and technique. I still use classical combinations because they work; you can’t go wrong with a piece of beef and turnip and truffle and some mushrooms – they all work together; it’s just how you put all those onto the plate and execute it that makes it interesting and elevates it to the sort of food we want to serve in the restaurant.
I think my cooking style has changed slightly because it’s important that you cook the food that suits your clientele. At The Ritz people went there because they wanted to eat lobster and foie gras and scallops and fillet of beef and all of those luxurious things, which are things that I love, and some still feature on the menu here. But there are other things which may not have gone down so well at The Ritz but I feel they go down well here because they’re still great plates of food that taste great using the best ingredients I can get hold of.
Many of the great ingredients that you fight for in London are coming out of Yorkshire anyway – things like grouse which last year was phenomenal and is being shot a few hundred yards from the hotel.
What have been the biggest challenges and biggest rewards of running your own place?
The biggest challenges are the things you put on yourself. At the end of the day the buck stops at me now, so I don’t have that protection of the layers of management above me. Here all the guests that come in the restaurant know my name personally because it’s all over the website and on the menus, so it’s more personal, so obviously any comments that come, whether positive or negative, you take a bit more personally.
I suppose part of the learning process for me being the head chef of somewhere like this is to grow and manage that. But I like to have that personal touch; there’s nothing better than going into the restaurant after a service and talking to a guest who’s really enjoyed their meal – that’s why I cook, because I want people to enjoy it.
Earlier this year you won the national selection of the Bocuse d’Or; how did that compare to the other competition wins in your career?
The Bocuse d’Or is probably the biggest competition in the world and it’s probably the best because it’s the hardest. I was flattered; I was quite surprised to win the heat in London; there were two other Roux Scholars in the final there with me so it was a tough competition.
I’d obviously commied for it twice both for
André [Garret] and
Simon Hulstone so I think that gave me a bit of an edge on what they’re looking for but it’s the start of a very long road and it’s a tough process of following someone who’s had the best two results for the UK as
Adam Bennett has; he’s a fantastic cook and it’s hard obviously to follow on from somebody like that.
You said elsewhere that despite everything you’ve achieved so far, you’re still a million miles away from where you want to be; where is that?
I think like everybody, you want to be the best you possibly can; you want to achieve all the top accolades; I would love to be somebody who was considered one of the icons of the industry, names like
Sat Bains,
Simon Rogan and John Williams. In 20 years’ time I would love for people to look at me in the same light but to be able to get that you have to keep your head down and work hard at it so that’s the main focus for me at the moment.
