Jason Eaves Head Chef, The Asquith

The Asquith, I've known Glynn since I was a teenager, and so Glynn and Daniel Clifford probably have been the biggest influence, just from the way they run their kitchens and the way they look at food, 2 exciting characters to be around From other people I've spoken to Marcus's kitchen is quite a regimented kitchen, it's quite disciplined is that a fair comment?"¦ Very yeah. "¦structured, would you say that's fair Yeah definitely, working in these small kitchens and then working in a very profesional,structered kitchen was a great learning curve Yeah you've probably got a maximum of five or six chefs in the team in those operations haven't you? Exactly so it's like. I wanted to see how a kitchen with 20 chefs actually works and doing that amount of covers every day,day in day out ,lunch and dinner and to that level was the thing. Daniel Clifford puts amazing energy into his kitchen. You've got Glynn he's got a spanking personality He's like a coiled spring Glynn and you just let him go and off he goes. Exactly. And then you've got Marcus Wareing very, very high standards, so take all of these different little things from different places and hopefully pull it all together and you've got something to build on How did you find working in London? At first it was really hard I mean starting at seven in the morning, finishing at one at night, you know, just into four and a half hours sleep. That's tough. How many boys were there in the kitchen, 20 you say? Yes at Marcus's at the Berkerly, I think there was roughly about 20. Who was Marcus's head chef then? Alan Williams. Is Alan still head chef. Not sure. Alan's top notch a really nice guy. Yeah it was a really good experience there. So tell us how did The Asquith come up then? How did you come from London back up Birmingham?"¦ Basically I phoned Glynn just because I got my job at the Champignon through Glynn, sort of networking. I've always looked up to Glynn, I've sort of always phoned him for advice and stuff like that so I was in a bit of a "What am I going to do? What am I going to do next?"situation, I was starting to hit that wall and here i am back on old turf It's important though that to keep in contact with good people, isn't it? Yes. So I sort of phoned Glynn, for a bit of advice and then basically Pascal's went down, went under, I don't really know the ins and outs but that's finished and then basically this (The Asquith) was empty and it was just like why not? Let's go for it. I think Glynn's got quite an affinity for this place as well hasn't he? Definitely yeah. I mean this is kind of where Glynn made his name isn't it, put him on the map so to speak, he got his star here and all that sort of stuff and then everybody suddenly started going, "Who is this Glynn Purnell guy?" YesI think as well this restaurant came at a perfect time for Birmingham because there wasn't a Michelin star restaurant. There was no one doing that sort of food, I mean like now you've got three one stars in Birmingham, you've got purnells , Simpsons, you've got Turners and they're all very experienced head chefs and they all know what they're doing with putting flavours on the plate but I think when Glynn started here and he did his unusual style and a few different combinations of flavours , it really took off and hit people and they were like, "Wow that's good we've got to go there," and I think that was one of the main things that attracted people so much but now there's starting to become a good sort of food culture here in Birmingham. Well there was always a good food culture here but I think the sort of eating fine dining food is really becoming well known"¦ Yeah it has become more cosmopolitan Birmingham like you say because of the people you've spoken about. Where do you look for inspiration now Jason? if you were to go out for dinner where would you look for inspiration or who inspires you? To be honest at the moment I'm just working on in my own mind , finding my style ,I'm not really going to eat in restaurants or reading books or having them influences, I'm just kind of trying to find my own way ,how I like things to look and taste , training the lads up as well like how this should be or that should be and stuff like that so things like that are in the future really for me. but for dinner restaurant wise ,theres so many great restaurants ,but i would definatly like to go and eat at midsummer again. So it's just hard work for you and the team, at the moment then? Yes, and it's going well for us. If you take any of the chefs you've already spoken about you tend to find they're influenced by people they've worked with before and then when they go on their own they've got to find their own feet and to a degree sometimes you have to get rid of a lot of negative stuff that you've got in you and"¦ yeah,not negative mentality ,just so your thinking on your own two feet instead of being told how to think Then you can start going, "Actually that's where I am. That's where my food is," and I think the older you get the more comfortable you become with your food, you actually start trying less hard to a degree because you have more confidence in you and your food. I've noticed that "¦I've only been the head chef here for a few months, but at the start I was going, ((whispers)) "Oh no that's not ecxactly how i wanted it" so now I'm just thinking more about the dish before it goes on the menu, because at the start I was making like rash decisions, "I'll change that now that's not right, no, no change that," but I'm already learning, right just step back think for a sec, have a bit more of a think about it, be a bit more organised and then nail it first time instead of no change it, no do it again, you know what I mean? Yeah. That's the thing isn't now about being a head chef everyone knows you can cook because of the places you've worked at before but you've now got to make sure that you can get that message across to your in the team but also make sure it's consistent. Exactly. That's one of the main things, we're going for just simple, well executed food really and like I said just keeping people happy, hopefully they'll come back and then we can build from there.weve got a great team so I don't see why good things can't come, Absolutely not it's already been done here, you know, and you've got a great mentor with Glynn and you've got a great background yourself and I wish you every success and thank you very, very much for your time today. ((laughs)) Not a problem. It wasn't that painful was it? No, no, no.cheers mate Head over to our jobs board if you are interested in finding a head chef position