Melissa Blease steps inside Clayton’s Kitchen, the much-loved local institution celebrating 12 years, to chat all things food with Rob Clayton.
As dusk starts to set on a chilly winter evening in Bath and Christmas sparkle lights your path, George Street’s own glow-up comes into its own.
The little independent shops that thrive along one of the most vibrant thoroughfares in Bath are beautifully-lit for passer-by browsing purposes, a plethora of bars and taverns shimmer invitingly beyond their picture windows and enticing kitchen smells waft on the bracing breeze.
But one beautiful little brasserie in particular, radiant with fairy-lit fusion, grabs the attention most of all: Clayton’s Kitchen, a cornerstone of Bath’s independent restaurant scene wholly deserving of its local institution status – and, this year, celebrating its 12th birthday. 12 years! In restaurant world – particularly in the current climate – that’s a massive landmark indeed.
“It is, but I don’t think people realise it takes so long to get to where you want to be!” says Rob Clayton, the hardworking chef/patron who originally wanted to study to be a vet in his home town of Grimsby before his attention was diverted towards the hospitality industry by a shrewd teacher who spotted his potential.
Just food
Following a course in Home Economics, Rob’s career proper began with a commis chef stint at Antony Worrall Thompson’s Knightsbridge restaurant Ménage à Trois (his course lecturer, offering yet more support, had spotted the vacancy) before he went on to hone his skills under legendary chef Nico Landenis at the triple Michelin-starred Chez Nico. In 1995, Rob earned a Michelin star of his own at Huntstrete House Hotel (now The Pig Hotel, Bath) and, two years later, he moved to the Bath Priory, where he achieved another Michelin star which he maintained for his seven-year residency.
“Earning and maintaining those stars was a wonderful experience,” says Rob, looking back on his star-spangled days. “But overall, I simply liked to cook without being too precious about it. At the end of the day, it’s just food, and food should be an enjoyable, happy thing, not a stressed-out thing.”
And food at Clayton’s Kitchen is most definitely an enjoyable, happy, stress-free affair: seasonal, uncomplicated, affordable, uplifting and impeccably presented. There’s more than a hint of that Michelin flair on the plate; a starter dish of Pembrokeshire Little Haven Crab with a shellfish bisque sauce dotted hither and thither with all manner of oils and flavour-bombs is almost – but only almost – too beautiful to disturb with my fork… and it takes a super-inspired chef indeed to lift roasted Cotswold chicken breast on cep risotto out of the beige/brown doldrums to spectacularly variegated heights. Across the whole menu, a strict adherence to local sourcing and a clear passion for good produce bolsters the foundations of every dish while a similar ethos brings cheer to the bar too; overall, the whole experience is a class act, from start to finish.
Is Rob’s restaurant now exactly where he wanted it to be, 12 years on from opening his doors in Bath?
“When we first opened, we did everything: breakfast, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner – ambitious, for sure!”, Rob recalls. “We even had our own cocktail bar downstairs. But looking back, we were stretching ourselves too far. So, we started paring back, and got to a point where we knew what we were doing, and had a really good team. Then Covid came along.”
Ah, the Covid crisis. While the public were holed up at home, the hospitality industry in particular was thrown into long-term – and, as it turned out, long-lasting – disarray.
“It was nice, in one way, having the time off to completely refocus,” says Rob, talking about the crisis. “We were eventually allowed to offer a takeaway service, which was fun for a while but obviously not what you want, long-term. It was scary not knowing what was going to happen, but when we were finally allowed to reopen it was the craziest time ever, with up to 100 people eating outside. Even when we were allowed to reopen inside, people still wanted to eat outside; we went from doing maybe 80 or 90 covers max on a Saturday night to 140 with the outside tables too. Even today, even when it’s quite cold, people still want to sit outside!”
A quintessentially British brasserie
And when the sun comes out to play, why wouldn’t anybody want to do just that? There’s a certain je ne sais quoi about the terrace tables on the historic flagstones outside this quintessentially British brasserie that puts me in mind of Paris (the 3rd and 4th arrondissements in particular).
But then again, eating inside in one of Rob’s smart, bright dining rooms is never going to be a dark or ‘nighttime-ish’ experience, whatever the weather or time of day. Big picture windows bring the outside in, and subtle sparkle adds to the serene yet buoyant beat; dress up or dress down, party on or chill out and you’re instantly swathed in a soft blanket of seductive bonhomie.
Has Rob hit on the perfect restaurant formula? “I just do what I think is right, and avoid following whatever the current trend is,” he says. “I believe you need to love what you do in order to strike a balance that works for everybody involved.”
Loving what he does is clearly deeply embedded in Rob’s DNA. I’m fascinated by chefs and I’ve interviewed dozens of them in my food-writing career, but few are as easy-going, affable and good-natured as Rob.
“I really, really love to cook,” he tells me, several times throughout our conversation. What aspects, in particular? “I like the creativity, I like the routine – I like having a job that I like to do. When you speak to people who hate going to work, or chefs who say they’re doing it for the money, that makes me really sad – I just don’t get it. Of course, we all need money, but isn’t it nice when you earn that money doing something you love?”
Putting diners first
Putting the needs of his diners before any hint of ‘cheffy ego’ clearly pays off for Rob too. On the evening we visited, he was chatting away to a handful of old friends from his Bath Priory years – and if you drop by on a Friday lunchtime, you’ll probably meet Ernie.
“Ah, Ernie!” says Rob. “He’s been coming to Clayton’s Kitchen pretty much every Friday lunchtime since we opened. He’s a fascinating man! He comes to Bath on the train all the way from Swindon – we love him! But we’re lucky to have lots of regulars – all sorts of people from Lady so-and-so to groups of lovely, polite bikers in their leather jackets. I love getting to know our regulars!”
And if you’re one of those regulars, you’ll no doubt get to know Rob’s family too. Over our dinner, we got to know Rob’s daughter Imogen (“Imi”) – a young Front of House superstar who knows as much about wine matches and how to make a diner feel special as Fred Sirieix does.
Rob’s other daughter Liberty regularly helps out on Saturday evenings, his wife Sara takes charge of all the restaurant bookings, his dad keeps a keen eye on online reviews and even the family’s beautiful Weimeraner Myrtle is an Instagram superstar in her own right. As Clayton’s Kitchen is such a strong family affair, would Rob encourage Imi and Liberty to follow in their dad’s kitchen-centric footsteps? “I’d definitely recommend it if they wanted to,” says Rob. “It’s a nice job!”
But there’s little point in either of Rob’s daughters eyeing up the family empire just yet. “I was 55 in July, but what would I do if I retired?” says Rob. “There’s nothing else I want to do! Maybe in another five years I might feel differently, but I honestly can’t see why I would.”
Like legions of Clayton’s Kitchen fans, I hope Rob never changes his mind – not least of all because the restaurant’s 25th anniversary, just over 12 years from now, would be a spectacular event; I already look forward to raising a glass to Clayton’s Kitchen with Ernie.