than from anybody else. But you learn something everywhere you go even if it’s just the style of food.
When I was with Pierre Koffmann it was very, very hard and I only lasted three months. He was a very hard taskmaster and he wanted what he wanted and that was it. At the time I didn’t really understand and thought it was too much but a few years later when I was a head chef myself at the Four Seasons Hotel and I started to get the pressure and responsibility for other people, then I realised why he was such a hard person, because he was trying to control where he was going.
Another influence for me was Raymond Blanc because there were so many amazing, beautiful, colourful products at Le Manoir, and we only used to receive the best products. It appeared to be very simple but actually it was extremely sophisticated in terms of the conception of the dishes and the way you use all the elements.
There is one other who was a huge influence for me. He’s not a chef; it’s Mr Ramón Pajares who used to be the general manager of the Four Seasons Hotel. I would say, after my parents, he was the biggest influence in my life because he was such a great man.
At that time most chefs in big hotels were at least 30 years old but he took a young guy, who was just 25 years old, put him in charge of the fine dining restaurant and told him, “Cook what you want”. He trusted me and he knew that I had something inside and he let me do it. I had so much respect for him that I only wanted to do the best for him; that’s how he was with people. He used to go around the hotel on New Year’s Eve at 12 o’clock and shake hands or kiss everybody. He would stop and speak to the kitchen porters and he would ask about their children and he would know their names and he had 350 staff at the hotel; that meant a lot to me.
When you opened Bistrot Bruno Loubet five years ago after nine years in Australia, how did 
it compare to opening the original Bistrot Bruno?
It didn’t feel easy. When I came back I didn’t know any chefs in London who could work for me, like chefs de parties and commis chefs – all the people who fill your kitchen and work around you. And you know the difficulty of finding staff in the last eight years or so – it’s getting worse every year, so it was very tough.
When you do a restaurant, you always have to have three guys with you; if you have three guys who understand you, you can do a lot and build a lot and share the responsibility ; but when you’re on your own it’s very hard and that’s the position I was in when I came back. I basically had to start from scratch and prove myself again at 47 years old. There were some days when I was working 20 hours and sleeping three hours and having a shower and a coffee or two or three and that was it.
What’s next for you; will you open more Grain Stores?
At the moment it’s a blank sheet. Obviously it’s been on the table and we’ve started to talk about it but we have nothing firm yet. At the moment I’m more interested in pushing the concept and the ideas forward even more, developing some more recipes and getting together an amazing network of organic and small artisanal suppliers, but these things take time and I only wish I had more time to spend on it!
