Let us introduce you to our Chef Director, Serin Aubrey.
Serin has played a large role in getting the Dartmouth Food Festival to where it stands today. As Chef Director he helps co-ordinate all our foodie events in the lead up to and throughout the Festival weekend.
Escaping London over 15 years ago, where Serin trained as a chef in Sir Terence Conran’s flagship London restaurant, Le Pont de la Tour, to move closer to the family farm in Blackawton, Serin opened the Anzac Street Bistro, a much loved and successful bistro in the centre of Dartmouth. After 11 successful years Serin decided to have a change so, with old friend Simon Entwistle, Dartmouth Fine Foods was born, providing bespoke catering for private events, including our recent Summer Event.
My Foodie Life
Q. How long have you lived in the South Hams?
I moved to Devon in 1998 from London to be close to the family farm in Blackawton.
Q. What is your favourite thing to do in Dartmouth?
Drinking a cold pint outside at The Dartmouth Arms or DA as everyone knows it, while my kids run around Bayards Cove and Fort, with a Rockfish take-away on the way home to Strete.
Q. How big is the biggest fish you’ve caught?
I am a very unlucky fisherman, especially as we have a family boat moored in Dartmouth, so no fish of notoriety but lots and lots of fresh Mackerel in season, which the kids just love simply grilled with salt, pepper and butter.
Q.Who inspired you to cook?
My mother is a great cook and we grew lots of fruit and veg in Kent along with home grown lamb so she was my inspiration. From a very early age I realised you can impress and make people very happy through cooking food well and to this day still get a massive kick out of guests with smiles on their faces be it at work or at home. (May have impressed some girls in my teens with entertaining!)
Q. We all know we should eat sustainably, with that in mind what is your favourite seasonal dish for October?
I am biased, roast lamb is a must, we lamb late on the farm so have great lambs in autumn and winter, so a roast leg with garlic, rosemary and lemon (zest and juice), along side butternut squash, cavolo nero and, of course, roast potatoes with pancetta.
Q. Some very important questions: chips or mash?
Chips.
Q. Do you mushy pea?
Yes.
Q. Tartar sauce or Ketchup?
Tartar (must be home made).
Q. If you had to choose a ‘last supper’, what would it be?
That is an almost impossible question, but if I had my arm twisted I would say a hot grilled lobster with garlic butter and French fries.
Q. What are you looking forward to most at the Dartmouth Food Festival this year?
It is damn hard work for me, so get very little time to enjoy it, but the thing I look forward to most is the Sunday evening, meeting up with the rest of the committee and helpers and having a bite to eat and a glass of wine. The sense of achievement and the great friends I have made and continue to make through the Festival is just amazing and brings the biggest sense of achievement and well being I can’t begin to describe.
