‘You rarely get the chance to reflect and look back on things,’ says Matt Tomkinson as we sit in the garden of The Montagu Arms. It’s a stunning place to visit, with beautifully manicured gardens, a bright dining room and smiling staff making sure all the guests and diners have everything they want. It probably helps that the sun is out in full force, bathing the grounds in buckets of natural light, but the place is such a tranquil idyll it makes you forget about the world outside whatever the weather.
I’m there to talk to Matt and five producers which supply The Terrace (the name of the restaurant at The Montagu Arms) with meat, fish, vegetables and butter. The occasion? Matt has now been at The Terrace for ten years – a long time for a chef to stay put – and I want to know how things have changed. The fact that he’s brought his producers along makes it clear that the ingredients he uses are at the fore of everything he does.
‘We’ve certainly become much more aware of provenance and quality of ingredients, although I still think buying local is misunderstood,’ he says. ‘Just because you buy some carrots from a local farmers’ market doesn’t mean they were grown locally, and if they’re not as good as carrots from further afield then why buy them? Luckily, Hampshire has some incredible people doing amazing things with food, so I can get a lot of what I use from down the road.’
Get in touch
Ten years at The Terrace: Matthew Tomkinson and his producers