Sustainability On The Menu with Deri Reed via The Chefs’ Forum Academy
The Chefs’ Forum is pleased to announce an ongoing partnership with Deri Reed of The Warren in Wales. Reed is fast becoming one of the pioneering champions of sustainability in restaurants and last year picked up the prestigious chef of the year awards organised by the Sustainable Restaurant Association.
Reed is working with The Chefs’ Forum at Pembrokeshire College, Coleg Gwent and Bath College and bringing home the message of sustainability to the next generation of college graduates who, he hopes, will carry on what he has started. The Chefs’ Forum runs five academies in colleges nationally and is currently running a series of weekly masterclasses to enrich the learning of the students.
The Chefs’ Forum Academy is a valuable learning resource that facilitates students and teaching staff working with high profile industry employers to showcase new recipes and transcend experience and knowledge. This all counts towards work experience while restrictions remain in place.
“I believe we all have a responsibility to protect our environment,” he says on his website. “I am happy to support groups raising awareness on environment issues. I was very pleased to be asked to give a guest lecture in Pembrokeshire College and really enjoyed working with the students to make choux pastry from scratch, creating delicious chocolate eclairs. It will be great to meet the students in Coleg Gwent and Bath College via video link and in person in their teaching kitchens once restrictions permit. In the meantime, we will do our level best to enhance and support their learning experience remotely.”
Sustainability is an important issue with the whole food chain from suppliers right down to chefs and back to farmers and it is vital that we emphasise the importance of this with regards to sourcing suppliers and provenance to the next generation of chefs.
Deri prides himself on curating only the most sustainable suppliers including Blaencamel Organic Farm, Watson & Pratts, Rhosyn farm, Hazelwell Organic Beef Farm, Cwm Farm Dairy, Calon Wen and Suma Wholefoods.
The Sustainable Restaurant Association said of Reed
“Deri opened The Warren with the mission to leave the environment and customers’ health in a better place than if it had never opened. He created a restaurant built by the community, starting with a £20,000 crowdfunding campaign, and for the community, realising his dream of running a restaurant showcasing quality, mostly organic, Welsh produce at affordable prices.
In an area where meat is a mainstay, Deri has profited from marketing vegetarian and vegan options. Deri’s dream has been achieved, and with it, the local farmers and diners have benefitted hugely.”
Catherine Farinha said of working with Reed
“For our colleges, sustainability is a huge issue and runs through everything taught in the curriculum and in the operational strategy of the colleges. The teaching staff and students are delighted to be working with Deri, both in person and virtually via video link in colleges where restrictions mean no visitors on campus. Deri taught in Pembrokeshire College in person before the latest restrictions, creating choux pastry with the students. He will now join Coleg Gwent and Bath College via video link to talk about his sustainability policies and winning the coveted Sustainable Chef of the Year!”
Wendy Weber, Head of Health, Childcare and Commercial Enterprise at Pembrokeshire College was delighted with Deri’s session at the college, she said
“The students really enjoyed the session with Deri. Pastry is so popular, so it was great to be able to invite a professional chef and local employer into the college to give a socially distanced masterclass. Tightened restrictions mean that we now have to move to a virtual session for the next week, but The Chefs’ Forum have amassed a fantastic library of learning resources for us to continue our curriculum enrichment sessions via video link with excellent recipe cards from the chefs to accompany.”
The Chefs’ Forum will continue to carry colleges through this difficult period, affording them access to some of the most exclusive operations in the UK while restrictions are in place. The chefs are doing a fantastic job of supporting the colleges in cooking recipes and producing films to accompany recipe cards and connecting with the students via Microsoft Teams for a live Q&A session.
Here’s a film about The Chefs’ Forum Academy at West London College and what it means to the teaching team as well as the students.
Any colleges, brands or chefs interested in learning more should contact Rebecca Saunders rebecca@redcherry.uk.com
Cutting Edge Kitchens – Take a Bao!
It’s easy to look at the world of restaurants and imagine that the only cutting edges are in fine dining. Though the world’s great chefs and kitchens are constantly reinterpreting what taste and flavour mean they are not the only ones.
A whole host of different restaurants have opened in London over the last few years but one new restaurant group is deserving of a closer look. We’re talking about Bao.
Why Bao? The format is simple: Taiwanese street food steamed buns with a variety of fillings. From the the initial small opening in Soho, Bao has grown into a group with further sites, an online offering and now its own all-day cafe.
We’re excited about this because of the opportunity it presents to learn some very interesting, modern, skills that can help any chef increase their knowledge and their career opportunities.
On the face of it using Bao as a stepping stone to another job or opportunity might not seem obvious. However, look more closely at the business model and it is clear that there are important lessons to learn about the way the business has been conceived.
Bao is about buns. These are easy to produce and have taken their inspiration from Taiwan where they are freely available in street markets. This is the backdrop to the business. Where the owners have been clever is to build an offering around this in a clever way. Bao is fast, simple, clean and easy to understand. These are great business lessons for any chef.
So, if there is only one thing that you learn from a business like Bao it is to conceive your offering in a simple way. There is much to learn from businesses like these that can then be transferred to fine dining.
The late Andrew Fairlie once did a spell, deliberately, at Walt Disney. He went there for one reason and one reason only – to learn about business. Whilst he was there he learnt about profit and loss, running a business, motivating and keeping staff and how to construct a menu from a business perspective. This grounding in business enabled him to return to fine dining and establish a business that became the highest awarded restaurant in Scotland which he kept for the remainder of his life. The business is still going under the guidance of his long-term head chef Stevie MacLaughlin and Restaurant Manager Dale Dewsbury.
So, if you want to have your own restaurant one day follow the same advice – isolate a business that you admire that makes money and go and work there. The food is not the only thing that makes a restaurant. Beyond that is the business. Bao is an interesting concept that keeps things very simple but in an exciting way.
Chef Hayden Groves to Launch Macadamia Trail Mix Bar for National Nut Day on the 22nd October!
Nuts are good for you. Fact. Loaded with antioxidants and heart positive monounsaturated fats, they are key to a sustainable healthy lifestyle and a great source of fibre and protein. Hayden Groves, former National Chef of The Year, cycling fanatic and published author is working with Nutcellars to produce a raw macadamia Trail Mix bar with figs, dates and cacao.
It’s National Nut Day today (22) October. Bedford based macadamia nut suppliers, Nutcellars and multi variety nut importer, Liberation Foods are joining forces to launch the ‘Go Nuts For Nuts’ campaign to encourage more chefs and consumers to incorporate more nuts into their menus and diets.
Former National Chef of the Year, Hayden Groves is backing the campaign as nuts are a very important part of his diet as an accomplished cyclist who has not only completed the 3 Tours Challenge, cycling over 6500 miles over a gruelling three tours: Giro d’Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana.
Hayden wholeheartedly accepted the challenge to create a trail mix bar showcasing macadamia that consumers can make at home, perfect for a snack before, during or after exercise or for a mid-afternoon pick-me-up.
Hayden used Nutcellars whole macadamia nuts and crunchy macadamia nut butter to create a delicious trail mix bar that he believes would be an ideal snack to give a healthy energy boost whenever required!
Hayden said
“I love using Nuts in my recipes, not just a fantastic source of Protein, vitamin E, omega 3 and 6, and essential minerals and fibre but they are truly delicious too. I’ve used 3 different types in my recipe and the star of the show is the Macadamia which features in two forms; Nutcellars luxurious crunchy nut butter and generous whole macadamia nuts that really give a lovely texture through the bar. The addition of cocoa and coffee add a touch of bitterness to counteract the natural sweetness of the dried fruit. “
Hayden further experimented with a version that would be quite at home on any coffee shop counter as the perfect accompaniment to a coffee break, he added
“You can elevate this bar further for a café offering by rolling the mix a little thinner and topping with a salted peanut brittle for even more texture and variation.”
Dan Binks, Managing Director at Liberation Foods, the first Fairtrade nut company in UK, sources its Brazil nuts, cashews and peanuts from cooperatives in Nicaragua, Bolivia, Kerala, Malawi and Mozambique, said
“Its high-time we championed the deliciousness and versatility of nuts. I’m delighted that Hayden has used our Brazil nuts in his trail mix bar. Nuts make a great snack that is also very good for you and its great to be working with Hayden and Nutcellars macadamia to shine the spotlight on such a wonderful food item with its own special day!”
Andrew Emmott, Managing Director of Nutcellars concluded
“Having been involved with Liberation Foods since its inception we are thrilled to be working together on this “go nuts for nuts campaign” in the lead up to National Nut Day. Working with smallholder nut farmers and gatherers, Liberation and Nutcellars are keen to highlight the fantastic provenance of our macadamia and versatility of our crunchy nut butter. This fantastic trail mix bar really does them justice! “
Nutcellars plan to add Hayden’s bar to its extensive range of delicious macadamia nut products and are delighted with his recipe which is currently available here.
The potential health benefits of nuts must also be addressed. For the first time in a generation we have urgent dietary recommendations via the National Food Strategy. The strategy looks to an imminent EU exit whilst keeping a firm eye on the big issue of obesity in a COVID world. The main topic of the document focuses on ensuring children receive a diet rich with nourishment for the development of their physical and mental wellbeing. Given that research has shown that tree nuts lower cholesterol and blood sugar levels whilst improving metabolism rates they must be an integral part of the diet in meals or as a healthy snack. This is without the added bonus of being rich in tocotrienols – a form of Vitamin E – which may help protect from brain disease and certain cancers.
It’s not just Nutcellars’ Macadamia; there are smallholders and gatherers all over the world who would benefit from us using nuts more frequently as a balanced diet. Liberation Foods import Cashews from Kerala and Mozambique, Amazon nuts from the forests of Bolivia, Peru and Brazil, peanuts from Malawi and Nicaragua: each with their own wonderful characteristics that deserve to be a regular part of everyday life. We’d love to hear from you about how you are using nuts in your kitchen and diets. It’s time we all went nuts for nuts!
#gonutsfornuts
A New Set of Knives from F.Dick is A Prize Worth Winning – Simply Fill Out the Rational Survey!
A new set of knives from F.Dick is a prize worth winning. Even more so when they come in a unique knife holder from Rational. All you have to do to enter the draw is fill out a survey about your business. Three knife sets will be given out in a beautiful Rational-branded knife roll worth £350!
The survey is well worth doing for a very good reason; Technology has changed cooking for the better. It is possible now to run a kitchen with two, central, pieces of equipment – a Rational iCombi and a Rational iVario multifunctional cooking system. With the ability to micromanage a heatable surface into 4 zones the days of the range and umpteen pans that need washing may be drawing to a close.
This may be a vision of the future, but it also makes perfect sense. The iVario multifunctional cooking system is now a stockpot, a pressure cooker and a plancha all in one. Technology is not de-skilling the kitchen like it was once feared. Instead, world-leading technology is liberating chefs to become more creative because consistency is at its core.
Many kitchens find that their combi is indispensable. It can work all night, switch itself on and off and prove and bake bread ready for the morning. And this is the reason that Rational want to know more about your business. They are working with The Chefs’ Forum to understand how you are operating and what type of business you are in – whether it’s pub, hospital, care home, hotel, supermarket, convenience store or cafe/coffee shop.
This information will enable Rational to build the next generation of technology to make your kitchen even more efficient. So, complete the survey, contribute to Rational’s innovation strategy and put yourself in a position to win a set of knives and look forward to a bright future.
As you will have noticed, The Chefs’ Forum has been working closely with Rational to keep you updated with the latest information on new products and equipment ranges. There is also a fantastic webinar facility for you to find out all about the cutting-edge features and functionality of the new iCombi and iVario ranges.
Previous winners of Chefs’ Forum competitions showcasing Rational have nothing but praise for the leading combi oven manufacturer. They have hugely benefitted from winning a fantastic F.Dick knife roll worth £350.
Here’s what they had to say about it:
“My F.Dick Rational knives go everywhere with me, they are the best set of knives I’ve had.
I was stoked to win the competition – Huge thanks to The Chefs’ Forum and Rational. Rational is an integral part of my kitchen and I wouldn’t use anything else!”
Andy Chan, Head Chef, Luxury Family Hotels
“I was delighted to win a set of F.Dick knives, they are very comfortable, excellent sharpness, they keep the edge very well – There’s a knife for every task in the kit.”
“I have used Rational for all my career as a chef spanning 26 years. Their equipment is the best in the industry and seems to just get better and better as the technology advances. We would love a new iVario Pro for the college kitchen to show how many pieces of kitchen equipment can be amalgamated into one machine.
My oldest Rational in the college kitchen is 25 years old, practically an antique and still works perfectly.”
Gavin George , Course Lead Chef Lecturer, Coleg Gwent
“Rational are hands-down the best combi ovens. It’s great to see the new iCombi range and the webinars showcasing the latest innovations.”
“My F.Dick knives won in the last Rational competition have proved invaluable. I really enjoy working with them – A truly great prize!”
Matt Budden, Executive Chef, Hilton, Bournemouth
The Chefs’ Forum would like to thank you all for taking part in the survey and wish you the very best of luck in winning this Rational-branded F.Dick knife roll!
CLICK HERE TO TAKE THE SURVEY
The Michelin-starred Vegetarian Scotch Egg: A Thing of Beauty!
Chefs are often at the very forefront of innovation but sometimes that creativity and imagination can push boundaries in completely new ways.
Take the recent dish idea from Sally Abé at The Harwood Arms which has a Michelin star. She wanted to make a new version of her popular Scotch Egg which has a loyal following and cannot be removed from the menu.
However, the aim of the new egg was to make something vegetarian. That got her thinking. The idea she came up with was to use a classic recipe for a Glamorgan sausage which contains cheese and leeks. But, she found she needed something extra to give it a kick.
To do this she turned to a vegan bacon by This! This! Make a plant-based bacon and plant-based chicken and have been incredibly successful. By adding This! Bacon to her Scotch Egg she achieved a first.
No other Michelin star chef has dipped their toes into the plant-based alternative market but it is easy to see that she won’t be the last. Here’s what she said on Instagram when she announced the new dish:
“Our very first vegetarian Scotch egg, based on a Glamorgan sausage with Caerphilly cheese, leeks, potato and @this.uk vegan bacon giving it a lovely smokey note. A real rival to the original!”
This dish brings up an important point about what chefs do: there are no boundaries. The job of a chef is to feed people and if you are able to do this in a way that utilises current ingredients and allows customers to taste new things in a fresh way then that has to be applauded.
By using a plant-based bacon Sally Abé has opened up the flavour of bacon to a group of diners who would never order something like that on a menu. What she has achieved by thinking out of the box is that what is important in her vegetarian Scotch Egg is the flavour and crunch of bacon – not the bacon itself. That is a major breakthrough and it takes a chef of considerable courage to have an idea like that and the imagination to see how to do it.
It also leads to other questions such as how long will it be before a chicken casserole on a menu does not contain chicken but instead contains a plant-based alternative? The blurring of vegan, vegetarian and mainstream is now a fully-fledged trend and chefs need to accept that there are new ways to achieve old dishes and new customers waiting to try them.
Kol Brings Mexican Gastronomy to London!
In terms of sheer variety catering college graduates have a world of choice available to them when they decide their first steps. There are always new restaurants opening and every so often one or two open that just seem to tick every box.
One of these is new restaurant Kol in London. If you know anything about modern restaurants you will be very interested in Kol as it has serious pedigree. The chef is Santiago Lastra from Mexico who has worked with some of world’s greatest chefs including Andoni Luis Aduriz of Mugaritz in Spain and René Redzepi of Noma in Denmark.
Kol, which is Spanish for cabbage, is a rarity. According to Lastra there are only a few examples of authentic Mexican cuisine in the world. Too many Mexican-themed restaurants overlook the real, hidden, beauty that makes the food so special.
“The name comes from the idea that you can take something very simple and make it very special if you want to,” Lastra told GQ Magazine. “And the menu will seem like traditional Mexican food, but will be much more refined and will always use British produce. For example, we use roasted gooseberries to create tomatillos; pistachios become our guacamole. The only things we are bringing in from outside the UK are dried chillies and corn.”
The menu is fascinating. You’ll find a seaweed, chilli and mezcal broth alongside a confit of pork cheek with cabbage leaves, gooseberry and pear salsa and black beans. There’s also a squash sorbet.
The reason to get excited?
Very occasionally a chef breaks new grounds and introduces a cuisine that is unlike anything that has ben seen before. Kol is one of those. Even if you just go for a meal the experience will be memorable. If you decide to pluck up the courage and ask to do a stage you will be rewarded with something that could kickstart your food journey.
Back to the Old School – The Classics Return!
At the end of the 1980’s and the beginning of the 1990’s the classic French restaurant was coming to its end. British was in. France was out. Next came the molecular revolution from Spain and El Bulli followed by Heston Blumenthal and The Fat Duck. Everywhere chefs were reinventing what dining out was. This has continued with the long run of tasting menus and smaller portions.
But, as is so often the case, gone does not mean forgotten and a new restaurant that has opened-up in London – Maison François – is showing that there is more than just a love of old-school French classicism. Indeed, this new place revels in the deliciousness of what once was.
François O’Neill the man behind it has roots in the industry – his father co-founded Brasserie St. Quentin in the 1980s. He’s teamed up with Ed Wyand of Hackney wine bar Verden and chef Matthew Ryle who reached the final of Masterchef: The Professionals in 2018.
Why is this such a big deal for chef students?
Because the foundation of classic cuisine is still the best model for learning that there is and if there is a movement back towards the great dishes of the past then that is good news for young chefs. It means there is a place they can go to train in this style.
One of the dishes on the menu is Ouef en Gelée. Literally, a soft-boiled egg suspended in a meaty jelly. This dish was a classic of the old Connaught Hotel menu when it was under the auspices of French chef Michel Bourdin and dates back to the grand old man of classical cooking: Auguste Escoffier.
This style of food was considered not just old but dead. The use of a savory jelly was completely out of date according to the hip chefs of the day. But, and here’s the point, that opinion did not take into account that it was, actually, delicious – and a triumph of individual chef skill.
One of the other things to return to the menu is a three-tier dessert trolley showcasing eclairs, fruit tarts and all the other yummy puddings of yesteryear. Maison Francais is a classic example of a restaurant that is returning to the past in order to reinvent the future. They are baking their own bread, making charcuterie and doing all the things that the old restaurants used to do and it is wonderful to see!
Hayden Groves to Join Chefs’ Forum Academy
We are pleased to welcome former National Chef of the Year Hayden Groves to the growing roster of chefs who are providing inspiration and education to our Chefs’ Academy.
“We’re really delighted that Hayden is joining us,” said Catherine Farinha. “Not only is he a former winner of the National Chef of the Year but he is a highly experienced chef who has worked at the very top of the industry for many years.
“He will be bringing that experience to The Chefs’ Forum in a number of ways. He will be doing live calls with students, recipe films and creating eye-catching recipe cards for students to add to their portfolios.”
Hayden, who was until recently Executive Chef of leading caterer Baxter Storey, told The Chefs’ Forum:
“I’m excited to be able to pass on some of my experience to the next generation. I’ve had a very interesting career the latter part of it spent in private dining in the City of London. This is an excellent place to work if you want to learn good cooking in a small, intimate kitchen that covers many disciplines.
“My advice for young chefs looking at the industry is that the harder you work the luckier you become. So, work hard right from college onwards. I’ve always used the analogy of two eyes, two ears and one mouth.
“Do a lot of watching, a lot of listening and ask the right questions. Think about what you want to achieve and don’t always think you have to do fine dining. Baxter Storey, for example, are an excellent company that produce food of the highest quality across many sectors. As a young chef you have the choice of where you go on to work – always choose a kitchen where they have your best interests at heart.”
Denise Charles, Head of Curriculum for Service Industries at West London College concluded
“Hayden joining The Chefs’ Forum Academy at West London College is excellent news for our students and a fantastic opportunity for them to work with a leading chef in these difficult times. Due to Covid restrictions, it is unlikely that the students will be able to participate in work experience off campus this year. The Chefs’ Forum Academy sessions will count as part of their thirty-five hours of work experience required to pass their course and they can achieve this valuable employer engagement in their usual learning environment, adhering to college Covid-safe protocol.”
For students who are interested Hayden has a number of copies of his recent book, Back in the Saddle, available for Chefs’ Forum members. All of which will be signed and personalised.
Back in the Saddle
In 2017, a team of amateur cyclists took on the 3 Tours Challenge, riding the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España to help raise vital money for blood cancer charity Cure Leukaemia.
The challenge was to cycle over 10403km in just 63 days, completing each of the famous Grand Tours one day ahead of the professionals – a feat only 39 professional cyclists have ever completed.
The team of riders included Geoff Thomas, former England and Crystal Palace footballer; James Maltin, wealth manager; Doug McKinnon, telecoms entrepreneur, and Hayden Groves, chef and author of Back in the Saddle.
Back in the Saddle features 63 recipes inspired by every stage of their route through Italy, France and Spain: a cycling and food odyssey.
The book features contributions from Professor Charles Craddock CBE, Alastair Storey, Phil Liggett MBE, Laura Kenny CBE and Michel Roux Jr.
Hayden said:
“I have 80 copies for The Chefs’ Forum members I am signing and personalising for a special price of £25 + P&P (the sale of which will continue to go to Cure Leukaemia)” click here to order.
Sous Vide Sales Soar as Social Distance Regulations Impact Kitchens
It’s the pristine, natural environment of New Zealand that gives Alliance Group NZ’s Pure South lamb and venison its unique taste and flavour. Surrounded by ocean, sustainable natural resources and a temperate climate, New Zealand is the perfect place to raise premium livestock, which is why it sells so well, but now social distance regulations are providing a new reason.
Alliance Group NZ, a NZ$1.53 billion global food business and New Zealand’s largest farming co-operative reports a 50% spike in demand for its prepared Pure South venison rack and lamb products cooked in the sous vide method. It believes this is partly due to new social distance regulations.
Since sharing availability about its sous vide range, Alliance has seen enquires up 50% from June to July compared with last year with interest received in the UK and from Europe, as a result of chefs discovering how easy the product can be prepared with reduced kitchen brigades. As a socially distanced ready product, the Pure South sous vide range reduces labour requirements, helping operators to meet new social distancing regulations easily and without any reduction in the quality of meal they can produce.
Sous vide is a superb method to control and deliver precision cooking. The technique results in uniformly excellent food which is protected from shrinkage. Chefs can finish the meat to precise customer taste, which includes offering a range of finishes such as medium rare or well done. Prepared sous vide is the ultimate convenient chef solution.
The prepared range has been slow cooked in a sealed pouch within a water bath for between four to eight hours and monitored to ensure professional consistency every time. The naturally slow cooking process also locks in moisture for an enhanced flavour profile.
All products are fully cooked and ready to heat and finalise in the kitchen, as products are individually portioned this also helps reduce waste. The result is a flavoursome, fork-tender meat, making it easy to see why it has won so many awards.
Donna Smith, Regional General Manager UK and Europe for Alliance comments; “The challenge for pubs and restaurants is far from over, but they still want the ability to provide their guests with a high-quality food experience. Our pre-prepared sous vide range has taken a large amount of time out of the cooking process, which means it needs less chefs to prepare it ready for service. As an individually packaged product, there is also less wastage as chefs only use what they need and can be assured of longevity should any future closures be on the horizon.”
In total there are nine flavoursome sous vide lamb and venison products in the Pure South range, with cuts including lamb henry, loin, shoulder rack, lamb fore and hind shank, lamb ribs, pulled lamb, lamb rump and venison rack.
All products are lightly seasoned in salt and black pepper, while the lamb fore shank is additionally pre-seasoned in garlic, black pepper and rosemary before being cooked sous vide.
The lamb ribs, rump and loin are lightly seasoned and naturally oak smoked before being cooked sous vide for a delicious flavour. And the pulled lamb is seasoned with paprika, cayenne, coriander, cumin and crushed chillies before being slow cooked. All of the products can be made bespoke, with alternative seasonings added.
Alliance’s lamb and venison is grass-fed, free range and GMO-free. None of the lamb or venison in the prepared sous vide range uses any preservatives to extend shelf life and has undergone minimal processing.
The sous vide range is available immediately in the UK and is delivered frozen.
Le Gavroche Opening an Hour Earlier Makes Perfect Business Sense
Michel Roux Jnr has taken the decision to open Le Gavroche an hour earlier at 5pm. On Twitter he made a couple of tongue-in-cheek jokes about it but the choice is based on sound business principles – something that the Roux family as a whole are famous for.
One of the jokes was this: “In a couple of weeks it’s going to be dark at 4pm… so dinner at 5pm makes sense followed by a little nightcap at 7pm and off to bed…”
Very witty. But, dig a little deeper and the decision makes complete sense. What Le Gavroche are doing is giving themselves a chance to be open for longer. Though there are no theatres open for pre-theatre the opportunity to go to Le Gavroche for an early dinner is a option. And it gives the restaurant an option to turn over tables rather than running out of time with diners who start at 6.30 or 7.00.
Le Gavroche has a history of knowing just what to offer customers in times of crisis. Famously, during the Gulf War in 1990-1991 and the restaurant recession that followed Le Gavroche did not reduce its prices, like many other restaurants at that time. What they did instead was to increase the portion sizes slightly so that their customers felt they were getting extra value.
This understanding of how customers feel about their food and surroundings is all part of the Roux legacy founded by Albert (Michel Jnr’s father) and Michel (uncle). They had both worked in private service in country houses and had a unique understanding in how society worked.
They brought that knowledge and their unquestioned gastronomic skill to first Le Gavroche and then The Waterside Inn. Both restaurants are still going strongly today because they are built on fundamental principles – like understanding that opening at 5pm is good for business.
If you want to learn about the restaurant trade then a stint in the kitchens at Le Gavroche is going to teach you some very important lessons.
