In the Field: London, UK
ALL Our Burning Questions
Answered by Chef Skye Gyngell of Spring
With our Edible Explorer column, we’re always looking for California local, but also California in other beautiful destinations abroad. These days our focus is on the UK, and I think it’s fair to say that Skye Gyngell is one of those chefs who gets as close to a California aesthetic with her food as it’s possible to get. What does that mean? Well, it’s all about the produce.
Skye got her first Michelin star for the meals she was whipping up while working at Petersham Nurseries Cafe and has written a series of wildly popular cookbooks, including A Year in My Kitchen and My Favorite Ingredients.
She’s originally from Australia —another food mecca with a California sensibility—and, in addition to what’s fast becoming a bit of a foodie empire (she’s also culinary director of great house Heckfield Place—more on that soon), she was the food editor for Australian Vogue.
Most recently, Edible LA was lucky enough to visit and found the food was really amazing, gorgeous, perfectly balanced and inventive. In the white dining room, the servers whizzed around in bell skirts, and huge flasks of liqueur sat on the counters that Skye had made from figs and kumquats, all sourced from Fern Varrow, the farm she works with just out of town. It all felt very Californian, and also exquisitely British as well.
If you’re in London, go. Or, you might even think of going to London to visit Spring. It’s that good. We were so excited that we sent her some questions, answers below.
ELA: We’re hearing a lot these days about closed loop dining, especially as chefs are so much on the front lines of climate change. We’re interested in your experience with transitioning to zero waste and also ending the use of single use plastics, both so important. What were your challenges?
Skye: Food waste and the Scratch menu is really in our DNA as a business, but I think there is always more work to be done. Within the hospitality sector, strides were being made before COVID-19 hit, but the last couple of years have been a hugely challenging time in our industry. We are really feeling the effects of Brexit with huge staff shortages – especially front of house – as well as substantial increases in food prices and fuel costs. That definitely makes it challenging, especially for small businesses, to focus on anything other than the immediate crisis at hand.
ELA: Triumphs?
Skye: The general public has been incredibly receptive to our Scratch menu ever since we implemented it back in 2017. When we started Scratch, I decided that I would hand it over to the younger chefs in the kitchen to really make their own and it has become a central part of our education and development process. It is their responsibility to manage the waste and write the Scratch menus. I love seeing how creative they have become. We have a Scratch section of our walk-in where EVERYTHING goes; from vegetable peelings to buttermilk (left over from making butter) and they are tasked with creating dishes only from what is on the shelf. We do a different 3-course menu every night and I’m constantly in awe of what they come up with. We have managed to reduce our food waste to almost zero. It’s fun, creative, and makes us all feel good about what we are doing. It’s also really nice because the price point (£25 for 3-courses) opens up the restaurant to a much wider audience. That’s one of the things that pleases me most.
ELA: We’re also fascinated by your relationship with Fern Verrow, Our chefs in California also work incredibly closely with our surrounding farms. We’d love to hear about what regularly inspires you. What's an example of one of those moments of inspiration?
Skye: It was actually a trip to California in 2012 that inspired me to seek out a small organic farm that I could work with in a truly meaningful way. I loved the idea of working closely with a single grower - that we could fully support, make a long-term commitment to and really feel like we had a stake in the farm itself. We are in our eighth year of working together and I can truly say that our relationship is incredibly important both for me on a personal level and for the restaurant’s identity. It provides an endless source of inspiration for all of us. It gives us a connection and a purpose - defines the way we cook and think about food and generally steers our course. I feel incredibly privileged to work so closely with the land. I see Jane as an artist as well as a grower - she is a wonderful cook herself( which I think is really important) and understands the importance of beauty as well as flavor. We work really closely together on the yearly planting lists - and work in a very organized and precise way. I can’t imagine cooking now without the relationship we have!
ELA: Taste is so tied up with emotion and memory. What is the favorite thing you ate as a child, and who made it? Does that sensibility translate to your restaurant cooking now?
Skye: This question of taste and memory is fascinating to me. I know the idea for most dishes (for me anyway) starts with memory - either taste, smell or flavor! I’m very nostalgic (I think largely because I have lived all my adult life away from childhood home so I’m constantly trying to create things that take me back there. It’s difficult in a way because the produce (especially fruit) is so different in England from the very tropical fruit I grew up with in Australia. I’m always trying to create flavors that make me feel warm, comforted, transported.
ELA: And, finally, the question we love to ask: If you could have your pick of anyone, living or dead, in the food world, who would you choose to have a late lunch with? We’re talking one of those meals that leisurely unfolds over an afternoon, preferably in a garden with a view and a lovely bottle of wine.
Skye: It would definitely have to be a proper cook rather than a chef! I think probably Elizabeth David. She was such an extraordinary influence on the way we eat now - I think I’d just love to sit with her and listen to all the stories she had to tell.