Matthew Harris: the chef who left London and never looked back
He is the culinary driving force behind Harry’s, and we sat down with him to learn more about some of the reasons he left London to join the team here at the Gallivant.
There is a particular kind of confidence about Matthew Harris. He answers questions straightforwardly, thinks before he speaks, and doesn’t elaborate unless elaboration is warranted. He doesn’t come across as someone who needs an audience, more the settled sort who has nothing left to prove, and knows it. Old school in the best possible sense: precise, direct and unimpressed by unnecessary noise.
He has been cooking for more than thirty years, twenty of them as Head Chef at Bibendum, the grand Conran restaurant in the old Michelin building on the Fulham Road that, in the 1980’s and 1990’s, was as close to a Parisian institution as London ever managed. His mentor there was Simon Hopkinson. His brother is Henry Harris of the celebrated Bouchon Racine in Farringdon.
Matthew lets the food do the introduction. In my case, that introduction came by way of his ‘omelette aux fines herbes and pommes frites’, which I ordered from the lunch menu before we had a chance to sit down together. “Heaven on a plate,” I told him – it was the kind of dish that makes you want to get to know the man who cooked it.
After years of heading London kitchens, Matthew and his wife had been quietly looking for somewhere else during the pandemic. When Harry Cragoe called, he was already halfway out the door.
It sounds like the stars aligned.
In a way, yes. We’d been looking at various parts of the country for a while: Suffolk, East Sussex. When Harry got in touch, the timing felt simply right. But the move south didn’t happen overnight. We got a flat in Hastings, kept the London house, drove back on days off. It was about a year of careful testing before committing fully.
Was it a difficult adjustment? The pace of things by the coast in Camber vs central London.
London is frenetic. You’re busy all week, there’s constant demand and when you have time off it never really feels like a break. Whereas here, although we’re busy, it feels different: when we are quieter the mood is easier and is just less stressful, before building towards a much busier weekend. It’s a completely different rhythm. And honestly, a different mindset, one that I’ve come to prefer.
How do you think about the menu here?
It evolves constantly. As things come into season, I take dishes off and put new ones on. There’s no specific date when everything flips. We respond to what is good. Harry wanted me to bring my style of cooking here, and this is it. The seasons lead, and we follow.
Are there dishes that are always there?
Always a steak with roquefort butter. And fish, whatever’s best on the day, it changes all the time. I’ve also kept snails on the menu because I love them, and because it’s genuinely hard to find a restaurant that does them well. There’s the French connection, too.
Where does the French influence come from?
It’s always been there, from the very start. It’s not something I discovered by coming here. It’s just how I think about flavour. I trained in hotel management, did a course that involved a great deal of cookery, and fell into the kitchen side of it. The French spirit has been constant throughout. Some dishes have followed me from previous kitchens. The ‘tarte fine aux pommes’, for instance, once served at Bibendum, only here in a more intimate and dramatic form, flambéed tableside. We didn’t do that at Bibendum.
You spend time with the front-of-house team and go through new dishes together. Tell me about that?
When we have new dishes, we sit down and they taste them all. Some of them are young, new to the restaurant, new to hospitality entirely. Unless they try and understand every dish, they can’t talk about it properly with our guests. I’d like them to be able to this. I think more than ever people want to know more about the food they are eating – where it comes from, what’s special about it, how we prepare it. This is all part of the experience of eating out these days and elevates the experience to a truly memorable one.
What’s exciting you most on the menu at the moment?
Asparagus. It’s in several dishes right now: in a salad, on its own with a sauce, and with free-range pork loin sourced from HG Walters. We only use English asparagus; it’s the best there is, and ours comes from just a couple of miles away. It’s around for a couple of months, and then it’s gone. Make the most of it while it’s here. And strawberries are arriving now too, which is wonderful. We used them in today’s cake.
If someone wanted to do asparagus justice at home?
Make sure it’s spanking fresh and keep it simple. A brief cook in boiling water. It cooks very quickly, depending on the size. A little butter, some herbs. That’s really all it needs.
And what do you cook for yourself at home?
Fish, mostly. We live close to Hastings fish market now. You can just go down and pick up whatever looks good that day.
I have to ask about the omelette. What is the secret?
It feels simple, but you have to be careful not to overcook it. No colour at all. It should be pale, smooth, and baveuse, slightly runny in the middle. When you roll it, the heat from the outside finishes it. And fresh herbs, whatever is around: dill, parsley, chives. A little butter. There is genuinely nothing else.
If you were sitting at one of your own tables tonight, what would you order?
Oysters or snails to start. I’d find it hard to walk past either. Then whatever the fish is that day; for me that’s always near the top of my list. For dessert, I’d be tempted by the cheese which we source directly from La Fromagerie in London, it costs a lot to get it down here but it’s the best, or perhaps the ice cream. We make this and it constantly changes, we have chocolate and salted caramel at the moment, which is really very good.
