New kid in town

The picture is a familiar one: a young, talented chef gets the opportunity to make a name for himself in his own kitchen. The new recruit puts on the old whites, suppressed ideas are unleashed and, as if by magic, the cooking in the new establishment is transformed.

No doubt this is the long-term aim of Simon Radley, the recently appointed head chef at Sutton Coldfield's New Hall. But he has shown remarkable restraint since his arrival four months ago.

Radley admits openly that the menu at New Hall is not a new beginning, but a selection of "old favourites" from his six and a half years as head chef at the Michelin-starred Arkle Restaurant at the Chester Grosvenor.

His approach is a measured one - get the brigade and the suppliers right, understand the market you are cooking for and then start the menu revolution.

"I'm looking to the New Year as my proper start. That's when I want to get things moving," says Radley. "Obviously we want some accolades here, but it's a slow process. Having been involved with a Michelin-starred establishment, I know how to get the consistency right and polish off the edges."

Radley describes his style of food as French-influenced modern British cooking. The French influence is reflected in dishes such as pot-roast French squab served with garlic confit, wild thyme and cabbage (£21.50) and extensive use of foie gras, in dishes such as turbot rossini, simply cooked with griddled foie gras and mushroom purée (£23), and a pressing of local rabbit foie gras and potatoes with mustard seed (£11.25).

"Winter is my favourite time of year. I love working with oxtail, pork cheeks and other such ingredients," says Radley.

New Hall's à la carte menu has changed only once since Radley's arrival. He doesn't believe in changing menus seasonally and when dishes are taken off the menu they will only be removed one or two at a time. While he admits he's "playing safe with his menus" at the moment, he uses the menu du jour to experiment "for future à la cartes".

New Hall is set in 26 acres of grounds. Claiming to be England's oldest fully moated manor house, the grade I-listed building is owned by Mount Charlotte Thistle Hotels, but run on a personal basis by Ian and Caroline Parkes.

The 60-seat dining room, in the oldest part of the house, operates a flexible service for guests. With many residents using their stay to visit the theatre or the NEC in Birmingham, Radley says they need to be able to eat if they return late.

Radley runs a brigade of 11, although he is currently short of three chefs de partie. "You have to be willing to step into any area of the kitchen at any time. And if you can't do it yourself, you can't expect anybody else to do it!"

He is aware that he should stand back more to be an efficient organiser, but his interest in food gets in the way. Until he is fully staffed, he will have to continue being hands on.

Despite being "rather disheartened" with the staffing shortage, he will not approach former colleagues to ease his situation. "I don't believe in phoning people up. They will come here if they want to. You won't move forward bringing in people you know to make life easier."

Although Radley was happy at the Chester Grosvenor, he had itchy feet after about four years. "It took me a couple of years to find what I wanted. I looked at some places, but to be honest, there wasn't a great deal out there," Radley explains. "Then New Hall came along and I liked the place as soon as I saw it."

One noticeable change for Radley has been the move from a large kitchen at the Chester Grosvenor to a more compact one at New Hall. At first he felt "a bit claustrophobic", but he has adjusted.

Although at the Chester Grosvenor Radley officially reported to executive chef Paul Reed, he effectively ran the Arkle restaurant, having been asked back to open the restaurant in 1988 (he had worked at the Chester Grosvenor as a chef de partie the year before). The hotel, which previously had one restaurant, had been refurbished and was by then operating two.

"I thought to myself that at the age of 23 I wasn't going to get another opportunity like that. I had my own brigade, we were given a lot of freedom and were able to experiment with the food. I was basically given carte blanche," explains Radley, "as long as it worked." It did. The restaurant was awarded a Michelin star in its second year.

With the responsibility of the Arkle on his shoulders, Radley admits he was tough to work for. Claiming to have mellowed, he concedes that "my attitude could have been different".

Radley says the hours demanded by the job are, eventually, likely to put an end to his cooking career. Right now, though, he says: "The hours I work are through choice. When you are given the responsibility of a menu, you write it to suit your predicament and the number of covers you are doing. At the Chester Grosvenor we knew the covers we were doing so we knew how far we could go."

When it comes to people who have influenced him, Radley finds it hard to credit anyone in particular.

He gleaned his management skills from Reed, although he is probably most indebted to Paul Gayler, the Lanesborough's executive chef, with whom he worked at former London restaurant Inigo Jones in 1987. "I got my real interest in food when I was working with Paul - working with such a food fanatic, it was hard not to."

Radley is a bit of a cookery bookworm and admits he tends to be inspired by whatever he's reading at the time. "I love Provence cookery books, the kind you find at the back of a bookshelf covered in dust because they've only sold a few copies."

Radley claims he stumbled into catering. He did a catering course because he didn't do very well at school. He was born in Manchester, but his father's job took the family to Tring, Hertfordshire, where he grew up. Then they moved to Congleton, in Cheshire, so he ended up in college at Crewe.

From college he went to work at the Belfry in Wilmslow before moving to the Chester Grosvenor. He was only there for seven months, before he upped and went to London to work with Gayler. "Until then I was just going through the motions, but London sparked a new interest in food for me. People are a lot more passionate about it there, but there are some bloody good chefs in the North, too."

At 29, Radley is happy with the way things are going. He knows there's pressure on him to bring stars to the restaurant, but he is not fazed by this. "If you are conscientious you don't need stars to motivate you - the stars will come."