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As I present my second piece to you at ‘Auberge du Lac’ restaurant in Hertfordshire, you’ll be forgiven for thinking I’ve already lost all sense of direction and have sold my soul to the French. These are all legitimate reservations to have – I have to admit to not being 100% sure myself.
That is until I drove up the driveway of the breathtakingly old and beautiful Brocket Hall. Set in 543 acres of lush green parklands, the unmistakably British house will be celebrating a landmark 250th birthday later this year. It was built in 1760, at a time when relations between the British and French were not at their most cordial.
In fact, they were in the middle of a war for territory in North America – allowing a restaurant with such a French name to stand in it’s shadow back then would be unlikely to have proved a popular move.
Brocket Hall is now leased from Lord Brocket, an interesting and eccentric character. In 1996 he was jailed for fraud after attempting an insurance job on four Ferrari’s that he owned. He has also appeared on ‘I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here’ for good measure.
The restaurant, overlooking beautiful Broadwater Lake (hence the name) and in the shadows of the magnificent hall, was the estate’s hunting lodge until the mid 1990s before being transformed into a temple of French gastronomy.
Various chefs came and went, none more high-profile than ‘celebrity chef’ Jean-Christophe Novelli, who was in charge of the kitchen for a turbulent 3 years between 2003 and 2005. The liaison didn’t end amicably; in a much publicised spat, Novelli issued a writ against his employers citing non payment of fees. His contract remarkably wasn’t renewed.
At the tender age of 27, current executive chef Phil Thompson stepped up into the role after the split and has being going strong ever since, earning a coveted Michelin star in January of this year.
Even though Auberge still has a decidedly French name and retains many influences from our cross-channel neighbours, most top British chefs would acknowledge the Gallic influences present in their cooking. As a nation, we’ve embraced these tried and tested techniques, and modernised some of them and added our own twists to create what is now termed ‘Modern British’, and none more so than Phil, a proper Dagenham boy, who is about as British as you can get. So too are his brigade; a true cross-section of the British isles.
Andy, his head chef at 24 years old, has been with Phil for 6 years and the bond is obvious to see. Then you have the regionally named Geordie and Taffy, Jazz and Sweeney work on the garnish, and Mark heads up the pastry team with Louise and Sam ably assisting.
Phil has learnt his craft under some of the most influential British chefs of the past 30 years and is keen to develop himself and his team. “I started off with Paul Gayler at the Lanesborough and did two and half years. It was a real family environment where there wasn’t a lot of shouting, though standards were very high.”
Next stop was the Michelin starred Orrery with Chris Galvin. “I got my arse kicked and there was definitely some shouting here. It was one of the hardest kitchens I’ve ever worked in, but Chris taught me all about produce, seasons, and how to move your arse day in day out.”
“I then went next to work for Chris’ brother, Jeff Galvin at L’Escargot for nearly three years, and learnt so much – Jeff is such a talented chef and my experiences there were a kind of finishing school for me. We would sometimes do two covers for lunch, but it would be the hardest two covers ever as everything was done to order.”
It was time then to head out to the sticks. “I took the job here before I even set foot in the kitchen, I was simply blown away. This place could achieve three Michelin stars with the right investment. Even Le Manoir or The Waterside Inn don’t have this view or this space.”
“There is so much potential here, we have our own smokehouse outside that our customers love, and smoke a whole range of products: wild salmon, duck, eel and yellow fin tuna using liquorice woodchips. We use pheasants from the estate, wild garlic, elderberries, plums, pears and other foraged herbs. I would love to have my own vegetables grown here, but practicalities haven’t allowed it as yet.”
It would be hard to argue with Phil as the view in every direction takes my breath away; it’s only a shame that it’s so overcast and chilly today.
“I sometimes take 5 minutes after lunch service and just stand outside with a cup of tea on my own, and take in the view. It allows me to appreciate how lucky I am.”
“We’ve built a core of great suppliers that provide us with quality British ingredients, and we have the flexibility to use produce when it’s in season – at its best. We use day boat fish from Matthew Stevens in St Ives in Cornwall. The fish is amazingly fresh; it’s a real privilege to use such beautiful produce and you never know what is going to be available. Before Christmas we were using beef from Maldon in Essex, now it’s coming from Dedham Vale which is approximately eighty miles from here. We use Lincolnshire rabbits, English Rose Veal, and Ducks and Chickens from Devon, so we’re not doing too badly.”
“We try to source only the best though it’s not necessarily from the immediate area. Quality and consistency are key for us. It would be lovely to use only local produce but I run a busy restaurant; we cook for about six hundred people per week. Just because the produce is from Hertfordshire, it’s not necessarily going to be the best. I have a duty to provide the best ingredients for what we charge, and to give the customer the best experience possible”.
Every chef that works here does so because they really are a united team. Phil works hard to keep things interesting for them. There are recipes for certain dishes, but they are still trusted to know how to cook.
“I understand why some top kitchens use recipes for dishes, but many have them for every component of every dish, which takes away the creativity to an extent. I expect Geordie, my sauce chef, to know how to make a good sauce, and I don’t feel the need to have a recipe for red wine sauce. Taste the sauce and, as long as it tastes good, I’m happy.”
It is this trust and respect that creates such fierce loyalty and willingness to go the extra mile.
“Geordie had a holiday booked in the Philippines last week and turned up to work on the Tuesday. He’d cancelled his trip because we were short-staffed, though I really hadn’t asked him to. It’s because I’ve got boys like that we’ve achieved what we have.”
“The boys know that we’ll always have a bit of banter, but at 11am the radio is turned off and they get set up and focus on service. You’ll then see a totally different kitchen for two or three hours. After lunch then it’s a cup of tea, a quick clean down, and crack on again for a couple of hours before dinner service. It’s such a physically and mentally demanding job, with long hours you need to have that relaxed environment.”
“I’ve definitely changed over the eight years I’ve been here; I started as head chef at 24 years old and didn’t know how to handle the pressure, I would scream and shout a bit. Over time I’ve realised that if I’m in a bad mood, the rest of the kitchen will be fearful, on edge and scared of making mistakes. When I do have a little rant or a rave it’s not personal. I’ll give a bollocking and show them how to do it, then we move on.”
“When I worked in London, I used to sit on the tube some days feeling physically sick before work. We worked in absolute silence and were screamed and shouted at for 18 hours. Since I’ve been here there hasn’t been one day that I woke up and felt like that.”
“I love being with the boys in the kitchen. I’m not interested in taking a back seat, or being an executive chef in an office. I love the adrenaline rush, though now with technology, water baths, blenders, stoves and so many gadgets, service isn’t the same as it was when I started out here. I used to get butterflies before service knowing that I would have 70 or 80 covers, and everything would be cooked to order in a pan.”
In many ways it is a romantic ideal, and it’s a definite trait of chefs to look back to those day with nostalgia and feel that they were more fulfilling and pure experiences, and that by doing things the hard way, it somehow means more. The reality is that water-baths have allowed chefs to create a consistency that is simply impossible using conventional methods. The customer is the real winner, their experience is a result of careful consideration and a less stressed service that runs on timings, and allows more flexibility.
I had only planned to stay for about three hours, but was invited to stay on the pass during lunch service and it was a real insight for me – I managed to take hundreds of action shots. Fifty covers was a relative doddle, everything nicely organised and controlled. Phil prepared a mini plate of each dish for me to taste every time he called a table away. I loved the combination of flavours and the simplicity of the presentation. Everything looked amazing, but wasn’t too fiddly to put on the plate.
As 3pm came around, I prepared to go my merry way. The chefs went back into the kitchen after no more than a twenty-minute break and I couldn’t help feel a little sad that I didn’t have their dedication to professional cooking anymore. I felt slightly envious of the working environment they had created and what they’ve all worked so hard to achieve here. Oh well, at least I had the night off to get over it.
If you are thinking of taking a loved one for a romantic meal, go and eat here. You wont regret it.
Three Course Tasting: £55
Six Course Tasting: £75
Brocket Hall
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire AL8 7XG
01707 368 888
