Many people are familiar with the cliche of the young apprentice leaving behind their hometown to embark on a new beginning in the city, all in the name of fame and fortune. And in 2012, I left behind my humble beginnings in favour of bright lights, big ideas, and, in my case, braised beef. I landed a job at The Ivy in London's West End, and the rest, they say, is history.
But after 10 years of bright lights and city nights, I decided to return to my humble beginnings and start something new. However, this time around, I wasn't the young apprentice; I was grounded, confident in my ability, and skilled in my trade. London had served me well, but now I wanted to share my skills in my native North. However, as soon as I stepped back onto my parent's farm, I realised I was a student again. Yes, I knew how to braise the pig cheeks and turn rabbits into terrine, but I didn't know how to butcher them and ensure that every little bit of meat didn't go to waste.
Pigs, sheep, pheasants, all of a sudden, I had a lot to learn.
So what did I do? I became the student again, but this time round, the farm was teaching me. I spent the next year learning from my parents how to raise pigs for slaughter, what to grow in the deep Derbyshire clay soil and how to produce eggs that were so deliciously golden they would transform even the simplest of sponges into something truly special.
I learnt, cooked, butchered, and began to see food through new eyes. In London, we took the whole of something, sliced it down, threw away 70% of it, made it into a foam and served it on a tiny slice of something crispy. All of a sudden, that didn't feel right. It felt greedy; it felt like an injustice to the animal; where was the rest of it?
So, why did I not take on a head chef's role in the North? After all, armed with my many years of knowledge and ability to inspire and lead a brigade, surely I was doing myself an injustice?
The honest answer is that I couldn't find anywhere that felt right. Everywhere was either too pubby, or too miscro gastronomy or too bottomless brunchy, and just not me. This got me thinking: If I couldn't find the right place, maybe I should bring the right food and create the right dining experience for people instead?
My next challenge was to find a local restaurant that 1) didn't mind me using their kitchen and 2) was happy for me to do my tasting menu pop-up without treading on their existing head chefs' toes (if you know anything about chefs, you will know they are extremely proud people and don't always like sharing their space).
Luckily, I managed to find a restaurant who were opening three nights a week, so I proposed to them that I would host my fine dining nights on the quiet Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and like that, my fine dining taster menu nights were born (plus it helped that I would cook trial dishes for the owner).
Once I started running my 'pop ups, ' customers began taking an interest in where they could find me and how they could eat my food again;
Where was I based if I didn't work 'for' the restaurant?
And so, Fox fine dining was born.
Stemming from a desire to share quality cooking and farm-to-fork knowledge mixed with a little bit of down-to-earth northern goodness and foxy finesse.
Delicious, refined, restaurant quality food, at your table.
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