This month’s Featured Chef…
Simon Hulstone
Chef/Proprietor, Elephant Restaurant
Simon is the Chef/Proprietor of the Michelin Starred, 3 AA Rosette Elephant Restaurant in Torquay. Simon is a past winner of the Roux Scholarship and to date is the only British chef to win gold at the World Chef Championships in France.
Simon, tell us a little bit about your current operation – The Elephant?
Ok, the Elephant is a two tier operation. We have a 60 cover Brasserie on the ground floor and a 24 cover fine dining restaurant on the first floor with a Champagne and Cocktail Bar.
OK. And how many kitchens do you have?
One kitchen and there are six of us in the Brigade, including myself.
Wow!
The fine dining is only open for dinner Tuesday to Saturday. The Brasserie is open six days a week but closed on a Sunday night.
OK, and you’ve had great success in the fine dining restaurant – a star and three rosettes.
Yes, unexpected but we are happy to have it. And we’ve kept it now for three years.
Fantastic.
I don’t know whether Torquay needed a Michelin star but we’ve got it and we’d like to keep it.
Does it bring you more business?
It does, but it also scares some people away because they think we’re a bit too posh – we are doing exactly the same food as we were doing before but initially it scared people. Friday and Saturday it’s a celebration restaurant; Tuesday to Thursday it tends to be people who are foodies that eat here.
