Monday 10th February 2014

Genevieve Suzy refused to lunch the Saturday before last in Hastings: ‘I’ve only just got up. I can’t face a skate wing straightaway.’ But I said I must lunch, it being lunch-time. Besides lunch at Angus Willis Home Store, Hastings is a pivotal experience, utterly central.

We were at Chef’s Table, right in the kitchen at Angus Willis Home Store. Thus it was that we didn’t at first see developments in the main dining area. We were there at the burning core. Angus invented the dirty food movement. You read about it everywhere now. It doesn’t mean the food is dirty. It means your drink comes in a jam jar and cutlery is from a charity shop or car boot sale. Angus Willis invented this mode. The hamburger chain Byron have copied him.

I ordered winter asparagus with cod roe, and fennel and blood orange salad. Fergus had Buckler on Toast. It’s a less well-known fish. He was still keen on higher taxes on capital despite being up all night with Genevieve.

Somehow Angus magicked the dishes out of nothing in the small space. Their names are simple but their composition is not. This is some of the best cooking in the country. New, fresh, zinging and great. Suddenly, as we consumed the miracles, at the other end of the kitchen there was a jolt. You couldn’t have put your finger on it. One of the staff came in from the dining area, Angus was muttering and glancing. He disappeared and came back, shooting a bolt through the kitchen and chef’s table area: Gizzy Ezzy was in. Gizzy Ezzy was in the outer dining area, ordering. Gizzy Ezzy, of the Sunday Times, huge in the food world, drawn inevitably to lunch at the back of Angus Willis Home Store, Hastings. The week before it had been Terry Farrell, the architect of world importance.

I forgot to say: not only has Angus Willis revolutionised lunch: he’s transformed window display. His latest window for Angus Willis Home Store, Hastings is as never seen before.

Completely New: Angus Willis Home Store, Hastings, the Current Window Display: Rush to See this World-Shattering Window: Passers-By Stopped in Droves to Read the Old Bills and Receipts Featured in the Display

The Dirty Food Movement, Founded by Angus Willis: the Knife is What Makes it Dirty

Little Pots in the Angus Willis Home Store Kitchen

Fennel and Blood Orange Salad in Prep

Rare Wild Leaves, Perfectly Sourced by Angus Willis in Person

A Plaice in Prep, Possibly to be Eaten by Gizzy Ezzy Herself