"I was doomed from the start," Matt Sworder laughs as he reads the opening lines of his new, immensely successful, cook book.

At just 33 years old you'd be forgiven for thinking that, in his pristine chef whites, Matt is a commis chef looking to make a good first impression in the kitchen.

But the young man sat across from me is in fact the chef behind two of Kent's most successful restaurants.

It was six years ago that Matt, who grew up in the picturesque village of Minster in Thanet, took the plunge and decided to open his own restaurant, aged 27.

He finally packed in the 'dull' marketing career he had wrestled with throughout his twenties and decided that enough was enough, he needed to be in the kitchen.

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And it's paid off dividends.

The Corner House in Minster opened in 2013 and has won several awards, including Restaurant of the Year at the Taste of Kent Awards in 2015 and 2017.

The success isn't slowing either as just this month it has celebrated bagging two AA Rosettes.

Meanwhile his younger Canterbury restaurant opened in 2016 and already has mentions in the Michelin Guide as well as the Good Food Guide.

'My desire to be in the kitchen was always there'

But Matt's career path wasn't always this clear cut.

“Because my dad had restaurants, I was always interested in restaurants,” he told KentLive.

“But at 18 years old, I was encouraged by my parents to get a 'sensible' degree, so I went off to Oxford Brookes to study marketing.

“I did really enjoy my time at university, but my desire to be in the kitchen was always there under the surface.

“During the summer after my first year I found myself at Eastwell Manor, working as a commis chef.

“It was just three months but I was totally inspired.

“It was just so exciting, compared to the essays and things like that that I was doing at uni I just fell in love with it.”

Matt Sworder packed in his 'dull' 9-5 job at just 27 to run two of Kent's best restaurants

Matt was so enamoured by the kitchen, he even managed to convince his lecturers to give him a gap year, which he spent with the Gordon Ramsay group.

"I went as a commis to work with the amazing chef Bjorn van der Horst at La Noisette.

“It was a full on year where I started in the kitchen at 7am and worked through to 1am, with just an hour's break. They were tough, dark days.

“The thing is though what you get is that experience, which is invaluable now.”

He said it was an honour to work with Gordon, even if the celebrity chef did manage things from an arm's length.

“He’s an interesting character,” Matt mused.

“What you learn is, as you’d expect, there’s far more to the character than somebody that swears on TV.

“He is a highly astute businessman that has an incredible team around him, that enables him to do what he does.”

'It wasn't a guaranteed 9-5'

Once the year was done Matt admitted he was "very tempted to forget" his degree.

But he managed to stick it out. He said: “After I graduated I got a marketing job in an insurance company, but it just wasn’t floating my boat.

“I was there for about a year, it was the sensible option whereas I knew running a restaurant was everything but steady, it wasn’t a guaranteed 9-5.”

Matt Sworder packed in his 'dull' 9-5 job at just 27 to run two of Kent's best restaurants

But the heat of the kitchen was too compelling to resist and, before long, Matt had joind Les Deux Salons, under the Michelin-starred chef Anthony Demetre.

Matt said: "I learned a lot from him, mainly how to use humble ingredients and transform them into something special."

He then went off to work at Adam Byatt’s Bistro Union in Clapham, but soon it was time for Matt to strike out on his own.

“Opening in Kent was definitely third time lucky,” he said.

“I had my eye on sites in St Albans and Clapham which both fell through.

“The Minster building was one that my dad used to run, and actually he still is the landlord.

“I had my heart set on a restaurant in London, but at the same time dad was handed back the keys.

“It just made sense upon reflection to open in my home town.

“And I had a lot of support from my dad in terms of opening it up.

“He was much more than just landlord. He was instrumental in helping me set up front of house, and helping me keep an eye on the finances.”

Inside the Minster restaurant

In fact throughout the process, Matt said his parents had been fundamental to the restaurants' success.

And it wasn't always plain sailing.

Matt said: “The first year was very tough, initially I lived upstairs.

“We did all sorts of silly things, like breakfast in the mornings.

“We did everything to try and make it work, so there were a lot of failed experiments to get to where we are.”

'Running a restaurant isn't glamorous'

Now, six years on, Matt spends his week evenly divided between the Minster and Canterbury restaurants.

He said: “I’m still very much hands on in the kitchens,.

“Running a restaurant isn’t just what you see for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

“There’s a lot of unglamorous background stuff.

“It’s actually starting in kitchen at 8am, it’s making sure all your background checks are done and that your business infrastructure is set up in such a way that can sustain your growth.

“But I do see myself as very lucky to be able to do a job that I get a lot of fulfilment from.

“Inevitably I have good days and bad days, but fortunately I’m lucky enough to work with some great staff.

“And ultimately it's our guests and supporters that have let us go on this journey - I can't thank them enough for that.

“It’s something I never take for granted.”

Unpretentious

Now they are established, the secret behind his restaurants' enduring success, Matt insists, is their ability to remain unpretentious.

“We are really all about simple food done really well," he told KentLive.

The Corner House in Canterbury has been shortlisted for its delicious menu
The Corner House in Canterbury has been shortlisted for its delicious menu

“We are not claiming to be fine dining.

“We make our bread every morning, pastas, ice creams, everything is made properly from scratch.

“Really the ethos is celebrating great Kent ingredients and British food.

“From how the menu is presented to the food itself, we try to remain honest and true to what we’re doing.”

Outside the Canterbury restaurant

The other thing that makes Matt's restaurants different is their big emphasis on sharing dishes, he explained.

“It adds to that an informal, fun dining experience and it's something that we are really building a reputation for.”

Diners can enjoy a whole, slow roasted lamb shoulder carved at their table to share between four or a huge barbecue platter for two. 

These dishes are a little piece of theatre, and, Matt insists, are a great opportunity for the waiter to engage with guests.

'We don't chase awards'

This informal, sharing atmosphere is something top food guides also praise them for.

But Matt tries not to place too much emphasis on the opinions of food critics.

“We don’t chase awards,” he stated.

Just wow.
Just wow.

“It’s all about developing in our business by focusing on the one most important thing – the guest.

“Of the back of focusing on that, that’s where you get the recognition.

“You’re interested when the inspectors come in, we’re certainly not blaze about it and take their feedback very seriously but at the same time our restaurants are all about the people eating there.

“We have a much bigger problem actually if our guests overall don’t enjoy their experience and don’t come back.

“Their repeat business is what we concentrate on. It’s not Piccadilly Circus outside, especially in Minster.”

In fact it's things like tourism website TripAdvisor that Matt says plays a stronger part in boosting his business.

It has "undoubtedly" helped drive people to his rural Minster restaurant.

The Corner House, Minster
The Corner House, Minster

And similarly in Canterbury, he said, the tourist market uses TripAdvisor to find them, slightly off the beaten track.

He said: “It is a love hate relationship. But I think it has been quite instrumental in helping building the reputation of the restaurants, especially given their locations.

“When you’re winning on it you enjoy it.

“And I have to look at the overall picture – I have been self employed for six years and if the question was ‘has TripAdvisor helped me grow the business?’ It would be an absolute yes.

“You can’t please everybody and bad reviews are hard to accept, especially in the early days.

“When you’re putting everything into something and somebody comes for dinner and just totally tears it apart, as a feeling it's crushing.

“But you have to accept you can’t be all things to all people.

“What’s important is that you’re clear with what your offer is – and consistency is the holy grail.”

Corner House number three

Despite the launch of his cook book, an imminent extension of the Canterbury restaurant and numerous appearances at food festivals, Matt isn’t showing any sign of fatigue.

In fact he seems dead set on opening “Corner House number three” in 2020.

Matt Sworder
Matt Sworder

The only issue is finding the right building – on a corner, of course.

“Interesting buildings help create that destination restaurant,” he said.

“It really adds something to that guest experience.

“And although for the next six months our focus is on Canterbury, we have big plans.

“I’m very hungry to get to Corner House three but at the same time keen to focus on what we already have.

“Before Canterbury opened I had so many guests saying they were worried the Minster restaurant would be diluted and that I would and spread myself too thin.

“But my team and I have proven to so many regular guests at Minster that we can do it, and many even say the quality has got better.”

But where would this new restaurant pop up? Matt says he's keen on places like Whitstable and Herne Bay.

And though he doesn't want to stray too far away from east Kent - and spend his days on the motorway - he said "he'd be lying" if he wasn't intrigued by places like Sevenoaks and Tunbridge Wells.

“They’re definitely places that would get reviewed,” he said, “but the journey to them would weigh in at the back of my mind.”

You can find out more about both Corner House restaurants and Matt's cookbook here.

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