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How long has Atelier been in the pipeline?<br />
We viewed and fell in love with the building over two<br />
years ago. It’s been a long road to this point and we<br />
can’t wait to share the space with our guests.<br />
Tell us about the wider team behind Atelier?<br />
Kyndra (my long-term professional partner and<br />
fiancée) and I will be your hosts, but we have an<br />
entire team of people who have made Atelier<br />
happen. Alex Claridge, my friend and long-term<br />
collaborator, has been a huge support behind-thescenes,<br />
and we’re lucky to have a team of creatives<br />
that really share our vision and have helped bring it<br />
to life.<br />
Tell us about the first menu, Terroir? What<br />
sort of thing can guests expect?<br />
‘Terroir’ is a celebration of the native pantry<br />
of the British Isles. There will be three ‘Terroir’<br />
experiences to explore, a seven-course cocktail tasting<br />
experience that takes guests on a journey across the<br />
UK celebrating a plethora of landscapes and their<br />
esoteric flavours and ingredients, house cocktails<br />
from the a la carte menu, and a four-course tasting<br />
menu that offers a concise, but tailored experience<br />
that reflects British seasonal changes.<br />
Do you have any particular favourite<br />
ingredients to use?<br />
I really love introducing new flavours to people. It<br />
brings a sense of intrigue rather than expectation.<br />
Whether that be acorn or sandalwood or even<br />
bamboo, new experiences seldom come along for<br />
foodies, so I take it very seriously.<br />
Will there be any ingredients which guests<br />
might find unusual?<br />
Every single drink should have something familiar<br />
and something unusual about it. ‘Terroir’ will really<br />
test people’s dependence on overused flavours like<br />
ROBERT HAS ALSO<br />
CREATED COCKTAILS<br />
FOR JQ FAVOURITE THE<br />
WILDERNESS<br />
passionfruit and strawberry. Instead, we want to<br />
show people awesome flavours like gorse flower,<br />
birch, meadowsweet, sea buckthorn, quince and oak<br />
moss.<br />
How has your passion for drinks creation<br />
and cocktails developed over the years?<br />
20 years of cocktail making has culminated in<br />
what I hope is a hybridity of approachability and<br />
iconoclasm. I want to change the way people<br />
think about cocktails, and offer them flavours and<br />
experiences that push the boundaries. However, the<br />
experience has to be inviting and welcoming - the<br />
success of experimentation only comes from building<br />
trust with your guests, bringing them on the journey.<br />
What are your main influences when it comes<br />
to constructing a new drinks experience?<br />
Fine dining restaurants, 100%. Kyndra and I eat all<br />
over the world and we take a lot of inspiration from<br />
restaurant culture and those experiences.<br />
Reservations are now open for the first Atelier<br />
menu, ‘Terroir’, which runs from September 22<br />
to November 12, and can be made at<br />
www.atelierbyrobertwood.com. Atelier seats<br />
just 26 guests and is open Thursday to Saturday,<br />
with advance booking highly recommended.<br />
www.jaimemagazine.com<br />
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