Greetings, readers! I, Louis, am excited to present an exclusive interview featuring Marguerite, the Michelin-starred chef at the helm of The Five Fields. We delve into her culinary journey, the challenges faced, and the successes achieved.
Marguerite candidly discusses motivation, dispenses valuable guidance for young women embarking on their culinary careers, and emphasizes the importance of inclusivity in the restaurant world. Immerse yourself in this enlightening conversation as we uncover the evolution of the industry and the essential role of supporting one another in the pursuit of gastronomic greatness.
You have achieved so much in your career, including helping The Five Fields to secure a Michelin star. What motivates you to continue pushing yourself and your team to excel?
It’s easy to stay motivated when you love what you do. It’s never really a job, it is doing something fun and learning every day. The day I need to find something to motivate myself, is the day I need to start thinking about doing something different.
What advice would you give to young women who are just starting out in the culinary industry, especially considering the ongoing issue of gender inequality?
When you’re first starting out, it’s important to have people who inspire and motivate you to be the best version of you – learn as much as you can, different techniques and styles in order to find your own path.
I would also say to surround yourself with people and partners that ‘get’ you and support your vision and passion. Within the hospitality industry, I work closely with TheFork, an online restaurant booking platform that believes the culinary scene should be 100% inclusive and that cooking has no gender. I believe this wholeheartedly and want to inspire other women who want to cook professionally and maybe have their open restaurant one day, to follow their dreams just like I have.
It’s important to remember that the industry is not as scary as it is made out to be, it has changed for the better over the last 10-15 years and is a lot more welcoming. Don’t get me wrong there is still a long way to go, but I think sometimes you only hear the negative sides of things. So, if being a chef or working in the culinary industry is what you really want to do, do not be afraid to jump straight in. Yes, it’s hard work but it is completely worth it!
Can you tell us a bit about your experience working at Dromoland Castle and with Marco Pierre White? How did those experiences shape your approach to cooking?
When I was 16, I was very lucky to get an apprenticeship at Dromoland Castle. I started on wash up and did every section in the kitchen for 5 years. I got to also completed my culinary arts diploma as part of the training, which was a great opportunity for me. It was a great foundation to receive at such a young age, it really taught me a lot about kitchens and respect for food.
Once I had finished my apprenticeship, Dromoland set up my position at Marco’s Drones in London, so I definitely would not be where I am today if it was not for the training I received at Dromoland. I really could not have asked for a better start to my cooking career.
I do feel there needs to be more apprenticeship opportunities for young chefs, to get the best possible start in kitchens and experience what kitchens are really like.
The Five Fields is known for its emphasis on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. Can you talk a bit about your philosophy around ingredient selection and how it influences your menu?
We are extremely lucky to have an amazing organic garden and gardener, David, at The Five Fields. We also have our own apiary and orchards and hunt our own deer.
At the end of every year Taylor, David and I will dissect the past year and plan for the year ahead.
Our menu is completely dictated by our garden and what is available. We try to use every bit we can. We have a ferment room where we make all kinds of ferments, pickles, chutneys and garums. We dry lots of leaves and herbs, while making oils from the rest to use in infusions and sauces throughout the year.
We use our honey in our cooking – we make a lovely little honey tart to enjoy with your coffee at the end of your meal – and our honeycomb is served with our cheese selection.
The vegetables and fruit are the lead on our menu with the protein as an accompaniment. We do not mess around with the vegetables or fruit, we want to stay true to them and keep it simple and as pure as possible, really making them shine as they should.
You opened The Five Fields with Taylor Bonnyman. What has been the most challenging aspect of running a restaurant together, and how have you overcome those challenges?
Taylor opened The Five Fields ten years ago this May. I was extremely lucky to be on board from the very beginning, from the design stage all the way up.
We were young when we opened The Five Fields and that was probably the hardest part. Not really knowing what we were doing and trying everything all at once, it was exciting and nerve-wracking.
Our food has really grown up over the years, as have we! I would say it has taken ten years for us to settle and find the food we want to be cooking.
The restaurant industry has been hit hard by the pandemic. How has The Five Fields adapted to these difficult circumstances, and what do you see as the future of fine dining post-COVID?
The pandemic hit all of us hard and the last three years were some of the scariest and hardest we have had to go through.
For the Five Fields to survive we had to make changes. Firstly, we had to remove two tables, for social distancing rules. This meant fewer covers for us. This also meant smaller teams both in the kitchen and in the restaurant due to the fewer covers and lastly, we went from being a tasting and al a carte restaurant to a tasting menu restaurant.
During these difficult times, we were ever so thankful for the support from hospitality partners and that thanks continues into the present day. Partners like TheFork, an amazing online restaurant booking platform, really helped us to stay visible to diners and enabled people to quickly and easily book a table to come and dine with us.
These changes took a while for us to get used to but to be honest, are working great for us now and suit our style of food better.
The last year for us has been great, almost like COVID never happened, I think people appreciate everything a little bit more post-Covid, which is exciting to see.
You’ve won several prestigious awards throughout your career. Do any of them stand out as particularly meaningful to you, and if so, why?
Receiving a Michelin star is by far one of the highlights of my career to date (apart from opening the Five Fields). It’s amazing to get recognised for your hard work, as chefs we sometimes are so busy working in our own little bubble that we forget about the outside world. So, when you receive an award, like the star, it kind of makes you look up and think “yes, we must be doing something right”.
It is also so good for the rest of the team. It’s great for them to get the recognition they deserve for all their hard work. Our partnership with TheFork also allows us to share that recognition far and wide, giving consumers easy-to-book access to discover us and our award-winning menu.
What are some of the biggest trends you’re seeing in the culinary industry right now, and how do you stay on top of them?
Sustainability is a big “trend” at the moment, a very important one. We do as much as we can at The Five Fields to be sustainable and are constantly trying to better ourselves and think outside the box. We are working on using our spent coffee at the moment, which is exciting.
We limit our single-use by having air lock containers for kitchen storage. If we have to use vacuum pack bags, we compostable bags and instead of cling film, we use wax wraps.
We turn food trimming into ferments, pickles, juices and powders and if we cannot use the trimming, they go into the compost bin. We even turn our bread trimming into vinegar.
We have compost bins at the restaurant that go to the garden weekly and get turned into compost.
What is your favourite dish to cook at home, and do you have any secret ingredients or techniques that you use?
I really eat quite simply at home, I love a nice basic stir fry, full of vegetables, not very exciting I know but it’s the truth.
Honestly cooking on my days off is really the last thing I get to do, when you work five 13-hour days a week, your other two days are consumed with fitting the rest of your life in and cooking takes a back seat.
If you weren’t a chef, what career path do you think you would have pursued?
Maybe teaching, teaching hospitality, being a head chef is in a way like being a teacher, you have to teach your team every day. I love when you are teaching someone something new and you see that light bulb moment when they get it, it’s very fulfilling, so I would probably have gone down that road.
Lastly, is there anyone in the culinary industry that you look up to or consider a mentor, and if so, why?
Unfortunately, I do not have a mentor. It is something I really wish I did have, especially when we opened the Five Fields. It would have been nice to have had someone that I could have got some advice from or who might have made mistakes I could have avoided and been through what we were going through.
However, I have great friends both in and outside of the industry and amazing work colleagues, who I can bounce anything off and they listen to my endless venting! It’s so important to have a good support system outside of the restaurant.
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The Five Fields is available to book via www.thefork.co.uk. Visit online or download TheFork app from the Apple and Google app stores now to discover and book great restaurants. .
