FOOD & DR INK
putting the hours in and working really hard, then good feedback is just great.” That small but perfectly-formed team is one of the other reasons that dining at the restaurant is such an enjoyable experience. Alex’s front of house are smart, knowledgeable and clearly enthusiastic about the dishes they’re serving, while below the stairs is a small kitchen where Sam and his crew of chefs turn out some of the most delicious dishes our city’s seen for quite some time. When you’re working so intensely it’s important to trust those around you, and it’s clear that the couple hugely value their entire team. “They’re all so involved in it. Normally when you work for a company you turn up and get told what to do,” Sam says, “but hopefully they all feel part of it. It’s us, all together, figuring it out.” Sous chef Andrew Sleath gets a particular mention – he first crossed paths with Sam when the two were working in London’s kitchens. “I met him at Claridge’s, then we both started working at maze, where he was on fish and I was on pastry – and we clicked. When he was at Tom Aikens I went and did a couple of days with him there. We just stayed in touch.” So when the time came to open Restaurant 22, Sam called Andy, who was working in Scotland at the time – and he came running. “He lived upstairs with us for a week when we opened,” Sam laughed. “I’ve always been in the kitchen here but if I wasn’t, then I’d trust him with it. He’s great.” Alex agrees, “People ask where the water bath is in the kitchen, but we haven’t got one! Andy is just that good at cooking – he makes everything taste amazing.” Even if they actually wanted a water bath, there may not be space – the diminutive kitchens in the basement of the Victorian townhouse must have been a shock to the system for a chef who has worked in some of the grandest spaces in the capital, but Sam’s extremely positive about it. “It’s very small,” Sam laughs.
“R 22 is a total dream of a restaurant”
“We haven’t even got a pass down there – it’s just a shelf, in a corridor – and the amount of times Alex knocks into me...” he jokes. Interestingly, the restaurant’s small proportions have also had a direct impact on the style of food they serve: lack of storage space below stairs means that as soon as ingredients arrive, they’re prepped and served, pretty much straight away. “There’s nothing in the freezer except ice cream,” Sam grins. “Everything’s fresh every day, twice – which is a lot of work, but that’s all we can do, so we don’t have another option. But it works in a good way.” Both Alex and Sam are thrilled to have been able to become part of the Cambridge food scene, and speak warmly of their fellow food enthusiasts around the city. “Cambridge, in general, has been so welcoming to us, we’ve had so much support,” Alex says.
“I just love it – everyone we speak to is so passionate about food and drink,” Sam agrees. “You speak to Sam at Thirsty about wine and you’ll be there for hours – he just loves it. There’s Jacob at Seed to Feed, Sam at Culinaris, Hot Numbers with their coffee – there’s just so much here.” “It’s so exciting,” Alex says, “and it’ll just get better and better.” So what’s next? Firstly, that dream – time off – may be visible on the horizon. “When we started there were just three of us in the kitchen – we didn’t have a kitchen porter for three months,” Sam says. “It’s better now but we’re either here or closed. We try and have a day off on a Sunday when we’ll go out to lunch, or down to London, but it’s still so early in the business.” “We’re just going to carry on doing what we’re doing, and hopefully stay busy,” Alex smiles. l restaurant22.co.uk
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