Modern classics
KEEN to avoid the similarity between menus in many London restaurants at present, Mark Gregory has set out to create something quite different for Axis, flagship restaurant of the newly opened five-star hotel, One Aldwych. He has returned to the cookery books of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to provide inspiration for the food.
"I wanted to understand why many great dishes were done in the first place, and how they were put together before there were any constraints on food costs and budgets," says Gregory. "So many dishes have been bastardised over the years, that I wanted to get back to the original creations and update them for today."
While it's obviously no longer realistic to use three kilograms of lobster to make one portion of soup, Gregory explains that he has taken the essence of original recipes and lightened them to make them palatable for today's appetites. "Basically, I wanted to cook dishes that customers and I really want to eat."
Own entrance and kitchen
Although part of the hotel, Axis has its own executive chef and general manager, and also its own entrance and kitchen. One Aldwych's other food outlets - Indigo restaurant, the Cinnamon Bar, three private dining rooms (one serving a 30-seat private screening room), and room service - are handled quite separately by the hotel's executive chef, Julian Jenkins.
Gregory first began to research old recipes during his five-year stint as executive chef at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, from 1992 to 1997.
In the run-up to the opening of Axis in early September, Gregory put together a selection of about 200 recipes. The à la carte menu, available at both lunch and dinner, is expected to change every three months, while an express menu - offered at lunch and up to 7.30pm - will alter weekly. This latter menu will offer two courses for £14.95 and three courses for £17.95.
A main-course dish of jugged hare (£17.50) is highlighted on the menu as being based on a 1922 recipe. While the general notion is that blood has to be used to thicken the juices of a jugged hare, it is equally traditional to prepare the dish without any blood. "We tried it both ways and preferred the flavour of the one without the blood," says Gregory. "It is not actually needed for thickening in our version of the dish as the long braising process thickens the sauce."
The hare is braised on the bone in port, Madeira, red wine and spices for five hours, and then left to cool in its own stock. The meat is then removed from the bone and mixed with a little stock before being wrapped in crépinette. When an order for the dish comes into the kitchen, the meat is pan-fried to give it colour and glazed with the cooking juices. Balls of seasoning - made from lemon zest, thyme, breadcrumbs and the liver of the hare - accompany the dish, together with creamed celeriac, turnip and potato bake (a traditional English version of pommes dauphinoise).
"We have thought a lot about how the customer is going to eat every dish," says Gregory, explaining the reason behind serving the hare boned. "Hare bones are very fiddly - a bit like fish bones."
The customer was also taken into consideration when including breast of Norfolk duck with orange sauce, spiced red cabbage and chestnuts, and roast butter potatoes (£16) on the menu. It can be served either braised or seared. "If a customer wants the duck well done, he will be served the braised version, as you can't serve a well-done duck breast by simply searing it - it becomes tough," says Gregory. "The braised duck is cooked slowly for two hours. It creates twice the work for the kitchen, but it's worth it from the customers' point of view."
Axis specialities
A number of dishes are marked on the menu as being Axis specialities. "This is a guide for customers, to point them in the direction of dishes that we think we are doing particularly well." Speciality starters include the popular poached haddock and cheese soufflé (£6.75). About 20 out of 100 customers plump for this dish. The individual smoked haddock and crème fraîche tarts, which are topped with a cheese soufflé, sit on a bed of spinach and are served with a crème fraîche tartare.
In adding devilled king prawn cocktail (£6.95) to the menu, Gregory didn't want the bulk standard type of cocktail made with a heavy mayonnaise/ketchup mix of dressing. In his version, the prawns are marinated in an olive oil-based sauce with shallots, fresh herbs and lemon juice - before being coated in a light devilled dressing, containing 50% puréed grilled red peppers.
Items like Japanese grilled Saikyo cod with udon noodles, ginger shoot, pumpkin and dashi (£14.50) are the result of Gregory's 12-month stint as opening head chef of the Japanese restaurant T'su, London, after leaving Brocket Hall and prior to joining One Aldwych. The cod is marinated for two days in miso, mirin, soy sauce, saki and caster sugar to create a curing effect, before being grilled to order.
Gregory has brought with him from T'su a belief in the necessity of good training. "In the past I've probably expected my chefs to do things they weren't capable of, but I've come to realise that is not possible without the proper training. That is why all our recipes here are costed and written out in both hard versions and on disk."
Gregory, though, passionately believes that the recipes should only be used as a guide, with an understanding and empathy for food being the prime requisite for working in his kitchen. This was a major consideration when recruiting his 24-strong brigade of 18 chefs and six kitchen porters.
Puddings in particular rely on traditional recipes for inspiration, none more so than an excellent trifle from 1880 (£6.25). "In many old cookery books, there are two versions of every dish - an ordinary one and an excellent one," says Gregory. "Our trifle recipe comes from Charles Francatelli, chef to Queen Victoria."
Modern development
Although the original recipe didn't include fruit, Gregory believes the addition of fruit is a modern development that has worked, and so he has added a coulis of red berries to the Axis version. The fruit is topped by thick custard, macaroons soaked in sherry, more custard, and finally syllabub flavoured with nutmeg.
Gregory expects the 114-seat restaurant to average about 250 covers per day, with an average spend of £20 at lunch and £30 in the evening, including wine. Along with the owner of One Aldwych, Gordon Campbell Gray, he believes that good food is just one aspect of the restaurant that customers will come to associate with Axis. "We very much expect it to be equally regarded for its service and atmosphere as well."
It therefore took Gregory by surprise that a Michelin inspector ate in the restaurant on the first day of opening. "Michelin is not our market at all. If we have a benchmark, then we would like to think it is the Ivy or Le Caprice - both all-round great restaurants."
