ON THE GROUND AT HIGHER GROUND: JOE OTWAY
A chef’s philosophy extends beyond themselves, and into the very formation of the dishes they construct; from the fields of produce they select to the accompanying drink – how a chef treats his ingredients is a markable signifier of their belief systems.
No one knows this more than chef Joe Otway, who approaches his ingredients through a lens dictated by the British seasons. Joe’s latest restaurant, Higher Ground, in Manchester, is the pinnacle of his environmental philosophy. So we asked him to write about it…
Higher Ground started as a pop-up three years ago – with the mindset that we wanted to break into the food system in the North West and Greater Manchester because at the time, there was fairly low access to really high-quality produce. Our first step was to start Cinderwood Market Garden and grow produce there to aid both ourselves and others in the community.
If you work with predominantly British produce, the hungry gap is always tough to navigate – you’re very much limited as to what you can use. You have to work with what you have, and also be forward-thinking, and start preserving items for when you get to gaps like this. In the summer, we might just be able to make a tomato salsa with some sardines, because we’ve got loads of fresh tomatoes around. We don’t have that option in winter, so we have to look around for other things with that acidity – what we’d call an activator – something that’s going to bring it to life. In this instance, it was the preserved green tomatoes from last summer.
I’m not keen on the thought process of fermenting for experimentation and trying to create a new flavour, or make things taste really interesting, I only like to preserve things that need to be preserved. Preserving it with a purpose, you’re providing an additional economy for the farmer, and you’re giving yourself a supply for when times are tough, like now, which is when we need these preserves the most.
When we started Cinderwood, it was built to grow local produce for the greater food community of Manchester, in restaurants, in delis, and in bakeries. We’ve achieved that, but at the time, we didn’t have our own restaurant, we were just doing pop-ups. Then we opened Flawd, the wine bar, to give ourselves a small platform to be able to support Cinderwood Market Garden, to be able to put some business through that way, and also for us to have somewhere to use this produce, to create a life raft at the time – this was just after Covid.
Eighteen months later, we’ve been able to open Higher Ground.
Our mission is, essentially, to be an agriculturally focused bistro that is appealing and accessible to a wider audience of people. We wish to work with a level of understanding and flexibility that benefits the farmer, and showcases local produce in a bistro environment. You can have a bistro with everything sourced from England and organic.
Although, we don’t shout about it too much. It’s not necessarily fun to listen to somebody preaching about sustainability and waste, it’s not for this environment. It’s not what you want to hear when you’re going out with your friends for a good time, to get drunk! We want the guests to have a really great time, and then under the surface, everything is sourced meticulously and carefully.
Word By: Joe Otway
Photography By: With Love
highergroundmcr.co.uk
