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TRAVELLER
SET UNDER A PYLON,
next to a flyover in an
industrial estate in Nottingham, with a field full of
travellers a stone’s throw away, Sat Bains’ eponymous
restaurant has none of the scenic splendour usually
associated with two-Michelin-starred restaurants. But
this year, the
Michelin Guide
– the restaurant bible
for discerning gastronomes – dubbed the culinary
retreat “worth a detour” by awarding it its second star,
recognising it as one of the UK’s finest places to eat.
Bains, who won his first star a year after opening
in 2002, has never been deterred by his restaurant’s
incongruous location. In fact, he celebrates it by
utilising local producers and employing Nanna
Vestergaard, a Danish foraging chef who sources wild,
indigenous ingredients, like herbs and fruits, from the
surrounding area. Together, and with head chef John
Freeman, they create natural, exciting tasting menus,
featuring deft flavour combinations like unctuous,
slow-cooked pig’s head with haddock fritters and
crunchy, astringent, pickled vegetables.
Congratulations on winning two Michelin stars.
What does this achievement mean to you?
“I feel relief that we’re on the right track and that
everything we believe in – the location, and the way
we’ve gone about doing a very unique style of cuisine
and our passion – was rewarded. The definition of
two stars is ‘worth a detour’. It’s what you do, not
where you are.”
You’re big on local sourcing, with 95% of your
produce coming from the UK. How do you use
foraged and wild foods in your cooking?
“We’re very careful. It’s about using foraged
ingredients in a place where it makes sense for that
dish – not having to have some foraged element on
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M A N
The foraged
ingredients of
Sat Bains’s dish
NG7 2SAvary
depending on
what’s in season
every dish. You’ve got to use it with a bit of restrain
and make sure you’re enhancing a dish with those
foraged items, not using them for the sake of it.”
Tell us about your NG7 2SA dish, named after th
restaurant’s postcode.
“It’s a salad made using ingredients foraged from j
outside the restaurant – so it changes with what’s i
season – but includes things like chickweed, pickle
elderberry capers and blackberry vinegar. It’s about
putting a location that’s not known for its aesthetic
on a gastronomic plane. It’s a statement to say,
‘Yes, among this urban scene there is something
really delicious, natural and wild growing’. So it’s
tongue-in-cheek, but ultimately it should be very
fresh, clean and delicious.”
What are your predictions for future food trend
“Noma in Copenhagen has had a big impact and y
can see its idea of localised cooking happening all
over the world now. There’s a massive movement of
chefs looking at more locally sourced cuisine and I
think things will go even more that way. There’s a b
question mark over whether there’s going to be eno
food in the future, with the population hitting seve
billion. So food futurists are looking at things like
insects and other proteins, because it’s likely that w
won’t be able to rear enough animals. There’s defini
going to be a problem, and the solutions are going t
be varied, but I think as chefs we’ve got to take that
into our conscience and see what we can do to offse
it. I may have to make 100% of my menu indigeno
with no strain on the economy or air miles.”
Would you serve insects at Restaurant Sat Bain
“If I had to. If it became accepted and people got o
the stigma of using insects for protein, and I made
it into something delicious that tasted amazing, ye
We were eating insects before we reared cattle, but
we’ve grown up in a society where insects are creep
crawlies. If you look at it like an Australian Aborigi
and see it as a source of energy, it becomes complet
different. It’s just about perception.”
Where would you draw the line?
“At things like lab-grown meat. That’s like Frankens
food – I think it might come back and haunt you.”
Which culinary hot spots have most influenced
your cooking?
I love Turkey and Greece. I went to Rhodes recentl
and had some beautiful seafood there – I love the
koftas over there too. We did a dish based around
a lamb kofta made with roe deer. It had burned
aubergine on it, cumin, yoghurt, cucumber and le
and all these things reminded me of my holiday. Ev
country has something amazing about it in terms
heritage of cuisine – you just need to do your resear
– or ask a local.”
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