By Juliet Coombe
Standing atop the grand entrance to the historically magnificent Royal William Yard, next to the waterfront in Stonehouse, Lord High Admiral King William IV holds a stately scroll in his right hand while pointing surreptitiously with his left index finger towards insanely cool Hutong Café to let you know it is open again, after an extensive 14 month environmentally detailed refurbishment, that is a key indicator of the owners’ holistic way of thinking.
Reopening in lockdown has, despite all its challenges, been a huge success take away story. The fun and dynamic owners put this down to being unceasingly community focused and serving coffees that always pack a real punch, which are considered by many to be the best in the region, along with their exciting home-baked bagel range of six mouthwatering treats. Famous in the paddle-boarding community for their cracking breakfasts, they have now upped their game, serving many different delicious delights, including bacon, melted Emmental cheese and egg savoury freshly baked bagel takeaways, to saucy salty beef and sauerkraut, as well as wickedly sweet combos of cut up bananas smothered in peanut butter, honey, and sprinkled with life enhancing cinnamon, great for long term memory.
To see what’s on offer check out their Instagram/FB stories page, revealing the lowdown on their exciting new micro-bakery that they’ve built in The Hutong and the six NYC-style Bagel take away options that are, according to their take out fans, helping them get over the never ending lockdown blues. After all what could be more fun than a social distanced walk around the fabulous Royal William Yard with a Hutong take away.
So, who are the people at Hutong and how have they managed reinvention in the world’s most devastating pandemic, business-wise, and what is their secret? It may be as simple as maintaining a resolutely positive view on things, and having an openness to change, while always retaining their secret ingredients, which is making everything with love.
The three musketeers as they are known locally are Jack Harman, Emma his dynamic wife, and his barista arty brother George, all who believe everyone should enjoy the Hutong way of life – a mix of delicious freshly sourced food, with a mixology of tastes and ideas inspired from their many adventures abroad with the most important aspect all: they are Plymothians through and through.
To be even more specific, as Jack puts it with the biggest twinkle in his eyes, he and his brother came from Devonport and Ems from Crownhill, both lively place full of their huge and wonderful family with whom they wanted to share their gorgeous kids with. Between the three of them, they have travelled and worked in Europe, Australia, Asia and Brazil, learning exciting new ways to create foodie favourites and curate events with interesting and varied twists, including their own style of uber cool posters for events that, pre-pandemic, were always a total sell-out success.
Jack, George and Emma, whilst on their five years of travels, had a light bulb moment in 2015, that Plymouth was in fact the best place in the world to run a business, and so, decided to return after an incredible time travelling and working their way around the world. In 2016, they returned to Britain’s vibrant Ocean City with a mission to find a unique venue and create their very own buzzy rockstar style coffee bar and restaurant, opposite the intriguing and extremely popular Royal William Yard, Plymouth.
I learn, standing at a social distance outside this much loved venue, eating their delicious home baked smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel with all the bits, that bubbly co-owner Emma, whilst in China, working as a teacher with Jack for a couple of years in Beijing, where they enjoyed eating out in the Hutongs that it had to be the name of their business. Eating out in these lively historic Chinese alleyways, that were first established in 1279, was a great way to end a busy day of teaching.
“These quirky spaces,” she explains, “are a fantastic place to get an intimate glimpse of local life, while also trying authentic street food, and meeting first hand the vibrant communities, whose belief and cultural systems differ from area to area around Beijing.”
Hutong, interestingly, is the Mongolian word for water well and, as it was always a well of foodie ideas and native wisdom, from tea drinking traditions to how to blend herbs and spices into a nutritious meal that would make even the simplest ingredients sing. They all felt this name connected together all the things they loved and wanted to share with the world. Having grown up around water at Devil’s Point and Mount Wise swimming pools, learning to swim as toddlers, it seemed to be an excellent spot to set up a business. It also spiritually merged their very different skills and interests, including their passion for music, which George had explored during his time living and working in Berlin.
Talking to Jack, who clearly loved teaching at primary schools as much as running their uber cool café, he explains that there isn’t much difference, as you need the same detailed organisational skills and a love of people, which includes the simplest of things like remembering everyone’s name from the moment they walk through the café door, “It is all about making a customer feel part of their very special community, even if it is only for a take-out, as word of mouth is far more important to them than relying on social media. It is clear, observing the comings and goings, that inclusivity is key to their success, along with fantastic food and hopefully the return of amazing events, once the world fully reopens and it is safe to do music gigs, theatre, poetry and so much more.
Jack cheekily suggested, as he poured me some fresh juice, that a group of primary school kids running the country right now might do a better job! I wondered if he felt the same way about his two youngsters running the Hutong cafe?
As a couple, Jack and Emma learnt a great deal from China, the biggest economy in the world, the dynamism of its people and its rich variety of food and spices, which made for great daily learning experiences, exploring different types of food in the narrow backstreets, where, like every big city, the true rivers of life flow.
Jack says in the year of planning Hutong, “I wanted music and food and George wanted fantastic coffee from having worked in Australia, where they are the world’s aficionados in coffee blends with smooth rich flavours.” Years before going on their travels, Jack joked to George that the Butchers Arms pub would be a beautiful place to do something like this and, as serendipity would have it, the place was available to rent on their return; they spent three months doing it up and overnight it became a local hit, with a huge variety of entertainment, making it a great alternative to the CBD events venue
They closed the place for 14 months to do an environmental makeover, so they could go big on opening up the kitchen, which the chef loves as he can now see the sea while cooking. Jack explains, “We made environmental changes throughout the business and, as a result, no longer use fossil fuels or single use plastics and we are all piloting the urban arrow bikes scheme, which also keep Hutong’s energy footprint down, all part of an e bike scheme which cuts down on petrol. We have a very special vibe here of being open and welcoming and, although the world has changed, we have changed with it, however the fundamentals of who and what we stand for will always be the same.”
Our community is a mix of people from all over and every demographic, from the uber cool residence of Stonehouse: the yard movers and shakers, the swimmers, parents of school children etc “We like to think we are here for everyone, from children to octogenarians, as we have never chased a demographic, only a policy to be nice to everyone. We believe in the whole sensory experience: texture, taste, all the senses acknowledged, great smells, freshly prepared food locally supplied from farmers to fishmongers and delicatessens. Hutong makes the majority of its dishes and 90 per cent we bake on site ourselves with some very special guest cakes of which the banana bread classic is still the top runner.
The trio say “For now, we are waiting to see what the lie of the land is and as soon as we get the green light to put live entertainment back on the menu, we will be doing it, along with guest chefs taking over our kitchens on Friday nights and bands from all over the city bringing new Indie style entertainment to this diverse cultural hub of Plymouth”. In the meantime they are collecting laptop computers people are no longer using and rebooting them to help kids without the right kit for home school remote learning as Hutong’s philosophy is to always be part of the solution.
Open Friday to Monday inclusive as everyone needs a great coffee to kick off the start of a week:
160 Cremyll St, Stonehouse, Plymouth PL1 3RB
>> www.facebook.com/TheHutongCafe
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