Teamwork, consistency and Scotch eggs: The Hinds Head

It may technically still be a pub but, much like Tom Kerridge’s The Hand and Flowers or the handful of other Michelin-starred inns in the UK, almost everyone goes to The Hinds Head for the food. It’s a deceptively big building – János says it sees 900 covers most weeks – with two floors (including a very grand private dining room), plenty of original features (the carvings on the wooden panels are 400 years old) and the odd little Heston twist (his coat of arms hangs proudly upstairs). The food is unashamedly British with an historical twang that keeps things interesting, but while Dinner (Heston’s two-starred London restaurant) might be an edible museum of the UK’s culinary history, The Hinds Head isn’t as bound by what was cooked in the past.

‘We work around historical themes but that doesn’t always dictate the nature of our food,’ says János. ‘I’m free to add to the traditional or classic dishes with more modern techniques. For example, our chicken liver parfait is made with smoked water, which you don’t really see anywhere else. Dinner is a completely different setup so it’s hard to compare it to The Hinds Head, and while we might have simpler dishes on the menu they’re still cooked using the same methods and processes that you’d find in any of Heston’s restaurants. People come here for the earthy, hearty dishes that make British cuisine so good – our oxtail and kidney pudding and fish pie are immensely popular year-round, and if you went anywhere else in the country you wouldn’t find those two classics cooked in the same way as we cook them here.’

Dishes such as the fish pie are now on their fifth or sixth iteration – while diners might not notice little tweaks and amendments to the recipe, for János and his team there is always something that can be improved. One major change that customers will certainly notice, however, is an entire refurbishment of the restaurant itself at the end of March (reopening 20 April 2017). Doing away with à la carte menus entirely and offering a choice of three, four and six-course menus instead, it's another chapter in The Hinds Head's long history. A glass-fronted wine cellar, lounge areas and a completely redesigned private dining room will also be unveiled, accentuating the old beams and historic character of the building.

Just because the kitchen isn’t bound by tradition, however, doesn’t mean János is going down the modernist route, or putting dishes on the menu for the sake of it. One of his favourite dishes at The Hinds Head is an homage to the pub’s history as an inn. ‘Old inns and ale houses always used to serve something called beef a la mode, which was basically braised beef with potatoes and whatever vegetables were available and would fit in the pot,’ he explains. ‘So we created a beef cheek a la mode, flavoured with mace, a very traditional British spice. Oysters were sometimes included too, so we added some oyster leaf as well, and finished off the dish with some crispy beef tendons to contrast with the rich, unctuous cheek. It all comes together as a very earthy, original dish, which has its roots in the history of the building.’

One thing The Hinds Head does have in common with the rest of the restaurants under The Fat Duck Group’s umbrella is the amount of time and effort that goes into every aspect of every dish. Even the seemingly simple choices, such as lamb tongue on toast with smoked anchovies and capers, took a couple of years to perfect. The pea and ham soup requires a raw pea purée, ham hock stock, sous vide Alsace bacon, shredded ham hock, fresh peas, mint oil and Alsace bacon dripping. Each Scotch egg must be exactly the same and made fresh every day; a fiddly and labour-intensive process that took the team years to master for what is, essentially, a bar snack. ‘We sell about 10,000 Scotch eggs every year,’ says János. ‘There are so many points at which the process can go wrong, and while we still have the occasional mishap the system we have today keeps things consistent.’

All of this work – and this is a theme found throughout every single one of Heston’s restaurants, from The Fat Duck to The Perfectionists’ Café at Heathrow – is never down to just one person. The collaborative nature of what Heston has built over the years is key to the success of his business. All the chefs are able to make use of the development kitchens, access painstaking research conducted in-house and share cooking techniques. This makes The Fat Duck Group an incredible place to work for any chef; provided you are just as obsessed with great food as Heston and everyone else in his team.

‘You have to really love what you do to be a part of The Fat Duck Group,’ explains János. ‘It’s not an easy trade – I came in today at 8am and I’m going home at midnight. But that’s just what’s needed to be cooking at this level. You need to have passion, consistency and the drive to make everything better before you even come here, and then the ethos of the group – to question everything and strive for perfection – takes you to new heights. It’s no use being able to get everything right for a day, a week or a month; you need to nail it for years and years without ever slipping up, and that’s hard. I’ve been here for six years now, and to stay that long in one place is hard to find in the cheffing world. But The Fat Duck Group looks after me, and to have access to everything it offers is such a fantastic opportunity for any chef or front of house. The dedication to amazing food filters right down to the little details, and there's nowhere else in the world like it.’