Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2008/January 2009 | Page 104

life

FOOD & DRINK

Hambrough in a hurry
It’s been a whirlwind time for the
Hambrough, in Ventnor. It was just four
months ago that the youthful Robert
Thompson was brought in as head chef, but
it seems from his high profile and that of the
restaurant that he’s been there much longer.
Now, for the Island Life Food and Drink
Awards, the AA has judged the Hambrough
to be Restaurant of the Year.
“The challenge is to attract customers
year-round,” says Robert. “I don’t want
summer to be busy and winter to be like
jumping off a cliff. We’re not going to be
able to sustain the business like that and
raise the quality further if in winter I can’t
have the same number of staff or be able
to do the same kind of products. We need
to attract them all the time, through being
consistent, serving very good food, with
excellent service. It’s not just about being
good in the summer.”
Being “good” all the year round, in
ambience as well as with food, is what is
getting the Hambrough noticed. To that end

104

he brought with him a number of former
colleagues from Cliveden in Berkshire – the
front of house manager and staff as well as
the full chef team. Tweaks have been made
to the restaurant already, such as using
locally-made glass serving dishes. But you
get the impression Robert is in a hurry to get
everything, absolutely everything, just right.
It starts with the food. Robert is deeply
innovative and inventive, but he received a
classic training, with a particular emphasis
on getting the taste right – and working
backwards from there. “When you’ve got
the taste right you can work on all the
other areas. You’re not just thinking about
how the dish looks, but actually what the
customer is paying for.”
For making the customer happy is the most
important thing. If someone wants salt and
pepper on the table or mint sauce with a
dish for which it wasn’t planned, well he can
have it. What upsets Robert is when people
take a view on the restaurant – its cost and
its portion size – without giving it a chance.

“We want people to try and understand
what we’re trying to achieve here: which
is to bring people from near and far, all
year round, all week round. It’s for special
occasions: we’re not providing a place for
people to come every day.”
When he goes out to eat he likes to try
all sorts of different styles of food. He
dislikes the food on his plate to represent a
competition between flavours. “It doesn’t
work when there is too much going on.”
So determined are he and the Hambrough’s
owners to step out of the seasonality trap
that they have invested pretty seriously in
PR, to raise its profile both on and off the
Island. “We’re called the best restaurant,”
says Robert,”and so we want people to
come here on a Tuesday lunchtime in winter
as much as on a Friday in summer.”
Photo: Left to right: Rodney Kearns of Medina
Wines and Robert Thompson of The Hambrough,
Ventnor.

The Island's new funky radio station www.wightfm.com