Earlier this year husband-and-wife Richard and Solanche Craven announced they were crowdfunding to open a bakery by day, neighbourhood Italian restaurant by night in the Cotswolds town of Shipston-on-Stour. Having run the Michelin-starred The Royal Oak in Whatcote since 2017, the pair had decided it was time to take on a new challenge alongside the pub, which has now been realised in the form of Italian-style bakery Ferment & Flour and Italian restaurant and ‘illegitimate trattoria’ Riccardo Bastardo’s, which opened last month.
How did the idea for a dual operation come about?
Solanche Craven: I was studying for my diploma and spent a lot of time in Bermondsey, where there are a lot of these cool hybrid businesses. I really loved the idea, and we had nothing in this area [of the Cotswolds] that resembled anything like that. A property that we’d been looking at for years suddenly came up for sale in January and even though we were not really sure what we wanted to do with it I said to Richard let’s just go for it, and whatever happens, happens. I’d always wanted a coffee shop and Richard always wanted to have an Italian restaurant, so we decided to do both in the same building.
Richard Craven: It coincided with quite a few of our team members wanting to come back. Our former head chef head chef at The Royal Oak John Broughton had got in touch about working with us again and Wendy [Gilardini, group pastry chef] had worked at The Royal Oak and had returned from an 18-month trip away. It’s nice to have these senior figures want to work with us again. To be able to have them all in the family is really cool.
You went down the crowdfunding route to fund some of the project. Why?
SC: Crowdfunding is a really powerful tool, it really makes you hone in on your product before you start planning it in more detail. We put a lot more money into the project than what we crowdfunded for (£15,000).
RC: It’s given our regular guests a bit of ownership in the business, which has been nice.
Ferment & Flour opened first. Tell us about it
SC: We don’t have a website yet, but we have been putting images on Instagram because people buy with their eyes. The idea is that much of what we make uses a sourdough starter from Tuscany that I’ve had a long time from Tuscany. Items include our maritozzi – Italian cream buns filled with mascarpone and a jam that we make ourselves and which will change seasonally; a sourdough cookie with chocolate and praline; and honey toast – we make our own Japanese brioche with brown butter and local honey. Other options include sourdough crumpets, either with bacon and eggs and syrup or with smoked salmon and whipped ricotta, and deli boards of Italian meats and cheeses and chopped Italian salads. An Italian theme is weaved through a lot of what we do.
Ferment & Flour (©Ferment & Flour)Is there anything else like it nearby?
SC: No. We purposefully didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes. We’ve got three brilliant bakeries around where we are, but they are all based in that more French pastry style and we wanted to do something completely different. If you can find something in those bakeries, you won’t find it at ours. We don’t do croissants.
Then it turns into Riccardo Bastardo’s at night
RC: We replace the sign outside and there’s a few tweaks inside and then it becomes the Italian restaurant. There’s a really good sign writing company in the town and when we gave them the idea about switching signs over, they ran with it.
It’s an interesting name…
RC: I began my career working in an Italian-owned hotel in Chipping Campden. I worked with an Italian general manage/head chef for seven years, five years there and two years in his own brasserie and Riccardo Bastardo was the nickname he gave me. I think it was an affectionate name; he certainly smiled when he called me it.
You’ve chosen a tasting menu format over a la carte. Why?
RC: It’s only 14 covers, and historically small plates don’t really work in small market towns, it’s a model based on turning tables two or three times a night which just doesn’t happen in a town like Shipston-on-Stour. We needed to know what each table was going to make. (The menu is priced at £58 for three courses and £68 for four, with the option to add snacks and a cheese course. Dishes on the launch menu include chilled summer vegetable minestrone; trout carpaccio, cucumber, grapefruit, juniper and radish; chicken agnolotti, roast chicken and thyme broth; local lamb, summer beans, fresh ewes curd; and Amalfi lemon tart with mascarpone gelato, honey and thyme).
You’ve run The Royal Oak since 2017. How’s business there?
SC: It’s been a tough year, which is partly the reason we’ve opened a second place. I think people want to go where they can have a dedicated place to eat so we thought let’s give people two good places to eat – or three if they are having breakfast. The pub is very community focused, we love our locals and the fact that it’s a place people come to meet and talk, but that’s not going to pay the bills and so we’ve never relied on our drinking trade.
RC: That said, 30% of the pub we don’t do food in. There’s a pool table and a dart board, so it’s still very much a village pub.
SC: The Michelin star (which the pub was awarded in 2019) has got an amazing pull and it’s very important to us that we retain it. We’re not stupid, that’s what puts bums on seats.
Dining and Cooking