Tell us about Margaret’s
Alex Olivier: We’ve had Restaurant 22 since 2018 and we absolutely love what we do there. It’s a fine dining, once-a-year occasion place and we love giving that time and attention to the guests. But at the that level it’s very labour intensive and technical and although we try and be as relaxed as possible there is always an element of formality within that style of dining. Margaret’s came about because we really wanted to do a more casual bistro to which people would want to come once every couple of months if not once a month.
Sam Carter: It’s literally next door but one to Restaurant 22. We had previously been renting the unit for storage and then the landlord offered it to us. We’d always wanted a second place but were adamant that it had to be close by so we could still have complete control over the two. I didn’t want to be in a car in between two places. I definitely don’t want to put my name to something unless I’m fully involved in it, so this enables me to be in two places at once.
What’s on the menu?
SC: It is very streamlined and led by what’s available. We use a lot of local suppliers such as CoFarm, which is a community allotment three miles away and where we have first dibs on everything they grow. We wait until they tell us what they’ve got and then we make the menu for that week. At the moment we are serving a selection of crudities with smoked cod’s roe and a chilli sambal and then sharing plate starters such as homemade foccacia with rosemary along with a cold pressed English rapeseed oil with a fermented blackcurrant vinegar made about six months ago, and a pesto made from broad beans.
AO: At lunch there is a choice of two starters, mains and desserts. For dinner we serve a menu that starts with dips, bread, and crudities, and then various snacks such as ham hock terrine, monk fish tempura bites, and a demitasse of pea soup. The table will be full with all of these little plates for the guests to try all at once. Then, for the mains there will be a choice of a meat, vegetarian or fish dish, and then either a dessert or cheese.
It’s a big gamble. We’ve sold our house and moved into a studio flat above Margaret’s. We have put everything into it
Alex Olivier
SC: We have just three sides - new potatoes with charcoal butter; Isle of Wight tomatoes with different types of basil; and a leaf salad with raspberry vinaigrette. All of sides work with each main - whether that be cod, lamb, or a tart of Old Winchester cheese and Cambridgeshire asparagus. The set lunch is £45, and the evening menu is £65 Monday to Thursdays and £75 on Friday and Saturday.
How different is it to Restaurant 22?
AO: It’s more relaxed and there’s not as many elements on the plate - it just uses really great ingredients and lets them sing. Restaurant 22 is in an old terrace house so we’ve always been quite limited in what we can do; there is little storage and it runs off domestic electricity. The building in which Margaret’s is in has got three-phase, which is a novelty, and there’s much more storage as well as a big wine cellar. Restaurant 22 will lean on it in terms of storage and equipment.
SC: It has also got a lovely big garden out the back in which we plan to put some raised beds to grow a few herbs and vegetables. We’re not going to be self sufficient but we’ll grow some baby vegetables, peas, beans and wild flowers for both places.
Will the two venues help each other?
SC: In this climate you have to be really smart. For example, we will be getting in whole venison saddles, breaking them down and using the premium cuts at Restaurant 22 and serving venison shepherd’s pie and croquettes at Margaret’s. We’ll also use a lot of the bones. We had turbot on the menu at Restaurant 22 and we’re using the bones for fish stock and sauce at Margaret’s, and also the trim for fritters.
AO: We want to minimise our waste as much as possible. That was a key driver for Sam.
SC: There was a moment about a year ago when we using halibut tails for staff food, and I just thought ‘what is going on here?’ The staff loved it, they were getting the best meals, but I knew we needed to do something about it.
Your new restaurant is named after a special person...
AO: Margaret is an amazing regular at Restaurant 22. The first week we opened she booked her 80th birthday party and since then she has been back at least once a month, and normally every fortnight for lunch. She comes on her own, loves food and is full of life. She is not afraid to tell us if something needs tweaking. She lives a few minutes away so we decided to name it after her. We wanted the restaurant to embody that love of food and drink and conviviality that Margaret has.
SC: I reckon she’s made about 200 visits. When we told her we were naming the restaurant after her she said it was like getting an MBE.
How’s business at the moment?
AO: Things at Restaurant 22 are pretty decent but business has dropped off a little bit over the past six months. Up until last year every service was full, now we’re running at 85% capacity. Everything has gone up in price so much so what we’ve really struggled with is that we want to keep paying the team as well as we can because they are also facing rising costs in their personal lives and you can’t run a restaurant like 22 without the most amazing team.
SC: When we started there was three of us in the kitchen and three front of house and everyone was doing 80-hour weeks. Now all of front of house staff are doing 38-41 hours and we’re really strict with it. We’ve gone from having six employees to 20.
AO: Having another option like Margaret’s, we hope people will be able to afford to go out a bit more regularly and that will take a bit of the pressure off. We also hope they won’t take custom off each other. It’s a big gamble. We’ve sold our house and moved into a studio flat above Margaret’s. We have put everything into it and we hope it’s going to pay off.