For the past six years Hugh Sawyer has been delighting diners with an experience unlike any other.

Off Grid Gourmet was born when Hugh decided to see whether he could offer a high end dining experience over the ten days of Hay Festival, using only off grid resources. A quick visit to TripAdvisor reveals exactly how successful he was, with Off Grid Gourmet getting a rare five star rating, almost every review declaring what Hugh offers 'excellent'.

Off Grid Gourmet

Off Grid Gourmet

"A quite unique dining experience," reads just one of many. "Sat out in the evening sun on the edge of an orchard, dining with complete strangers, all enjoying the most delicious yet simply cooked food set put on a huge trestle table. Chef Hugh is a great host as well as a fantastic cook."

Until the arrival of Covid Hugh had been living in a tipi, but the prospect of contracting the virus while living under canvas prompted a move into a house, but as we speak, he is scouring the internet for a new tipi.

Hugh admits to having stolen sardines from his mother and lit fires in the woods to cook them and, having once lived in a ditch in Oxfordshire for a year (Google ditchmonkey for the full story!), where he cooked meals for friends over an open fire, the signs were already there. "I've never really stopped," he says.

Currently Off Grid welcomes diners to a big old shed "built to store cut flowers. "It's been converted into a kitchen and dining room and there's an outdoor dining room, under canvas, too.

While local and seasonal are key ingredients, Hugh does not avoid the more exotic: "I do use things like pineapples and yuzu, I'm not going to be a hair shirt wearer about it!"

Cooking off grid presents a particular set of challenges, not least of which is the amount of labour it calls for. "Everything takes longer, like lighting the fires and maintaining them. It's a lifestyle, because it's all consuming. "

Opening hours are dependent on demand, Hugh reports, "and what mood I'm in! I'll probably shut in January, but I always say that, and never do."

Next year will see Hugh offering diners the opportunity to extend the off grid experience as he offers a restaurant-with-tents, with five yurts available for guests to book. Future plans also include opening 'a barbecue joint in Hay."

What is your earliest food memory?

Sitting in a highchair being spoon-fed chocolate cake, any bits that missed my mouth were caught by a massive bib for later retrieval, life doesn’t get much better than that.

Do you have a favourite time of year for produce?

Autumn, there are so many ingredients in season, there’s a hint of the wild weather to come on the air so there’s a real sense of needing to make the most of it before the long, cold dark months ahead.

Off Grid Gourmet

Off Grid Gourmet

Do you have a favourite menu?

I don’t have a menu, I just make it up on the day to suit the tastes of whoever is coming to eat and the weather. We go out in the morning, buy the best looking produce we can find, bring it back to the kitchen, light a couple of fires and start cooking. Cooking over fires isn’t an exact science and it’s much easier to go with the flow and see where it takes you than to be rigidly stuck to a play. Often I don’t know what will be on the menu until the very last minute.

Do you get wow moments when you try new combinations – and does anything stand out as having been especially successful?

Who is your cooking role model?

My mum. I have had the privilege of working for some amazingly talented chefs over the years but ultimately I’ve found myself trying to replicate mum’s cookery - generous, tasty and unpretentious.

Are there cookery books you regularly read? Which books would you advise home cooks to have on their shelves?

Not any more

What’s the best thing about being a chef?

Seeing people having a great evening.

What’s the worst thing about being a chef?

Not having a social life. My working week tends to end at about 1am on a Sunday night.

Off Grid Gourmet

Off Grid Gourmet

Sweet or savoury?

Sweet

Guilty food secret?

Life is too short for guilt, eat the cake, drink the wine.