FOOD + DRINK in THE KITCHEN WITH
ALEX & GRACE YATES
HEAD CHEF / OWNERS, BOWLEYS AT THE PLOUGH, WEST MALLING
Tell us about your culinary journey so far. After training in London, working through classic French techniques before moving into modern British cooking, I was fortunate to learn from some exceptionally talented chefs who taught me both precision and the importance of letting great produce shine. After years in highpressure London kitchens, Grace and I decided it was time to create something more personal. We wanted to build a restaurant that felt connected to the land, the seasons and our values, so we took over The Plough in the quiet village of Trottiscliffe and created Bowleys together.
What’ s the restaurant concept at Bowleys? We’ re a small 24-cover fine dining restaurant in a beautiful 15thcentury building in the village of Trottiscliffe. Our concept is simple: cook what’ s in season, use as much as possible from our own kitchen garden, and work with producers who care as much as we do. It’ s refined modern British cooking that feels special but never stuffy; elegant plates with a strong sense of place. What makes our team special is that everyone is a chef, apart from Grace, who is our only full-time front-of-house team member. This means the whole kitchen team is fully involved in service- they know the menu inside out, understand every wine on the list and deliver the same level of care whether they’ re in the kitchen or at the table.
Your kitchen is building a reputation around sustainability and low-waste cookery- what are some of the everyday practices and philosophies that you’ ve implemented? Our core philosophy is respect for the ingredient, the producer and the environment. Everyday practices include growing as much as we can in our own kitchen garden just 300 metres away and using the whole ingredient so nothing is wasted. Additionally, vegetable trimmings become stocks, herb stalks go into oils and cordials, and any imperfect produce is turned into ferments, pickles or jams for the kitchen and bar. We work very closely with a small number of local producers who share our values and we plan our menus around the produce they harvest. It’ s about being thoughtful rather than flashy.
How do you approach creating a menu that still delivers the quality and excitement your guests have come to expect while embracing a more sustainable approach to your dishes? We start with the best possible ingredients and then ask ourselves how we can honour them completely. If one ingredient doesn’ t fit the kitchen dish, we may use it for cocktails to continue our support for local businesses. Sustainability and quality are not in opposition- they support each other. We design the menu around what is at its absolute best each week, rather than forcing ideas onto ingredients. This naturally leads to more exciting, vibrant dishes. The excitement comes from creativity within constraints. Limiting ourselves to what’ s in season and what we can use fully pushes us to be more inventive, not less.
What is your signature / favourite dish? The Dorset crab remains one of our proudest dishes; it’ s a true reflection of our commitment to sustainability. Inspired by the spirit of the spider crab, this dish supports our South Coast fishermen and celebrates responsible sourcing. By using every element of the crab, we honour the catch in full, extracting deeper flavour, reducing waste and showcasing the very best of Dorset’ s waters.
Tell us about the recipes that we are showcasing and where the idea to carry the sustainable ethos from kitchen to cocktails came from? The Hugh Lowe Farms strawberry dessert and the Smoked Strawberry Cocktail are perfect examples of how we connect the kitchen and bar. We take the same Kentish strawberries and smoke a portion of them in our Green Egg BBQ Smoker with Westerhall Rum No. 5 and a touch of smoked Maldon sea salt. The beautiful fruit goes into the buttermilk panna cotta dessert with meadowsweet meringue, while the purée from the cooked strawberries is used in the cocktail. Nothing is wasted.
What ingredient could you not live without? Salt. A good salt can make or break a dish. We use it to season, to draw out flavour, in pickling and even in some of our cocktails. It’ s the most important seasoning tool we have.
What is your favourite Kentish ingredient, produce or producer? Right now it’ s probably the vegetables and herbs from our own garden, but I’ m also obsessed with the strawberries from Hugh Lowe Farms and the incredible lamb we get from Glovers Farm just down the road. Kent has such fantastic produce; we’ re very lucky.
Which present chef would you love to work in the kitchen with? Tommy Banks. I love how he works with his own land at The Black Swan in Oldstead, North Yorkshire, and his total commitment to zero waste and seasonality. His style feels very aligned with what we’ re trying to do.
Aside from your own restaurant, where’ s your go-to place to dine in Kent? The Fordwich Arms. It’ s brilliant. Exceptional cooking in a relaxed setting. I always leave feeling inspired.
What is your guilty pleasure? After a busy dinner service, there’ s nothing better than tearing into some of our focaccia dipped straight into the jus from the lamb or beef. It’ s warm, salty and ridiculously comforting.
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