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Recipes: Winteringham Fields' chef Robert Thompson
The Daily Telegraph Saturday 29th September 2007
Xanthe Clay meets a young chef as he hits the starry heights at Winteringham Fields as if to the manor born
Robert Thompson is looking uncomfortable. Perched on a red velvet sofa that's too low for his gangly 6ft frame, the 25-year-old head chef clearly doesn't feel at home in the plush cosiness of the front of house.
Creating a stir: Robert Thompson making one of his creations
And yet it's here in Winteringham Fields, a 16th-century Lincolnshire manor-house turned restaurant-with-rooms, that Thompson has made his mark as the Boy Wonder of the restaurant world.
This month, The Good Food Guide named Winteringham Fields as the fourth best restaurant in the country, behind the now legendary Fat Duck, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay and Le Manoir aux Quat' Saisons, but ahead of such greats as Le Gavroche, Pétrus and The Waterside Inn.
His inspiration, Thompson tells me shyly, was his older brother, Patrick, a prize-winning chef.
He started washing up in Patrick's restaurant at the age of 13 and quickly graduated to cooking. "As soon as I started that, school came second," he says (although he still garnered a respectable eight GCSEs).
Catering college followed, but he walked out after a year, frustrated by the slow pace.
A stint at the then two-Michelin-star restaurant L'Ortolan followed, but Thompson wasn't happy with the confrontational atmosphere there and he soon rejoined his brother's kitchen.
The restless teenager finally settled in 2001 when he accepted a job as commis chef at Winteringham Fields, working under the fatherly eye of owner Germain Schwab.
Within a year, he was promoted to sous chef and a year after that to head chef, maintaining the two Michelin stars won by the kitchen.
Two years ago, Schwab sold up, prompting a re-evaluation by Michelin, but Thompson stayed and became one of the youngest chefs to win a star in his own right.
Although he has made-for-television good looks, Thompson is scathing of culinary celebrity seekers: "I respect chefs who stay in their kitchens and bring the young ones on."
Anyway, he says, with a self-effacing shrug: "I don't think I've got the face for TV." A lot of people might disagree.
Winteringham Fields is in Winteringham, Lincolnshire (01724 733096; www.winteringhamfields.com )
xanthe.clay@telegraph.co.uk
For the recipes featured in this article, go to the Daily Telegraph site, follow the links to all three pages: ... more...
'BEST RESTAURANT OUTSIDE LONDON'
Scunthorpe Telegraph, Friday 21st September 2007
IT IS a tranquil village in the rural heart of the region, boasting a local shop, a post office ... and one of the best restaurants in the world.
Winteringham Fields hotel and restaurant has come fourth the Which? Good Food Guide for the fifth year in a row.
Its position makes it the top restaurant outside London - rubbing shoulders with the likes of Gordon Ramsey's London-based restaurant and Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir.
Owner Colin McGurran states consistency, attention to detail and always looking at ways to improve, as the secret to the restaurant’s success.
He said: "We are really pleased with the position and to be ranked among such company. "I think it is the consistency we have here. We have 46 staff and a maximum of 45 guests so each staff member specialises in one area - that’s what maintains the quality we have."
Winteringham Fields prides itself on a diverse menu, taken from locally sourced food and home-grown vegetables and served up by 12 expert chefs.
Depending on the time of year, it specialises in different types of food, but for £80 a head people can enjoy several courses and first class service.
Mr McGurran (30), who bought his first restaurant at the age of 24, has worked in France, Africa and the United Arab Emirates.
He bought Winteringham Fields in 2005 for £1-million.
He said: "People can come here and have a full dining experience. From the moment they arrive they are looked after and I think that is why it has been such a success."
Mr McGurran said the restaurant and hotel was aiming for increased success in the future with renovation planned, which would create an area where diners can see chefs working their magic with food.
It is one of only three UK restaurants meeting the Good Food Guide's criteria of being 'highly individual and displaying impressive artistry'. It has had a stream of accolades. In 2003, it was voted the Restaurateur's Restaurant of the Year and has five AA rosettes and one Michelin star. The Guardian and The Observer have both characterised it as 'The Best Restaurant in Britain'.
As well as the chart position in Britain's Best Food Guide, it has also won an award for Best Restaurant in the North of England in the Northern Hospitality Awards this year.
Fat Duck Pips Gordon Ramsay for Top Place in Good Food Guide
By Richard Vines
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg)
Fat Duck, chef Heston Blumenthal's establishment in a village west of London, is the best restaurant in the U.K., beating Gordon Ramsay's flagship in the capital, according to ``The Good Food Guide 2008,'' out next week.
Raymond Blanc's Le Manoir aux Quat'Saisons, also west of London, comes third. Other successful eateries in the capital include Le Gavroche (6th), Petrus (7th), Square (10th), Pied a Terre (11th) and Tom Aikens (14th).
``It's a real honor to be voted No. 1 by one of the most respected food guides and a real reflection of how hard the whole team have worked,'' Blumenthal said today. He was reached by phone while sitting in a plane in Muscat, Oman, where he has been filming for his BBC Television show, ``In Search of Perfection.''
Blumenthal is known for experimental dishes such as ``Sound of the Sea,'' where diners consume edible sand and seawater while listening to an iPod playing a recording of crashing waves. The 12-course tasting menu, which includes snail porridge, bacon-and- egg ice cream and quail jelly, costs 115 pounds ($231.35).
``Ramsay and Raymond Blanc's restaurants are unmissable experiences, but the Fat Duck has produced truly stunning food this year,'' Elizabeth Carter, editor of the guide, said in an e- mailed statement. ``Congratulations to Heston Blumenthal for daring to push at the boundaries of modern cooking.''
Other London restaurants in the Top 40 include Maze (34th), Club Gascon (35th), the Greenhouse (39th) and the Ledbury (40th.)
Ramsay Sauce
Ramsay won't be commenting, according to his public-relations company, Sauce Communications. Blanc didn't immediately respond to a message left on his mobile phone.
This is the first year the guide has produced a Top 40. Previously, it just awarded marks out of 10. Ramsay has taken some knocks in recent weeks, with his flagship restaurant losing its top spot for food in two London guides, Harden's and Zagat.
``The Good Food Guide 2008'' can be ordered on +44-1903- 828557 or at http://www.which.co.uk/ for 16.99 pounds or from bookshops.
Top 20 rankings, with marks for food in parentheses:
1. Fat Duck, Bray (9).
2. Gordon Ramsay, London (9).
3. Le Manoir, Great Milton (9).
4. Winteringham Fields, Winteringham (8).
5. Le Champignon Sauvage, Cheltenham (8).
6. Le Gavroche, London (8).
7. Petrus, London (8).
8. Waterside Inn, Bray (8).
9. Vineyard. Stockcross (8).
10. Square, London (8).
11. Pied a Terre, London (8).
12. Restaurant Nathan Outlaw, Cornwall (8).
13. L'Enclume, Cumbria (8).
14. Tom Aikens, London (8).
15. Restaurant Martin Wishart, Edinburgh (8).
16. The Capital, London (7)
17. Restaurant Sat Bains, Nottingham (7).
18. Gidleigh Park, Devon (7).
19. Anthony's, Leeds (7).
20. Juniper, Leeds (7).
(Richard Vines is London food critic for Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
CHARM MEANT TO SHOE IN GOOD LUCK
Scunthorpe Telegraph, Monday 10 th September 2007
Renovation of a 17th century house has led to an historic discovery relating to a superstition of days gone by.
When an old boot was found by builders renovating an ancient Grade Two listed house in Winteringham, it seemed fairly innocuous. But when it was discovered to be around 100 years old, and halfway up the chimney of the property, which had been unoccupied for half a century, it was clear there was something more to it.
Workers were knocking through the inside of Walnut Farm Cottage, on Silver Street, as part of a major renovation project, when they came across the boot - thought to be a relic of the Victorian era.
Builder Fleur Gordon said: "It was very interesting when we found it. It is clear it had been there for a long time.
"It is something we have come across before in old houses, because it was a tradition - people used to put leather goods up their chimneys as a good luck charm."
Mrs Gordon said to find a boot was quite unusual, as normal historic finds usually included children's gloves, shoes, keys and old newspapers.
The hobnailed boot is around a size eight and is still in fairly good condition. It is currently in the hands of avid local historian Ken Jacobs (60), of School Road, Winteringham.
He said: "I keep a regular photographic record of history in this area, and have had my eye on this property for a few years now - and it is particularly interesting this boot has been found."
He is now working to find an owner for it and has plans to consult other historians.
Walnut Farm Cottage is the subject of a restoration project to restore it to its former 17th century glory. Its condition has gradually deteriorated since it was last occupied in the 1960s.
Grimsby-based owner Youth Building Academy, which is currently working on the site, trains young people outside mainstream education for work in the building trade.
The project on Walnut Farm Cottage is being overseen by expert Market Rasen-based Fleur (39), who runs her own, self-titled company. The project will take over a year in total to complete.
EGG-STRA EFFORT BY YOUNG FUNDRAISERS
Scunthorpe Telegraph, Saturday 1st September 2007
The entrepreneurial skills of two young school pals from Winteringham have boosted the funds of Scunthorpe's Lindsey Lodge Hospice.
John Button and his best buddy, Sam McGee, both aged 10, set out on their charity fundraising last year when they sold bags of corn so people could feed John's pet chickens, and also sold their eggs.That enterprising project saw them raising £42, but this year they held a garage sale and raised even more for the good cause.
By the time they had added last year's proceeds to the takings from the garage sale, the two big-hearted boys had raised a total £137.
They worked hard to publicise their sale and made posters, which were displayed in the village's post office and butcher's shop.
John and Sam also wrote notes and posted them through the letterboxes of people in the village they knew would want to support them.
Now their hard work has paid off, and they have presented the proceeds from their joint efforts to Lindsey Lodge Hospice.
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