OWN GAME ONLY IS ON THE MENU AT RULES…
OWN GAME ONLY IS ON THE MENU AT RULES…
The game served in Londons oldest restaurant – Rules –
comes straight from the owners country estate. And, as
Wendy Owen discovered, diners and staff have a better
understanding of shooting and conservation because of it
WHEN people sit down to a meal of snipe, teal or ptarmigam at Lon-dons oldest restaurant, Rules, in Covent Garden, they may not at first realise that it has been shot that week on the owners estate in County Durham.
But John Mayhew is passionately keen to bridge the division between town and countryside. By the time they have finished their meal, most diners will have a better understanding of the sympathetic relationship between shooting and conservation through reading the literature at each table.
Started in 1798, Rules is one of only a handful of top English restaurants in London. Game is a speciality which attracts about 600 customers every day and the private dining rooms upstairs are a favourite with government officials, who regularly take visiting foreign guests there to sample English food.
"I think restaurants should specialise, so as an estate owner it was logical to choose game," said Mr Mayhew. "It is healthy, low fat and about the most natural food you can get. Outside the shooting season we serve venison, rabbit and pigeon. I think as a nation we have lost cycle of seasonality in foods and I hope we can get it back.
* Explosion
"There has been an explosion of new restaurants opening up in London in the past decade and serving game is a good way of attracting talented young chefs. They see it as a chance to develop new skills.
"We have a maturation chiller in the restaurant kitchen which allows us to continue to hang the game properly after it leaves the estate and, in total, most birds hang for about eight days, depending on the weather.
"But it is not only game that tastes better with this treatment, we do the same with our poultry and guinea fowl."
The late poet laureate John Betjeman, described Ruless ground floor interior as "unique and irreplaceable, and part of literary and theatrical London". It is featured in several novels and other regulars in the past include Charles Dickens, * G Wells and Graham Greene. Rules was also Edward VIIs favourite spot for wining and dining Lillie Langtry.
While waiting for their food, guests can read about the link between the restaurant and the 607ha (1500acre) Lartington Estate in Barnard Castle, which has been in Mr Mayhews family since 1908.
Many diners become so interested that they end up taking part in the shooting and fishing parties offered by the estate. They stay in the lodge, a beautifully converted former potting shed set in the walls of the 1.2ha (3acre) kitchen garden, and are looked after by the head gamekeepers wife, Dona Morgan. Despite being a vegetarian, she is expert at cooking squirrels, pan fried baby rook and even peacocks (the guests verdict on the roasted peacocks was "rather boring and a bit like turkey").
Wherever possible, fresh produce from the estate is fed to the guests. Lambs from a small flock of Hebridean ewes are killed at 13 months and although they produce light carcasses, the meat is extremely tender.
Two Tamworth sows and a boar run wild in the woods and any piglets not eaten by the shooting and fishing parties end up as suckling pigs on the specials menu at the restaurant. Every year, the estate kills one of its own pigs, which is made into ham, blood puddings and pies in the old-fashioned way. Beef from a local herd of Belted Galloway cattle is also on the menu at Rules from October to March.
A great favourite with diners are the crayfish, which were introduced to one of the lakes. Described as miniature lobster, they mature at about three years old and are eaten between June and October. The crayfish are dipped in boiling water for about two minutes until they turn red, after which they are cooked in a champagne sauce.
Each year, all 100 staff at Rules visit the estate and are given a training day at a local shooting school. Accompanied by a "minder", to avoid accidents, they get the chance to shoot the birds they handle in the restaurant. This is very popular and is another way to create a better understanding of the countryside, says Mr Mayhew.
* Eating therapy
His latest project is "food as therapy", which has been made popular by Harley Street GP Shamin Daya. She maintains that people either take the time to eat properly, or take the time to be ill. She believes that sugar cravings and other addictions are the result of poor eating. Emphasis is also placed on taking time over eating, and making sure meals take place in tranquil surroundings.
The beautiful Lartington Estate, in an area sometimes called Englands last wilderness, should provide the ideal setting to test this theory. Mr Mayhew and Dr Daya are planning in the near future to offer four-night courses at the estate for up to eight people. Anyone in interested should contact Rules on 0207-8365314.
Traceability is no problem to Rules Head Chef David Chambers (foreground). The pheasants he is shooting here will be served to customers in the London restaurant after being allowed time to hang.
The shooting party…its been a good day for pheasants at the Lartington Estate which has been owned by the Mayhew family since 1908.
Left: John Mayhew with head keeper Philip Morgan (far left).
Head chef David Chambers, with a selection of the game dishes that are a speciality of Rules, including (inset) whole roast pheasant.