Steve: The only real time was when
Albert Roux came into South Lodge and
the time before that would have been
cooking on MasterChef for the 30 best
chefs in the country but that really was
like oh my goodness, you really feel the
pressure because cooking for diners is one
thing, but cooking for chefs that basically
look at what you do is another.
Jason:
it apart
Because they can technically pull
Steve: I don’t think a chef ever eats with
taste when they’re tasting another chef’s
food, they always look at technique and
think how he’s executed that and how’ve
they done that and that’s just the real
pressure because you’ve got nothing to
hide behind, they know if you serve the
food cold, or maybe they wouldn’t but it’s
just about how you feel, but Albert Roux
for me, I was on edge when he came in
but it was such a privilege to cook for him
because he is an iconic chef. In terms of
celebrities, I wouldn’t say I’ve cooked for
many celebrities, I mean there’s obviously
MPs and David Cameron I’ve cooked
for but apart from that I haven’t cooked
for David Beckham or Barack Obama or
anyone on that level. People like that don’t
necessarily eat out in fancy restaurants,
they’ll either have like private chefs coming
in or they book out a place or have the
private dining room.
Amber: Do you ever just get that kind of
day where you think I could just eat beans
on toast?
Steve: I’m such a bad eater, don’t judge
me by what I eat.
Amber: Guilty pleasure?
Steve: Guilty pleasure is probably like
a kebab. There’s a kebab shop down the
road, I’m not ashamed to say it though.
16
People are always surprised when I say
that but you’ve got to be in the right mood
for something. I’m not a food snob like I
appreciate all types of food. I think the only
thing that I look at like a lot of customers
do is value for money, and what I pay for
is what you get, you know even if you’re
having a McDonald’s you can’t really slag it
off or, for what it is, you paying that money,
it’s not like you’re being short changed, you
get a lot for your money. When I finished
last night I went back and raided my little
boy’s sweetie jar and had a couple of
packets of Haribo. I don’t want to get back
and mostly cook, that’s not what I want to
do. Just like I’m sure my brother doesn’t
want to come back and mend his car
when he gets back from work you know,
because he’s doing it all day.
Jason: Do you have a kind of treasured
ingredient? Something that if you could
you’d sneak into almost everything, apart
from vanilla obviously.
Steve: Yeah, vanilla’s a good one. I
mean I’d say at the moment that’s it’s a
hard cheese called Wineham Grange, it’s
made from plums and it’s vegetarian. think
it’s got like such a nice unique flavour,
obviously I would never sell it on its own,
that would just be weird, it’s a great cheese
to make things a little bit more serious,
you can finish a risotto or cuttle fish with it.
That’s the ingredient that I’m noticing I’m
using a lot in a few dishes, almost just to
pimp it up a little bit.
Steve: It’s just adapting to what you’re
used to, I’ve grown up, all my recipes, a
lot of them say parmesan, but what I like
doing now is we’ve got this product that’s
not parmesan that comes from Sussex, I
want to use it in everything and I try and
use rapeseed oil, all these things that
have got an identity in Sussex, obviously
like the meat and fish is easy, my
fishmonger and my butcher both get the
meat and fish from Sussex, but it’s those
key ingredients that you almost want to
sing and shout about and put Sussex
on the map, that’s my main aim for this
it’s not just obviously being a successful
restaurant but to get Sussex as in
Brighton in the Premier League, that’s
another good thing that I’m proud of and
when people talk about food they always
talk about the south-west and Scotland,
there’s no one really pushing or shouting
about Sussex and the south-east.
Jason: Well the food and drink scene
in Sussex is amazing. We’ve got some
amazing producers from wine to spirits to
beers. To cheeses, meats, fish.
Steve: Because we’re a coastal county,
we’ve got the chalk downs in the middle
to the South Downs; we’ve got that
perfect mix to be a real contender for the
best food region in the country, because
of the variety. I don’t know any other
county that’s got the variety that we have.
They might have more quality in certain
areas but I wouldn’t say we’re Jack of all
trades, master of none, I think we’ve got
some rather master in all.
Jason:
Master in most.
Steve: The master for us is the
sparkling wine. That’s where we knock
all the other counties out of the park, but
then we’ve got to have great fish, great
meat, some great cheeses, that’s why
I wanted to be in heart of Sussex and I
would say Brighton is the heart. You’ve
got two cities in Sussex, Chichester and
Brighton, but for me it was no comparison
to where I wanted to be. That’s not a
dis to Chichester; I just think Brighton’s
buzzing.
Amber: So when you’re creating a new
menu, do you get almost like a creative
block sometimes?