An interview with Truffles Brasserie

I walked into the brasserie at the bottom of Bruton's High Street with a certain amount of anticipation, having passed it many times, and left with more respect for the route that got it there.

From Park Lane to Somerset

Richard Sorapure worked front of house at London's Park Lane Hotel before deciding to do something different and switching to marketing. What followed was a varied career: commodity trading, a degree as a mature student, then twelve years in Singapore working as a marine geologist and geophysicist.

When we lived in Singapore, eating out was a daily experience, because it is so inexpensive. Many families never cook at home at all.

That is a useful thing to have in your head when you open a restaurant in a Somerset town, where eating out is an occasion rather than a habit.

What the kitchen was doing

Within a year of opening, the awards arrived. A TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence two years running, on the back of consistent reviews for both food and service, and Silver from Taste of the West in 2013 and 2014 for the use of local produce.

The approach was authentic French technique, local ingredients where possible, at prices people in the town could actually pay. The fish came fresh from the south coast, which is where the reputation was built: scallops in sweet chilli with ginger butter, moules marinière.

The wine list leaned French, alongside bottled French beers and ciders, with a run of spirits and soft drinks unique to Somerset that Richard had gone looking for himself. That searching is the part most places skip.

A family business

It was run as one. Richard's son Simon was front of house manager, and his daughters Natasha and Nicola supervised and waited tables. The coffee was roasted on the other side of town.

You can tell fairly quickly whether a restaurant is a family concern or a business with staff. The difference shows up in how problems get handled when the room is full.

Why this was worth writing down

At the time I was going round South Somerset asking business owners how they got there. The answers were almost never a straight line, and almost always involved somebody choosing a harder option on purpose.

That is worth recording, because from the street all you see is a menu in a window. It is also, in miniature, what a local business community is for: knowing who is behind the counter.

First published in July 2015 as part of a series on businesses in South Somerset. Edited since: the opening hours, the summer menu, the directions and the link to the restaurant's website have been removed, because none of them can be relied on ten years on. I have not attempted to describe the business as it is today.