Greg Clarke: 'An Englishman doing Mexican food'

Given the varied, up-and-down nature of Greg Clarke’s career as a chef to date, perhaps the move to open up a Mexican restaurant in Hove is not as much of a left-field decision as it may first appear.

As Greg points out during this interview: “I’ve never been one to want to be pigeon-holed as anything.”

Greg has a Michelin-starred background, working at the likes of Midsummer House, Restaurant Martin Wishart, The Ledbury, Restaurant Tom Aikens and Maaemo.

That all came having initially been kicked out of catering college as a teenager for poor attendance.

A few years down the line, a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and a serious arm injury took Greg out of the kitchen for around 18 months. Whilst working at Pidgin, a freak accident saw Greg put his hand through a pane of cracked glass in the kitchen, which required several surgeries before he could hold a knife again.

Greg’s career has also included a spell doing private chef work for some high-profile clients, including David Beckham and Guy Ritchie, before eventually now finding himself opening a restaurant, El Bolillo, having been approached by Sussex-based investors.

It is his first venture, alongside partner Matty Salvetti, the pair having met whilst both working at The Pass at South Lodge Hotel in Sussex, Matty as restaurant manager while Greg completed a six-month residency.

Discussing how the decision to open up a Mexican restaurant in Hove came about, Wiltshire-born Greg told The Staff Canteen: “It was a weird one really because we had a site, which is still kind of in play, in Brighton, which we’re going to do a chef’s table at.

“It’s a Grade-II listed building and the planning was taking ages. Then this little site came up in Hove. It’s basically what we were going to do as our second restaurant.

“We just decided to take a punt at it and go with it first. Probably in the current climate with people spending less at the higher end, we’re going in at a neighbourhood price at around £50-60 average spend per head on food, it is a little bit safer at the minute.”

The site has been a restaurant for around 50 years, previously housing an Indian and Italian, as well as, to Greg’s surprise, a Mexican.

“We didn’t know that until I was ripping several layers of tiles off the wall and found some really cheap, nasty cactus and sombrero tiles, proper Tex-Mex stuff,” he said.

“We kept them as a little souvenir.”

Right there is a small insight into what is on offer at El Bolillo, which opened in September. It is a not akin to a Mexican chain restaurant. As Greg explains, there is far more to Mexican cuisine.

“I’ve always had a bit of a passion for it,” he said.

“It seems like everybody and their mother is doing something to do with Japanese or turning their food Asian at the minute. I love using Asian influences in what I’d normally do as a fine dining chef. But I just felt it was something missing from the area.

“Mexican food is steeped in so many other different cultures. You’ve got Portuguese or Spanish, west African, there’s a lot of French and Caribbean influences you see through Mexican food. That kind of history lends itself to creativity almost. It’s quite an open book.

“I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent delving into the nuances of recipes in different regions and stuff like that. We’re trying to be as respectful as possible, keeping the integrity of how vibrant Mexico’s food is, but then just putting our own nod to it.

“The last thing I wanted this to be was some pan-Mexican restaurant. That’s our only failure at the minute, some people coming in thinking it’s going to be something like Wahaca. Then they come through the door and see it’s a little bit more refined than that and playful and creative.

“We’ve had Mexicans in here, which is a bit daunting at first, because you’re like ‘how are they going to perceive this?’. We haven’t really shied away from it. The name of the restaurant is taking the piss out of myself really, it’s Mexican street slang for ‘the white boy’. I’m holding my hand up and being like ‘I am an Englishman doing Mexican food’.

“But several Mexican people have been in saying it’s so authentic.

“People’s perception of Mexican food is Tex-Mex. It’s not Mexico. It’s South American, Texas, burritos. Mexico is such a vast country. Every area you go to is so different. Most of the fine dining restaurants over there have got chefs that have been inspired or worked in North America and Europe and then come back are they’re doing refined European food with Mexican ingredients. We’re doing the opposite, Mexican inspired food with European ingredients, so it’s quite funny.”

In terms of the feel of the restaurant, which features a kitchen full of chefs with Michelin-starred backgrounds, Matty said: “We wanted to create something that Greg and I would want to go and eat in. We’ve tried to keep it small and approachable in every level.

“We’ve got a really small team, everybody’s worked together before, so we have a really nice dynamic between us. It really shows, everybody laughs all weekend.

“If you’re a group of friends and you want to go somewhere and you’re starting to get to the age where you don’t want to go pub crawling and clubbing, but you want to go for a nice meal and have some fun cocktails and just make it into a whole night, it’s a great space for that, it’s that kind of vibe.”

And things are going well. Open four nights a week, Wednesday to Saturday, due to demand, El Bolillo is now also open every Saturday lunchtime.

Greg and Matty have taken on all the jobs to get the restaurant up and running, which has made life “more than hectic”.

Greg explained: “We decided to do everything ourselves – we were the project managers, the interior designers, painter and decorators, general handyman.

“I’m qualified in all areas now, I’ve fixed boilers, unblocked drains, fixed electrical problems. I’ve had a crash course in how to be a general tradey and jack of none!”

But how does he feel about having the job of being the head chef in the kitchen?

Greg said: “I have loads more grey hairs!

“We’re just trying to do things properly. I’m not the kind of chef who raises his voice whatsoever. That’s the kitchens that I’ve worked in, so I’m always conscious of not being a product of my previous environment.

“We’ve set a tone straightaway of only opening four days a week so that we don’t overwork staff.

“We’re treating staff right, we’re paying London wages, everybody gets transparent service charge. Ten years ago when I was coming up, everybody did the same thing, some places still do and I think it’s atrocious, having your wages built up with service charge and this kind of stuff. It’s abhorrent.

“We’ve just set a tone straightaway as restaurateurs, or business people, just to try and be good operators.”