"YES CHEF”
STUART PHILLIPS
THE HUNDRED HOUSE

Winter 2007

Award-winning restaurant The Hundred House at Norton is a family-run success
with loyal customers and staff. Head Chef Stuart Phillips tells us more.

It's not many catering establishments, be it hotel, restaurant or cafe that can boast that they have kept hold of several key members of its kitchen brigade for 21 years, writes Sean Bird.

I'm sure if you were to tally up these eateries in the Marches area with this in mind you would be able to count them on one hand alone and probably not use every finger to boot.

Well there is one in our area that this astonishing accolade can be awarded - the Hundred House Hotel, situated between Bridgnorth and Telford in the picturesque village of Norton on the Appley Estate.

Under the expert tutorage of head chef Stuart Phillips, who himself is par of the family-run management team, his parents, Henry and Sylvia, have "led by example" thus creating a brigade of chefs that work like a well oiled machine to the tune of his menus.

European training

Having trained in London and France, Stuart's roots are firmly from the old school of cooking, citing Elizabeth David as one of his main influences in creating an array of menus that consist of all the firm favourites that we can all appreciate. His style as he puts it is to create "simple things done well".

With this as the kitchen ethos it is no wonder that some of his apprentice chefs have gone on to bigger and better things. In one year alone the kitchen suffered its biggest temporary loss of skilled hands when three of these protégés took all the knowledge they had learned to pastures new.

Kitchen royalty

To be fair the places inquestion all had at least one Michelin Star apiece - their names read like a roll call of kitchen royalty: Le Manoir with Raymond Blanc, Hibiscus with Claude Bosi and The Arkle Restaurant at The Chester Grosvenor, a place where the young Stuart also spent time.

Managing up to 60 covers a night in the bar and restaurant, alongside a successful function trade, the five strong team in the kitchen are put through their paces. They dish up good wholesome food that combines ingredients from all four corners of the region and the continent, along with fresh produce from the walled garden. Helpful locals regularly arrive at the kitchen door with a bounty of ingredients for all to take advantage of.

It is this eclectic mix of produce, together with Stuart's enthusiasm, patience and willingness to train anyone that gets "excited by food" that makes the kitchen at the Hundred House a great place to spend one's culinary career.

Taste Shropshire & The Marches