The Country Chef's 7
"Working in the 1980s on high-end food was really cutting edge at the time; there were so few places around, unlike today. So many of them, like Eastwell, were country house hotels throughout the UK, and very soon we developed contacts at many of them.
"Much of this was helped by the accolades we began to amass and the resulting publicity that came with them. The Good Food Guide, The AA, Egon Ronay all gave us great marks in the first year; we were over the moon.
"It was proposed a group of chefs from these now up-and-coming establishments should form a group similar to Anton Mosimann's Club 9, who had recently dined at Eastwell. So the Country Chef's 7 was born.
"Consisting of seven young, talked-about chefs, all working in prestigious country houses around the UK: John Webber of Gidleigh, John Hornsby of the Castle, Shaun Hill of the Lygon Arms, Nick Gill of Hambleton Hall, Murdo McSween of the Elms, Michael Quinn, then of Gravetye Manor but soon to become the first British executive chef at the Ritz in London and of course myself at Eastwell Manor.
"We produced a brochure, got ourselves on both TV and even the Radio 4 Food Programme and generated loads of publicity for our respective hotels and employers, we even featured on a calendar for British Meat, it did us all nothing but good.
A Michelin star he knew nothing about
"We used to go to each other's respective hotels for a get together/meeting/good drinking sessions. One of the first of these get-togethers was the end of January 1981, less than a year after the opening of Eastwell Manor. Held at Hambleton Hall with Nick Gill in the chair.
"As I walked in the front door, I was greeted with cheers and congratulations and the popping of champagne corks! I had absolutely no idea why but it seemed it was all for me, to celebrate me/Eastwell gaining a Michelin star!
"The guide had just come out a few days before and being away and on holiday, I knew nothing about it. Back then there were no Facebook pages or mobile telephones, so I had no idea of the great accolade; open less than a year and we'd won a Michelin star.
"I can't tell you how flabbergasted and elated I was. At the time, I think there were only 32 Michelin stars in the whole of the UK, and I had one of them.
First pick from Rungis
"Roux restaurants played a big part in my life then too, Albert Roux knew Matthew, the owner/manager at Eastwell, indeed he knew the whole Bates family. Albert Roux had started off a veg supply company called Rouxell with a Frenchman called Dominic Rousell, (hence the name Rouxell).
"Dominic used to go to Rungis, the French market just outside Paris, every week and bring back a seven-ton truck laden with all sorts of fabulous products from fresh foie gras to the most incredible gladioli I have ever seen and everything in between.
"Dominic would deliver to me directly at Eastwell; on leaving Dover he would drive directly to Eastwell, which meant I was getting the very first of everything new on the market before even Albert got them. I would have the first girolles, pied de mouton or mousseron, charbonnier, white asparagus, raspberries, grelots of the season, all before anyone else got the chance to even see them.
"I bought a 1kg box of black winter truffles off him. I think back then they were around £750 per kilo. I put a feuillet de truffles de Périgourdine et sauce Madère as a first course on my menu priced at £15.00, a vast amount of money back then when you consider the next most expensive first course was sauté de foie gras aux asperges at only £4.50, my seven-course menu degustation at the time was only £18.00.
"I could almost write a book solely about my time at Eastwell, but eventually all good things come to an end and it started to turn sour. The Bates family sold the hotel, and inevitably it was not the same and it didn't take long for me to start thinking about our own restaurant."
Who else appears in Just Call Me Chef?
Alongside the chefs and venues named above, the book's glossary of "participants (willing or otherwise) and places" features Raymond Blanc, Nico Ladenis, Andrew Fairlie, Anton Edelmann, David Cavalier, Kit Chapman, Clement Freud, Pino Bassanini, Willie Bauer, Bernard Gaume, Martin Brigdale, Roger Moore, Rod Hull, Alex Salmond and HM Queen Elizabeth II.
Also named are Alan Briggs, Alan Collier, Alan Styche, Andrew Bennet, Andrew Burton, Bernie Warne, Chris and Doreen Cochran, Chris Egginton, Colin Brown, Daniel and Iza, Darel Turney, David and Rhona Pitchford, David Chambers, David Egerton, David Spice, Douglas and Sue Jordan, Eric Burchell, Frances Smith, Gareth, Geoff and Lorraine Harrison, Glyn Council, Herr Babineck, Herr Hienz, Jim Byars, John Croft, Julie Hall, Louise, Mark Herman, Martin Truscott, Morag Stewart, Nobby Clark, Paul Thurston, Peter Chandler, Peter Tibbetts, Ralph Porciani, Ray Raiman, Richard Palmer, Sarah, Shaun Smith Roberts, Tony Borthwick and Willie Black.
The venues and businesses along the way include Adare Manor, the Carlton Tower Hotel, the Cavendish Hotel, Cogan House Brasserie, Flitwick Manor, the Hotel Intercontinental, the Park Tower Hotel, the Royal Victoria Hotel, the Station Hotel Dumfries, The Boathouse, Wentworth, Braehead Foods, In-House Catering and Anglia Rail, with stops in Eastbourne, Sheffield, Southampton, Norfolk, Ross-on-Wye, Dumfries, Ireland, Hamburg, Milan, Istanbul, Singapore, New York and New Zealand.
Just Call Me Chef is available now, priced £25, from Chefs Studio.
