The Food Hut, Tickenham, North Somerset
22.06.09
"Well," says Doug Wort, looking past my shoulder, just in case I haven’t noticed the slightly decrepit, Boy Scouts’ shack of a building to my right, “it’s a hut. And it sells food. So, all in all, the Food Hut is a pretty fair description of it, really.”
Indeed it is, and there’s nothing Fork readers like more than such unpretentious charm, but the somewhat humble moniker belies The Food Hut’s well-deserved reputation for being one of the most outstanding eating places in Somerset. Hidden away amid the greenhouses and potting sheds of the Golden Acres garden centre and nursery, off the main Clevedon to Bristol road at Tickenham, this gem of an eatery is more than just a tea-and-cakes establishment for those seeking a break from the perennials and biennials. Although let it be said that it does tea and cakes fantastically well.
Previously a BBC World Service sound engineer (not to mention the voice of Reg The Runt in an early Aardman Animations production), he was introduced to the Food Hut by a friend several years ago, and was smitten. An enthusiastic amateur cook, Doug liked the place so much that when it came up for lease, he and his wife Kate went for it.
“I couldn’t believe such places existed,” he said. “I’d never been anywhere like it. It fitted in with a lot of ideas I had about the sort of place I’d like to run. I’d always been an enthusiastic cook at home, and when Kate and I finally got the chance we applied to run the Lakeside cafe in Portishead. We didn’t get it, but then the Food Hut came up and so we went for it.”
As it had been ‘a kind of blueprint’ for what Doug and Kate wanted to do, they decided not to change it. That was 18 months ago, and aside from a few tweaks the Food Hut is still the word-of-mouth foodie magnet that it has been since it first opened eight years ago.
There is no set menu. Well, there is, but it’s only set for a day at a time. When 2.30pm comes and lunch is over (and it is lunch only — the place doesn’t open in the evening) the day’s dishes are wiped off the blackboard, and a whole new range chalked up the next day. This means customers never know what they might get — but they do know that it will be imaginative and well-prepared. Every Sunday night, Doug takes off to his local pub with a sheet of paper and plans the week’s menus. “I make lists upon lists of what I’d like to do, and what I’ve seen in the papers, books or on the telly. I even nicked an idea from Marco Pierre White on Hell’s Kitchen the other week!”
On the day Fork visited, diners were being treated to spiced chicken with Caribbean rice and peas and a pineapple salsa (£8.90), fish pie with crushed potatoes and a poached egg (£8.95) and potted cheese with brown toast and salad (“I love that one”, comments Doug, “it’s from a traditional old English recipe, using mace and all these amazing spices”) among other treats.
Local produce is high on the agenda, with meat from the perversely-named Baker’s The Butchers in Nailsea and cheese from the Chew Valley. Some fruits are from the garden centre itself and the rest is purchased according to season and locality. Doug does a high percentage of the cooking, with a couple of chefs on hand to help, and the Food Hut’s famed cakes are created by bakers (not butchers!) Penn O’Gara and Karen Blissett.
It’s a wonderfully informal and cosy meeting place, with something for everyone’s tastes. Doug and Kate are delighted that customers have stuck with them over the last year and a half, and still appreciate the ‘suck-it-and-see’ approach to the Food Hut’s cuisine. “I think our customers are very accommodating, very flexible and sometimes very forgiving,” laughs Doug, “and I appreciate that they appreciate what we’re trying to do here. We thrilled that they’ve got behind us so much.”
The Food Hut, Golden Acres Nursery, 35 Clevedon Road, Tickenham, North Somerset, BS21 6RA. Tel: 01275 853050
www.thefoodhut.co.uk
