I sit in our empty, beautiful, deserted cafe trying to remember how we (me, Claire, Runwayskiln) got to this point. I’m not talking about coronavirus, just the last two years have been such a blur.
Since taking on this “fantastic opportunity” in Winter 2017, opening our café the following Spring, we haven’t stopped. All the clichés about starting a new business, the stress, the arguments, wanting to run for the hills (always my way!). But we are so very, very fortunate. Our business has been warmly received, with great local support, and more than enough holiday trade. A chef’s dream location you could say.
So, lockdown comes (I hate the Hollywood term, why not confinement?). The café was closed from January to March anyway; we did the same last year and it works. We don’t rest, not really. There’s far too much to do! We were about to re-open when all of this happened but we didn’t have fridges full of food or many staff over winter and so we decided to wait it out and get our hands in the soil. For the first time since being here we have turned our attentions to the grounds, the yard and the very messy garden. I also took on an absolute classic of a lockdown project and decided to build a firepit-come-barbeque in the yard. Mistakes were made, costs rapidly escalated… It looks good though!
Enthusiastically and like many of us back in sunny and warm April, I planted herbs and flowers, negotiating costs with Claire and quietly calling the garden centre to buy compost and seeds “on my own card”.
The cat ripped up much of those early efforts, my sweet peas have been punished by the wind (still just 8 inches tall, they’ve come up hard for sure).
The realisation that we too much pivot our business model pushes me back into the kitchen now. As summer comes into sight, I’m always drawn towards the style of food you find in Eastern Mediterranea and the Middle East. This was my first love as a chef, working for a Lebanese/Israeli chef in Bristol (great teacher, hard guy) and moving to London for a short stint in Moro. Later in Australia, I was fortunate enough to work in one of Brenton Pyke’s kitchens. Brenton and his wife Bec are an incredible team and their business Market Eating House has been an inspiration for me putting these new menus together for home delivery. There is much more to come but with such a wide delivery radius to cover, we’ve got to start simply (not my forte, I’m told).
Like Charlie Cat, were taking a leap…
