Karen Hubrich is a perfectionist when it comes to serving up her British-inspired meals at Gruel Britannia in Fairfield, and nothing escapes her notice. For example, her customers adore fish and chips, but for a time it seemed the chips were not meeting her standards.
“We were having a little issue with the chips,” recalled Hubrich, a London native. “I”™m very detail oriented ”” if something doesn”™t work, why isn”™t it working? We always buy the same russet potato, but they wouldn”™t get crispy. And they just didn”™t look the same.”
Hubrich knew that the harvest season for these potatoes only occurs toward late September, with most of the crops placed in cold storage for the whole year prior to their sale. This, she theorized, could be the root of her problem.
“I actually called the Idaho potato commission because it was driving me nuts,” she laughed, adding that she would discover that the “new russets we”™re getting have a much higher sugar content, which affects the cooking.”
Hubrich”™s attention to detail fueled her 40-year career as a private chef ”” The New York Times and pop singer Michael Bolton were among her clients ”” but she waited for the precise time when she could pursue her own business.
“I had never had the opportunity to do my own thing when I was married,” she said. “I then got divorced. I was a single mother with two boys and I always had to have a job with benefits, so I never could take the plunge to do my own thing. And finally, the boys grew up and I took the plunge and did it.”
Hubrich took over the 2217 Post Road location ”” which previously housed Sabita Middle Eastern Cuisine ”” by accident.
“I just stumbled upon this location,” she said “It was a freestanding building and I”™ve gone past it many times. I actually really didn”™t know Fairfield that well because I live in Westport. I saw the place in the middle of December 2018, signed the lease in January 2019 and opened that May.”
Hubrich”™s Gruel Britannia brings favorite dishes among Anglophiles and the British diaspora: the aforementioned fish and chips plus traditional favorites, including bacon butty sandwich, bangers and mash and shepherd”™s pie. For the latter, Hubrich”™s perfectionism reanimates in describing the occasional Anglo-American disconnect in language.
“Everyone loves shepherd”™s pie, but the average American consumes shepherd”™s pie that is made with beef,” she said. “Of course, it”™s not a shepherd”™s pie because that is made with lamb. We call it cottage pie if it”™s made with beef. I do a vegan version that is also gluten-free ”” I cover every base.”
Of course, for many years the British were not universally celebrated for their cuisine, a point that Hubrich is the first to affirm.
“To be honest, growing up in England the food was diabolical,” she said, adding that the cuisine has evolved to becoming less industrial and more cosmopolitan as British society evolved. “I was in London last February and the food there was unbelievable.”
This reflects at Gruel Britannia, which has an old-school full English breakfast sharing menu space with trendier items, including a gluten- and dairy-free Thai chicken meatballs and avocado toast.
“I have two guys in the kitchen who make the best nachos,” Hubrich said. “The best you”™ll ever have. And every Tuesday we have tacos and nachos.”
Gruel Britannia also serves the traditional British high tea and offers a small supermarket selection of British snacks, teas and bottled drinks. Hubrich pointed happily to a new display of Tayto Crisps, the Irish-based potato chip brand, noting that these will be sold alongside Walkers Crisps, an English rival brand.
The Covid-19 pandemic did not dim Gruel Britannia”™s lights, with Hubrich pivoting instantly to curbside pickup service and tapping into her extensive client base from her private chef days to fuel her through what she described as a “very, very busy summer.”
One pandemic-inspired drawback has been the absence of Marmite from her shelves ”” there is a global shortage and will not be able to get a new supply until early 2021.
While her restaurant can now accommodate a 75% seating capacity, Hubrich intentionally limits her indoor space to 12 people because, admitting that “I just don”™t want to do anything that could lead to a problem.” Her focus now will be on the Christmas season, and she hoping for a reprise of the positive response she received last year when she sold out her 100-item supply of Christmas pudding and her made-from-scratch mincemeat.
“I”™m already ramping up,” she said. “I”™m having my girlfriend send me the correct aluminum containers from England to make Christmas puddings because they don”™t exist in this country. We have the tiny ones that are eight ounces, like individual desserts, but we don”™t have proper ones for Christmas puddings. And for every jar of mincemeat I made last year, I could have made three times as much.”
