The pain of making a simple booking in a restaurant.

After the hectic whirl of the past few weeks – the launch of My Archipelago, the 60th Anniversary parties at The Castle – Louise and I decided to take a day out for a change of scenery and a spot of lunch.

I called up a smart West Country restaurant and the exchange went like this:

“Good morning! Can you do a table for two at 1.30 today?

“No problem,” came the reply from a flat, charmless voice fielding the most asinine phrase in restaurant-speak. “The name?” he asked.

“Chapman,” I replied.

“First name?” he asked  mechanically. I could picture him staring blankly at his computer screen.

“Kit!”

“Allergies?”

“No! No allergies.”

“Dietary requirements?”

“No! No dietary requirements.”

“Special occasion?”

“No!”

“Telephone numbers?” I noted the plural and asked if one mobile number would do. It did.

Mercifully, that was it. Although I half expected him to demand my credit card details, email address and an injunction on the time we were permitted to occupy our table. Some places these days do just that.

As for me, I’m getting fed up with these ridiculous interrogations over a simple request for a table booking. These people are so dazzled by the demands of their computerized reservation systems, they are incapable of engaging their customers with any warmth and humanity.

The hospitality business is about welcome and creating a sense of anticipation and pleasure, not about ticking boxes on a screen.

Our lunch, by the way, was excellent and the staff could not have been sweeter. We just could have done without the silly preliminaries! And may I PLEASE ask the restaurant world to STOP saying “no problem!” It is so unbelievably naff!

Kit Chapman, proprietor of The Castle at Taunton & author of My Archipelago.

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The Castle at Taunton names new Head Chef

With the imminent departure of Chef Richard Guest, on November 1st command of the stoves at Taunton’s Castle Hotel passes to 27 year old Jamie Raftery, son of the Irish poet, John Malachy Raftery.

In just ten years, Jamie Raftery has harvested an enviable body of experience in preparation for his first full-time post as the top man.

For several years, he worked with Michael Caines at Gidleigh Park and assisted in the openings of the Caines-led Abode Hotels in Glasgow, Manchester and Exeter.

In 2007, Raftery won the Gordon Ramsay Scholarship. As part of his prize, he spent 2008 working in Ramsay’s restaurants in London, Paris and New York.

In 2009, he moved to California for a year where he worked for Thomas Keller’s French Laundry in the Napa Valley. “Jamie’s energy and demeanor are valuable assets,” writes Keller. “He is attentive to detail and cooks with precision.”

Raftery’s CV also boasts work experience in the kitchens of  Gordon Ramsay at Royal Hospital Road, Angela Hartnet at The Connaught, Marcus Wareing at Petrus and, more recently, with Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck in Bray.

I am thrilled! Jamie will be the fifth Head Chef in 25 years to embrace my “English Project”… although, this time, we may see an Irish accent in The Castle’s cooking. 

Kit Chapman, proprietor of The Castle at Taunton and author of My Archipelago

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Menu for a 60th Anniversary Dinner

Yesterday evening, Saturday, October 16th was a unique occasion. The most important celebration staged at The Castle in all our 60 years. A dinner devised and presented by Chefs Gary Rhodes, Richard Guest and our son, Dominic Chapman. The guests – 73 in total – included Henry Blofeld, Godfrey Smith, Martin Bell, Rosie Boycott, Alexander Waugh, Jonathan Dimbleby, Michael Portillo, Jonathan Meyrick, Dean of Exeter, Levon Chilingirian and a gathering of some of Britain’s most distinguished hoteliers, food critics, editors, writers and broadcasters.

Moet & Chandon presented their champagne Brut Imperial en Jeroboam. And Bibendum presented the wines with dinner…

The Chilingirian Quartet with Bernard Gregor-Smith (cello) performed the final movement of Schubert’s famous String Quintet in C Major D 956.

Scotch Egg… Dominic Chapman. 

Warm salad of Somerset smoked eel with frisee and bacon… Dominic Chapman. WINE: Rully “Clos des Mollepierres”, Domaine Saint-Abel 2007

Sir Andrew Milne-Watson Bt, a close family friend, delivered a witty and idiosyncratic perspective on the Chapman Family.

Slow roast duck with sage and onion faggot, sweet red cabbage and Devon potatoes… Richard Guest. WINE: De Trafford Cabernet Sauvignon, Stellenbosch, SA 2005.

Apple mousse, Honey caramelised apple and Apple sorbet… Gary Rhodes OBE.

The Very Rev’d Jonathan Meyrick, Dean of Exeter, accompanied by Andrew Millington, Director of Music at Exeter Cathedral performed a brilliant and quite hilarious cabaret.

Classic British Puddings (Rice/Sticky Toffee/Bread ‘n Butter)… Gary Rhodes OBE. WINE: Vinsanto, Santorini Winery, Santorini, Greece 2005.

Coffee with chocolates (Rhodes), passion fruit jelly (Chapman), hazelnut chocolate (Guest).

Speeches: The Dean of Exeter (Sante des Chefs), Mr Nicholas Chapman on behalf of The Family, The Rt Hon Michael Portillo on behalf of the guests.

Kit Chapman, proprietor of The Castle at Taunton & author of My Archipelago

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A Landmark Moment in the History of The Castle and the Chapman Family

The history of The Castle at Taunton reaches back a thousand years and more – to the age of Alfred the Great (who burned his cakes nearby at Athelney) and King Arthur (whose knights would have roamed the Somerset Levels). Our history as an hotel, inn or hostelry is a little shorter – some 350 years. Now, in October 2010, we are celebrating the mere 60 years my family has acted as keepers of this ancient pile. A little context is a good thing. It brings us down to earth!

But as I tap these words into my laptop, our grandchildren (Daniel, 3; Ollie, 3; and Kitty, 2), are in high spirits, playing noisily around the kitchen while Louise and our two daughters-in-law, Helena and Annabel, prepare breakfast and chatter about their wardrobes for tonight’s Gala Evening – the first of two grand dinners we are holding to mark our Diamond Jubilee. So, of couse, these 60 years deserve a celebration – especially as Louise and I now look to the next generation to succeed us. This evening, Dominic, our eldest and a Michelin starred chef, is cooking alongside Gary Rhodes, who presided over The Castle’s stoves in the 1980s, and Richard Guest our chef for the past eleven years. And Nicholas, our younger son and the man promising to succeed me, will be proposing the toast to our guests at the dinner and at next Saturday’s Gala.

In two other respects, this past week has been a landmark in the life of the hotel. My Archipelago received its “official” launch with a literary lunch on Thursday. And this has also been the week I appointed a new Head Chef to replace Richard who leaves us at the end of the month to open his own place. I shall not be revealing the new man’s name quite yet! However, I can say that he is the 27 year old son of an Irish poet and a young chef of exceptional promise with a CV which glitters with star-studded experience. In almost 30 years, he will be only the fifth appointment I have made – following in the gifted paths of Chris Oakes, Gary Rhodes, Phil Vickery and Richard Guest.

For now, the spotlight is on tonight’s anniversary dinner and the 90 guests the family will be entertaining. Time for me to drive in to the hotel and make the final checks.

Kit Chapman, proprietor of The Castle at Taunton and author of My Archipelago 

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Will too many cooks spoil the Anniversary Broth? Gary Rhodes stirs the pot!

The first of our 60th Anniversary parties is now less than a week away. My late-father, Peter, arrived at The Castle as a young manager in October 1950. So, this month is a moment when the Chapman family celebrates 60 years as custodians of The Castle at Taunton. It is significant for many reasons, not least because it coincides with the publication of my fourth book, My Archipelago – a family memoir which is already attracting a rush of extraordinary reviews in the press and on BBC radio (I was Libby Purves’s guest on Midweek), on Amazon and elsewhere. Log onto Friends Book Choice.

Perhaps most significantly, our Diamond Jubilee coincides with the 60th anniversary of the Good Food Guide’s first edition in 1951. And with the 2011 edition just published, we find that The Castle is the only restaurant in the current guide to have been listed in the 1951 original. That, I think, is something of an achievement for my family and a reason to celebrate. In our notoriously fickle trade, at least The Castle can claim a high degree of staying-power!

Central to the events planned for this month (which include my Literary Lunch on the 7th), are two Gala Dinners – the first for our loyal clients on the 9th, the second a PR-fest a week later with many of the musicians, writers, broadcasters, hotelier-friends and luminaries who have touched the cultural and social life of the hotel over the years.

To liven up both occasions, I have invited three favourite chefs to devise and present the Anniversary Menu! The first is Gary Rhodes, my chef in the 1980s; second, The Castle’s very own Richard Guest; and third, our son Dominic Chapman, Michelin-starred chef at Sir Michael Parkinson’s Royal Oak in Paley Street, Berkshire.

Planning these two dinners began in earnest seven months ago and final detailed sessions were held this Wednesday and Thursday when Gary and his wife Jennie travelled to Taunton for briefings with my team.

At last, the menu, timings and service arrangements are agreed. These critical details complicated by various speeches and entertainments between courses. Nine canapes will be offered (three per chef) at the opening champagne reception featuring Jeroboams of Moet & Chandon Brut Imperial.

At dinner, Dominic will set the pace with his now legendary appetizer – The Royal Oak’s famous Scotch (quail) Egg. He will follow with a light salad of Somerset smoked eel with frisee & bacon. Richard then comes into play with, perhaps, his best-loved signature main course: a slow roast duck with sage & onion faggot – for me the best roast duck dish I have ever tasted. The finale is led by Gary: a pre-dessert to cleanse the palate in a miniature trinity of apple mousse, honey caramelized apple and apple sorbet. And then for pudding, three Rhodes English Classics: Jam Roly-Poly, Sticky Toffee Pudding and Bread & Butter Pudding!

Kit Chapman, proprietor of The Castle at Taunton and author of My Archipelago

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