Food for Thought – Oli Marlow
It was just another food technology class at school when students – of which the budding chef Oli Marlow was one – were tasked with making a traditional shepherd’s pie recipe. Unfortunately, Marlow’s potato topping suffered from a Titanic sink, which prompted his teacher to announce that he would “never be a chef.”
Two decades later, the pie – which Marlow still refers to as “the worst one in history” – may as well be hurled in the direction of his teacher’s face. Marlow has gone on to become a hugely successful chef, leaving a sparkling trail of Michelin stars in his wake.
Since that discouraging exchange in the classroom, Hampshire-born Marlow has worked at some of the world’s best restaurants, from America to Norway to Hong Kong. You may also recognise Marlow from the latest season of Great British Menu (GBM), where his “internet-inspired” main course earned the highest score in the programme’s history. “My mum actually emailed my teacher during GBM to rub it in her face!” Marlow humorously tells me. “Turns out, she still remembered me. Although, probably for all the wrong reasons.”
Marlow, now 30, explains how food and hospitality have always been his raison d’être. His first job, aged 14, was as a pot-washer at Stanwell House, a hotel in Hampshire, where in-between scrubbing pans, he would make decorative sandwiches and desserts. “It’s wild looking back at that time,” he says. “I had no idea what I was doing. But it’s about having someone who trusts you who just lets you crack on with the job.”
After doing the culinary arts programme at Bournemouth and Poole College, Marlow undertook his apprenticeship at Chewton Glen in Hampshire, learning the high-quality of service expected from a Chef de Partie of a Relais & Château property.
In his early 20’s, Marlow then set sail for New York to work at the 3* Eleven Madison Park and then onto Oslo to work at Maeemo, also 3*. “I wanted to do something different every time,” Marlow explains. “You get a broader understanding of how food works and learn so much from wherever you go.”
With flighty feet back on British soil, Marlow went to work at Heston Blumenthal’s The Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire. “It was great, but it got a bit boring towards the end,” he confesses. “People go there because it’s a Heston classic; you go to try the snail porridge or bacon ice cream. There isn’t much room for change.”
It was when Marlow got a fateful call from Simon Rogan – the chef/patron behind L’Enclume in Cumbria (the U.K.’s best restaurant) and also Rogan&Co, Roganic London, Roganic Hong Kong and Aulis London, Aulis Hong Kong – that he was able to move between continents and shift styles.
“I loved it. I was spending three weeks in London and then in Hong Kong,” says Marlow. “I get bored very easily, so I thrive off seeing and exploring new things.”
You only need to look at Marlow’s personal Instagram to see that he is, indeed, a culinary shapeshifter. One day he’ll cook and curate a floral bouquet of a flatbread with cod roe emulsion, finger limes and cress. And the next, he’ll serve up a fossil-looking stack of steak with chimichurri and fermented red bean paste. So, what’s his recipe for success?
“It’s a lot of trial-and-error,” he explains. “You do the dish ten times before you get it right. We like to change up dishes all the time otherwise it’s so boring for the staff and the chefs who work there. I don’t want a robotic process; otherwise, people wouldn’t learn from anything.” To keep things interesting, Marlow’s ingredients change with the changing of the seasons in a “tasty, fun and casual way.”
He explains how his food philosophy follows that of L’Enclume’s and how important it is to respect seasonality of produce and local ingredients. He then explains how, across the industry, people toss around the word “seasonal” heedlessly; “Everyone always says their food is seasonal, but they are lying through their teeth. How can you say your food is seasonal when some places fly their Wagyu in from Japan?”
After years of to-ing and fro-ing between Hong Kong and London, the pandemic struck, and Marlow’s passport – like many others’ – froze over as a result. However, this meant he had more months to get ready for his debut on GBM – a show which sees the U.K.’s best chefs go head-to-head every week to have their dish served at the big finale banquet. Each week, four chefs from a region of the U.K. create a menu, and the food is placed before judges, including Matthew Fort, Rachel Khoo and Oliver Peyton. Marlow – who was part of the London and South East team – produced a winning main course during the regional heats and, as aforementioned, scored the highest score in the history of GBM.
His “special delivery” main course included a box with: guinea fowl breast, stuffed chicken wings, barbecued pickled maitake mushrooms, mushroom and miso ketchup, a crispy potato nest, and confit egg yolk. “I couldn’t believe no one else did it,” says a dumbfounded Marlow. “It felt so obvious with every restaurant and chef making takeaway meals during the pandemic.”
For Marlow’s own last ever banquet, he picked a start of “foie gras terrine and brioche.” Then, for his main course, “roast beef with all the trimmings, Yorkshire puddings, three different types of potato and loads of Bisto gravy – nothing fancy.” For dessert, “tiramisu” and to drink a “nice glass of red wine.”
Marlow has come a long way from days of making dry chicken fajitas and deflated pies in the classroom. He has travelled far and wide, worked at some of the world’s most prestigious restaurants and rubbed shoulders with some of the world’s best chefs. He tells me there are “new projects” in the pipeline that he can’t talk about. But you only need to cast a retrospective on Marlow’s impressive career so far to know that whatever project it may be, it is unlikely to crash into an iceberg.
Flatbread and Cod Roe emulsion
Smoked Cod roe
Ingredients
50g Smoked cod roe
300ml Sunflower oil
30g Egg yolks
15g Egg whites
Lemon juice
Salt
Method
Peel the smoked roe and pass through a fine sieve.
Blend cod roe in a Vitamix with the sunflower oil.
Mix the egg yolks, egg whites, lemon juice and salt in a Thermomix and on a low speed slowly incorporate the oil until it is thick.
Pass through a chinois and adjust the seasoning if required.
Chill down.
Flat bread
Ingredients
300g self-raising flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
145g natural yoghurt
2tbsp vegetable oil
Melted butter – for brushing
Method
Combine the flour, baking powder, yoghurt and oil with 1tsp salt and 2 tbsp water, and bring them together into a rough dough.
Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until slightly smooth, divide into 6 balls.
Heat a frying pan. Roll the dough out on a floured surface into circles then fry for a few minutes on either side until golden brown.
Brush with the melted butter before serving.