Alberto Cavaliere: From the army to running a Michelin-starred kitchen

Every head chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant has their own unique journey of how they rose to the position they now hold.

But not many can list a spell in the army as a precursor to a career in hospitality.

For Alberto Cavaliere, that is his reality.

Having been medically discharged from the armed forces, Alberto’s life was at a crossroads.

He decided to turn to food, aged 25, completing an apprenticeship before going on to work at Marcus Wareing’s The Berkeley, L’Atelier de Joël Robuchon in Paris and Michelin-starred Spanish restaurant Sabor in London.

Earlier this year, Alberto took on his first head chef role, replacing Phil Kearsey at iconic Fitzrovia restaurant Pied à Terre.

No restaurant in London has held a Michelin star for as long as Pied à Terre. Owned by restaurateur and entrepreneur David Moore, the restaurant opened in 1991 and was awarded its first Michelin star little over a year later.

This was then upgraded to two stars in 1996 with Tom Aikens as head chef and again in 2003 under Shane Osborne, before dropping back to one star, which it has held since 2011.

The list of former head chefs also includes Richard Neat, Marcus Eaves, Andy McFadden and Asimakis Chaniotis, before Alberto left Sabor to take the reins earlier this year.

“I’m thoroughly enjoying it,” he told The Staff Canteen.

“Obviously it’s a learning curve, because it’s my first role as a head chef at a one star, but it’s been great. I’ve had a lot of support from David and the team.

“I’ve been able to bring some of my own team in. We’re got a core, staple team now in the kitchen. We're really trying to push the food a little bit higher, now that we're all more settled in and feeling more comfortable.”

Training Under Culinary Giants

Discussing his past experiences as a chef, which have led him to this point, Alberto said: “When you work for people like Marcus and Robuchon, there, structure is everything. They're extremely old school kitchens. They're tough environments to work in, they're hard, they're busy all the time, so you learn and learn.

“I try to take every mistake that I made as a junior chef and teach the guys in the kitchen, so we can minimalize the amount of errors.

“Obviously I'm still learning myself. I'm learning on the job as I go. Being a head chef is a completely different responsibility to being a sous chef.

“As a sous chef, you spend your time learning the structures, costings, all the back-of-house admin side of things and team management. But then I think when it’s you that runs the show, you're the one that has to deal with everything.

“Some guys in the kitchen react to the different sorts of learning methods. Some guys are more visual learners, some guys are more learn just by doing. You have to understand who learns in what way and figure out what's best for the team.”

Unexpected Path to the Kitchen

A career as a chef is not what Alberto initially had his sights set on.

“Honestly, I fell into by accident,” he admitted.

“I was in the army before and then I got medically discharged. It was kind of like, well, what do I do now?

“I have friends and family that said, ‘well you enjoy cooking, why don’t you try and be a chef?’ I’d never really thought of cheffing as a career. Then I found the Fifteen Apprenticeship with Jamie Oliver and when I went for my trial shift there, that's when I knew it’s where I wanted to be.

“The structure of the kitchen reminded me a lot of the army. There was a lot of stability, the hierarchy, it was something that I was always used to, so I felt quite comfortable in that environment straight away.

“Then when I saw the kitchen and how it was, how fast it moves, everyone's just running around, there's constant adrenaline. I was like, this is all I want to do for the rest of my life.”

He added: “I started cooking quite late, when I was 25. After I finished my apprenticeship, I felt like I had to catch up quite a lot. When I went to Marcus, most of the chefs were 18 or 19 years old, that were all commis like me.

“I knew that I had to find probably one of the best kitchens in London where I could learn in the quickest amount of time. I wanted to put myself in one of the hardest environments because I knew if I was the worst chef there, hopefully by the time I came out of that place, I would have learned something along the way, which is why I decided to go to Marcus.

“When I went on my trial there, I was just in awe. Jake, the head chef at the time, was an excellent mentor. He would really take his time to explain to you the whole process. I knew that I could suck up a load of information, if I just put my head down, listened and asked loads of questions.”

New Menus, Fresh Goals and the Road Ahead

Under Alberto, Pied à Terre are embarking on a new journey. In a bid to keep customers interested, they have implemented events such as a residency with Guillermo Bitanga and also a new £69 three-course lunch menu. Dishes include Orkney scallop tartare, Anjou pigeon and white chocolate crémeux.

“The hospitality industry is difficult right now,” Alberto admitted.

“I work really closely with David to try and find the best solution to maintain the standard that we have, but also try and be as accessible as we can to everybody.

“We’ve started creating this lunch menu where hopefully we can start attracting a different sort of crowd and maybe make fine dining more accessible to people.

“If you can make it affordable but still maintain the quality, hopefully it attracts more people.”

Building a Team and Finding His Culinary Voice

Should diners opt to try out Pied à Terre, what can they expect from a meal by Alberto?

“I don't really have a set structure of ‘this is my style’,” he insisted.

“I learned all the techniques. I picked classic French food, which is the strongest kind of base that you can have for cooking.

“From there, as I was progressing in my career, I would start playing around with dishes and ideas. How can I do it differently? How can I put my own take on it? How can I make food lighter?

“I find French cooking quite heavy at times, which is why I use quite a lot of Japanese produce. I think you can get a much lighter flavour profile from it.

"I talk with Tony (Antonis Gkoumas), my sous chef, we're constantly bouncing ideas off each other.

“I try to get the guys involved in the kitchen as well, because I think it’s important. If they have an idea that we think is really good, then we work on it, we try and develop it to the standard that we think is good enough to put on a plate.

"So I source my inspiration from everywhere really. Eating out, through the other guys, reading books, figuring out what works and what doesn’t."

Taking the Reins at Pied à Terre: A Michelin Legacy

Asked how he has found the pressure of stepping into such an iconic venue as Pied à Terre, Alberto said: “It’s a legendary restaurant. It's a legacy. Some of the biggest names that are cooking at the minute have all done a stint at Pied à Terre. It's produced some incredibly talented chefs, throughout its 34 years.

“It does feel sometimes like they’re very big shoes to fill.

“But David is extremely supportive. He has so much knowledge that he's acquired throughout all his years in the industry, so it's really nice to have someone that's there almost like a mentor in a way.

“We taste dishes together to ask how is this working for the identity of the restaurant?

“It's nice to have that input because it relieves a lot of that pressure. It's not like I've just been dropped into the restaurant and left to my own devices without any help.

“It’s quite a big family here in terms of a lot of people have been here for a long time. Everyone looks after each other and looks out for each other.”

Discussing his hopes and ambitions for his time at the restaurant, Alberto said: “It's still such early days. The main goal this year is to establish my style of cooking and get people to understand what Pied à Terre is doing now.

“I think it's the first time they've had French-Japanese fusion food here.

“Then year two and year three, once we're a little bit more settled, we can start looking for bigger goals and pushing for more.

“I think it's important to go in baby steps. You don't want to run before you can walk.

“The most important thing for us is the customer experience. So it's how can we all work together to deliver the best quality meal and best quality dining experience to the customer.”