Shock tactics
Sebastien Gagnebe is fond of the word "shock" - he uses it repeatedly to describe his culinary style and presentation of food as head chef of the eight-week-old Loaffers Bar & Grill in Clapham, London.
His subversive culinary tactics include using savoury ingredients in desserts, or highly perfumed ones in main courses, and they surface in dishes such as a dessert of tuile of pumpkin, cèpe, and walnut ice-cream (£4.50). His treatment of some foods might also raise a few eyebrows - he serves red-legged partridge pink (this variety of partridge is a particularly light meat and would conventionally be cooked through), with celeriac mousse and verjuice (£11.50), the unripe grapes for the juice being supplied by his mother. Most dishes, too, are presented as towering masses of food rising proudly from the plate in an effort to stun the restaurant's diners.
But, asserts French-born Gagnebe, a former chef de partie at Le Petit Blanc, Oxford, this is not just shock for shock's sake. He believes he has excellent dishes to sell and is merely using his creative talents to get attention. "I want to stand out from the crowd, make a statement," he says - a comment that could be aptly applied to his own distinctive razor-thin sideburns, beard and ponytail.
What Gagnebe and the bar's owners, Richmond Taverns and CCC Leisure - both based in Richmond upon Thames, Greater London - are trying to achieve with Loaffers is a one-stop venue: a place where customers can just drink, if they wish, or have a bar meal or a three-course fine-dining experience. To fulfil this aim, the establishment is split into three large sections.
The 25-seat front bar is more of a conventional pub with a modern design gloss, while the 45-seat middle area sports sofas and soft chairs and serves bar food. And offering a suitable home for Gagnebe's flamboyant cooking is the 30-seat fine-dining room nestled at the back of the bar. This is discreetly decorated in pale green, with understated beige chairs and a central chandelier, as befits an aspiring destination restaurant. "We want the fun element of the bar with the fine-dining aspect thrown in. I want to get away from the norm. Basically, it's a blurring of the traditional pub lines," explains Gagnebe.
What isn't blurred, however, is Gagnebe's vision of what he wants on his two menus: "luxurious food that can be enjoyed in a bar atmosphere". The grill menu, served in the bar and changing every six to eight weeks, is a simpler version of the seasonally changing à la carte list offered in the dining room.
Among the grill's choice of 17 dishes, which can be ordered either as starters or main courses, is consommé of duck and asparagus with walnut pastry crust (£4.50) and pan-fried guinea fowl breast with fig confit (£9). A Gagnebe favourite, and nascent signature dish, derived from his love of ravioli and classic French ingredients, is ravioli of lobster, foie gras and escargot served with a red pepper coulis (£7 starter or £11 main).
Traditional pub grub also appears on the grill menu, albeit lavishly revamped. For example, steak and chips is dressed up as onglet (flank) of beef, with pink peppercorn sauce and hand-cut chips (£9). "It's a simple but indulgent dish. We use the onglet because it's a piece of meat you don't often find, and serve it with good quality potatoes pan-fried in duck fat," says Gagnebe. Like any chef, he likes to use quality ingredients in the dish and sticks with tried-and-tested suppliers - British Premium Meats and London-based vegetable specialist Kirby's. Fish is obtained from another London firm, M&J Seafoods.
One of the grill dishes which also appears on the à la carte menu is a baked apple, given a savoury edge by being served with melted goats' cheese, potato galette and a walnut and balsamic dressing (£5.50 on the grill menu, £5 à la carte). A firm favourite with diners, the dish arrives at the table confirming Gagnebe's passion for height. Says Gagnebe: "The plate is a picture. I like height because along with the shock factor it also gives the ‘wow' factor."
Gagnebe's "wow" factor comes into its own in the dining room. "Because it's the restaurant, if you sell a dish for £15 it has to be worth £15. It has to look good, otherwise customers would complain," he says. The ingredients used on the à la carte tend to be of a more luxurious order - roast sea bass, for instance, which is served with ribbon vegetables and parsley sauce (£12). Inevitably, the fine-dining menu also offers foie gras. This is served, unusually, in sausage form, blended with truffle, and accompanies a main element of chicken. Soubise of onion and potato completes the dish (£13.50).
Gagnebe is aware his distinctive recipes are not to everyone's taste, and he admits that some of his dishes have been adversely criticised. An à la carte starter of beef carpaccio with pickled ginger and tarragon sorbet (£5.50) is one offering that has not met with universal approval. "Some people think it's off-target, but not for me. I serve the vegetables this way because when you eat sushi with pickled ginger it just seems to work."
In his defence, Gagnebe says he works to a simple philosophy. "Pubs are dabbling in different things. Just as it has happened with New World wines and foreign beers it is now happening with the food," he asserts. And the chef believes that being in England and using Loaffers' all-encompassing ideals will give him the creative opportunity he seeks. "There are so many different types of restaurants, and the English are more experimental. For example, in France you couldn't make a boeuf bourguignonne without using Burgundy wine, but in Britain it doesn't matter which wine you use."
