Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2010 | Page 130
food
Island Life - April/May 2010
The young chef at
the Hambrough has
made waves on the
Island for his food.
But in his most
revealing interview
to date, Robert
Thompson says
if you think he’s
about ‘fine dining’
it’s time to think
again. He talks to
Martin Potter
Robert Foraging in the woods for wild garlic and wild mushrooms
The talented Mr Thompson
HIS face is everywhere; on the covers
losing the Hambrough’s fusty image
arranged food. This is surely a change
of food magazines, on the promotional
he has constructed for it a sense of
from the previous regime where you’d
videos on the ferries, in the Sunday
exclusivity that, if you think about the
need a free magnifying glass with every
supplements of the national press. And
real meaning of the word, isn’t exactly
dish. Robert is determined to shake
rightly so, for Robert Thompson has
what a restaurant wants. Those who feel
himself free of the ‘fine dining’ tag. “It’s
consistently bucked the expectations of
‘excluded’ only have to roll the word
special occasion dining, yes – you’re not
the food world to achieve the sort of
around your mouth – the Hambrough
going to have a three course meal with
culinary heights usually reserved for chefs
– to imagine the snooty look from the
appetiser and coffee every night – but
with acres of experience behind them. In
maitre d, the hushed atmosphere of the
that should mean enjoying your evening,
a word, older chefs.
dining room and those few green beans
relaxing, having a right good laugh.”
He is just 27 and since arriving at the
arranged artfully on a small white plate.
He paints a picture of what he doesn’t
Hambrough Hotel in Ventnor he has
All the attributes of the fine dining
want his restaurant to be: “You phone
dragged it out of its time warp and
experience in fact.