The secrets of the Hidden Hut
Sampling a legendary feast night dish no longer means a schlep to Cornwall because Hidden Hut now has a cookbook. ELLA WALKER finds out more...
IT’S hard not to daydream about upping sticks, moving to the beach and opening a cafe – the thing is, Simon Stallard went and did it.
Eight years ago, the chef, who’s worked in kitchens around the world since he was 16, quit his day job and took on the lease of a National Trust ice lolly kiosk on the Roseland Peninsula, Cornwall, with his wife Jem.
The little green shed, perched on a coastal footpath above sandy Porthcurnick Beach, was transformed into The Hidden Hut – a beach cafe and lunch spot with food good enough to match the gorgeous sea-view. It’s gone on to become rather renowned, but now, thanks to its new eponymous cookbook, you don’t have to roam the wilds of Cornwall to stumble across its food.
Simon, who also owns Tatams in Portscatho (coffee bar by day, wood-fired taverna by night), says the Hut menu is unmoored from mainstream foodie trends, but does “follow the weather”.
“Today it’s raining,” he says, as he looks out at the sea. “There’s a chowder on, a daal; they’re quite warming dishes, but as soon as the sun comes out, the grills go on.”
The Hidden Hut is famed for its feast nights – legend has it, feast night tickets have sold out faster than Beyonce concerts – and the book features dishes from these events as well as classic daytime Hut recipes. On Wednesday nights throughout summer, Simon and his team get their outdoor grills and beach barbecues going and host dinner for 80-100 people on the cusp of the ocean.
The deal is, you bring your own plates, cutlery and booze, and they provide the food, “come wind, rain or shine”. “They’re a thing of beauty in their simplicity,” says Simon warmly. “If it’s a sunny evening and you’ve lucked out, then you really have hit the jackpot.”
Part of the feasts’ appeal he reckons is the fact there’s no choice when it comes to what you’re eating. “It sounds really weird but there’s always a big focus on huge menus [in restaurants], you’ve got to have something to please everyone – we’ve done the opposite.”
Some of his favourite feast nights are when the grills are loaded with shellfish. “We staple loads of newspaper to the tables and have massive great big shovels of shellfish and claws, hammers and picks. People just pick through it with a beer or a glass of wine, and hang out at the top of a beach – that’s the bit that makes them mega.”
He believes it wouldn’t work if the Hut cooped people up indoors – the charm of it comes from cooking, eating and hanging out together under the Cornish sky. There’s just nothing better, he says, than being outside: “Even if you’re just having a sandwich and a bowl of soup in the rain under an umbrella, there’s something so real about it.
“It actually stops and slows everything down, even just lighting the barbecue in your garden, it just feels really nice. Your mindset, everything, you change when you light the barbecue – it’s all good and it tastes better too.”
The Hidden Hut by Simon Stallard is published by Harper Collins, priced £20. Photography Susan Bell. Available now.