NEWS: LOCAL PRODUCTS ON THE SLAB’S MENU

The menu of The Slab, our shop’s restaurant, is made of dishes cooked with local products our chef sources only a stone’s throw from the GONG Space Center!

Despite the enormous challenge of running a restaurant, you won’t find a freezer in the back kitchen of The Slab. And for good reason ! The chef of The Slab, Fred Ardouin, wants to offer a menu inspired by the daily harvests, and certainly not the other way around. To work with fresh and seasonal products, you have to surround yourself with local producers. In this article, the chef presents this aspect of his job and one of his suppliers, Arnaud, from the Ferme des Petites Mottes, only 5 km from the GONG Space Center.

“We have been working with Arnaud since the opening of The Slab over a year ago now. His approach is totally aligned with what we want to offer on our menu. Natural and authentic products that follow the rhythm of the seasons. An approach that respects the taste that the aliments should have and our taste for the environment too.

Arnaud is the real deal. Its fruits and vegetables are completely organic. He respects the water cycle by not watering his crops. His greenhouses are not heated and he experiments a lot with permaculture. The quality of his products testifies to the passionate work he has invested in his farm. We’re very lucky to work with him because he rarely associates with restaurants. He sells a great deal of his production directly to consumers that can visit him every Friday.”

Ideas for the menu

“My week systematically starts with calls to my suppliers. When I call Arnaud on Monday, he tells me what he has to offer me and I plan my week accordingly. As I only work with a cold room, storage is limited to a handful of days for most foods. We adjust the stock daily. I call him daily at 4 p.m. after our only lunch service. The next morning, I meet him at his house to collect the goods. I go there personally because we can talk more than on the phone. We discuss the upcoming season, he shows me the evolution of this or that culture and it gives me ideas for my menu.”

The bedrock of what I do

“By working in this way I reconnect with the bedrock of what I do. That is to say a menu that copes with the availability of food instead of a fixed menu requiring constant availability. This is why the description of the accompaniments to our dishes is limited on our menu. Depending on the harvest, we can adapt them because our first commitment is quality through freshness and seasonality. To put it simply, we make do with what we have.

This is an essential principle for us. Making do with what you have means not overstocking food. I work without a freezer. I prefer to tell a customer that a dish is not available anymore, than to throw unsold food away at the end of the day. There is a wide choice on the menu so I don’t think it will frustrate any customer. They really understand the process.”

Bounds in the region

“The menu reflects the relationship I have with all my suppliers and there are quite a few of them. I work a lot with Arnaud for fruits and vegetables but also with other producers through cooperatives or wholesalers. Some local producers prefer to work with an intermediary for the distribution of their harvests. They are also valuable contacts for me because at each delivery I have contact with people who have a broad vision of the cultures in the region. I have a very good relationship with SVRO for example which is based in Nantes. The process is identical for spices, meat and fish which comes from the close harbors.

We are really lucky to be in this region. In addition to having nice conditions for surfing or sailing, we have a lot of very nice producers. Market gardeners, eggs, meat, fish, we have everything nearby or just a little further away along the Loire and the Vilaine rivers.”