesting.
“I also purposefully nurture the kinds of flowers that I like to taste in my honey, which is why you’ll find such an array of different plants and flowers in my garden, including hawthorn, lime trees, raspberries, blackberries, snowdrops, wild hops and thousands of crocuses. The resulting honey is mild and gentle but also very floral and slightly lemony. I think there’s a hint of pepper in there, too, and some lavender.”
Anne-Marie’s honey might taste delicious but if you’d like to try it, then you’ll have to be quick. She tends to only 20 hives and harvests just a few hundred jars a year.
“It’s a labour-intensive and time-consuming process,” she explains.
“But doing it on such a small scale allows me to keep a close eye on quality.
It’s a traditional process, too. The honey is simply harvested and passed through a sieve before being jarred. It isn’t blended or boiled, which can dampen a honey’s more delicate and volatile aromas.”
With so much time and effort invested in producing the honey, does Anne-Marie find it hard to see it leave the apiary?
“No, because I know it’s going to a place where people will truly appreciate it,” she says. “Also, I always make sure I stash away a few jars for personal enjoyment. I use it for everything from making mead to pouring over puddings. But for me, nothing beats a slice of toast with butter and honey. Having said that, it’s also very good straight from the jar – but don’t tell my husband.”
1 A breakfast tray of croissants, almond brioche, yogurt and fresh fruit – all paired with a pot of honey.
2 Petits fours served with coffee at the end of a meal, including nougat and madeleines.
3 Diego Masciaga sometimes offers an extra course of Parmesan with a pot of honey for dipping.
4 Pork belly or duck with a honey-infused sweet-and-sour glaze.
5 Young spring vegetables including mushrooms, carrots, beetroot and onions, pickled in a honey brine.
Michel Roux takes a break from cooking to enjoy holistic healing at Chiva-Som in Thailand
Words Krittiya Wongtavavimarn
It’s a bright, sunny Monday morning as Michel Roux leaves his luxurious Thai Pavilion for a 40-minute Super Stretch session. It is just one of the wellness programmes prepared for him and his wife, Robyn, at Chiva-Som, a world-class beachfront health resort in Hua Hin, 185 kilometres south of Bangkok.
“Stretching is my favourite class – I do it every morning,” says Michel. “I’m not here for misery, I’m here to enjoy myself. But at the same time – no pain, no gain. When I stretch, I do as much as I can. After five days, I’m doing much better.”
Later, Michel sits in the resort’s library and sips on chilled apple juice made with apple cider, honey and lime. “This is lovely,” he says. “Look at the colour, enjoy the fragrance – it’s so refreshing.”
This is Michel’s fourth and Robyn’s fifth time at Chiva-Som, which means “Haven of Life”. It is Michel’s favourite resort, where he can slow his pace of life, detoxify his body and calm his mind. “I come here every few years,” he says. “The beauty of Chiva-Som is that everything is à la carte – you choose the treatments, classes and activities. You can lie in the sun, you can go to the beach, and you can lose weight without even noticing because the calories are calculated, but the food is still good,” he says. “My mind is better. I can see clearer. I sleep better as well.”
During his seven-day stay, Michel relaxes in the lush gardens, exercises regularly and follows a plan developed for him by a staff of expert health professionals. Consulting doctors, naturopaths, fitness instructors, spa therapists, nutritionists and alternative health practitioners are all on hand to help him achieve his goals.
Holistic wellness is a core concept at Chiva-Som. With facilities including a »
kinesis studio, Watsu pool, flotation pool, Kneipp bath, sauna, steam and Jacuzzi, every detail is meticulously planned to help guests reach the pinnacle of wellbeing.
This attention to detail continues with the food, which proves that nutritious meals can be a gourmet experience. At the resort’s two restaurants, the Emerald Room and the Taste of Siam, only the freshest produce is used, including organic fruit and vegetables from the
garden. Michel’s favourite dishes are sukiyaki with potato noodles, steamed sea bass with Thai herbs and lime juice, and dairy-free eggs Benedict with home-cured salmon on a buckwheat pancake.
The bright, fresh flavours of Thai cuisine are all present, and each recipe is high in nutrients and low in fat, salt and sugar. This is clean eating at its most satisfying, as executive chef Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat explains. “Chiva-Som
“ ”Rooms are set in seven acres of lush grounds Chiva-Som’s wood-panelled library Organic produce is grown in the resort’s garden Michel and Robyn return every few years
is not a health boot camp,” he says. “We serve chicken, beef, lamb and fish, we serve desserts, but we cut out all the things that are bad for you.”
Chiva-Som’s ultimate aim is for its guests to take away happy memories as well as better health. Before Michel and Robyn’s departure, the staff gather in the library to celebrate with them.
“Chiva-Som is and always will be my favourite place,” says Michel. “It’s been
A five-night stay at Chiva-Som starts at around £1,600 per person, including meals and treatments (chivasom.com). Readers who mention this feature and quote “Wellness Plus offer” will receive a range of additional treatments.* Thai Airways (thaiairways.com) flies to Bangkok from London and other major cities.
open for 20 years, and it’s still among the best in the world. And the people I have met have worked here for 10 years. Every time you return, you find old friends, and you always try amazing new things.”
Cooking With Light , a book of recipes from Chiva-Som with foreword by Michel Roux OBE, is available from chivasomproducts.com
Michel with executive chef Paisarn Cheewinsiriwat
Makes 16-18
Prepare 10 minutes, plus resting Cook 30 minutes
• 125g plain flour
• 15g caster sugar
• 2 eggs
• 325ml milk
• 100ml double cream
• few drops of vanilla extract or orange flower water, or a little grated lemon zest
• 20g clarified butter, to cook
1 To make the batter, put the flour, sugar and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add the eggs, mix well with a whisk, then stir in 100ml milk to make a smooth batter. Gradually stir in the rest of the milk and the cream. Leave to rest in a warm place for 1 hour.
2 When you are ready to cook the crêpes, give the batter a stir and flavour with vanilla, orange flower water or lemon zest. Brush a 22cm crêpe pan with a little clarified butter and heat. Ladle in a little batter and tilt the pan to cover the base thinly. Cook the crêpe for about 1 minute.
3 As soon as little holes appear all over the surface, turn the crêpe over and cook for 30-40 seconds. Transfer to a plate and cook the rest of the batter, stacking the crêpes interleaved with greaseproof paper as they are cooked.
4 Roll up the crêpes, or fold in half or into quarters, and eat immediately, either just as they are, dusted with sugar or filled.
Recipe adapted from Michel Roux Eggs (Quadrille)
When father and son stage a flip-off, the batter may get scattered but the results are deliciousPhotographs India Whiley-Morton
