Simon Addison joined Chewton Glen as head chef in January 2016 to lead The Dining Room and allow the hotel’s executive chef Luke Matthews to step back from day-to-day responsibilities and focus on new projects. Originally from Somerset, Simon learnt his craft in a number of restaurant kitchens, working with chefs such as Paul Kitchin and Aaron Patterson before taking on the role of head chef of John Campbell’s Woodspeen Restaurant in Newbury. He was head chef at Homewood Park Hotel & Spa in Bath for just over a year before joining Chewton Glen where he says he relishes working with world-class ingredients within a luxury environment.
Why did you become a chef and who, or what inspired you to stick with it?
Cookery was the only thing I was genuinely interested in when it came to making a decision on my career choices, so when I finished school I decided to take a diploma at Bletchley College.
I have been lucky enough to work in some great places all over the country, with some well-respected chefs, learning different skills and techniques from each. I think that has given me a good base knowledge to form my own style. The place that influenced me most and was the steepest learning curve – probably because I went there when I was 22 – was Hambleton Hall in Rutland. It was also down to the way the head chef Aaron Patterson treats his ingredients and selects them and the way he puts them together. That stuck with me. Aaron’s style is also quite classically-driven, so I found that what he did there could be transferred to other places. I think it’s important for every chef to know classical cookery, because it’s the foundation of everything.
How have you put your stamp on the menu at The Dining Room at Chewton Glen?
The process of change was intentionally slow at the beginning, and by working with the executive chef Luke Matthews, I have developed an understanding of how the kitchen and restaurant operate, and how to adapt my style to be in-keeping with the hotel’s values and customer base.
The main thing is for us to cook food that people will enjoy and it’s important that it fits with the hotel. You wouldn’t expect to come to Chewton Glen and eat wacky flavour combinations like chocolate and mushroom or artichoke and raspberry. That wouldn’t sit well here, so we just try and cook food that people will enjoy. I think that’s what cooking’s all about really isn’t it?
Is there a dish that you love to cook?
We have a grouse dish on at the moment that I really like. We’re using grouse that has been shot up in Yorkshire. We take legs off the bird and confit them in duck fat with garlic, thyme and rosemary and poach the crown in chicken stock. Then we finish it off by roasting it and get the skin crispy. We serve it with some Scottish girolles and chervil root puree and then we make a little haggis croquette. It’s quite simple really, but such a lovely dish. We try to pair the grouse, which has come from up north, with ingredients from a nearby region, so it’s all in-keeping.
Working in such a prestigious 5 star property, do you ever feel pressure to maintain the high standards guests expect?
There is naturally pressure working here, as there is working anywhere – perhaps a little more here as it’s a very well-respected establishment – but we have a very good team here so I think we all shoulder it well. We always try to accommodate the requests of the guests and try to deliver the best product we can.
Where do you stand on awards and accolades – do they matter to you?
Gaining another rosette or a Michelin star would be a great achievement and we would be very proud, but the main priority is to build on what we are doing currently and to continue to welcome a high volume of guests to The Dining Room at Chewton Glen.
Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
I can’t say there’s any one person who is my inspiration. To me it’s fear of failure that gets me out of bed every morning. I haven’t come to the point yet where I feel content with what I’m doing, so that inspires me to keep going. I’m not ready to sit back and say ‘this is me and this is what I’m doing’. I’m still striving to push things forward.
What’s the biggest challenge currently facing the hospitality industry and how would you solve it?
The biggest challenge at the moment is bringing new chefs to the industry. There is a natural reticence to work 10-14 hours a day, plus evenings, weekends and bank holidays, but I do think it’s changing slowly with the introduction of more flexible working patterns and a more open dialogue, Places such as Sat Bains going to a four-day working week and other places following that are interesting examples.
In the kitchens here we’ve got a good sense of camaraderie and work as a solid team. Everyone gets on. Since I’ve started here we’ve had three guys who have left and then come back. That happens a lot. They go elsewhere and realise how good it actually is here. A lot is down to Luke, with the way he runs and structures the kitchen, it is genuinely a good place to work.
Where do you like to eat out ?
I have naturally been to a lot of the local restaurants in the Hampshire area recently, including The Pig at Brockenhurst, and Limewood in Lyndhurst, but I especially like Medlar in Chelsea, I have been several times and the menu is always very interesting – I haven’t had a bad meal there. There is also a small noodle bar in Soho called Koya, which is amazing.
What are your plans for the future?
When I was younger I worked in some independently owned hotels and restaurants and that financial risk of owning your own business doesn’t appeal.
I am really keen to stay here at Chewton Glen for the foreseeable future it’s a great place to work, everybody gets along well and we are lucky that we are able to buy and work with some fantastic produce. Being in an affluent area diners will spend a little more on their meals than in other places I’ve worked, so we are very lucky, we get deliveries of grouse from Yorkshire, wild seabass, lobsters every other week, hand-dived scallops from up in Scotland and the very best of seasonal British produce, like Scottish girolles to work with. We really are blessed with the produce we have here. I’m not bored of it yet and I don’t think I will be for a while.
Emma Eversham
Hospitality & Catering News, Interviews Editor