The irony is that I went to Oxford on 12 grand and I came back from London and demanded 24 grand. And I thought “What!!?” I had only done a year. It kind of really frustrated me because I wasn’t any different as a person; yes I had picked some more skills up but it just showed the power of having something on your CV.
Yes, CV is definitely king.
Yes, so at that point I decided never to work for anyone ever again… as a named Chef. I didn’t want it. So I decided to work obsessively. Learn the craft. Read as much as I could. Try techniques that I didn’t know. So I went down that sort of route.
So, would you say, from a profile point of view, that you started getting on peoples radar when you ran for the Roux Scholarship?
Yes, I think so.
You are now, obviously, part of the Roux family?
That’s right. And it is a great family to be part of. I love Michel Roux.
Was it 1997 you won that?
’99. I was out of work. Unemployed.
What made you enter it?
It was my last year. When I was working I sent off the form and I got through to the regional. In between going through from the regional to the final the restaurant I was working in closed. So at that point I thought “OMG, what happens here will dictate the rest of my life – I can’t loose.” But the calibre was phenomenal. There was the guy from the Aubergine, there was another starred restaurant. These guys worked all over. So there is me; almost the under-dog. So I just went for it. But there was no way I thought I had won. I was blown away when they called my name out. I went to the South of France, to work at Le Jardin des sens. I had a brilliant time. Went to Ferran Adrias El Bulli while I was there. I was lucky enough to have gone in ’99; and before all the hype.
At those sort of places you start from scratch. What I ate and saw at El Bulli! I left there. All I took away with me was some of their creativity.
It’s very niche, isn’t it the El Bulli?
It is, yes.
They are masters in what they do.
Yes, but I wanted to be master in what I did. I didn’t want to replicate anything.
Yes, that’s a danger isn’t it – copying what somebody else is doing.
Yes, it’s taking their creativity. That could have made me angry. I didn’t want to do that. So I decided to work on a very unique style that was very much part of my sole and get it on a plate. Some of it was very classically driven, but then how can you make a Parfait better? We worked out that if you cooked it lower and longer you don’t get the grainy effect on the sides. Where as traditionally you cook a Parfait, the middle if beautiful. You would trim the sides and throw away those bits – what is the point in that! Just keep it at the temperature where it is never going to coagulate; so we learnt that and now we have a Parfait that takes an hour and a half to two hours, we never take it above 62. It’s perfect. For me, it’s one of those dishes that has evolved. That’s what we do. We question everything.
