Elephant Restaurant Torquay

[Andy Lynes]

Simon Hulstone (known as "ginger chef" on eGullet) has resurfaced as head chef of the 38 seat Elephant restaurant in Torquay. Hulstone took on the position as of 1 November this year, bringing the majority of his brigade from Juliana's at the Cotswolds House Hotel in Chipping Campden with him. His partner, Katie Cale will head the front of house team. The menu will initially be the same Simon was serving at Juliana's, but will be revamped when the restaurant re-opens after a Christmas break on 13 January next year.

Simon has promised to post some more details about the restaurant on this thread later this week.

[ginger chef]

andy,

sorry for the slow reply,

christmas and all the new staff strarting havent had much chance to get on line. .

alls going well and i will have a new menu all set up and running in the new year after our break. as you said i bought my team down from cheltenham and my partner katy who runs the front. menu will be based around local produce and what torquay and surrounding areas clients are acustomed to with a few more racey dishes to test the water. january is a quiet time down on the riviera so there are a few promotions flying around to keep us busy but this time will help us to get up to pace and consistency levels now i only have a dining room to cater for.

regards

simon

[Basildog]

Excellent News!.My parents are in Torquay.Will hopefully see you soon.

edit..websiteclick

Edited December 22, 2004 by Basildog (log)

[Bapi]

Simon- Glad to hear that you are now up and running with your new venture. It was good to meet you at Hibiscus, albeit briefly, in November last year. Keep us informed of how things are going and we will hopefully try and pop down and lunch with you later in the year, en route to Cornwall. ( watch out Slacker/ Basil).

We now have a two week old Satan child- so I hope you allow children??

[ginger chef]

cheers bapi,

we re open on monday 17th, will look forward to welcoming you down, kids are more than welcome, start them young i say.

[Andy Lynes]

Simon Hulstone was named a rising star of 2006 in todays Independent magazine. Caroline Stacey says "Simon Hulstone didn't set out to shake up Torquay. But his restaurant Elephant is nevertheless sending out ripples of excitement from the Devon coast."

My interview with Simon appears in the 5th January 2006 edition of Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

[fisherman]

i visited there earlier in the year and loved everything about the place.

Edited December 31, 2005 by fisherman (log)

[Andy Lynes]

Ditto. I'll write a bit about my meal up once the Caterer article has appeared.

[Bapi]

We are visiting Simon's place in May this year, en-route to Padstow. I hear he is particularly good at Thai food.

BTW- I noticed only a couple of days ago that Simon received the GFG Devon Newcomer award 2006. Nice one

[ginger chef]

cheers bapi, we have a speciality on in may with customer interaction. a thai speciality. you just have to catch the ping pong balls.

[offcentre]

didn't I see him in a newspaper or something over xmas - a bit hazy but I'm fairly sure there was a photo and something about the restaurant....somewhere.

[Andy Lynes]

didn't I see him in a newspaper or something over xmas - a bit hazy but I'm fairly sure there was a photo and something about the restaurant....somewhere.

←

Please refer to post 6 of this thread (I know, its difficult getting back in the swing of things after the festive season isn't it!).

[offcentre]

ah right excellent.

as you were.

[Bapi]

cheers bapi, we have a speciality on in may with customer interaction. a thai speciality.  you just have to catch the ping pong balls. 

←

[Andy Lynes]

My interview with Simon appears in the 5th January 2006 edition of Caterer and Hotelkeeper.

←

Simon is this week's cover star - well done sir! The food looks stunning and there's a nice shot of the restaurant as well.

[curlywurlyfi]

and click here for a mention of The Elephant in last Saturday's Telegraph. Congratulations, Simon, on being "a better looking Jamie Oliver"!

[Bapi]

And yet another write up in last weekends Guardian.

Anyone would think that this place might be worth a try

Jamie Oliver's better looking older brother

[moosnsqrl]

I hope I don't regret saying this and PLEASE know that I mean no disrespect by it but I can't read about Torquay without giggling, especially thinking of restaurants. Not surprisingly, being an eG Society member, my favorite scenes of my all time favorite comedy took place in the dining room and kitchen of Fawlty Towers. I could probably recite the Waldorf Salad routine verbatim.

Do those of you who live in (or frequent) Torquay enjoy those (all too few) episodes as much as impartial bystanders or does it just get tiresome or worse? Do parades of gits from the US (and I am including myself here) walk around town quoting the characters (as if they were the first to think of doing so) and drive the locals mad?

The restaurant sounds great and I shall let you get on now with a more serious discussion of its merits and successes, but I just had to ask and it seems this group would be qualified to answer.

[Basildog]

My parents own a small Hotel in Torquay, Fawlty Towers is more a training manuel than a comedy.Sorry Dad

[Bapi]

My parents own a small Hotel in Torquay, Fawlty Towers is more a training manuel than a comedy.Sorry Dad

←

Bas - you win. Please, no more "jokes" like that.

I wonder. Is it possible that any future article about the current dining scene in Torquay can be written without mentioning a certain 70s sitcom? I doubt it.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Bapi (log)

[moosnsqrl]

I wonder. Is it possible that any future article about the current dining scene in Torquay can be written without mentioning a certain 70s sitcom? I doubt it.

←

Bapi, thanks for your frank reply. I suspected as much. As I have spent much of my life in Kansas (USA) and hence asked about Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and ruby slippers ad nauseum, I was afraid that would be the case. Ok. I'll give it up. I appreciate your candor.

[Basildog]

Bapi, it's just the same here in Padstow, nothing is ever said about the place without reference to Rick Stein.Number 6 was reviewed last week by a national paper, first words "Rick Stein"

Edit, Back on topic, George was booked at the Elephant on Saturday, will grill her when she gets to work.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Basildog (log)

[Andy Lynes]

All this talk of Fawlty Towers is completely unjustified. The fact that when I arrived at the restaurant Simon was outside shouting at his car and beating it with the branch of a tree, the receptionist was overheard saying "Pretentious, Moi?" and a member of staff was seen scurrying up the stairs with an inflated plastic doll under his arm is completely irrelevant. And the less said about that table of Germans the better.

Edited March 7, 2006 by Andy Lynes (log)

[Bapi]

Edit, Back on topic, George was booked at the Elephant on Saturday, will grill her when she gets to work.

←

Fuck me Bas- I know George is a good looking lass- but are you so hard up for ingredients in Padstow that you have started serving up the staff?

Judy- Apologies if you thought my response was rather terse. In all honesty, I hadn't seen your post when I responded yesterday - just Basil's. But as Basil writes - associations such as -Rick Stein- to Padstow and Fawlty Towers to Torquay are what draw readers in. And then pedants like myself can pick up on the fact that they have done so.

Cheers

B

[moosnsqrl]

Judy- Apologies if you thought my response was rather terse. In all honesty, I hadn't seen your post when I responded yesterday - just Basil's. But as Basil writes - associations such as -Rick Stein- to Padstow and Fawlty Towers to Torquay are what draw readers in. And then pedants like myself can pick up on the fact that they have done so.

Cheers

B

←

Not at all - it was exactly what I wanted to have confirmed or refuted. If I hear "we're not in Kansas anymore" one more time I fear I will lose my appetite and have to resign my post here. But as I've not lived near the Elephant Restaurant (note intentional, forced attempt to bring this back on-topic) I just had to know if FT references were similarly trite and unwelcome. And now I know.

Cheers!