Meet the chefs: Longstore Truro

Tell us about your professional journey

Will: “I grew up in the fishing village of Mevagissey, and the day boats and fish we had at our disposal really captured my imagination and led me to pursue a career in the kitchen. Cornwall is abundant in food resources both from land and sea, and I love working with raw products - using creativity to produce a finished dish.”

Matt: “I started working with my father, who was a head chef for a Cornish hotel, and realised early on that the kitchen environment was where I wanted to be. I loved the camaraderie and the structured chaos of service. This fuelled my ambition to grow within the trade, and I’ve been influenced by the hands-on experience I gained working in hotels and restaurants within Cornwall. The Nare helped me hone and finesse my skills, and I find myself perpetually inspired by numerous unsung legends of the trade, plying their craft and freely sharing their abundant knowledge for me to add to my own repertoire.”

Tell us about the restaurant

Will: “Our Charlestown restaurant launched in 2016, and it took us five years to fine-tune the Longstore brand and to feel ready to launch a second site. Truro’s Longstore spans three floors of a Georgian townhouse in Lemon Street. It’s full of cosy corners and has a moodier ambience than our seaside flagship. As soon as you enter, you are transported into a buzzing service that is vibrant and alive. We just love it.”

Tell us about the menu

Matt: “The Longstore specialises in only the finest Cornish steaks and seafood, but our menu is varied. We major on flavour – bold, punchy, and unapologetically in your face; our aim is to make crave-worthy feasts that you can’t stop talking about. In Charlestown, we made a name for ourselves with our big cuts of steak. On any given night, you can find 30 to 45oz Porterhouses, 1.2kg tomahawk ribeyes and 22oz sirloins on our big cuts board, which runs alongside our menu staples. The idea is that they are sharing steaks, but we certainly don’t judge when a meat lover orders one to share just with themself!”

Will: “We also have a fantastic vegetarian and vegan offer, and took just as much time developing our Jack Stack vegan burger as we did when sourcing our dryaged steaks.”

What's your signature dish?

Will: “It’s not about one dish for us. It’s about creating a food offer that makes it impossible for our diners to pick just one favourite. We want them to come in, look at our menu and deliberate over their choices. So many times, we’ve couples ordering three starters to share because they couldn’t choose just one each. The same with our sides: it’s very common to see an extra one thrown in, like our mac-andcheese bites. We can’t blame them, really!”

Matt: “We take pride in our ingredients and ensure they are of the highest quality. Take the mac bites, for example – we use three-year-old Davidstow cheddar and Old Winchester in our recipe. You can ask our local supplier, James at Greet Cheese, how much we buy from him – he might need a bigger van!”

Which chefs inspire you?

Springtide, specialising in seafood. I’m inspired by what Australian chef Josh Niland is doing with fish butchery. Noseto-tail cooking and dry-ageing of fish – both concepts are underexplored. Another talent I found through Instagram is Mateo Zielonka, aka ‘The Pasta Man’. He makes the most spectacular pasta and is big on the educational side of helping amateurs hone their pasta-making skills.”

Matt: “Raymond Blanc is a hero of mine. The length of time he’s been in the kitchen and the everlasting passion he has for the industry is incredible. He’s a real artist, with unwavering passion for creativity with his food.”

What ingredients couldn’t you live without?

Will: “A high-quality sea salt and fresh lemon juice. ‘Nduja sausage - its flavour is impossible to replicate, but a complete sensation and so versatile! Garlic too: such a punchy, moreish aroma. Capers. Fennel. The list is long!”

What's your guilty pleasure?

Will: “Cooking and baking with my daughter Poppy: a personal favourite is courgette and lime cake. I also love an antipasti board with some craft beers on a night off.”

Matt: “Thai curry is always a winner for me. A simple dish, but when it’s done well is tasty and heroes the ingredients.” l