Roast magazine by Roast Restaurant

A DecADe of

A celeBrAtion of our first ten yeArs

Deliciously British

ft.com/weekendsub

Life. Arts. Culture.

Read beyond the expected

CONTENTS PAGE 8

History of Roast; Embarking on a project to turn a dream into a reality and create a ﬁrst-class British restaurant.

PAGE 12

Roast Foundation: Roast work on a “beyond charity” approach to empower people from disadvantaged groups.

PAGE 22

The Ultimate Bacon Sandwich: What goes into making the 'Perfect' bacon sandwich.

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Ben Hughes: Global Commercial Director & Deputy CEO at the Financial Times, Ben Hughes, discusses his love for Roast.

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Cocktail Recipes: Ever wondered how Roast create those mind blowing, tantalising cocktails? Here's a few for you to try at home.

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Trading Places: Borough Market has become a must-visit place both for food lovers in London and also for visitors from all over the world. The market’s Managing Director Keith Davies tells the amazing story of how it got here and why it will never go.

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A note from the

EDITOR I

t’s a rare thing for restaurants to last a decade, yet every time I walk into Roast I wonder what next we can do to enthuse our customers, engage with our suppliers, educate our employees with and – increasingly – empower those in the communities both around us and further afield for whom the last ten years have not been quite as happy. Our Four E’s: Enthuse, Engage, Educate and Empower. There is of course a fi fth: Eat. I collectively call these groups our stakeholders and actively encourage cross-overs between their various paths – our regular customers are invited to come on our farm visits, our team members and suppliers volunteer their time to support the various charities we proudly work with, our fellow traders in Borough Market come with us when we hold events to support army veterans or help prisoners fi nd work on release. Once a month I have lunch with a group of junior team members and I hear from them what they would do if Roast was their restaurant and I’ve often picked up great ideas that way to make the most of the customer experience and also to build upon the happy work environment we seek to maintain. With all parts of our stakeholder group, we like to make things personal and it involves a lot of eating. I regularly host lunch parties at my home and tables at charity dinners where many are invited to and perhaps a better way to describe stakeholder groups is as a family. And one thing I have found on this journey that continues to strike all the senses is how true that old refrain is: a family that eats together stays together. Thank you all for the part you have played in making us so proud of what we do and I hope you enjoy this journal capturing some of our many stories.

pg38 pg22

Iqbal Wahhab Founder of Roast

pg8

Published by

Editor: Iqbal Wahhab Art Director: Jonathan Lewis Publishing Consultant: Sarah Chu

A special thanks to Roast Restaurants Limited, Borough Market, Stoney Street, pg48

London SE1 1TL.

Neil Davey, Susannah Fields, Tom Bowles and Debora Luzi for their help in putting this publication together.

Cheers to 10 years of excellence at Roast Restaurant! Enjoy a glass of Champagne Devaux to celebrate

Gold Medals CUVÉE D & D ROSÉ Champagne & Sparkling Wine World Championship 2015 Gold Medal GRANDE RÉSERVE Sommelier Wine Awards 2014

The best deserves time...

10th Anniversary Special

THE DISH I MUST HAVE Steak & Malbec

Ruby McGregor-Smith CBE, Chief Executive, Mitie Group plc & Francesca Findlater, founder & CEO of Bounce Back Foundation.

Fran ⁓ "There’s a consistency of quality at Roast, and a purity to the food, a celebration of the ingredients. I like that they keep it simple but still do it so well, and the steak and the Ruca Malen Malbec is a great example. When you eat out a lot, you realise when things stand out and Roast’s attention to detail is always memorable." What was here before Roast? The portico was from the Royal Opera house in Covent Garden. It was bought for £1 by Borough market trustees. What we know today as The Floral Hall used to be a storage space until Roast took it over.

Ruby ⁓ "My husband was a vegetarian for 15 years. I managed it for three months! Not that I eat a lot of meat now but, when I do, I want it to be good and the steak at Roast is some of the best I’ve ever tasted. It's stunning. The sourcing and preparation are impeccable. When you're in this setting, a part of London that's a celebration of food, it's great that there's a restaurant that brings all of that together."

What are your Signature dishes? • Oysters with wild boar chipolatas

The Full Scottish

• Burford Brown scotch egg with haggis

“If I have breakfast meetings at Roast, I always order the Full Scottish. I love black pudding – well, any pork product really – but the nicely excessive scale of The Full Scottish is always a point of conversation. It’s so full on – it’s the whole farm on a plate – so If you don’t know the person you’re meeting, it’s an ice breaker…and it keeps you going until about 3:30 in the afternoon.”

Carlos Miranda, Chief Executive of strateg y consultancy I.G. Advisors

• Slow roasted free range pork belly with apple sauce • Apple Crumble with custard Do we source our produce from the market? Bread Ahead, Neal’s Yard Cheeses, our fruit and vegetables.

Image credit: Timeout

Films and TV

How long have you been open? Since 2005 – 10 years Is music played in the restaurant? Monday-Saturday 6.30pm - 10.00pm and Sunday 1.00pm - 7.30pm Who designed the building? Greig and Stephenson Where do you get your ‘Roast’ branded wine from? Chapel Down, Kent and Ruca Malen. Argentina What sort of events are hosted at the restaurant? Everything imaginable from book launches and dining events to charity events and we’re very popular for weddings. You can hire the whole building, half of the restaurant, or just the bar. Why a British restaurant after an Indian one? With The Cinnamon Club we upgraded the image of Indian food and with Roast we aimed to do the same with British food What was in this space before? Nothing – it was created to be used as a restaurant. Do you have a second Roast / why haven’t there been more Roasts? Watch this space. There will be!

The

KnicKerbocKer Glory

Maya Singh, daughter of Cinnamon Club executive chef Vivek Singh “It’s my favourite dessert anywhere (sorry Dad!). I always have it every time I come to Roast. It’s different every time (there’s a strongly held belief among chefs that no two Knickerbocker Glories should be identical) but it’s always good. The best bits are the fruit and the cream at the top, and the popping candy hidden inside it. And the jelly. And the chocolate flake."

In 2013, Danny Boyle followed up Slumdog Millionaire and 127 Hours with art-themed thriller Trance, starring James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson and Vincent Cassel. Part of the film was shot in Roast. In 2014, 20th Century Fox brought Jack Bauer out of television retirement and to London for the seventh series of 24, called 24: Live Another Day. Kiefer Sutherland reprised his role as the much put upon agent and, best of all, he got to run past Roast. In 2012, Bollywood director Yash Chopra filmed Jab Tak Hai Jaan in London. This sweeping tale of religion and romance starred Shah Rukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif – and Roast, as several scenes were filmed around Borough Market.

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ROAST

HISTORY Words by Iqbal Wahhab Photography by Susannah Fields

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10th Anniversary Special

hen I was embarking upon “Project Roast”, I told one of my teenage nephews that I was going to create a British restaurant. He asked whether this would involve serving chicken tikka masala? After all, what’s more British than that? It was 2003 when I first started thinking about what today sounds slightly absurd, that Britain needed a first-class British restaurant. If you were in Paris, you might ask your concierge to recommend a French restaurant, or in New York, a good American place. If, as a visitor to London a decade ago, you asked your concierge to get you a table at a good restaurant, they wouldn’t have risked their tip by suggesting a British restaurant – primarily as there were hardly any to speak of, let alone worth recommending. Having created The Cinnamon Club, where with the exceptionally talented chef Vivek Singh, we challenged conventional curry combinations and raised the bar for Indian food, my thoughts turned to why the British were so disparaging of their own food, and why they

didn’t celebrate their culinary heritage the way the French, the Indians and the Italians did. It wasn’t always so: centuries ago, the royal courts of Europe played the ultimate sophistication card by hiring British chefs. As time wore on, the opposite became the case, so much so that in 2005, just before we launched Roast, French President Jacques Chirac said of Britain, to Russian and German

"It was 2003 when I first started thinking about what today sounds slightly absurd, that Britain needed a first-class British restaurant." leaders: “one cannot trust people whose cuisine is so bad.” Ever since Auguste Escoffier arrived at The Ritz, Britain has been in the grip of French cuisine as its highest, most sophisticated form. The very vocabulary we use for food is French – cuisine, chef, sous-chef. Britain’s biggest kitchen talents such as Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay earned their deserved acclaim by

cooking French food. Any British chef showing talent would be encouraged to follow the same path, so I encountered an unexpected problem – that British chefs don’t want to or often even know how to cook British food. So, just as I had done with The Cinnamon Club, where I had to go to India to sell the idea of raising the bar for Indian dining to chefs rather than chefs having to sell their skills to me, I was similarly challenged on home turf to find chefs capable and willing to cook their own national dishes proudly and properly. After months, I finally persuaded the ebullient Lawrence Keogh to join the team. Lawrence was head chef at a fashionable West End restaurant and in no rush to change ship, but eventually I persuaded him to take the risk of doing something as bold as offer the London diner traditional British food. Lawrence knew British food inside and out, from assisting his mother – a domestic cook for an aristocratic family in St James’s – and his time working at The Goring Hotel near Buckingham Palace. The challenge of finding the right location was relatively easily resolved.

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Borough Market had been running for 250 years, when an act of Parliament enshrined that the area would only ever be used for selling food. The same act also left its governance to groups of local residents. George Nicholson, a former Greater London Council member, was the visionary chair of the trustees and he went around the country and encouraged food producers, fishermen and farmers to come to the market where they would find customers willing and able to pay the prices their premium produce demanded. George convinced his fellow trustees that the market should also become a dining experience and found the portico of the old Covent Garden Floral Hall which he tells the story of in this magazine. At the time I had won a bid to place Roast in a new development, ironically enough in Covent Garden, but was having continual battles with the landlords. When I heard that Borough was inviting bids from restaurants, I pushed my efforts into what would undoubtedly be a more exciting birthplace. Luckily my proposal celebrating the best of seasonal British produce resonated more with George and his colleagues than submissions made by far more successful restauranteurs than I. Despite the usual alarms and excursions that go with restaurant fit-outs, Roast opened in October 2005. While we weren’t without our fair share of mistakes, we really couldn’t have been as bad as we were occasionally portrayed because, simply, we would not have 30 per cent of our diners being regulars. Steakhouses around Leicester Square make millions serving substandard food at inflated prices because they know that the tourist customers will not return and they do not need them to. Roast did and still does and we continue to work on that, so much so that from 120 seats we serve between 2500-3000 diners every week. After five years of loyal service, Lawrence moved on to become head chef at The Wolseley, soon rising

to become the company’s executive chef. It’s a source of pride to me for a former head chef at Roast to do so well. Another source of pride was that during the five years following our launch, many others had seen the vast opportunities in seasonal ingredients and traditional native cooking. Dozens of restaurants and smart food pubs have emerged in the light of the Borough Market principle and head chefs from many of these were quick to apply for Lawrence’s position. I didn’t have to interview many before I knew I had found a worthy successor. Charming and thoughtful, Marcus Verberne, head chef of Mark Hix’s restaurant at Brown’s Hotel, began his interview by being asked if he had eaten at Roast recently and said he had done so the night before, so I enquired as to what he had eaten. We both agreed that the starter he had chosen was excellent, but I said I thought there was something not quite

Above: Head Chef Stuart Cauldwell

right with it and asked what he thought that was. He instantly said it lacked height and dimension – precisely as I had thought. After that my mind was made up, and the rest of the hour became more of a general chat about food than an interview. Marcus took over from Lawrence on New Year’s Day 2012. He soon made the menu his own, adopting some Hix traditions, such as having a curry on

the menu (which to this day I have to tell people was not my idea) but soon let go of the framework of thinking he’d established at his former employer. As we go to print, Marcus is now on his way to pastures new and will remain a valuable friend to us, having established his culinary credentials with the award winning Roast Cookbook. It’s a great opportunity for us to refresh our menu not just with a new chef’s eyes but with our current and future customer’s eyes too. Stuart Cauldwell, a former sous chef, now heads our kitchen and over the coming months we hope you will be excited to see him implement new dishes he has in mind. With us throughout this journey has been our general manager Sergei Gubars, who has – pour soul – been with me since 2002 when he worked as a waiter at The Cinnamon Club, coming over in 2005 to Borough Market and working his way to the top of the tree. His is not a rare example of the escalator approach we deploy to our training – you can go all the way or get off where you want. Another of our managers started as a glass washer and has been promoted seven times in eight years. It’s stories like these that have earned Roast the coveted Gold Standard in the Investors in People programme, the only independent restaurant in the country to have achieved this accolade. The Roast experience is not just about the food. Our bar team enthrals customers with seasonal concoctions and innovations such as pudding cocktails. We have become a proud player in the London dining scene, constantly surprising our customers not just on a culinary level, but with our revolving art and digital installations, by creating our own wines and by making every member of the team a star rather than a bit player. We are greatly looking forward to the next ten years and hope you remain on this journey with us.  Adapted from Roast: A Very British Cookbook, published by Absolute Press.

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10th Anniversary Special

LEGENDS ROAST MALBEC Wine is more than just a drink. It’s the embodiment of people in the form of a shared experience, the result of a story and the relationships and ideals that bind us all together. By Corney & Barrow, Independent Wine Merchants since 1780

ur story with Roast began back in 2005, when Roast first opened its doors. They were looking for a world-class wine list for their new venture and naturally wanted world-class wines. Five years on, in 2010 we took our relationship to a new level with a world-exclusive. Roast and Corney & Barrow expressed a desire to push the boundaries of this joint venture, to create a bespoke wine for Roast. It was to be made by Ruca Malen, a boutique winery in Argentina’s celebrated region of Mendoza and whose ideals reflected ours: close relationships with customers, a true expression of locality, the highest quality and focussed on enjoyment. If wine sets the scene for a great story then Ruca Malen’s is the stuff of legend, literally.

The story goes: ‘The Indian Araucan women walked around with their eyes lowered to avoid the powerful gaze of a young, goodlooking god who lived among them. One day an audacious young girl dared to look at him straight into his eyes. Suddenly a flash of lightening subdued the girl and she fell deeply in love with the young god. The god, moved by the young Indian Araucan girl ‘Malen’, took her with him to the North, to the Aconcagua, a mountain peak almost touching the sky and bathed in light. At the foot of the mountain the sun shone even brighter, the water was pure and the virgin land had all the richness of the world. One day the god had to leave. Yet he offered Malen a home, the ‘Ruca Malen’ (the house of Malen) and left behind an

Established in 1780 Corney & Barrow Wine Merchants has gone from a small shop premises on Old Broad Street to its position as an international distributor with one of the finest ranges of wines in the world. Each wine is carefully selected and keenly-priced, representing the very best examples of its style. Where possible, we build exclusive relationships directly with vineyard owners, making

eternal promise, a spell: a nectar from which she may drink and would revive all the happiness of the god’s gaze.’ Since the first edition of Roast Malbec the blend has been developed and reworked in close partnership with the three parties; the very definition of how relationships grow over time. The current blend (the 3rd edition) is a celebration of the potential of Mendoza’s old-vine Malbecs. It displays Mendoza’s soils and the power of its climate as the top Malbec producing area in Argentina, taking the best flavours from each area and mixing them together in their perfect proportions. You might think legends are a bit farfetched. However, tasting Ruca Malen, perhaps you will think that at least this one is true…

our selection of wines unique. We work as closely with our suppliers as we do our customers and it is particularly this which differentiates us as a wine merchant.

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The

RoasT FoundaTion

Your money goes further than you might expect when you dine at Roast. We work on a “beyond charity” approach to empower people from disadvantaged groups. Words by Iqbal Wahhab

ven before we opened Roast it struck me that whilst Borough Market was home to some of the finest food producers in the country, the area surrounding us suffered from major social and economic blight – so much so that many of the local residents back then couldn’t afford to shop there. With that in mind, from day one there has been a table in Roast where all the profits are given to projects we believe in. Over £150,000 in the last ten years has been committed this way to The Prince’s Trust and The Mayor’s Fund for London, in particular to challenge immediate local needs. But we are also global citizens and have people from over 24 countries in our team, so also support a global charity set up by Terry Waite called ‘Y Care International’. Terry and I visited Togo in west Africa and we have sponsored a group of girls from a slum dwelling to go on to business studies courses to trade their way out of poverty. As well as financial support, we also give our time to open our doors to vulnerable and hard to reach groups. With the help of the mentoring project Switchback, we have opened our

doors to a number of ex-offenders, some of whom have embarked upon a successful new life away from crime with us. We have extended this to go inside prisons such as Brixton, Holloway and ISIS to develop new career paths for prisoners to adopt upon release. We have also started working with homeless veterans again, not just with financial support but also by opening up our vacancies to people who have sadly been largely neglected by society. Additionally, we like to drive social change through the contracts we award. For example, we hire the social enterprise ‘Mums The Chef’ to provide our employee meals every day (we’re too busy to cook for ourselves!) and they do this by taking struggling mothers off benefits, placing them through catering courses and now providing them with jobs like this. The state saves the benefits pay-outs, the mothers are empowered by work and we get delicious meals each day. This full circle picture neatly encapsulates our Roast philosophy. 

www.ycareinternational.org www.switchback.org.uk www.veterans-aid.net www.mumsthechef.com

Roast’s Volunteering Programme From top to bottom: Mums The Chef in action; Iqbal with Terry Waite in Togo for Y Care International; A business in Togo we helped support; The PM recognises our Foundation; army veterans come and spend the day with us; ex-offender Mohammed who after working with us now runs three cafes (well done Mo!)

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Above: Letter from Rt. Hon David Cameron MP PAG E

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Promotional feature

Edgcumbes Coffee roasters and tea blenders based in West Sussex and official Roast supplier Words by Alice Rendle

dgcumbes has been going for around 35 years. It was started by my father in law, a trader in Calcutta, who came back to England to retire, got bored and looked around for something to do! My husband, his son, was in the tea trade at the time and suggested that perhaps he should sell tea to local businesses on the South East coast. Like all businesses it started small, but then customers started asking for more products, for coffee, for equipment, for training. It got a little too much for my father in law, so I took over about 20 years ago. The market has changed hugely in this time and we recently took the step to position ourselves not just as a wholesaler, but as a manufacturer, and roast our own premium quality speciality beans

as people these days are much more interested in the provenance and the process. We have been roasting beans for many years on an old Probat coffee roaster, enabling us to learn the craft in a truly ‘hands on’ way. Our recent decision to focus on manufacturing has led us to invest in a brand new, state of the art Giesen roaster, which enables us to increase our production of hand roasted coffees many times over. We’ve been supplying Roast’s coffee and tea for about eight years and have grown with them: Roast isn’t just about locality and seasonality; it’s also about supporting small businesses like ours. We’ve worked well together, enhancing what Roast can offer their customers by involving their team in the process of where the coffee has come from and how it’s roasted. It’s been an interesting

few years in this industry but Roast were, at that time, one of the few restaurants who took their coffee and tea that seriously. That typifies Roast’s innovative approach. Coffee is very similar to wine in that where it’s grown; the altitude, the soil and the method of processing all have a huge effect on the end result and hopefully I can pass that on when people visit – which the Roast team often do. Coffee is also seasonal, so we’ve been working with Roast to introduce a new blend every season. It’s nice to be able to give people that story and know that they’re getting really fresh beans which have been roasted to order, and it fits in with the ethos of the restaurant. When you’ve watched the amount of toil that goes into getting the beans – the pickers are sometimes attached to ropes because the hills are so steep and work solidly for eight, nine hours to pick 100kgs - by the time that’s been fermented, washed, roasted, etc., you end up with just 12kgs of coffee. That’s why I think we have to treat coffee like a precious commodity.  In addition to restaurant services, Edgcumbes also retails coffee and tea to the general public. For further information, visit www.edgcumbes.co.uk

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THE

FLORAL HALL STORY

The beautiful portico of the Floral Hall is the most striking architectural feature of Roast and Borough Market itself. Its journey from Covent Garden to SE1 is a tale that crosses centuries â&#x20AC;&#x201C; and the Welsh Border. Words by George Nicholson

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200 YEARS OF THE FLORAL HALL

Borough Dome and Southwark Cathedral from London Bridge Reproduced with the permission of The Trustees of Borough Market

he story behind the Floral Hall in many ways echoes the story of the renewal and revival of the market itself. Borough Market is now one of the best known markets in the world but, back in 1995 when the process of renewal started, it was a very different place. Then, the Trustees of the Borough Market were presiding over what can only be described as a physical and fi nancial basket case. Years of decline in the wholesale market industry meant the 5-acre site had only 10 traders left; a long term lack of investment in the structures and infrastructure also meant that the market was in a deplorable condition. The fi nal pieces in a rather depressing jigsaw were a combination of a letter from Southwark Council threatening closure unless something was done, and new EC food regulations meaning the Trustees would be faced with the same decision soon anyway. So in 1995, as the chair of the Borough Market’s new “development committee” (and from 2001 the Chair of Trustees), we started on the journey that has led to what exists today. In between then and now, a completely new quality retail food market has been developed – pretty much from scratch. At the same time, all the structures of the market have been completely renovated, and new services installed.

A diﬃcult enough task - something not recommended for the faint hearted – and with the added twist of a new railway viaduct being carved through the market. The Floral Hall is both a key component in the physical revival, and a very important new commercial element in the emerging Borough Market that people visit today, but how did it happen? From 1981 to 1986, I represented Bermondsey on the Greater London Council (GLC), and was from 1983 the Chairman of its Planning Committee. Covent Garden was one of 2 “GLC Action Areas”, where the GLC acted as the local planning committee - administering this role through the Covent Garden Committee. It was as a member of that committee that I ﬁ rst became aware of the fact that the Floral Hall had not formed a part of the Royal Opera House redevelopment, nor in the renovation of the actual Covent Garden market itself.

“Borough Market had in its earlier days of trading been a rather grander structure, something that war, railways, ﬁres and benign neglect had drastically altered.”

Paul Hamlyn Hall – the “Sister” portico, now part of The Royal Opera House

The Floral Hall – the “conservatory to be attached to the New Italian Opera House, Covent Garden” c. 1860

The Volunteers Ball, Floral Hall, Covent Garden

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Top left and top right: Fire in Borough Market in 1956 (Trustees of Borough Market) Middle left, middle right and left: The Covent Garden Portico is installed at Borough Market Opposite Page Top: Looking north along Stoney Street Bottom: Looking south along Stoney Street (images from Greig & Stephenson Architects).

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10th Anniversary Special

Borough Market had in its earlier days of trading been a rather grander structure, something that war, railways, fires and benign neglect had drastically altered. In fact, to replace one of the buildings that was burnt down in the 50s, an agricultural barn was erected on the site of where the Floral Hall now stands. Having employed Greig & Stephenson as

“The Floral Hall is both a key component in the physical revival, and a very important new commercial element in the emerging Borough Market that people visit today...” architects in 1995 - following a competition - the Trustees started to develop their ideas on what a future market might look like – not that there was any money to spend on them at that time. It seemed to me that the Floral Hall would be a perfect focus for the new market, but where was it? A quick phone call to the Opera House revealed that it still existed, and was in storage in a warehouse in

Wales - awaiting someone to come up with ideas. As it happened, it had been a condition of the planning permission for the Opera House re-development, that a suitable location be found for the Floral Hall. It was then only a short step to agreeing that Borough Market was such a location, and for the princely sum of £1 sterling we became the proud owners of a very large amount of cast iron parts, some of it in good condition, and some not so good. We also had the good fortune to have a lot of vacant property in which to store it. It was a similar piece of luck, in being the proud owners of a lot of damp empty property – a perfect place to store cheese – that led to Neil’s Yard Dairy coming to the market, forming one of the foundation stones of the new retail food market. The next stages; raising the funds, drawing up plans, re-erecting the restored Floral Hall structure - part of a new building in the centre of the market, finding a tenant for the new restaurant in the Floral Hall building – The Roast Restaurant - growing the retail market, further phases of renovation, all provide more stories

than space allows – enough indeed for a book. Two little anecdotes however deserve space. The first involves the unexpected discovery of a vast cellar complex - part of it under the Floral Hall, and the story behind the colour scheme for the Floral Hall. The cellars we discovered when making a test bore hole, the colour scheme was the result of a discussion with a colour consultant. I always liked the silver paint, partly because I do think it brings out the best in the metal structure, and also because it reminded me of my time as a ship's engineer. But people still ask when the Trustees are going to apply the final coat of paint!  George Nicholson was chair of the development committee of Borough Market from 1995 to 2001 and Chair of the Trustees of the Borough Market from 2001 – 2006.

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belsondiamonds.co.uk

At Roast we constantly train our team members on product and provenance knowledge.

10th Anniversary Special

Roast never sleeps! This photograph shows one of our kitchen porters cleaning the ovens very late at night. After the kitchen closes,

Seeing Bence, a restaurant team member that had finished his shift, sleeping so soundly made me smile.

Behind the scenes at Roast Our customers are often curious about how a restaurant works outside of public view. We asked a head waitress at the time with a keen eye for photography Egle Puzaraite to capture what you donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t see.

This photograph captures a moment before each shift at Roast. The whole team get together to discuss the running of the service. All details from numbers of covers, specials for the day, seasonal produce to wines and cocktails are discussed and memorised.

Our head office Reception team is very busy taking Roast bookings, talking to customers about the restaurant and what we offer each week. We receive an average of 1500 calls per week.

We love homemade things at Roast, like these dried fruits for our cocktail garnishes.

This fiery shot was taken during a cocktail training session for our bar team.

www.roast-restaurant.com

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THE ULTIMATE

BACON

SANDWICH Words by Neil Davey - who’s not exactly averse to a bacon sandwich either. Photography by Thomas Bowles

he breakfast of champions? The hangover cure of the gods? The perfect marriage of protein and carbohydrate? However you view it, the bacon sandwich is a beautifully British thing and as Marcus Verberne, former head chef of Roast points out, it’s got everything. “The look, the textures, the ﬂavour, the smell…it’s all there.” In that case then, what makes the perfect bacon sandwich? While it’s more than likely an impossible quest – “Like anything there are a million preferences, everyone knows how they like theirs,” admits Marcus – it’s certainly a fun subject to discuss. Happily, for the most part, Marcus, and Matt Jones, the CEO and founder of Borough’s bakery Bread Ahead agree on the ideal elements. PAG E

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The Bacon

There’s only one place to start this breakdown and that’s the bacon. “Smoked bacon and it’s got to be streaky,” declares Marcus. “And fried. And you don’t want it too thinly sliced and overly crispy, you want a bit of caramelisation on it.” Matt nods. “Yes, definitely streaky, and not overcooked, you need a bit of moisture,” he suggests. “Some crispness, some softness,” adds Marcus. There’s a mild disagreement – the only one of the morning – when it comes to the number of rashers per person, with Matt suggesting three and Marcus plumping for four but, clearly, a moderate amount of smoked streaky bacon is a clear winner.

The Bread Toasted or untoasted? “I like my bread toasted very lightly,” explains Marcus, “because you still need that softness.” Matt nods his agreement again. I mention that a friend’s mother toasts the bread on side, and then assembles the sandwich with the toasted side in. “Softness, then the crunch…?” Marcus gives the idea a thumbs up. “They should design a toaster that only toasts on one side,” he says. Marcus then clearly hasn’t stayed at the same British B&Bs I’ve visited.

Unsurprisingly, Matt is first with his verdict. “A good white tin loaf. Ours has a long fermentation – it takes four days to make a loaf – and that gives you a nice crispness to the outside, and moisture inside.” Marcus agrees – “yes, a butty should be in white bread” – although admits that Roast currently uses a ciabattini roll. While Matt concedes this is easier for individual portions, he’s clear on his own requirements. “Proper doorsteps. And proper butter, salted butter.” “Oh yes, has to be salted butter,” concurs Marcus. “That’s why you don’t overcook the bacon, that moisture needs to mix with melting butter…” It’s a mental image we stop and consider for more than a few seconds.

Egg or not?

Red or brown? “I don’t like tomato sauce as much as I used to,” admits Matt. "I think you grow out of it, your palate develops, so yes, brown sauce.” "One of my favourite brown sauces is Oxford Sauce,” adds Marcus. “It’s got quite a lot of tamarind, it’s quite fruity.” There’s a brief pause and then Matt goes rogue. “I like English mustard too,” he announces. “It’s a good basic flavour, it’s a traditional flavour, and I like the kick.”

“You’ve GOT to have yolk in it,” says Marcus, clearly in no mood to negotiate this point. “Egg, bacon, it’s a marriage made in heaven.” “Sunny side up, not overcooked,” adds Matt. “I mean, I like a bacon sandwich without an egg but…” He shrugs. “An egg just takes it to another dimension, doesn’t it?” Unsurprisingly, Marcus opts for the Burford Brown. “They’re my favourite eggs,” he explains of this spectacularly photogenic ingredient. “Clarence Court, who produce those eggs, do others, like the Cotswold Legbars with the blue shell, and they’re all great but the Burford Brown? That flavour? That deep red yolk?” He sighs. “They’re great, so rich,” agrees Matt. And we’re pretty much there. Matt recaps the points. “Good crusty white bread, very lightly toasted. Excellent bacon, with a bit of caramelisation, but not too cooked so there’s still some moisture. Egg, sunny side up, yolk still runny. Salted butter. Brown sauce.” We all nod, contemplating the recipe. “It’s a zen thing,” continues Matt, “less is more...” There’s a moment of silent reflection before Marcus catches our eyes. “Shall we have one?” he asks. There are no prizes for guessing the answer. PAG E

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editors choice

reCIPe SPeCIal

Slow-roaSted Pork Belly

with Mashed Potato and BraMley aPPle sauce (Serves 8)

This is by far our most popular dish at Roast. Including what we sell downstairs on the market at â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Roast to Goâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, we cook approximately 150 bellies per week, and due to the long cooking time, our ovens are constantly full. During the busier festive season, we actually need to have a chef working through the night, roasting pork bellies, in an attempt to alleviate congestion in the ovens during the day!

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POrK BeLLY IngredIents  4kg boneless pork belly  15 sage leaves (roughly chopped)  3 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)  1 carrot (peeled and roughly chopped)  1 stick of celery (roughly chopped)  ½ a leek (roughly chopped)  1 onion (peeled and roughly chopped)  Mashed potato (recipe below)  Bramley apple sauce (recipe below)  Sea salt and pepper Pre-heat your oven to 220c. Score the skin across the pork belly to a depth of about a ½cm at 2 cm intervals using a sharp retractable Stanley knife. The idea is to score through the skin but not all the way through the layer of fat under it. Turn the belly over and season its underside with sea salt and pepper, then scatter the chopped sage

Mashed POtatOes IngredIents  2kg floury potatoes (Maris piper, King Edward, Desiree)  160g butter  150 ml milk  150 ml double cream  Salt  Sea salt and pepper

BraMLeY aPPLe sauce IngredIents  240g butter  4 large Bramley apples, peeled, cored and roughly diced  50g caster sugar  1 teaspoon of lemon juice

gravY IngredIents  1 carrot (peeled and roughly chopped)  1 sticks of celery (roughly chopped)  ½ a leek (roughly chopped)  1 onion (peeled and roughly chopped)  2 tablespoons of flour  200ml dry cider  400ml of hot chicken stock  400ml of hot beef stock  1 Bay leaf  2 sprigs of thyme  Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

and garlic covering the underside evenly. Roll the belly with the scores, lengthways with the skin to the outside and tie it together with butchery string. You’ll need to make about 6-8 ties to hold it together properly. Place the pork belly on a wire rack over the kitchen sink. Pour over a large kettle of boiling water. As the water is poured over the skin, the skin will tighten up opening the pores allowing the heat and salt to penetrate more easily, enhancing the quality of the crackling. Pat the rolled belly dry and rub it with vegetable oil and a generous amount of sea salt. Place it on a wire rack inside a roasting tray and place the tray in the oven. The reason for the wire rack is to lift it off the bottom of the roasting tray so the hot air circulates all the way around the belly for even crackling. After approximately 45 minutes, the

skin of the pork should be golden brown and crackled. Turn the oven down to 160c and cook for 1 hour. While the pork is roasting, prepare the mashed potato and the Bramley apple sauce (recipes below). After 1 hour remove the roasting tray from the oven and lift out the rack with the pork on it. Scatter the chopped carrot, celery, leeks and onion into the roasting tray and mix them with the fat that has rendered out of the pork during cooking. Place the pork on its rack, back into the roasting tray over the vegetables. Continue to roast for another hour before removing the pork from the oven to rest for at least 10-15 minutes before carving. While the pork is resting, make the gravy (recipe below). Carve with a large serrated knife so you’re able to saw through the crackling.

Peel the potatoes and cut them into quarters. Place them into a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add a little salt and bring the potatoes to the boil. Once the potatoes are well cooked (having tested them with a pointed knife), strain them through a colander. Allow the potatoes to stand for a few minutes so they release some steam and dry out. While they’re drying out, in a

small saucepan bring the milk, cream and butter to the boil and remove from the heat. Once the potatoes have rested but are still hot, press them through the ricer back into the pan and fold in the hot milk cream and butter a little at a time until you reach the desired consistency if - you like your mash looser, add a little more hot milk. Season with salt and serve.

Melt the butter on a moderate heat in a saucepan. Add the diced apples, lemon juice and sugar. Cook the apples down, stirring regularly until they are completely soft. This should only take 8 -10 minutes. Once they’re soft, give the sauce a thorough whisk until it’s nice and smooth.

Taste the sauce and add more sugar if you find it too tart but remember, the whole marriage between roasted pork and Bramley apple sauce is based on the tartness of the apples cutting through the fat and crackling of the pork. It is truly a partnership of perfection.

Remove the roasted pork joint from the roasting dish to rest. Transfer all the roasted vegetables to a saucepan. Drain off all the fat left in the roasting dish and pour in the cider to deglaze, loosening all the flavoursome caramelized morsels. Place the saucepan containing the vegetables onto a moderate heat and add the flour. Cook the flour gently stirring regularly for 2 minutes. Add the cider and deglazed roasting juices from the roasting dish and cook for further 2 minutes or so to evaporate any remaining alcohol. Stir well so the

cider incorporates with the flour and thickens. Add the bay leaf and thyme and gradually pour in the hot chicken and beef stocks, stirring to avoid any lumps forming. Bring the gravy to the boil giving it a thorough skim with a ladle, to remove any fat that collects on the surface as it comes up. Turn the heat down to a simmer and reduce the sauce (skimming regularly) until you have reached a desirable gravy consistency. Taste the gravy to check for seasoning and season accordingly. Strain the gravy through a fine meshed sieve and serve at the table.

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The

Deer Hunter Part of Roast’s philosophy has always been about building relationships with great suppliers across the country and respecting the ingredients. For chef Marcus Verberne that often means a truly hands-on approach… Words by Neil Davey Photography by Sandy Young

f you want to understand your ingredients, you have to go to the source. In the case of the venison – and other game – used in Roast, that means an early start, a long walk across a vast swathe of Scottish estate – and a little early evening target practice before the sun goes down. While he used to shoot rabbits as a teen, it’s been a while since former Roast chef Marcus Verberne has picked up a gun. For his colleague Wyatt Shevloff, it’s an entirely new experience, which is why Ben Weatherall, one of Roast’s meat suppliers, has sent his young son running to the end of the garden with Ben’s wife Silvi’s cat-shaped chopping board. The chefs both fi re off a round – and both nail it. Target practice complete, it’s onto dinner. Silvi is an excellent cook and, appropriately, venison is on the menu. “And some claret,” add the chefs, although both admit this doesn’t seem such a good idea at 4am the following morning as they head out to stalk roe deer. For those concerned at the practice, stalking is a necessary part of estate life – in fact, the gamekeepers have a quota to cull 600 deer each every year. “They have to control the numbers,” explains Wyatt. “Roe deer are considered vermin.” “They rip apart the saplings,” adds Marcus, “they go around the bottom of the small spruce trees and take all the tips off, and the young bucks have glands between their horns which they

rub on the tree to mark their territory.” “There are two different seasons, doe and stag,” says Wyatt. “You can’t shoot both genders at the same time of year.” On this crisp April morning, it’s early in stag season. Marcus, his gamekeeper guide Callum - plus Callum’s dog Tara – and our photographer head out in one direction. Wyatt and his gamekeeper, Martin, head off to a different part of the estate. “The roe deer are so sensitive,” explains Wyatt, “so you can’t go out in a group of more

“...just before the light came up, the Dawn Chorus exploded. It was astounding..." than three people.” “Their sense of smell is incredible,” adds Marcus. “They’ll smell you

before they see you, so you have to stay downwind. The slightest sound and…“ He mimes the bouncing trajectory of a ﬂeeing deer. “They’re really hard to see,” he adds. “Callum has great eyes, he’d see them at a distance, but they’re exactly the same colour as the background.” Also, as Wyatt points out, “they’re not big.” With Marcus and Wyatt wandering diﬀerent parts of the estate, it’s only after the stalking that Marcus and Wyatt catch up to compare notes. Results are mixed but both are beaming at the experience. “That was incredible,” says Marcus, as Wyatt nods his agreement. “We arrived just before the sun,” says Wyatt, “and, just before the light came up, the Dawn Chorus exploded. It was astounding, like the whole forest was singing.” He laughs, explaining that was about as good as it got. After

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“We were perfectly still, and sat there for about 20 minutes and the buck didn’t notice us at all,” says Wyatt, “but then the wind picked up, he caught a scent and hopped into the trees.” Marcus, however, has had a very successful morning. “We were wandering along the road, and three deer – two does, one stag – appeared ahead of us and stopped. They were facing the wrong way to get the clean shot” – Marcus signals the area on the side of the rib cage where you have to aim for a clean kill – “but I had the perfect line, so we lay down and waited.” He laughs. “I even had a tree stump to plant the gun stand on! I had him in the crosshairs, and was just waiting for him to do something and he turned and showed me the point you shoot. He might as well have had a target. I squeezed the trigger and he just dropped. It was nice and clean. “And then on the way back, there was a slope and a hill behind, and a buck almost on the horizon of the hill. If they’re on the horizon you can’t shoot them because, well, if you miss, the bullet’s going to travel 14 miles or whatever and you don’t know where it’ll end up! He was just below it though, but it was quite a distance, around 275 yards, and he was positioned with his front behind a young pine. I waited, he took a couple of steps forward and…” Marcus makes the trigger pulling gesture. With Marcus’s two deer prepped and hung (the meat was later served to lucky Roast customers), it’s time to return to the kitchen where Marcus fries off the still warm liver from his first kill. “There is a primal urge to eat something straight away,” he admits. As they contemplate the flavours – “definitely venison but not as gamey as I thought it might be,” says Marcus, “you can taste the grassiness, the heather,” adds Wyatt – they agree it’s been a remarkable experience. “It was pretty perfect,” says Marcus. Wyatt nods and laughs. “Even if the only thing I shot was a wooden cat.”  PAG E

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BY APPOINTMENT TO HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN BUTCHERS AUBREY ALLEN LIMITED COVENTRY

Award winning butchers to the UKâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s finest restaurants and YOU! Aubrey Allen, established over 80 years ago is a family owned butchery business with a reputation for supplying quality meat. As well as operating a successful retail outlet, Aubrey Allen is a well-respected wholesale butcher supplying quality restaurants throughout the UK.

Visit us in Leamington Spa. Customers travel from far and wide to shop in our wonderful Butcher and Deli. The finest meats money can buy, ethically reared and lovingly prepared by our butchers; complimented by our home-cooked pies and desserts, salads, sauces, award winning sausages, charcuterie and cheeses.

Pop by, weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d love to meet you. For our retail customers:

01926 311208

For all Wholesale enquiries telephone: email: sales@aubreyallen.co.uk www.aubreyallenwholesale.co.uk

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email: delicatessen@aubreyallen.co.uk www.aubreyallenleamington.co.uk Visit us at: 108 Warwick Street, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, CV32 4QP Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 8.30am to 6.00pm

er butch

Beyond

Porridge In April 2015, Roast took on an ambitious project to host a pop-up restaurant in South East London’s ISIS Young Offenders Institute. A Roast manager reports.

reating a pop-up restaurant case it became a massive task, because that will serve 30 people three we had sign off to use real knives, courses plus bread, petit fours real cutlery, real crockery and real and coffee, involves juggling many glassware. As you can imagine, it ups things. Creating a pop-up restaurant the amount of red tape as everything which will do that in a prison, you take in has to be approved, however, involves juggling so many checked, counted in and counted out. more… That includes some unexpected The Governor of ISIS Prison, things. After the training session, we Grahame Hawkings, is very forward counted back the marker pens and thinking and innovative about biros, but one of the team forgot to rehabilitation, reducing reoffending take the Blu Tack off the wall and that and trying to facilitate a route to caused a security crisis. We thought employment. In so many cases at it was one of the least harmful bits of institutions such as ISIS, next door to stationery but apparently it can be Belmarsh Prison in south east London, used to mould keys! these are young offenders who still Ultimately though, whatever the have a chance to change their lives and extra considerations, it was a brilliant at Roast that’s something we work with experience. a lot. In fact, we’re moving away from We worked with fourteen young charitable work, and more towards offenders, seven in the kitchen with the collaborative, to help enable our Roast chef and seven with as the those who want front of house team. “.We’re planning many to do something, The kitchen team who aspire to help more of these, so that they joined Marcus the themselves, so when become a clear route to day of the event, Iqbal met with potential employment and but we were only Grahame, the idea able to host a three for future events..." of a Roast pop-up hour training session in prison was the result. two days before. Three hours! For Planning for the event was key and conventional restaurant openings, we must have rewritten my event training has been for six to 18 days sheet about 18 times in a few days and that’s with an experienced team. as, once you’re inside, you have no The three hours had to include an ice access to anything else on the evening. breaker and give us an understanding Equipment gathering is usually a of the team, their individual rudimentary part of the job but in this characters.

To say it was ambitious would be an understatement. The key thing though was for us to assess that they were all genuinely interested in the opportunity - and they were. They were so enthusiastic and clearly so excited to be taking part. We had hand-out packs for them so that they could learn in their own time the requirements, the table numbers, how to serve the food, what the food is, how to address customers. When we returned on the day of the event, they'd done so much homework it was unbelievable. As 7pm approached, the excitement and nerves in the room were palpable: it was like before going on stage. There was a lot of good natured rivalry

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between them all, they were so eager to be the best they could be, and they were also nervous because they saw the guests – 30 invited friends of Roast – as quite “posh”. But they were brilliant. There were a few minor details that went wrong all evening, just tiny mistakes, but all the tables were delivered and the guests said that, in terms of food quality and service, it was just like being at Roast. Clearly the setting was very different – the dining room was the officer's mess – but in every other aspect, they all agreed we’d hit our usual high standards. When we introduced the teams at the end of the night, the guests gave them a huge round of applause, and you could feel their pride,

that feeling of achievement. It was a powerful, emotional moment for them and for all of us. We learned a lot for the future – and had our preconceived idea on these lads challenged. We’re planning many more of these, so that they become a clear route to potential employment and for future events, the lads who participate will be able to invite loved ones or family members to witness their journey. That’s partly as a reward for taking part, partly so their families can see what they've achieved but also to reassure those at home that there’s the genuine potential of a job when they are released. After the guests had left, we all had dinner together, with the food we'd

served, and the question they kept asking us was why did we want to do it? I think that’s quite an astute question and that they were sounding us out, checking our credentials, that we were who we said we were and that this was a genuine opportunity and not just another distraction. And it really is, for them and for us. In everything we do with young offenders, we have to reinforce that what we do and say is true. We’re not doing this because we’re trying to be “goodie two shoes”. We undertake activities like this it because we believe in the benefits for all involved. If you can do that and give someone a second chance, why wouldn’t you? 

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clever More lucky than

Words by Iqbal Wahhab Photography by Thomas Bowles and Susannah Fields

ood ideas aren’t always the first one. Early adopters of Roast may recall that for a little while the kiosk outside the entrance sold books – well, one book. When I was asked to sponsor a book about Borough I made a condition that I had exclusive rights to sell it in the market and the trustees agreed and let me have that space. Now, people come and shop every week for their favourite cheeses, vegetables or meats but you tend to only buy a book once. Doh!

So I was wondering what to do with the space when one evening I was having dinner with a tiny friend who obviously forgot how tiny she was and ordered a massive steak which of course she couldn’t finish. I asked her if she had a lunch the next day and when she said she didn’t, I asked a waiter to take her remaindered dinner to one of the chefs to make a sandwich with it. The next day Anna called me to say it was the best sandwich she had ever had. The penny dropped and Roast to Go was born. 

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Home to Borough Market, Tate Modern and Shakespeareâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Globe, Bankside is full of history, culture and art â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the perfect day out.

10th Anniversary Special

THE PERFECT GIFT

Editors Pick

As well as gift certiﬁcates, we’ve created a range of products and gifts that mean the Roast experience doesn’t have to start and ﬁnish at the restaurant. Roast Cookbook

If you really want the Roast experience at home, there’s no better place to start than “Roast – A Very British Cookbook”. As mentioned in the article on page 8, as beﬁts a restaurant that champions British cooking, farmers and produce, the book tells you more about several of our major suppliers – as well as how to cook some of Roast’s best-selling and classic dishes. In addition, there are many helpful tips and even carving lessons. Signed copies of our new cookbook for sale in restaurant at the special price of £20

Roast Chapel Down Wines

Roast Whisky

While we can’t help you recreate the fully stocked back bar at Roast, we have worked with two Scottish distilleries to create two exceptional expressions of whisky. While our ﬁrst whisky, made by Caperdonich Distillery, has gone the way of limited editions and sold out, our second expression is still available. From Balblair, one of the Highlands’ ﬁnest distilleries, comes a whisky that’s matured slowly in a sherry butt over 22 years. It’s recognisably Highland in spirit, but with exquisite notes of raisins and oranges. Scotland, 700mls, £85

Roast London Dry Gin

If you can’t have a British restaurant without a beer, these days you can’t talk about great British drinks and not mention gin. While there are so many on the market – many of which we happily stock and serve – we wanted our own creation and worked with the talented team at Thames Distillers in Greenwich. Our exclusive Roast Gin is slightly higher in strength than many - 46% ABV – and features many of the bolder botanicals, such as juniper berries, coriander seed and angelica root. On the palate, it’s strong and clean, with a good hit of juniper. It’s thus ideal for that most British of drinks, a classic gin and tonic. Greenwich, 700mls, £20

Roast Gift Vouchers

Does someone you know deserve a treat? Roast oﬀers gift vouchers which can be redeemed in the restaurant, at the bar or even on the Roast-branded gifts and goodies below. Available online, they are delivered with a free gift card so that you can personalise your present. Prices range from £10 -£100

As you may have read in the feature (see page xx), together with our good friends at Chapel Down we’ve created two wines that are unique to Roast. Our bespoke Bacchus from Chapel Down is a delicious, delightful, light, crisp wine made from grapes all around Home Counties, with a distinct but gentle elderﬂower character that evokes summer – and goes spectacularly well with our famous pork belly dish. Kent, 750mls, £35

Also bespoke to us from Chapel Down, Chapter Two is our delightful and popular fizz. Made with the three “noble” grape varieties that create champagne - Pinot Noir, Pinot Meunier and Chardonnay – Chapter Two has been justifiably celebrated by many experts… and even more customers. It’s an elegant wine of great balance and finesse, and has helped bolster the South Coast of England’s reputation as THE place to make sparkling wines. Kent, 750mls, £35

Roast Malbec

Blended exclusively for Roast by Bodega Ruca Malen, one of Argentina’s pioneering wineries, this is our limited edition 2012 vintage that has been created not only with our steak and beef dishes in mind. It is perfumed, silky and packed with red and dark fruit with ﬂoral notes and fresh spices that gives this wine great freshness & elegance. Argentina, 750mls, £49

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spotlight interview

And the bAnned plAyed onâ&#x20AC;Ś Ben Hughes is the Deputy CEO of the Financial Times, the chairman of Walpole and a board member of Help For Heroes. He explains how Roast has brought those interests together. Words by Neil Davey

10th Anniversary Special

ho is Ben Hughes? At The Financial Times, Ben is Deputy CEO. At Walpole, a collective of leading luxury brands, he’s Chairman. Here at Roast, however, Ben is “our most regular customer.” Not bad for a man who was once barred from the restaurant. We’ll get to that later but part of the reason for Ben’s loyalty is that he predates Roast, having lived and worked in the area for over 20 years. “When I moved to the area in 1991, there was nothing,” explains Ben. “To get to a decent restaurant, you’d have to get a cab to Soho or the City.” Since that point, many things have changed of course and not just the rise of the market, the arrival of Roast or several other dining establishments. “I used to park my car in what’s now Vinopolis” recalls Ben, laughing. “There’s been remarkable change here, and it’s those things that make me a big fan of Borough Market. “I spend a lot of time walking around here - I like that you can see where many of the ingredients at Roast come from.” Ben lives nearby - “I can see into my flat from Roast and into Roast from my flat,” – and has watched the restaurant’s progress from shell to the thriving business it is today. He also likes to point out that his regular presence at the restaurant is not just greed, it’s frequently businessrelated, and over the years, those interests have begun to overlap with those of Roast, particularly Ben’s involvement with Walpole. “I call Walpole a ‘luxury meeting

place’,” explains Ben, “where people can learn from one another. We have a lot of events, we get chairs and chief

help for heroes photos from the recent Walpole / help for heroes breakfast held at roast, where several Borough market traders were introduced to veterans seeking employment.

executives together and the marketing people (the creative people). “Earlier this year, Walpole held a breakfast at Roast for Help For Heroes,” explains Ben, “where founder Bryn Parry came to speak. Roast have been a fantastic supporter of such charities, believing one of the best ways you can bring people back into the world after injury or prison or is through work. Borough Market have also been very helpful. Are you speaking to Keith Davis? (Yes we are – see page 48). He’s the managing director of Borough Market and he came to the breakfast and brought a lot of the guys on the stalls, because they had jobs to offer.” Of course, it could all have been different if the ban from Roast had stuck. Fortunately, it wasn’t entirely serious as Ben explains with a laugh. “I was coming in one day,” explains Ben, “and Iqbal wouldn’t let me pass. He said ‘Enough! You’ve done breakfast lunch and dinner here Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday and you’ve had breakfast here today. Go and have lunch somewhere else!’ 

In addition to this breakfast, roast works with two of help for heroes affiliate associations: Combat stress, which deals with veterans facing posttraumatic stress disorder; and homeless Veterans, to whom we regularly offer work experience.

Above; Ben Hughes with Michelle Emmerson, CEO of Walpole Left; iqbal Wahhab with guests from breakfast at Roast

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THE

COCKTAIL RAT PACK

Our reputation for creativity and seasonal ingredients doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just apply to our food menu. Over the last ten years, our bar team has created an extensive selection of drinks and original cocktails and here they let us into some of their secrets...

English CoolEr 50ml roast gin 15ml Elderflower cordial 20ml Lemon juice Two slices of cucumber 6 Mint leaves Tonic water

1. Put the cucumber and mint in the shaker and muddle them. 2. Pour over the elderflower cordial, gin and lemon juice and shake with ice. 3. Pour into a tall glass filled with ice and juliennes of cucumber and mint leave. 4. Pour tonic water until you fill the glass. Garnish with a slice of cucumber on top.

Mango TaRRagon MaRTini



50ml Roast gin infused with tarragon 15ml Elderflower cordial 25ml Mango puree/juice 1.

Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously until you feel the shaker is ice cold

Double strain into a martini glass and garnish with a fresh sprig of tarragon.

 se1 Bloody MaRy 50ml Vodka Tomato juice green juice (Juice a handful of spinach and romaine

Honeysuckle

Worcestershire sauce ground pepper Tabasco 5ml lemon juice

50ml Roast gin 10ml esprit de June liqueur 10ml Violet liqueur 25ml cranberry juice 15ml lime juice

lettuce, half a cucumber, handful of broccoli and one apple)

Start by filling a tall glass or tankard glass with ice

Add a good glug of Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, ground pepper and tabasco

Add the vodka and tomato juice until the glass is half full and stir

Add the green juice to the top of the glass and garnish with a slice of lemon and a celery stick. Crack some more fresh pepper on top

Pour all the ingredients into a cocktail shaker with ice, shake vigorously until you feel the shaker is ice cold.

Double strain into a martini glass and garnish with blue cornflower floating on the drink.



endless loVe 35ml Roast gin infused with lavender 20ml lemon juice 10ml sugar ?ml chapter Two sparkling wine 1.

Pour the gin into a cocktail shaker with the lemon juice and sugar and shake vigorously with ice.

Strain into a champagne glass and pour the sparkling wine to the top.

Garnish the glass with a sugar rim and a couple of lavender sticks.



Promotional feature

England in a

glass A British restaurant needs British wine, so Roast worked with Chapel Down to create two exclusive varieties for the restaurant – a Bacchus to go with our pork belly and a fizz to rival Champagne. Words by Guy Tresnan Photography by Thomas Bowles

ur relationship with Roast is a very good fit, as we’re both concerned with provenance and sourcing and promoting British ingredients. When the opportunity arose to work with Roast to create an exclusive wine, we wanted to create one that reflected those beliefs. For us, it wasn’t about making lots of money - it was about having a focus in a restaurant that matches our principles and where the food is fantastic. When plantings first happened in England, a lot of Germanic grapes were used because people thought those grapes – like Müller-Thurgau and Bacchus - would suit our climate. Many of those have been replaced by grapes such as Pinot Noir or Chardonnay, but Bacchus is one we held on to. We liken it to Sauvignon Blanc, which can range from tropical fruit flavours to asparagus to less appealing things (“on a gooseberry bush” as the famous description goes!); Bacchus can have quite a diverse taste depending on where it’s grown. We tried five different types before we found the right ones for the Roast Bacchus. They turned out to be our best reserve grapes

which, appropriately, are grown close to London, in Kent and in our Essex vineyards. As well as matching the pork belly dish, the resulting wine has hedgerow character, with nettle and a little bit of elderflower. In terms of both taste and origins, we think of it as England in a glass. The fizz was then a natural progression. If I fired an arrow 90 miles south of here, I’d hit the Champagne region. Kent and Champagne share the same climate, the same average temperature – by all but one degree – and they share our chalk. It’s definitely our chalk – just look at White Cliffs of Dover! We grow the classic Champagne region grapes – Chardonnay, Pinot Blanc and Pinot Meunier – and, with the Roast team, we blended those and Chapter Two was born. There’s one other thing we did that was quite innovative. If you have two bottles of identical wine in an ice bucket, it can be quite confusing which bottle is for which table. That’s why we put a white dot on the label for Roast, so you can write the table number on the bottle and always get the right one. PAG E

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Congratulations to

“This is by far our most popular dish at Roast. We cook around 150 pork bellies every week, so our ovens are constantly full.” Marcus Verberne, Head Chef, Roast Slow-Roasted Wick’s Manor Pork Belly with mashed potatoes and Bramley apple sauce

on their 10 year anniversary

S avour

BACON Gold award Your

drY Cured Smoked BaCon

Overall Winners

Proud supplier of pork, sausages and bacon to Roast Restaurant Please visit our website or call us for mail order

www.wicksmanor.com • 01621 860629 Wicks Manor Farm Witham Road Tolleshunt Major Maldon Essex CM9 8JU • Email: info@wicksmanor.com

10th Anniversary Special

recipe Special

Scotch Burford Brown egg with haggiS and piccalilli (Makes 6 portions)

scotch eggs IngredIents  8 Medium Burford Brown eggs (room temperature)  420g good quality pork sausage meat  180g haggis (Macsween’s is my choice)  100g plain flour  100g Japanese “Panko” breadcrumbs  Vegetable oil for frying

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil for your eggs. Often when you boil eggs the shell cracks as it hits the boiling water. This is because of the dramatic change in temperature. A little tip to alleviate this problem is to cover your eggs in tepid water for a couple of minutes before you boil them, so the shock factor is reduced. Boil 6 of the eggs for 6 minutes before plunging them into iced water to arrest any further cooking. After a couple of minutes once the eggs have cooled down, carefully peel them (starting from the base of the egg and working your way to the point) and place them to one side. For the farce, remove the haggis from its casing and crumble it into the sausage meat. Mix the two ingredients thoroughly. You will not need to season

PIccalIllI IngredIents  1 cucumber, halved lengthways and seeded  ½ cauliflower, cut into small florets  1 medium onion, peeled and cut into 1cm dice  3 shallots, peeled and cut into 1cm dice  3 tbsp. salt  150g caster sugar  60g English mustard  ½ tsp ground turmeric  1 small chilli, seeded and finely chopped

this mix as the sausage meat and the haggis will already be seasoned. Roll the farce into 6 even-sized balls. To wrap the eggs, wet your hands and flatten out a ball of farce. Place an egg in the middle and wrap the sides around to enclose it. Try to ensure the thickness of the farce is the same all the way around the egg and that there are no holes. Once all the eggs are wrapped, beat the remaining 2 eggs in a bowl. Roll the wrapped eggs in flour, then dip each one in egg and then roll in the breadcrumbs to coat the egg thoroughly. Preheat your oven to 200c. Set the temperature of your table top deep fryer to 190c. If you don’t have a fryer, place the vegetable oil into a large saucepan leaving enough room at the top to allow for rapid boiling when the

croquettes are added. Place the oil onto a high heat being very careful that it doesn’t get too hot. If you have a jam thermometer, use it so you can regulate the temperature. Have to hand some absorbent kitchen paper and a spider or slotted spoon to retrieve the croquettes from the hot oil. Don’t try to use spring-loaded tongs. This can be very dangerous for obvious reasons. Deep fry the scotch eggs for a couple of minutes until golden and crispy. You will need to do this 3 at a time so as not to overload the fryer. Once ready, drain the croquettes on absorbent kitchen paper to soak up any oil. Place the eggs into the oven for 2 minutes and then rest them for 2 minutes. By this stage the yolk will have warmed through but not hardened.

 150ml malt vinegar  125ml white wine vinegar  1 tbsp. corn flour

water to remove some of the intensity of the salt. Drain well in a colander. In a saucepan mix the sugar, mustard, turmeric, chilli and the 2 vinegars, bring to the boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Meanwhile mix the corn flour with a little water then whisk it slowly into the vinegar mixture and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes. Allowing the sauce to thicken. Mix with the vegetables and leave the mixture to cool.

Cut the cucumber in half lengthways, and then cut into 1 cm pieces. Put the cucumber, cauliflower, diced onions and diced shallots into a colander then sprinkle over the salt. Leave the vegetables in the fridge for 6 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that the salt draws from the vegetables, then wash well in cold PAG E

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Make The ToasT aT RoasT! W

hile famous for our food, drink, service and support of local suppliers and producers, there are other aspects of Roast that may come as a surprise. For example, did you know we are a licensed wedding venue? With spectacular views from every angle, Roast is a breathtaking location for the big day, be it wedding ceremony, civil partnership, wedding breakfast or vow renewal. We work with wedding planners, or the bridge and groom, to organise your event, whether it’s small and intimate or lavish and grand, taking care of every detail from welcoming drinks to cutting the cake and – of course – planning your menu  “The comments from our guests have been overwhelming – “Best wedding meal EVER” has been said to me so many times I’ve lost count. The evening flowed perfectly from start to finish and the team were so helpful and friendly throughout.” Chloe and Paul

Get in touch with our Events team and we’ll talk about your ideas at Roast over a glass of Champagne. events@roast-restaurant.com | 0203 00 66 111

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reciPe SPecial

Sticky Date PuDDing with toffee Sauce anD corniSh clotteD cream (Makes 12 portions)

Pre-heat the oven to 160c. Bring the water to the boil in a sauce pan. Add the dates and simmer gently until they have softened. Mix in the bicarbonate of soda and allow the dates to stand for about 10 minutes. The bicarbonate of soda will break the dates down further so they are easily distributed through the pudding. Whip the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Drop in the eggs,

tOFFee sAUCe IngredIents  300g sugar  100ml water  160ml cream  40g butter While the pudding is baking prepare the toffee sauce. Place the sugar into a heavy based sauce pan and mix in the water so all the sugar is wet. Heat the pan to a medium-high temperature to melt the sugar and bring it to the boil.

PUddIng 4 eggs 120g butter 340g flour 1 tsp vanilla extract Clotted cream to serve

IngredIents  340g pitted dates  2 tsp bicarbonate of soda  600ml water  340g caster sugar  2 tsp baking powder

    

one at a time mixing well after each, before adding the next. Sieve all the dry ingredients together and mix them through the eggs, butter and sugar. Add the date mixture and the vanilla extract and mix well until all the ingredients are well combined. I remember being worried that the mixture seemed a little wet the first time I made this pudding. But rest assured, all was fine when it

emerged from the oven. Grease the inside of a rectangular cake tin with butter and then dust with flour. Give the tin a couple of taps over the sink to release any excess flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin allowing plenty of room for the pudding to rise. Place the tin on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Have a pastry brush and a glass of water to hand to brush down the sides of the pan should any sugar crystals start to form. Once the sugar has reached a dark caramel, switch off the heat source, and gently stir in the cream, followed by the butter. Be very careful as it will boil violently when the cream hits the hot caramel. Place the toffee sauce to one side and reheat when required. To test if the pudding is ready push the blade of a small knife or a skewer into the centre. If it comes out clean, it’s ready.

Allow to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out carefully onto a wire cooling rack. Once cool, trim the edges from the cake and slice into 12 even sized squares. Wrap each portion in cling film and store in the fridge until serving. To serve, heat the number of portions you need in the microwave. Remove the cling film and place the steaming hot puddings into the serving. Pour the toffee sauce liberally over the top and finish with a generous spoon of clotted cream.

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10th Anniversary Special

Trading Places Borough Market has become a must-visit place both for food lovers in London and also for visitors from all over the world. The market’s Managing Director Keith Davies (pictured centre, opposite) tells the amazing story of how it got here and why it will never go. Pictures by Tom Bowles

artisans - those people who grow it, pull it out the ground, wash it and bring it to the market or breed it, butcher it and bring it to market. At that time, there was very little here, so most people had no reason to visit the South Bank but the two things that have changed have been the art – The Tate Modern, The Globe – and food. We needed places like Roast to come in. Now, with so much history and hard work behind us, we feel a huge sense of responsibility on how we move forward and maintain the market. We don’t hold a waiting list now, so if someone leaves – which is rare – we go and hunt for the best possible trader. We have a quality standard and we monitor more than most markets. If someone wanted to bring a new product into the market we go through a number of questions with them and then get qualified people to blind test the products, - only if it scores satisfactorily do we invite them in to discuss their business plan, because we don’t want to bring someone in with a brilliant product if they don’t have the business plan to support it. If they fail, we’ve failed. We had a thousand applications in the first few months of 2014. We shortlisted about 100, we saw ten and we offered one place. It’s that standard that has brought us the accolade of, probably, the best quality food market in Europe. Borough Market continues to thrive because of the commitment of the traders, and the commitment of the trust. We’re like a big family to some extent - but, like families, we do have the odd falling out. That’s life. These days I think we all have a better understanding. I walk the market every day and talk to people, and we meet regularly with our traders, where we talk about next Monday, nine months’ time and the next 30 years…Borough Market has been here a long time. It’s special and unique. We need to keep it that way for the future. 

f you look just outside Roast, you’ll see a bell. It’s a new bell, featuring the crest of the Trustees of Borough Market, which we had cast by the Whitechapel Bell Foundry (who also made Big Ben) and is there to honour an old 18th century rule, that the Clerk of the Market must ring a bell to open the market every morning. We don’t do that nowadays but on the 14th February 2013, Prince Charles rang it to “officially” open the market as it looks now. We’ve got lots of documents about the market’s history, particularly from 1755 and onwards, when Parliament and the King told the residents that, if they could raise enough money, they could have their own charter to run the market for the benefit of the public forever. At that time, the market had been on London Bridge but got kicked off for being too busy. The parishioners of this area raised £6,000 - I’m told that’s the equivalent of about £30m today - bought a bit of land and the King granted the charter. That means we’ve certainly done around 260 years on the site but we do have a reasonable claim to being a thousand years old. The story goes that in February 1014, Ethelred the Unready lost control of London, and got a load of his mates to come over and help him reclaim the city. In one of the books we have, it talks about them sailing up the Thames past a ‘trading place’ on the South Bank so we celebrated our millennium on that claim – and nobody challenged it, so that was good! What we see out there today really started in the late 90s, when some local traders (some of them pioneers in their own right), and the trustees decided to do something different to the wholesale market and started doing one Saturday a month, selling to the general public. From that the retail market, one of the first farmers markets, evolved. The trustees took a decision to promote primary producers and PAG E

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