A friendly neighborhood bistro that draws on the flavours of nearby Kew Gardens is the vehicle for game specialist Joshua Hunter and his seasonal menu. Victoria Miller reports
It's fitting for a chef whose specialty is game to establish a restaurant a mere mile from a park inhabited by the biggest deer population in London. It is also appropriate that he head a restaurant named after the Hawthorn tree, the second most abundant tree in Richmond Park, which can also be found in Kew Gardens.
Joshua Hunter says: "We were looking across all different types of botanical names to tie it into the gardens." Alongside the tree's presence in the area, he says he didn't want anything "super-pretentious or Latin sounding" and Hawthorn fitted the bill.
Hunter opened Hawthorn in Kew in February, in place of the Glasshouse, which had been a neighbourhood favourite in south-west London for 23 years and held a Michelin star for two decades.
Former customers will recognise Hunter's business partner Patra Panas, who had been front of house at the Glasshouse for over a decade. But that is where the similarities end. Inside, the floors are laid anew and a fresh team of five chefs oversees the 70-cover restaurant. Outside, the frontage has had a revamp with petrol blue paint and brass lights, adding a moody but warmly inviting ‘neighbourhood bistronomy' feel, a vibe that Hunter and Panas are keen to achieve.
"We both like neighbourhood refined dining – the type of place you'll go to for a special occasion but that also isn't priced out of your weekly lunch out," says Hunter, who's CV includes London's Murano and La Trompette, followed by his eponymous restaurant at shooting ground Holland & Holland in Northwood, north-west London.
Curiously, for a chef, he concedes that "the menu shouldn't be the main focus" when dining out. Instead, Hunter says, what customers really want "when you sit down is to socialise with the people you're with", and the menu should add to that experience.
"That's what a restaurant is. That's what we're trying to facilitate. It's not all about the food. It's about people coming together to enjoy themselves."
Hunter's philosophy is simple; to source the best food within the confines of the British Isles and cook it well. He changes the menu twice a season and is not afraid to change it more frequently if produce goes downhill, or a supplier isn't sourcing at the quality he deems fit.
He enjoys playing with the seemingly ordinary and recreating it into elaborate and memorable dishes, and this is no better demonstrated than in his New York-style pastrami starter with bagel, dill pickled cucumber and sauce gribiche. Longhorn beef from Huntsman Farm is brined for five days before Hunter smokes it in a Bradley smoker (one of his favourite pieces of equipment), and slow-cooks it overnight.
Hunter creates an ‘Everything Bagel', made fresh every day, with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, and garlic and onion powder. To add a fresh salt tang to the melt-in-the-mouth pastrami, he pickles baby cucumbers in a dill brine. The starter "is something that diners have been surprised by" he says, but is popular as curiosity diners try a refined version of a typical grab-and-go lunch.
The Bradley Smoker features again in his Huntsman Farm spring lamb. Here, Hunter smokes the shoulder for six hours and then slow roasts it overnight at 100ºC. The dish is accompanied by a salsa verde and lamb jus.
Summer desserts, meanwhile, reinforce the connection with Kew Gardens in a botanical garden sorbet. Created by his pastry chef James Bradley, a verbena custard acts as a base, where gooseberry juice, lemon juice and glucose are brought to the boil and then infused with juniper, arrowgrass and lemon verbena. A dash of gin is added before it is frozen and added to a Pacojet to achieve an ultra-fine texture. The speed at which it freezes, Hunter says, captures the fresh layers of the botanical notes ("almost like a really well-balanced cocktail", he adds).
Hunter's hope that his diners use their Hawthorn experience to socialise, rather than become fixated on the menu, might be tricky. With such interesting takes on familiar flavours, it'll be hard for them to avoid it being the focal point for table conversation.
14 Station Parade, Kew, Richmond, Surrey TW9 3PZ
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