Bruno didn’t have much influence but didn’t feel like he needed it as for him it was more about “running the kitchen”. This best thing for Bruno was the passion that Raymond had which translated to everyone in the kitchen. “His passion showed as there were so many star chefs coming out of his kitchen that were driven.”
Next on the agenda was the Inn on the Park, (or as it’s known now the Four Seasons) where he was general manager at 23 years old, in charge of a fine dining hotel. He remembers a time when he was asked: “Why are you not using more expensive ingredients, more lobster etc?” “I said I was more than happy cooking with a piece of leek as it’s just as good. Using simple ingredients wasn’t the done thing at the time but it wasn’t about winning stars for me.” For a 5 star hotel this was seen as unusual at the time but the hotel was happy to give Bruno free reign and it paved the way for him to create dishes using those simple ingredients.
It was this way of cooking that has shaped the rest of Bruno’s career. His move to Australia strengthened this as he was made to think and cook in a simple way to coincide with the way of life out there. ‘I started humbly but after a few months people started to trust us and we began to get recognised after winning their trust.’
However after nine years London came calling and he was back looking for an opportunity to grow and “prove myself again”. A position in a hotel in Clerkenwell was this opportunity, as Bruno says himself: “I saw the potential and the chance to work my way up.”
This then led on to the opening of The Grain Store, a restaurant that since opening last June has already won sustainable restaurant of the year. This was Bruno’s chance to show that the “meat and sauce doesn’t have to be the star of the plate”. The idea of a vegetable menu had “always been in my head; I wanted to make the vegetable the main star element of the plate and the rest as a compliment to the dish”. This isn’t however a vegetarian restaurant this is a restaurant where little amounts of meat and fish are used per dish. “We can’t sustain the amount we eat; you don’t need to have a large amount; you can have a tasty dish with little high quality meat rather than a large amount that isn’t great quality.”
With the great success of The Grain Store, next on the agenda is a place in the country. “For me now I want to enjoy myself, grow my own veg, cheese and wine and perhaps open a cookery school. I want to try and enjoy all the things that I haven’t so far been able to.”
Bruno was interviewed at Hotelympia by Sophie Allcock, communications manager at Custard Communications.
