Hidden Hut Secret Garden

Although in truth no longer hidden nor secret, for when Simon Stallard starts a fire, the smoke signals are read across the world, as RUPERT BATES discovers

The British love talking about the weather; we love moaning about it too – the prospect of wind and rain seeing many rushing to postpone a BBQ, leaving the warmer grilling nations to laugh at us, as our outdoor dining window closes for yet another day.

Simon Stallard loves talking about the weather; in fact, one of the country’s most celebrated fire chefs might just be obsessed by it, but in a hugely positive way. Cancel? You must be kidding. Have you seen the forecast? Yes, he has, and Simon will work with it as if another ingredient. Have you tried his gale-force sardines? They are worth wearing trawlerman oilskins and waders for.

The Hidden Hut on Cornwall’s south coast is a force of nature itself – an outdoor food phenomenon. To paraphrase Rudyard Kipling, Stallard cooks for kings, without losing the common touch. The ‘kings’ were more political leaders than monarchs, with Stallard chosen to provide the fire feast for the G7 summit in 2021, serving lobster, scallops and beef to the Bidens, Johnsons and Macrons.

But the café at Porthcurnick beach on the Roseland Peninsula is the antithesis of elitist, with its legions of fans from all walks of life, invariably hardy souls and the best advertisements for robust outdoor clothing. What are the odds on The Hidden Hut becoming the world’s first Michelin Star picnic? “The appetite for outdoor feasting is insatiable. Fire creates an event and a memory, elevating a dining experience,” says Stallard.

We actually meet at his latest venture, The Fire Club – the stunning Walled Garden in Cobham, Surrey. I swear I entered through the back of a wardrobe, so magical is the setting and built for BBQ.

Stallard, originally from Farnham, knows Surrey and also recognises that a lot of the Home Counties decamp to Cornwall for holidays; an understanding of his audience that has seen sell outs of his feasts, with a long table in the Long Room of the Walled Garden ensuring English reserve does not last long ‘as people arrive as strangers and leave as friends’ says Stallard.

Restaurants love to offer premium seats where you can watch the chefs spin their plates. At The Fire Club, you are looking over Stallard’s shoulder as he turns the fillet of Cornish long horn beef over beech charcoal and applewood smoke and spritzes the hand-dived scallops with the regenerative rosé brilliance of Mirabeau La Folie sparkling wine. Don’t worry, plenty of bottles left over for the table. This is cooking as theatre, and you get to talk to Hamlet.

When it comes to the grills he operates, Stallard is brand agnostic – the more, the better, cooking over every form of apparatus, with Metartal firing up the lobsters. And it is not just him. The Fire Club, with BBQ: Fire, Food & Outdoor Living as media partner, welcomes established chefs from restaurants, as well as championing aspiring young cooks looking for a platform and a break to amplify their fire skills and reputation.

Like many, Stallard’s first BBQ memory was dad cooking in the garden, family gathered round the grill paying their last respects to the sausage.

Stallard studied catering at Guildford College, before working in a hotel restaurant; and then it was all about travel, lots of travel – France, Italy, Austria, Asia, USA – the training was classical, but Stallard is both rule-breaker and rain-maker.

His first venture into his spiritual home of Cornwall was turning an ordinary pub into a gastro hit. He also began working for a seafood merchant, guiding chefs around the fish markets, extolling the virtues of sustainability and fresh, local produce from the boats.

“Then this tiny shed, off grid on the beach, stole my heart, and that was 18 years ago.”

At the start it was just Stallard and his business partner, Jemma Glass. “We built a grill and some tables, told people to bring their own plates, cutlery and drink and I said I was just going to cook. The tickets flew out of the door, and it is still the same philosophy today. Wherever I am lucky enough to be in the world, I am always looking for an excuse to peel myself back to the Hut.”

Stallard is a self-proclaimed geek, unable to leave anything alone, constantly tinkering whether it is a new grill set up or a different wood, trying and testing smoke profiles and heat angles.

And there is the weather. What’s the wind direction? It will dictate what fuel he chooses and which way his grills face, rotating whether it needs to be in the smoke or out of it. Stallard is a glorious fusion of Heath, or Hearth, Robinson and Robinson Crusoe.

Wind direction, temperature, not just the grilling. Beautiful sunshine but 50mph easterly winds, so change fuel – not too much spark or smoke pouring over customers. One of his favourites is the washing line grill, clipping the tails of 400 sardines to the line in one go, and cooking them in the smoke above with the heat below.

“The sardines are not touching the grill. Around the gills, head and neck is where you need the most amount of heat, with the least near the tail. You then lower the fish down when about to serve to crisp them up, then crank them back up to unpeg, with no sticking issues.”

Stallard studies the forecast with the diligence of a farmer and, no matter the weather, with a strong charcoal base weatherproof, a feast is never cancelled. He’ll give his guests a gazebo if it is torrential wind and rain, but a Hidden Hut guest learns to bring a heavy coat.

Just half a mile from the Hut in Gerrans, Portscatho is The Standard Inn, also run by Stallard and his team and, yes, of course there are grills as well as a huge wood-fired oven.

“Again, the philosophy is super simple ­– a plate of sardines, or smoky crab claws with just a hammer and some aioli. Grab some wine and beer and you can comfortably burn through an afternoon, watching the chefs from the pub garden.”
Stallard has great chefs such as Dan Wilson and Lee Trevena, working alongside him, always challenging each other, looking for the new, not just off-grid, but off-piste.

“The Hidden Hut menu changes every day and that can be based on temperature, weather and even historical data. The wind tomorrow is a strong southerly; that’s okay, we’ll plan accordingly. I think we study the weather more than we do food trends!”

His global travels inform Stallard’s cooking too, looking to see how he can twist or shout a different ingredient or flavour into the mix, and he regularly visits Texas, sharing his knowledge and gathering fresh ideas from US pitmasters and BBQ joints, where he is seeing exciting fusion influences be it Texan with Korean or Japanese flavours, and smoked dishes with big hits of Indian curries and Sri Lankan sauces.

Stallard is always on the move; usually in his trusty Land Rover Defender – the wheels to get him off road with a boot full of grills and thrills, whether it is a wild kitchen at the Goodwood Festival of Speed, in the middle of the Arabian desert, or the Highlands of Scotland.

“I love the opportunities to cook in the remotest, wildest places, setting up my table anywhere. If anyone asks: ‘can we possibly eat there?’ I’m immediately shouting: ‘Yes, I’ll cook’!”

If you hear Stallard shout: ‘I’ll cook!’ you want to be there, wherever it is in the world.