Cheoff

A site about food, drink and other random stuff!

Filtering by Tag: anniversary

Le Champignon Sauvage - Thirty Magnificent Years

August 15 2017

I have known for a long time that a remarkable anniversary would take place this year. I meant to find out much earlier exactly what the date of that anniversary might be. To my shame, social media finally let me know.

At 6:45 pm tonight I telephoned ‘Le Champignon Sauvage’ to ask if today was the day. David Everitt-Matthias answered and confirmed that it was. I uttered congratulations that were garbled, perhaps even unconvincing, and certainly nowhere near as huge and heartfelt as I had intended.

So I resort to this place where I bring thoughts and occasionally assemble almost the right words to express them.

Please look yourself for links to stories, achievements, awards and recipes which have been generated by David and Helen and their teams. You will also find reference to a staggering brigade of talented chefs who have benefited from training and influence in that Cheltenham kitchen.

You can find a good account here of the man and woman responsible for the restaurant which Cheltenham and the rest of the world are so fortunate to have.

This extract confirms one more remarkable, recurring event in the thirty year existence of that truly wonderful place:

Married two years earlier, after meeting at the Four Seasons where Helen worked front of house, the couple moved to Cheltenham Spa in the Cotswolds to open their dream restaurant in 1987. David Everitt-Matthias has not missed a service since.

Thousands of services, of course. So far I have been utterly privileged to be a customer at table for three* of those services. Our son James, already a keen and adventurous cook at a much earlier age than me, alerted me to David’s cookbooks and we both started to enjoy working at the recipes.

In 2010, a year after publication of ‘essence’, Jan and I booked to eat for the first time. After a meal every bit as wonderful as hoped for we could only imagine that an overheard whisper might explain the candle which was lit on a petit four. Helen apologised for what we had completely failed to notice as her ‘lack of attention’. She gave us our bill and explained that she did not dare spend too long at our table for fear of giving the game away. James had telephoned and pre-paid our bill as a joint birthday present. His writing looks a lot like Helen's, don't you think?

Exactly a year and one week later we were back. James was with us to celebrate his thirtieth… which means that I was now celebrating my sixtieth! Jonathan joined us to complete the duo of sons who have given us even more pleasure than a visit to @Lechampsauvage. The meal was a riot of excellence and enjoyment but my abiding memory must be the look of wonder, recognition and delight on James’ face over the starter which Helen presented and described to him.

Those two autumn visits were followed five years after by a late July booking with sons and their partners.

We all relished the complexity, creativity and demands of a meal cooked by David and his brigade. I had the best rabbit starter which exists inside the Orion Arm of the Milky Way and saw page 139 of ‘beyond essence’ come to life as my dessert. The huge impact of our first visit has grown with each subsequent meal.

A whirl of techniques, combinations and visual aesthetics might confuse but Helen and team are on hand to help with choices and answer all questions. With so much on offer in each course it is fairly easy to lose track of exactly what you have experienced. That is one reason why I have not yet attempted to properly describe full details of our meals on these pages. But there is one inescapably clear thing when you eat David’s food. Be it a fine cut or a humble, foraged plant, you will experience the fullest and most faithful flavours in each ingredient and in every mouthful. We all assume that the results of such accomplishment come at a price. And yet, Le Champignon Sauvage still offers stupidly good value for money whichever menu you choose.

Don’t take my word (or Jay Rayner’s!) for it. Go and see and taste for yourself. I won’t be too jealous if you do... we are booked in again this October!

Last week I foraged for bullace and stripped half a kilo of lemon verbena leaves to make a sorbet and a jelly, relying for both on David’s recipes. So, I was still busy missing the chance to make a fuss of the very person whose goodness I continue to grab.

Too much side-tracking from me, as usual. Let's get to the important part.

I am very much aware that hundreds of people have contributed to the success of this Cheltenham restaurant over its history. But, for the most part, this is my personal thanks to David for what he has brought into my life. I know how gentle and humble he is. The testament of chefs who have worked with him confirm that. He has proved immensely generous to me in direct and indirect ways. I have been able to build up reference points to make a better balanced judgement of his achievements (and there are others who have comparable, if different culinary skills). But I am already convinced that none of them will match him for the glorious excitement which I find in eating his food and in trying to cook it. 

Of course, there is one other person who needs further inclusion. Helen, so smart mentally and in appearance, is an integral part of the restaurant experience. Granted, she is a seasoned professional but how easily she glides from the assurance which that gives into other modes. These include the ability to identify opportunities for mischievous humour and the subtle raising of an eyebrow, steering you towards a much more interesting and rewarding choice from the wine list. I can quite understand guests who wish for those quieter services when they might enjoy even more of Helen’s attentions.

Le Champignon Sauvage would undoubtedly have been a great thing if it had simply been David's work but sharing his dream with Helen has made the whole thing become a beautiful affair.

I salute both Helen and David for the thirty year milestone which they have passed and repeat my thanks and congratulations to them for creating something so very, very special.

And, yes, I am posting this a day in arrears after editing it to my liking. Late to the pass. Not exactly up to David's standards but "Better late than never"... as he would never say!

* edit: FOUR times! Including divine pig’s trotter for me in October 2017.

Ruby Wedding #3 - Family, Friends and Food

It's what we have done for years. Mrs Cheoff was always a terrific cook with the ability to plan, prepare and present great food to a big gathering of people. She has created lovely menus for oodles of special occasions... birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations of all sorts of success and achievement. Sometimes the only excuse was to entertain and please. A fine excuse if you ask me.

Eventually, I wasn't afraid to interfere and contribute.

With our combined love of cooking and the eagerness to share our results it seemed perfectly natural to offer a spot of afternoon delight to treasured family and friends as part of our Ruby Wedding celebrations. We managed to arrange this on the day of our anniversary. A buffet lunch.

After reviewing pictures of the main and dessert tables it behoves me to resort to uncustomary honesty. Both those tables are heaving under the strain of far more of my wife’s work than mine.

Looking at much of cheoff.com will give you a false impression. Yes, I do often spend time with more demanding recipes but the savoury and sweet spreads shown here represent the bedrock of what has come out of our kitchen for decades.

From this point on, you are gathered here today to view most of the food items on offer. Links are there for recipes where available. Salads were also homemade and the only one shop-bought ready-made was pork pies from our local Brown’s Family Butchers.

Exceptional gammon with cider and cinnamon 

Shooter’s Roll Our trusty - regularly tried and trusted - M&S cookbook recipe. Like a vulgar sausage roll. One which demands that you embrace any vulgarity after the very first bite!

We are asked for the recipe constantly. Here you go…

Shooter's Roll from our M&S cook book

Smoked Salmon and Dill Quiche/Tart/Thing Not - by a long shot - the last Delia recipe you will find here!

Coronation Chicken No idea (recollection of) which recipe we used. Perhaps something close to the ‘original’. You surely have your own favourite. It’s been tweaked for decades!

Black Forest Pavlova Three words which say, “EAT ME!”

Terrine of Summer Fruits From ‘Delia Smith’s Summer Collection’ Made by us since 1993 when the book of the TV series first appeared - a book which was reprinted twelve times in that year!

Deep Lemon Tart With cream to counteract that awfully sharp lemon attack! #winkemoji

Wimbledon Cheesecake This was a baked variety which followed swiftly on from the second time Andy Murray had lifted ‘The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Championship of the World’ trophy ten days before. Sorbet, ice cream and meringues* were all there if needed to help this go down the better. Ooh, oooh, I made two out of three of those!
*’Merigues’ according to our typo label!

Just ‘cake’ to finish.
My rich fruit cake richly decorated by Mrs Cheoff. Mrs Cheoff’s sponge cake with a restrained seasonal ‘coronet’.

Rather like the aftermath of Christmas cooking, our anniversary efforts for family and friends left us with extras which lasted well beyond the day itself.

Other options - outside caterers, hospitality venues and the like - were available. We chose the cheaper and totally daft alternative. Without any regrets. All the work put in had left us a little weary but, rather like the effort put into our forty (and a bit) year relationship, a tiredness overlaid with huge satisfaction and happiness. With hardly any regrets!
-xx-

Savoury and Dessert labels by Mrs Cheoff

I'll drift off now into a reverie filled with nostalgia. I prefaced a short speech to our assembled guests by accessing and playing a recording of this piece of music. It's the tune to which Jan entered the church on our wedding day...

website http://www.gertvanhoef.nl/. Water Music of Wassermusik is een van de bekendste composities van Georg Friedrich Händel. Hij schreef deze in opdracht van een diplomaat, baron Von Kielmansegg, om op 17 juli 1717 uitgevoerd te worden ter gelegenheid van een boottocht op de Theems. 'Alla Hornpipe' een prachtig deel uit deze Watermusic, wordt hier uitgevoerd door Gert van Hoef tijdens zijn concert in Harlingen.

“Phwoooar!” he ejaculated.
(I do hope readers will recognise my old-fashioned turn of phrase. I remain a devotee of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Doctor Watson. And a permanently big fan of Mrs. G!)

Sometimes Love Just Isn’t EnoUgh

At the end of next month Jan and I will celebrate our Ruby Wedding anniversary. Time to draft a bit of speechifying methinks.

We were much younger then and, if we are honest, not utterly sure of the outcome, but we signed a contract to bind us.

It’s actually more than forty years now since we started our relationship. Right from those early days we explored many ways to make things work. Often we selfishly started with what was best for us as an individual. But we were big enough to realise that we had chosen our partner because we rather liked them and that helped us to take their hopes, wants and needs and mix them in with ours.

Once we had made that small but significant step, we started to really grow together. Protecting your own interests while desperate not to hurt someone you think of as so very special is a struggle. Occasionally we more or less gave in to the other’s demands but so much more often we found a way to work things through with positives for both of us.

Definitely a struggle… but a struggle that revealed countless things about each other which we wanted to hold fast to and build on. A struggle which strengthened us rather than pushed us apart. We became better together than we ever were on our own.

There is love, of course - love in all its different expressions. But there is now so much more. The intricate and complicated nature of our partnership makes it at turns vibrant and frustrating… but always gloriously enriching.

There… I could just as easily be describing our marriage instead of the British union with Europe, couldn’t I?

Our marriage will endure and grow. After all those same wonderful connections made over decades it is so sad that a nation has decided to give up its previously rewarding struggle and discard its partner.

Jan and I intend to live and work in peace with the decision made on the 23 June.

Our marriage remains our wonderful and enduring achievement. We will never let it go. We will never let each other go.

Some things were not meant to be.

Jan and I were always meant to be.

While fearing the worst, I still hope I can utter different words to our invited guests in six weeks time. If not, we will still have something magnificent to celebrate and Jan and I will be together to share whatever comes.

Sometimes love is not enough. Sometimes… let’s be honest, almost always, we need to draw on much more complicated connections. Connections which have been forged over a time long enough to give truly serious thought to breaking those precious links.

We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than that which divides us.

(Jo Cox, British politician)

All images and content are the property of Geoff Griffiths. Copyright Geoff Griffiths 2020 ©