Sally Clarke Innterview

sallyclarkfinalaudio

Sally: [00:00:00] [Mic bleed]

Arthur: Sally Clark, welcome you my

Sally: own restaurant,

Arthur: to your own restaurant.

It's such a

that you've shared your time with us today in your home restaurateur.

Sally: Thank you. Thank you.

Arthur: Writer Cook.

Sally: Not chef,

Arthur: you, all

of the titles. You could add to all the things you end up doing, each day we were talking about how every day is so different for you.

We're in your home today. How would you describe your wonderful restaurant?

Sally: Family business. Very much.

The staff that I work with. I treat as brothers and sisters, I hope

and. To a certain degree our customers too. And over 41 years we've met quite a few. And in fact, I think it's probably fair to say that we're serving the grandchildren of some of our original customers.

So it's, it has got a very

familiar

Arthur: And

This restaurant not in Notting Hill,

London is iconic to so many and a real [00:01:00] institution. How would you describe it to people who haven't been here yet?

Sally: Unique.

We're not part of a chain.

We're

There are a lot of things that we do here.

Clark's style or Clark's taste

that you couldn't find anywhere else. I think

our

style of hospitality is. Similar, but different to people other restaurateurs in our realm. The style of food started off being probably stroke, California, a lot of char grilling, lots of beautiful salads, lots of roasted vegetables, but that was 40 years ago.

I think

over the years

we've evolved and now I definitely think we have more of an Italian

vein

to our menus. But with a grounding

of France,

[00:02:00] Maybe a little Spanish. But

with the focus on sourcing

our

ingredients from Britain whenever we can. Obviously at this time of year, in the winter months, it's not all that easy.

But but certainly spring, summer, early autumn, we're buying almost a hundred percent of our ingredients from Britain.

Arthur: And it must be

exposing, in some senses, having your own restaurant in that so much of it, all these details are, a reflection of you. But in many ways that's exciting because all those expressions offer so many opportunities. Can you relate to them?

Sally: Yes, I can. Although that also puts an awful lot of pressure on me as well. There is I think a lot of. Pressure on me personally because some people expect to see me all the time, which is very nice, very flattering. But the place works perfectly well without me.

And over recent [00:03:00] years I've certainly started to take more and more time off and I drift in at nine 30 instead of seven 30 in the morning. And leave at just as dinner's starting to roll rather than staying until the kitchen porters are leaving as well. But it is a personal business and it is my baby.

And I think it's important to me to meet and greet. Guests coming through the door and to, as importantly, to say goodbye to them when they leave as well.

So I think I'm still needed a little bit.

Arthur: Yeah. And you've celebrated your 40th

Sally: anniversary 41st actually last December.

Arthur: 41st.

Sally: Yes.

Arthur: In that time, the world, has changed so much, hasn't

Sally: it?

Arthur: For you, do you like tweaking, all these small things about the restaurant? [00:04:00]

Sally: Every day.

Every day.

Arthur: Give

us

an

idea because the number

things you are, you'll have to think about. So many things from the cutlery to.

The sound. We've just, the paint supply has changed and you can't replace the paint color. All of these things.

Sally: Yeah. This we call the garden room and this we created this about 10 years ago when our shop, which was next door to the restaurant originally was moved over the road.

And this is another beautiful Faron ball paint color, but it's just one tone different to the main dining room because we felt that we wanted to make this room just a little bit more, not clubby, but a little bit more en enveloping perhaps.

We've

Lucien Freud, etchings on the wall, and some people call it the garden room because we've got a view of our flat roof.

And we've just moved on to the most beautiful China for our tables from Geno and Florence. And it's just, yeah, after [00:05:00] 40 years, I think we've probably changed our crockery

three times,

And this is just the sort of final refinement, I think. So we're now where we should be.

Arthur: There must be a few people who, whose judgment and things that they notice, that they see you really

Look for.

Sally: Yeah. Those

are the most important people to me.

And it's interesting, just three or four people in the last week have noticed that we've

changed the plates.

It's not to say that others aren't observant but I think there are certain people in the world that, that catch onto those sort of finer details and and it's very flattering that they notice.

Arthur: Yeah. Yeah. And

give us

an idea of the kind of hidden joy of having your own restaurant amongst all these

Sally: others.

I don't think there's any hidden joy. There's hidden pain, huge amount of pain. I've always said that my, [00:06:00] my customers and my

greatest

thrill and my greatest aggravation

depending on who they are. Yeah. And same

with my staff. Staff can be a joy. But then once in. 10 or five or eight years, there might be one

that

drives you to distraction.

But there are very few customers that upset us. We can we can spot someone walking across the street heading for our front door. Paul, my restaurant manager, who's been with me about 35 years. And I will spy them and we know that they've either had an argument in the car on the way here or something, dreads happening and they're just not wanting to have a good time.

But it's our job to make sure that we change that attitude and that feeling, and we need to make sure that [00:07:00] they leave with a spring in their step happy as

Larry

Arthur: that must. Payback for you in so many unusual ways. Friendships, memories, yes. People sharing such personal things with you.

Tell us about

Sally: the reward. We've got couples who had their last

dinner before their first baby was born. For example, they had dinner here and

they went straight

to the hospital,

or

We've had beautiful lunches celebrating favorite customers lives and almost wakes here.

And people do feel very attached

to

what we have become and part of their lives, part

of their family history. And

it's very, I hate the word humbling, but it is really in a way

Arthur: somewhat, we were talking about this being a home for you

earlier, but.

For many people, it's a sort of spiritual home in, in one sense or another, [00:08:00] sharing these special moments, meeting these people that end up changing their lives.

Sally: Yes.

Arthur: it's hard to encapture how food brings us together and what it does for people.

Sally: The table does. It could be a platter of cheese and a hunk of bread. And a glass of wine. It doesn't have to be a fully blown menu, but it's the embracing of the table and the conversations that can happen around that table.

It's the art of hospitality. It's not necessarily the food itself, although that can be a very important part of it, but it could be a bowl of fruit. It could be the simplest thing, or it could be a five course menu, but it's the coming together around the table and the breaking of bread, whatever it is that

is so important.

Arthur: I watched a video in preparation for this interview of a man talking about [00:09:00] the wonderful restaurant in California that you worked in.

Sally: She panis the best restaurant in the world. Everybody has to go there

Arthur: and really moving it. Clearly it was a man who loved his food. And he was talking with Alice about how at the end of the meal they were given three dates.

Sally: Yeah.

Arthur: And it just changed his whole world.

Sally: Yeah. Because they

were the most perfect dates per they

were

smacking of the season. They were perfectly ripe. They were served in the most, I don't know this video, but I've eaten enough dates at Ch Panist to fill a book.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: In the most beautiful copper dish with perhaps a grape grape leaf underneath it.

But those fruits I've chosen specifically for that. Meal, not just that season, for that particular

meal for that particular day, for that weather. And that's what I try desperately

to do

with our menus. I have [00:10:00] Alice sitting on my shoulder every day, Alice

Waters,

who founded Chez Panis over 50 years ago now, and she's still very much a presence there.

She's in her early eighties. The restaurants packed every day. And the team that she has working with her are part of her.

Arthur: how would you describe the privilege? I know there's so many challenges, particularly today with having a restaurant. How would you describe the privilege to you that you feel

around

Being able to, distribute and be connected to all of the things you're connected to through this.

Sally: I think it's the art of hospitality. It is a very giving thing. And I think that is a privilege to be able to present f for me, a perfectly balanced menu. And

to.

to serve

it in the way that we do

here.

You asking before about how we differ [00:11:00] perhaps from our other restaurants, but I think the Clark style of services that we do look at each table as an individual. It could be a man meeting his

future mother-in-law

for the first time. It could be a a business meeting. It could be friends who haven't seen each other for years and years, but each table needs

be addressed

the waiter

in a slightly different way.

An American tourist couple might want to be chatted to all through the evening

whereas

Business colleagues probably don't want to be bothered with any chat at the table. So we need to take each and every table as an individual and

treat

them correctly.

Arthur: Sometimes the world feels like things, are related, sort of serendipity. Has that played a part in your life?

Sally: Yes, I think it [00:12:00] probably has. I loved cooking at school, but I failed my cookery O level, I think.

But I also loved music and I think I could have equally have enjoyed a career either

singing in music

in some form.

But

when I was 12

and a half, I was desperately keen to earn money for a horse riding holiday, and my mother suggested that I went to

work for an outside catering company that she knew very well. And it was through that, that I was introduced to cooking on a big scale. And from there,

, after school, I went to, cooking school. And from there I went to Paris to the BLE school where

I

just caught the bug, the food and wine [00:13:00] and sitting around a table bug. And I think probably my life could have gone in five different directions. But to go down the restaurant route I think stemmed from each little step of the way from that.

Arthur: Yeah. Interesting. How, 'cause I think for young people this amazing quote, which is, the things only make sense looking back. The dots all make all join up. Only when you look back at them. There's so many expressions. And even in this room, you've got this beautiful flower bots.

And I'm looking at these glasses here.

Sally: Yes. We had these made in 2014 to celebrate

our 30th.

And Alice Waters happened to be in London around the same time. And I decided to do a charity event to raise money for her Edible Julia Foundation.

And we had these [00:14:00] glasses made for her in the same style that they have at CH Panis. And

I love them so much that we decided to keep them on the table ever since. So we still have them, but it's that, it's very, they're very special.

Arthur: Yeah. That's so special. Even looking at them

feeling like very weighty.

This

is a glass of

appreciates a sort of reflection of, when

you think of,

your restaurant,

it's a very special place to eat.

It's a place to celebrate the anniversaries. If you're lucky enough to go more than

 it's the one. In a way, the glasses are a reflection of that. You are here in somewhere special.

Sally: Yeah.

Arthur: And it's almost when you walk

in this place you feel it really Did

Sally: you?

Arthur: Yeah. When I first went here, I thought, wow, this is an establishment. This is, this is something great. This is something special before you see the prices and the pride you take on. At the front.

Then there must

be some messages that

you push through

, into your team here, through the food that you like pushing in rooms, in

places. What are the messages you [00:15:00] like to push on people?

Sally: I think it's important to say that we're not necessarily a special occasion restaurant. I hope that we haven't become that. I think in the very old days you might not remember 'cause you're too young. But we

had a set

menu in the evenings with no choice for the first 20, 25 years.

And I felt. At the tail end of that, that we had become a bit of a special occasion restaurant and people would book months in advance to come to us.

And the reason

I stopped the set menu in the evening was mainly to encourage people

to come

just if they were walking by or if they just happened

be

in the area and phoned us up

at the

last minute.

And I felt that I wanted the restaurant to go back to a sort of, not casual, but at least somewhere that people felt comfortable just coming in to have one [00:16:00] or two courses and a glass of wine and not having to feel that they needed to

make a huge thing of it. They could pop in at six o'clock and be gone by seven 30 rather than the make a big.

Thing of it. And I think in a way that's where we are now. We have a lot of regular customers who, some of them come once or twice a week who might live locally but I also call regular customers.

Those who are living in

California or Australia or the Middle East who come, whenever they're in London, they're still regulars to us because

We know them and

they love us it's part of their sort of London list.

If you are,

Arthur: it,

are, it, it must

quite unusual when you meet people you, you feel a nice connection with in that, sometimes you wanna understand so much about them and, find who they are and if any way and, stay connected as it were.

Sally: Yeah.

Yeah.

Arthur: And some people you end up, forming that friendship and other others. , They'll [00:17:00]walk out the door. You might not see them again for a very long time. Yes. What's that like? That's in some ways it's transient

Sally: relationship. It that it is true some of our customers we've known for so long now that they have become part of the family.

And in fact, the last book I wrote, and it will be my last, my fourth book is a sort of a collation of ex customers, present customers ex staff, present staff suppliers, people in the hospitality industry.

And I've woven in

Their stories as it were.

And

I know

my staff like to call familiar customers by their first names.

I tend not to approve of that. I like to call them. By their title.

But

but I think my team most

of the managers have been with me 10, 20 years or more. They feel very familiar with so

many of

and it [00:18:00] is, it's, I think it's very nice for both sides

Arthur: There's so many worlds, parts of your world that are fascinating in so many ways.

The supply chain and the operations, the team, what's going on in their lives. Do you feel like

one of those or another world as it were doesn't get enough of the light and is so fascinating?

Sally: I think suppliers are definitely getting more and more, known within our industry. When

I opened it in 84, it was very unusual to write on the menu the name of the farm that the apples came from, or the venison or whatever it was. I don't even think that the country of origin was often used, but I think that's something I learned from Alice Waters and from my four to five years in California, that it's, it is important to make a statement and to celebrate [00:19:00] these, the farmers and the

Fishermen or whoever it is. And and we still do to this day even my

97-year-old

mother who picks herbs at the weekend for us for the following week, I still write Sheila's, Rosemary on the menu with the veal because it's come from her garden. I think it's important to,

To celebrate that.

Arthur: Of the countless things you do each day, are there some, particular things that bring you in, from the outside, maybe unexpected joy? It's, seeing someone walk in and then maybe seeing how their facial expressions change when they walk out or someone's reaction to something?

Sally: It embarrasses me sometime when people come through the door and I'm taking their coat, which is one of my. Favorite jobs or taking them to the table and

then they say, are you the selling? Yeah. It's not that big a deal. It really isn't. But to them it [00:20:00]somehow is. But but one of my greatest joys of the day is writing the menus.

Really. We change the menu every lunch,

every dinner is different. It might be very similar within the week or within the season, but the rosemary might be on the veal chop for lunch today, but we might have the rosemary

on

something

else.

tonight,

or the blood oranges might be in a

salad for lunch, but

they might be roasted

with something in the evening for the main course.

So

every menu and

changed. And my joy, I think is getting the balance of the sound of the menu the length of the lines, the, this sound, the way that the words work together. And and I think that's one of my favorite jobs.

Arthur: Thank you so much for

Sally: sharing that because that piece of paper, that the customer has delivered as soon as they sit down

is

such

an important [00:21:00] document.

Yeah. It sets, yes, the smile at the door and the greeting and. How lovely to see you and what's your name and how many are you, and all that sort of thing is one thing. But once they're seated and they're presented with the wine list and the cocktail list and the menu that's setting the scene for their evening, their lunch.

Arthur: Thank you so much for sharing that. And that's such a

amazing

revealing, insight into. Real joy for you that you get every day?

Sally: I

not only just me sitting at a computer and doing it, it's talking to the chefs, talking

to the

And finding out

what the suppliers have been delivering.

And and looking at the turbo when it arrives, saying, wow, where's that from? Is it Scotland or is it Cornwall today? And,

It's, it is an important part of setting stage for me

Arthur: because from the outside,

 it's [00:22:00] hard, and I

don't blame

people and I don't blame myself for not fully understanding and appreciating all those details, but.

These are the details that, it's your profession, even the paper type, Yeah. Matters usually for you. Yeah.

Sally: Yes. We all

Arthur: these

Sally: things, we use paper that's made from algae, dredged from

the Venetian lagoon.

I should probably write that on the menu too, actually. But our wonderful

designer Simon r had sourced this fabulous paper for us many years ago, and we're still using it now.

Arthur: That's so fascinating. It's almost I feel, that so many people would love to follow you on the journey, in a day with Sally and just hear about all these small little details. That mint for ex mint, I take it as mint. Do you know

Sally: about that? Mint? It's mint.

Mint and ginger. I'm. Sorry to say, I don't know where the mint is, probably is from this time of year in February. I'm not sure. But we always have fresh fresh mint and fresh sliced ginger on our ZA menu.

Arthur: You've given us this sort flavor of the different [00:23:00] people that come in here.

There's an amazing story, Lucian Freud live next door. And there's an amazing story Yes, indeed. Which will know

of of him,

sallyclarkfinalaudio: thanks

Sally: to

to your uncle. We

know him very well.

Arthur: I think your, what you have here will be the main calling for him. But but

The amazing story of him covering paint, not looking, let's call it smart eating away and then having someone remark about him being in the restaurant.

What's he doing in here? Type thing. Yes. And then Hegra, he grabbed a bit of bread, broke it, and smacked the woman basically lightly.

Sally: It was actually in the shop that we had next door to the restaurant. And he was he was buying his daily bread and his bar of noga that he managed to consume in one day, I think normally every day.

But he'd picked up the baguette and though there was a very Kensington lady of a certain age, also doing her

shopping.

she, in her stage, whisper, said to the girl behind the counter, you really shouldn't allow [00:24:00]scruffy people like this to touch the bread. Which of course he heard. And so as she walked out, he whacked her behind on the backside with his baguette.

Arthur: A remarkable story.

A remarkable story.

What was it like?

'Cause I think you, you did, you. For a few paintings for him.

Sally: I sat for one painting. Yes. And it took about

two years.

It was his last head and shoulders that he painted. And so it was very late in his life. So he was working very slowly.

Arthur: A very niche experience

in life to sit, and be painted. Nothing

Sally: like it. Nothing like it.

Arthur: The times you'd talk and other times you'd be left or wonder in your own mind,

Sally: there would be, 90% of the time would be silence.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: Yeah. But then he needed to sit

down and have

time and

more and more as time went on. And so we would chat and he would tell me. Stories of his wild youth [00:25:00] and stuff.

Arthur: More

an eccentric man and,

Sally: wonderful man looking at look at this

Arthur: amazing etching. Yeah. Do you

you know which of the name

Sally: of that? This is Pluto, I think.

Arthur: Okay.

Sally: Yeah.

Arthur: I think one of the Mar Marvels of humanity is people, you can get some real characters in the world in a fantastic way.

Sally: Aren't we lucky to have them?

Arthur: Yeah. And people, for sure express their character and nature with you, their sort of odd preferences the way they, integrate with the

party

Their jokes. Can you think of some quirky, standout moments that, you thought, maybe it was a

proposal or,

Sally: oh, we had a proposal a couple of months ago.

Absolutely. Lovely. He had the the gentleman spoke to Paul, my manager a couple of weeks before the booking and told Paul exactly what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. And he the day before the booking, he brought in the box with the ring and [00:26:00] we were allowed to hold onto it.

And we were given very specific instructions to present this with the dessert.

And when this happened he went down on one knee and, luckily she said yes, but the whole dining room erupted. Nobody else knew other than Paul. And but everybody saw what

was going on and they all stood up

and cheered.

It was absolutely

Arthur: amazing.

Sally: Gorgeous.

Arthur: And this will be a tale amongst thousands.

Sally: Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah, because they'll they'll all tell

their friends and their friends will pass. Yes, it will.

Arthur: Are there some,

can you think of other stories that are quite correct? We had one one gentleman who came in just a few weeks ago actually.

Sally: And he said to the manager on duty I'm really sorry. I've had my phone and my credit card stolen. Would you mind if I [00:27:00] came in and had lunch? And

, as we knew him, he'd been to us at least two or three times before. We said, of course, that's no problem at all. And the manager did double check with me and I said, yes, if you recognize him, if you know him.

And apparently he'd ordered lovely things off the menu and lovely wines in the past, so there was no problem. Anyway, we are still waiting to this day for him to come back with. The payment. So we've lost out on that one. But and I think in the very early days, it was a young couple of chaps who came in for dinner, drank an awful lot, had a lovely time, but clearly one thought the other was paying and they both walked out.

So we never recouped that. It does happen from time to

Arthur: Yeah. And people are talking about a lot right now and what one often gets is various things, remarking about political tension, which, there's always gonna [00:28:00] be remarks around that, whatever year it is, whatever season it is.

Yeah. It feels to me like humanity has this huge privilege of having probably the access to the best food that we've ever had at any point in history.

Sally: Yes.

Arthur: Do you think that's true and safe

Sally: as food? Yeah.

Arthur: Yes.

Sally: Yes.

Arthur: Should we not be celebrating that more?

Sally: Yeah, we should. Of course. Of course. But I do feel that we in the western world eat way too much.

There's way too much waste. I love it when people say, I'm really sorry, I can't eat all this. Please, may I take it home? And if it's half a veal chop, or whatever it might be, it'll make a perfect sandwich for the following day. But I think,

Are

incredibly lucky to have the food that we do.

But,

Yeah, but the waste is unforgivable.

Arthur: And [00:29:00] fortunately, there are. Structures now that are improving in organizations like the Felix project, you support

Sally: Yes. We've supported them for a long time and it's a wonderful thing to be involved in.

Arthur: Yeah.

We're now gonna move to the quick far questions.

Someone is sad. What do you meet them food wise?

Sally: Something comforting. A

bowl of soup

a stew depends what the time of year is,

If it's, I suppose it's easier to do it in the autumn, winter, early spring months when you just give them something, a big bowl of something warm

warm, nourishing,

Most important. So important. But also it costs nothing to smile.

Serve,

it with a smile. Yeah. There, there are times when people get unusual, kindness from strangers and have you seen that and has food been an example of that?

Yes. I remember my in our first year actually a regular customer lost her husband of 50 years or something, and she

in very bravely [00:30:00]

herself.

'cause she'd always would.

eat

with him, obviously. And my manager s at the time sat down with her

and

and

joined her in her meal to give her comfort and to give her

company

And yeah, I think that was a courageous and lovely thing to do.

Arthur: So unor eggs,

Sally: un

boring.

Arthur: Unor. If someone says to you they, they have eggs every day for breakfast.

Sally: Yeah.

I've got give us

I've got a good egg

sell

cackle bean eggs in the shop and we use

them often in the restaurant. And I had Alice Water stay with me last year, actually. She was invited to a dinner with the king and she came over for a few days and her assistant said, could Alice stay with you for a few days?

And I said, yes, no problem. Turned out to be 10 days. So I had 10

days of Alice

water staying

in my house,

but [00:31:00] every morning she has an egg and she couldn't get over how beautiful these eggs were. And she still texts me now and say, I still

remember those pepper bean

But

every day I felt I

Had to do something different for her.

And I did.

Arthur: That reminds me

Someone has remarked about your chicken pies. And how they're not available enough.

Sally: They aren't available enough. Yes, they're quite right. But they are becoming more available now. Yeah. Because we've got a system going,

We're now producing them in

our restaurant kitchen.

But time

is

short and space is short. It's it's dependent on when the kitchen chefs can, can produce them. But we've got

a system

going and I think as of this week we're doing at least 10 or 15 or 16 per week. So we can make a lot of people happy.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: But

they are the best.

They are without a doubt, the [00:32:00] best

Arthur: the demands of being popular.

Sally: Yeah. Oh, yes. Yes. But it's the time it takes to make them, because it, we just, we don't buy chicken

legs and

throw

them in

The oven to roast.

Use whole

chickens that are rubbed with olive oil and herbs, salt, pepper. Then they're roasted,

they're cool, then they're

then they're taken off the bone.

Then we make

stock with the carcasses,

Then we slice leaks by hand. Then we slice mushrooms by hand. Then we make a velu sauce with the stalk.

Then we

it all down,

and then we

the pastry and then we have to egg wash it. And then we sprinkle the thyme on the top and the sea salt.

Arthur: Don't give away secrets, Simon.

Sally: I think a lot of people know the secret it's quicker

and easier to come into the

shop and buy one.

Arthur: And also knowledge is one thing. Execution is

another.

And we are speaking the queen. Very true. The queen of execution. Speaking of execution, yeah. You're allowed to make one past the [00:33:00] dish.

Sally: Oh, I thought you were gonna say, who

would I want to execute?

I think that's a very obvious answer.

Arthur: Oh. We can put that in.

Sally: No. I couldn't.

Possibly We don't

politics at the table.

Arthur: No, indeed. Indeed.

Sally: But you know who I

mean,

he should, who should not

be named? Anyway,

move on.

Arthur: Moving swiftly. Yeah. Down the pasta aisle.

Sally: Down the pasta aisle. Yeah.

Arthur: Aisle into a, you're allowed to only serve one pasture dish.

Sally: One pasta dish.

Arthur: In this restaurant, what would it be?

Sally: The one we've got on at the moment, which is with Cornish Crab and Chili, and a tiny bit of wild garlic leaf and, yeah.

Yum. What could be better? Tini probably hand rolled

that. They do every day. Either

tini or tall. They hand roll every day. Lots of egg yolks in that, by the way,

Arthur: do you have a most moving memory with food?

Sally: Probably got many, maybe cooking with my son during COVID. That was pretty

[00:34:00] joyful.

Weren't we lucky to

have such sunny

weather? the doors were open and the windows were still the menus that we wrote lunch, every dinner was a

different menu.

That was pretty joyous.

Arthur: You've got the most phenomenal shop next door.

Sally: We do. It was next door. It's

now over the road. But but we do, we buy beautiful chocolates from Suffolk, from a company called Bee Chocolates.

And we source Amy

Coon's soy

And

we buy,

buy what else do we buy? Lovely, canned fish and shellfish from, a young couple in the West Country called Sea Sisters. We do hand pick a few things that we really love.

We have our own label,

wines our own label, olive oil that we

source

from, corsini in Italy.

But yes, we need to keep going with that. And some fabulous honeyed pecans, which we [00:35:00] buy from a secret sauce in the uk and we bag those up and we can't get enough of those.

Arthur: Yeah. Yeah. Which ingredients would you travel far to get for yourself or for the restaurant?

Sally: I ideally I'd like to get something near.

I'll tell you

one fruit in California. I've never seen it anywhere else, and it's called a

plu ott.

ot. It's a cross between an apricot and a plum. And they're in season, late summer, early autumn, and they are the most delicious fruit.

I wish I, maybe next time I'm there I'll get a stone and try and grow it somewhere.

Arthur: Yeah. But

Sally: yes, I'd go a mile and a half for for a plu

ot.

Arthur: And on your menu, we can see Cornish Wild Sea bass filet with taghi olives and lemon.

Sally: Yeah. Yeah, so a sort of a.

Italian twist

on tap Bernard.

Really?

Arthur: Yeah. Can you tell us about that [00:36:00] dish?

Sally: We buy the sea bass in hole. They've usually been scaled for us because I can't bear the thought of having scales reaching the ceiling when they scrape them off. But we, so we fill it, that, trim it right the way down. And then the individual portion is seared on the skin side down with a little bit of olive oil in a hot pan and then flipped over and then it's roasted in the oven until just done.

And our chefs Mika and Gab are masters at getting the right cooking temperature doneness so that by the time that piece of fish is on the plate, it's crisp on both sides, but it's also really. Juicy still in the inside. And then we the ade

is made with

these

KY olives which are very roughly chopped.

Little bit of [00:37:00] lemon zest, olive oil, maybe some parsley or

Chis.

Just very simple. And that's just powered on the top so the customer can work out how much of the tap out they want to use with each mouthful.

Arthur: God, it's painful hearing about this food anyway. Did you

Sally: have lunch?

Arthur: It's I did.

And

Certainly triggering, food,

Sally: Good food.

Arthur: good food hunger

Sally: ideas for supper tonight.

Arthur: Yeah, exactly. Inspiration that. No further saka. Here we go. Three things that bring you joy,

Sally: music particularly the human voice.

I think in my next life I will do something with music. And good food and hugs.

I have a great friend, Natalie Elliot who whose late husband bill Granger used to say that everyone needs a hug a day. Yeah. So I think that's, yeah. Music, food, good food. Can't be any old food. [00:38:00] And a hug. Yeah.

Arthur: A mantra you want to embrace now.

Sally: Something about not looking at the news or

Arthur: okay.

You're allowed to

choose one thing that's in for you right now and one thing that's

out

Sally: in

for me Yeah. At the moment.

Arthur: It could be it could be a plant, it could be an attitude.

Sally: In, for me is hella balls. Probably these ones are looking a bit tired, but hella balls, which we've got on the table at the moment. Yeah.

Everything needs to be in season

Clarks including

table arrangement.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: And

out raspberries on a dessert in

February

have always been

out for me.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: But I

did see it

in

I hasten I had not here in somebody else's restaurant recently. I

couldn't believe it.

Yeah.

Arthur: Fantastic. We're gonna show the listeners some images I'm gonna show you now.

Sally: Okay. Okay.

Arthur: Just a few. The first two are of your dishes.

Sally: [00:39:00] Yeah.

Arthur: Listed on the Michelin website.

Sally: Yes.

Arthur: Do you have any comments around?

Sally: No. I think they look rather good, don't they? Beautiful. Yeah. Very

lovely.

Now that's marre mushrooms or set so

that's,

was an au terminal dish with freshly rolled elli. And

this salad has,

dairy underneath

with some beautiful balsamic dressing drizzled with tbo and watercress leaves. And there must be some fruit in there, I think somewhere that's hiding underneath, possibly a clementine.

Arthur: Is

Sally: that's my portrait. I finished portrait, which is now hanging in a private collection in America. Two

lovely customers own it. And they often come for dinner when they're in

Arthur: London. How do you relate to the image? It looks like you're thinking about something.

Sally: I was thinking about a lot then.

But I, every time he picked up the

red picked up [00:40:00] his paintbrush and squeezed the red onto his palette. I thought, no, you're not gonna do my cheeks.

I wasn't allowed to

wear any makeup for the sitting. But that's how my

cheeks

look to him. I don't think they're ever quite that bad.

Arthur: And I It's just in your wine menu?

Sally: Yeah. This

Arthur: This

Sally: beautiful. That's very beautiful. That

Arthur: do. Is there any story behind that?

Sally: That's his painting. I don't know.

A date that painting is, but the Muan Rothschild, as choose a different artist for most of their vintages. And this was chosen for the 2006 vintage.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: And that's a very famous painting of his.

Arthur: Yeah. Has it ordered, been ordered this year do you think? Potentially this bottle?

Sally: That's a good question. I could ask Paul. I don't think so. I think we sold one last year, but it is quite a lot of money.

Arthur: Yeah. And this you might [00:41:00] notice is what's on the menu of a certain restaurant.

Sally: Oh,

amazing.

Arthur: Today.

Sally: That's so lovely.

So lovely. Oh, I could eat all of that and I haven't even seen it.

Arthur: A ch panis.

Sally: Yeah. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. So that's their set menu this evening. Yeah. In their dining room

on the ground floor.

And every night they have a different set menu and they have done for 50, 50 years.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: But what a beautiful

menu.

Arthur: Yeah.

Sally: Gorgeous. Yeah. I can picture it now.

Arthur: Sally, thank you so much for everything today.

Sally: Can we get panis now? Yeah,

Arthur: Yeah,

absolutely. We

Sally: could. We could probably make it,

Arthur: yeah. It's,

Sally: yeah.

It's 12 hours. We could make it by late service.

Arthur: Late service.

Sally: Yeah.

I try to go at least once a year.

Arthur: Really?

Sally: Yeah. It's my, still my touchstone.

Arthur: [00:42:00] Yeah. And you think of it every day?

Sally: Oh, I think of her and it every day. Yeah, yeah.

Arthur: Thank you so much. Pleasure. It's been a real pleasure.

Sally: Pleasure.