In this exclusive interview with The Knife, we talk to Simon Hulstone – the award-winning chef and owner of The Elephant, a Michelin starred restaurant in Torquay known for its commitment to seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. For nearly two decades, Simon has been pushing culinary boundaries, not only through his creative dishes but also by cultivating his own farm, where fresh produce drives his innovative and ever-changing menu.
Join us as Simon shares his insights on sustainability, the delicate balance between flavour and presentation, and the evolving dining scene in Torquay. Reflecting on his competitive experiences and collaborations with his family, Simon reveals the passion and philosophy that have helped The Elephant maintain its Michelin star for over 18 years. Get an inside look at the heart and soul of one of Britain’s top dining destinations.
With a farm dedicated to The Elephant’s ingredients, how has growing your own produce influenced the way you approach menu creation and ingredient selection, particularly in terms of seasonality?
The farm has always been an absolute dream for us, being able to grow and see what is growing weekly really helps with motivation and innovation for the menu. We want to use the ingredients at their peak so we change the menu to incorporate as much as we can as soon as it’s available. It’s a great learning tool for the young chefs to appreciate real seasonality.
Given your focus on locally sourced and sustainable ingredients, how do you balance sustainability with the demands of maintaining a Michelin starred menu?
We don’t look at it like that, we look at the fact we are using the best of what’s available and as long as we are consistent and using the finest ingredients the demands are outweighed.
What are some unique challenges or surprising advantages you've encountered while managing your farm alongside running a Michelin starred restaurant?
How quickly farm produce can suddenly appear with changes in the weather, we can have an abundance of let’s say strawberries one week and then absolutely nothing the week after. Being adaptable and having the time to prepare fresh produce. It doesn’t come nicely packaged and nothing is consistently shaped, so that’s our biggest headache. But ultimately the flavour is second to none.
You’ve mentioned that flavour became more important than presentation at one point in your career. How do you now strike a balance between creating visually stunning dishes and keeping the focus on taste?
Flavour is key and using the best of the season is the rule that helps. Obviously, we want our food to look visually enticing but sometimes you can overwork presentation and lose the flavour. I try to make dishes where you can recognise the ingredients and mentally be able to taste them before actually putting them in your mouth.
How have your experiences in competitions like the Bocuse d’Or and the Culinary Olympics shaped your approach to cooking at The Elephant, especially with regard to technique and creativity?
Competitions have always been something of a side quest and not really anything to do with the restaurant, the food at the Bocuse d’Or is just not possible to be replicated every day in a restaurant. But what we gain from competitions is consistency, organisation, time keeping and teamwork.
After your stage with Martín Berasategui in Spain, what specific influences from Basque cuisine have you integrated into your cooking, particularly in the way you approach ingredients or flavours?
I was in Spain at the height of the modern gastronomy revolution, so it was quite exciting to see amazing new ideas and techniques but personally I found a lot of the food over worked and masked with chemicals. I enjoyed what I saw and ate, but when it came down to it, I felt the simple tapas bars and local restaurants had a more realistic approach. The style of modern cuisine that was around then has since gone out of fashion. I was happy to see it but also happy to see the end of it.
The Elephant has held its Michelin star since 2006, a rare feat. How do you continuously innovate while maintaining the consistency that a Michelin star demands?
Over the last few years, the team here have really come into their own and my head chef Ben Drake is constantly cooking and trialling new dishes for me to sign off. The innovation here is fantastic and never stands still but we are always wary of our customer base and not cooking for awards, but for our loyal guests.
You’ve said that you now cook to make customers happy rather than to impress. How does this philosophy manifest in the dishes you serve, and how has it impacted your creative process?
This is our 20th year here in Torquay so we must be doing something right. We change our menus monthly and engage with our loyal customers who return regularly to see the new dishes. We have great suppliers who know what we want in terms of standards. It’s become quite easy as we feel we have a formula that works but also pleases both team and guest.
As The Elephant has helped elevate Torquay into a culinary destination, what changes have you observed in the local dining scene, and how do you envision its future?
I’m not sure we have done that as a lot of locals still don’t even know of us! It’s great that we have so many people travelling to dine with us and long may it continue but we are happy with our product and we add little changes and new décor to keep us different to the rest of the area. We are always dining out to make sure we are up on current trends and styles without alienating our regular guests. The future is unknown, restaurants are finding it harder each year to survive but as long as you stick to your guns and don’t compromise on quality you will always have loyal guests.
How has working with your wife Katy shaped the evolution of The Elephant, and how do you balance the business with your family life?
I am very, very lucky to have such a great wife and when Katy is out front it really feels like a family restaurant. The team here is amazing, and my daughters also now work part-time on the floor, so we have a great story for the guests. Family time is also so important, and we close three days a week and spend quality time together on these. We live above the restaurant, so my children are always up and down annoying the chefs and testing desserts. It really is a family restaurant, and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
Now that you judge rather than compete, how does your experience as a former competitor inform the way you evaluate dishes, and what do you look for in aspiring chefs?
Work ethic, young chefs seem to want everything on a plate without really working for it. We like to take on school leavers who haven’t yet seen or learnt anything but have a real passion to achieve and work hard. We have two apprentices here at present and they both came direct from school as did I when I started. I think having no outside influences makes them sponges for knowledge and coming straight into a place as regimental and consistent as ours is a great start. I want my young chefs to go on and be the next best thing and we have achieved that with so many chefs who have passed through our doors. That for me is the best award we can get.
How do you integrate playful, unexpected elements into your cooking while maintaining the seriousness of fine dining?
We have to be careful as we don’t want to scare guests with over-elaborate descriptions but also don’t want to make them think it’s too simple. We like to add something to a dish that makes them think or ask the question, “What was that?”. We want the guests to try things they wouldn’t normally try or cook at home and come away surprised with themselves and happy.