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<a href=press.php target=_top>Back</a><br /><br /> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=300> <tr><td bgcolor=#9DB783><img src=images/spacer.gif width=1 height=1 /><br /></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <b>The Western Mail</b> <span class=date>September 2006</span><br /><br /> <b>'With foraging you don't waht you'll find'</b><br /><br /> IT might not sound like fine dining, but guests at a top Welsh restaurant are being encouraged to forage for their food.<br /><br /> Not satisfied with sourcing local and organic produce, The Foxhunter has gone one step further, offering diners the chance to scour the local countryside with professional foragers for ingredients which can be added to their lunch.<br /><br /> The restaurant in Nantyderry, near Usk, began offering the unusual trips at the beginning of the year.<br /><br /> With the help of local foragers such as Raoul Van Den Broucke, guests are taken for a walk in the surrounding countryside to hunt for food which might include elderberries, samphire, mushrooms or nettles, depending on the time of year.<br /><br /> They then return to the restaurant where chef Matt Tebbutt cooks up their finds, and serves it back to them for lunch, creating dishes such as roast pigeon, samphire and elderberry jus. <br /><br /> Anyone really keen has the option of a lesson with the chef to learn how to prepare their finds themselves.<br /><br /> In the four years since Matt Tebbutt and his wife Lisa bought and renovated the Foxhunter from a pub, the restaurant has won a number of top awards including being named AA restaurant of the year for Wales, 2004.<br /><br /> But although the couple's latest venture might be unusual, chef Matt believes it's perfectly in tune with the restaurant's rural surroundings, bringing diners one step closer to their food.<br /><br /> "The point of being in the sticks is to cook local food," Matt said. "It cracks down on food miles, everything is much fresher, you're supporting the local economy. It's the only way you should cook in the country, by cooking the things around you. If you're not using the local beef or lamb then you're an idiot.<br /><br /> "Especially in a farming community people want to know where the beef has come from and if you can incorporate that with the fact that the elder flowers come from a nearby field, then it widens the whole picture."<br /><br /> Hedgerow, sea shore or woodland forages are all on offer, with prices starting at around £100. <br /><br /> The food collected depends on the season, but trips to the woodland are most likely to produce crab apples, mushrooms, or chicken of the woods, while those visiting the sea shore could come across sea spinach and samphire, and those guests heading for the hedgerows can look forward to elder flowers, nettles and blackberries.<br /><br /> But nothing is guaranteed.<br /><br /> Lisa said, "Matt is quite familiar with what's available and so he'll have an idea about the things Raoul will be bringing back. But of course the thing about foraging is that you might not find what you're looking for.<br /><br /> "But the fact that you can't be certain what you'll find makes it more interesting." The couple say the service taps into growing consumer concerns about where their food is coming from, and appeals to a generation brought up supermarket shopping.<br /><br /> Lisa said, "In a way it's the next step on from the trend for organic. People want to really get back to basics.<br /><br /> "The audience we're targeting are the young people who haven't been brought up learning about this sort of stuff.<br /><br /> "It's the kind of thing your parents and grand parents might have known, but which this generation, doesn't know much about.<br /><br /> "To them food comes from supermarkets, but a lot of these people are feeling quite disillusioned with that."<br /><br /> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0 width=300> <tr><td bgcolor=#9DB783><img src=images/spacer.gif width=1 height=1 /><br /></td> </tr> </table> <br /> <a href=press.php target=_top>Back</a>
AA Notable Wine List 2008 & 2009
Perfect Pub Awards : Best Food 2007
Wales the True Taste (Cymru y Gwir Flas) - Dining Out Gold 2005
AA Restaurant of the Year for Wales
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