Farthing's fortune

Ramon Farthing is in a unique position. Since March, he has been running his own restaurant, 36 On The Quay in Emsworth, Hampshire, yet he has none of the financial worries and hassles that normally weigh heavily on the shoulders of a new chef-proprietor.

Owing to an unusual lease agreement with the freeholder of the property, Raymond Shortland, Farthing has had the initial financial pressures of operating his own business removed, allowing him to concentrate on his cooking. His food, as a result, has moved forward in leaps and bounds, earning the 35-seat restaurant a Michelin star just four months after opening.

"Ray has given us an opportunity which we will probably never find again," says Farthing. "We did not have the cash to buy the restaurant, but he has enabled us to take over the running of the business, giving us constant support and the benefit of his experience."

Farthing had been satisfied to wait until his mid-30s to run his own business, having enjoyed enormous critical success as an employee in his two previous jobs, most recently as chef-manager at Harveys in Bristol, and before that as head chef at Calcot Manor in Tetbury, Gloucestershire. He was first awarded a Michelin star at the age of 25 when he was at Calcot, and went on to achieve one at Harveys six years later.

A passionate family man - Farthing and his wife Karen have two children, Kai, six, and Leyla, nearly two - he decided he no longer wanted to spend 16 hours a day at work. "As well as being in the kitchen at Harveys," he says, "I was looking after the front of house, wines, banqueting and 35 staff. I was hardly with my family."

Now, with the family living above the restaurant, Farthing sees the children throughout the day and Karen, originally a chef, runs the front of house with assistant manager David Harvey. "I don't have to worry about the front at all - of course, I trust Karen 100%," says Farthing. "As a result I'm more focused on my food."

The extra time he has to spend in the kitchen has enabled him to give more depth to his food. More effort is spent on enhancing the garnishes and accompaniments to a dish, while the main focus of the dish is left as simple as possible.

"In the past I would have taken a piece of lamb and wrapped it in celeriac and then spinach before doing anything to it," he says. "Now I will take a quality loin of spring lamb and simply roast it with a little oil, butter, thyme and garlic, before slicing it into medallions."

Time is then spent on preparing the accompaniments, which include fondant potatoes (baked in lamb fat and stock, with thyme and garlic), a fricassée of vegetables (swede, carrots, fine green beans, courgettes and asparagus, first sealed in fat and then simmered in lamb stock), and lambs' liver pithiviers (puff-pastry cases filled with chopped lambs' liver). Farthing has moved away from serving a separate selection of vegetables, instead preparing appropriate accompanying vegetables with each main course dish.

One of the main advantages of cooking in Emsworth is the restaurant's idyllic position on the quayside, enabling Farthing to purchase fish directly from the fishermen as they land their daily catches. "I thought I had dealt with fresh fish before," he says, "but I'd never bought them flapping around, as I do now."

Farthing estimates that he pays around one-third less for his fish by not going through a supplier. But he is never sure from one day to the next what fish will be landed, providing him with the challenge each morning of coming up with one or two daily fish specials. Sea bass, sea bream, grey mullet, skate, crabs and lobsters are all frequently brought ashore.

One of the most popular fish dishes at present is the starter combining two of Farthing's favourite ingredients - skate and scallops. Two large scallops are wrapped in strips of skate and quickly fried in hazelnut oil. These are then served with the contrasting textures of crispy pleurotte mushrooms, also fried in hazelnut oil, and soft leeks, gently poached in butter and chicken stock. The mushrooms are laid on the plate, topped by the scallops, with the leeks placed around the edge. An accompanying sauce is made from a passed reduction of chicken stock, basil, shallots and bay leaf. At the point of service, butter and chopped scallop coral is added to the sauce, which is then hand-blended and finished with freshly chopped basil. On average, 12 portions of this dish will be sold out of a full restaurant of 30 diners.

Farthing gives equal consideration to desserts. He is excited by the challenge of achieving as many different flavours and textures as possible with one fruit. His rhubarb dessert, currently on the menu, incorporates a rhubarb cream, poached rhubarb, rhubarb syrup and a rhubarb and strawberry sorbet. "It's a dish full of flavours and the colours are stunning," he says.

Nick Evans is the only other full-time chef working with Farthing; the two of them are occasionally supported by part-time students from South Downs College, in nearby Havant. Their daily workload is enormous, but despite this they also offer home-made Parmesan rock salt straw with drinks, appetisers such as carpaccio of beef or soused fish, a pre-dessert dish of fresh fruits, five types of petits fours, two types of home-made bread, and three types of home-made biscuits, served with the British and Irish cheese board.

The three-course à la carte menu, available at lunch and dinner and offering a choice of five dishes at each course, costs £29.95, while a six-course gourmet menu is offered for £36.50. A shorter, two-course lunch menu is £16 (£19 for three courses). The restaurant currently serves an average of 100-110 covers per week, with average spend at about £55.

Farthing concludes that Shortland's continued support and knowledge of the business has enabled him to do more with the food than he would have done if he had set up on his own. "This way," he says, "we have the input of all three of us - Karen, Ray and myself - all determined to see the restaurant succeed."

Pan-Fried, Fillets Of Red, Mullet Served, With Braised, Onion And, Sliced, Potatoes, Sauced With A Balsamic And Olive Oil Dressing

(Serves four)

INGREDIENTS

Olive oil

2 x 12oz red mullets, scaled, filleted, pinboned

4 cooked potatoes, Ratte variety preferred, sliced in two lengthwise

For the braisedonion

80ml olive oil

6 medium onions, sliced

Salt and pepper

For the dressing

180ml virgin olive oil

Ground rock salt

60ml eight-year-old balsamic vinegar

For the butter sauce

2 shallots, finely diced

80ml dry white wine

60ml double cream

200g unsalted butter, cut in small cubes

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/2 bunch chives, finely chopped

For the garnish

500ml sunflower oil

80g cornflour

2 egg whites

2 banana shallots cut into fine rings

1/2 leek, cut into fine julienne

Salt, pepper, white wine vinegar

Large pinch of baby capers

METHOD

For the braised onion, heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed saucepan. Add sliced onions and cook quickly, turning continuously. When juices start to release, place a lid on the saucepan and bring heat down to very low. Cook for about two hours, stirring frequently to remove colour from pan base. Continue to cook until onions are syrupy and an even, light caramel colour. Season to taste.

To make the butter sauce, cook the shallots down in the white wine until reduced by two-thirds. Add the cream and reduce again by half. Move to a moderate heat and begin whisking in butter, a few cubes at a time. Add all butter and season. Add lemon juice and chopped chives. Keep warm.

For the balsamic dressing, heat the olive oil gently, season with the rock salt, add the balsamic vinegar and just move together by shaking the pan.

To prepare the garnishes, heat the sunflower oil to a moderate temperature. Make batter by whisking the cornflour into the egg whites until it forms a smooth paste. Add seasoning and vinegar. Place shallots into batter, then remove, draining off excess batter. Drop rings into oil one by one and fry to a golden brown. Drain on kitchen paper and season with salt.

Using the same oil, drop in the leek julienne and again fry to a golden brown stage.

To serve the complete dish, heat olive oil in a non-stick pan, cut the red mullet fillets in half and place into the pan, skin side down. Season and cook until a golden brown. Turn fillets and cook for about 40 more seconds. Place the sliced potatoes in the pan and colour to a pale gold.

Heat the braised onion gently until just hot. To assemble the dish, lay the shallot rings in an overlapping circle about two inches from the rim of the plate. Lay down one of the sliced potatoes and a spoonful of braised onion on the potato.

Place a piece of the mullet on the braised onion and repeat this process, finishing with the mullet. Drizzle the balsamic dressing on the outside of the shallot rings; sprinkle the capers on the inside of the shallots. Drizzle the chive butter sauce over the mullet so as to form a small puddle around the mullet. Finally, place the crisp leek on top of the mullet and serve.

• If you would like to receive Ramon Farthing's recipes for roast breasts of wood pigeon and goose liver on rösti potato, and his dessert of fresh rhubarb cream encased in a praline biscuit, please send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: Isabel Shuttleworth, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, Quadrant House, The Quadrant, Sutton, SurreySM2 5AS.