Chefs: Hylton Espey, Merchants Manor Hotel, Falmouth

Continuing our series about talented chefs and the hospitality business here in the West Country - which needs all the help it can get in these tough times - we’re revisiting some of the articles Martin Hesp has written down the years. This one is about a particularly brilliant young chef, Hylton Espey.

A couple of years ago I spent a day foraging on the Cornish beaches with Hylton, watching him cook back at the kitchen and eating his amazing food…

Monkfish, smoked potato, forest mushrooms and monkfish jus

There is so much you can learn from an enthusiastic, innovative and passionate chef. That is what I was thinking as I stood on a Cornish beach one day recently just 12 hours after I’d consumed a meal prepared by such a chap.

Hylton Espey not only delighted me with the food on the plate at his Rastella Restaurant in Falmouth, which won a coveted third rosette at the exclusive AA Hospitality Awards - he later inspired my culinary ambitions as we took to the local shoreline on a foraging adventure to replenish his larder.

I say all this because Hylton is young man who thinks outside the box - a habit which is not only appealing in a creative person, but which is essential in an industry where so many professionals play follow-the-leader.

The Rastella is to be found at the Merchant’s Manor Hotel and Spa - an establishment which is, itself, thinking outside the box by reinventing the way it works and what it offers by upping its all-round game. 

Hence the third rosette, which caused Hylton to comment: “I believe that what grows together, goes together. The location of the restaurant means we are within walking distance of perfect foraging spots where there are crystal clear rock pools brimming with life, sea cliffs abundant in green, hedgerows overladen with bounty and forests full of flavour.

“Our team is young and we are excited to carry on pushing what our plates mean and the story they tell our diners.”

Having read this I thought I’d better take up the invitation to go and meet the young South African. I was intrigued to learn more about his “what grows together, goes together” philosophy and see where such an adventure has taken him.

One answer is a farm on the coast near Porthleven, where he was buying fresh grass-fed lamb. Hylton knew about the grasses the sheep were eating, but he was also interested in the natural plants were growing in the field boundaries and beyond. This exploration not only resulted in him gathering some edible wild plants, but also took him down to the nearby beach where he foraged for seaweed. 

Then he got to thinking about the crabs that would undoubtedly be living in the waters just off the beach - and this eventually led to the creation of a truly spectacular dish that utilises Cornish coastal lamb and local crabmeat. 

Marmelade pork cheek, brassica, smoked apple and fermented cabbage

Lamb and crab? No, neither had I heard of the combination - but the way Hylton prepares it, the dish is a surf-n-turf combo made in coastal heaven. The sweet saltiness of a little crabmeat really does sing with the sweet saltiness of the lamb - and both are ably aided and abetted by the wild coastal vegetables and the seaweeds which adorn the plate. 

Hylton’s much celebrated dish using Cornish coastal lamb

“Originally we served it with clams. Cockles and lamb. We tried it out on a few guests, but then I thought about the crab pots right there next to the farm,” Hylton told me as we walked and foraged.

“The dish is underlined by something called ‘bofga’, which is something we’ve invented at Rastella. A burned onion, fermented garlic aioli. The flavours are phenomenal and it works with everything - but the best thing it pairs with is actually crab. 

“So I thought - OK, I’m going to take this crab, I’m going to mix it with some bofga, put some on the plate, get this really good Cornish lamb - which is not quite like saltmarsh lamb but which has amazing clean flavours from being fed this grass diet - and then, to tie it all together, I’m going to throw in a bit of seaweed and some sea vegetables. 

“It’s a dish I told no one about at work,” he shrugged. “I kind of put it together, I ate it, I thought this is amazing. And then I just put a plate of it down and called everyone around to taste. If I told people what I was going to do, they’d have thought I was crazy - which tends to happen now and again anyway.

“But the whole idea and the inspiration comes from that farm and where it is. And the feedback we get about that dish is phenomenal. But the thing for me is - I didn’t just sit down and think about a whacky new lamb dish. It came together organically. It came together because of the location of the farm, the ingredients there - and then what’s in season at that time. That one really is one of my favourites. 

Original article about Hylton as it appeared in the Western Morning News

“We are trying to use as much of the whole animal as possible,” Hylton continued. “We want to reduce waste. We take off the rump, the loin and we French de-bone the leg because you end up with cuts that are just as tender as the loin. So the tender piece is actually out of the leg. Then we take the breast and the shoulder and trimmings and we place that on a bed of hay from the lamb farm and we put it inside our wood-fired oven and we slow roast that until it’s really tender. 

“So the lamb is Cornish, we season it with Cornish sea-salt for the Lizard which we can just make out in the mist. Then hay from the farm. Then it comes out - we flake it down, we make a sauce from the bones, then we wrap hot in a crepinette to make it look almost like a faggot. We glaze with a bit of jus. 

“Then we have the loin which we cook, perfectly, and only with salt. It has a quick roll across the charcoal grill, basted with butter. Then we have the white crab which we steam and mix with bofga - and then I rolled it up inside a nasturtium leaf. There’s carrageen (seaweed), the smell of which is of the pure sea. So when you steam it, it breaks down and is really soft and has a real sea aroma. We also had some rock samphire and sea beet, which we will walk past now… 

Lemon Posset, milk sorbet, local bee pollen & Manor Honey from the hotel’s own hive

“All these are things within half a mile of the restaurant,” grinned Hylton. “The dish is a true a true interpretation of what grows together, goes together…”

He’s correct. That is exactly what it is. And here we are talking about a talented young chef and we’ve only touched up just one of his signature dishes.  So you see what I mean about being inspirational. 

And if you want to taste Hylton’s food check out https://merchantsmanor.com/food-and-drink/rastella/