Still in a league of his own
Interview | Robina Dam Daring to open a top-notch restaurant at a football club is a radical move – except if you’re feted chef Marco Pierre White WHEN RUMOURS SPREAD about the latest restaurant being launched by Marco Pierre White, the former wunderkind of the British culinary revolution, now an elder statesman, everyone assumed it [...]
Interview | Robina Dam
Daring to open a top-notch restaurant at a football club is a
radical move – except if you’re feted chef Marco Pierre White
width="180" height="135" alt="The dining room at the new Marco restaurant">
WHEN RUMOURS SPREAD about the latest
restaurant being launched by Marco Pierre
White, the former wunderkind of the British
culinary revolution, now an elder statesman,
everyone assumed it would be in the latest
chichi destination. Surely a stone’s throw from Harvey
Nichols? Or at the very least, in the heart of Chelsea?
But the glamorous, 30-something couple who headed there
for a romantic dinner on a Saturday night thought the driver
had made a mistake when he parked in front of the Chelsea
football stadium. After all, think of footie food in Britain and
it’s usually the likes of fish and chips, burger and chips or any
other variation with chips that spring to mind. Even corporate
hospitality tents aren’t meant to be gourmet destinations. So
it was a surprise to find that on the site of the former Harry
Ramsdens at Stamford Bridge was the new offering from
Marco Pierre White, he of the three Michelin stars fame.
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alt="Back on top of his game, Marco Pierre White">
The restaurant – named Marco, not after himself as many
suppose, but after his son of the same name – couldn’t be
further away from the “chips with everything” variety. For
a start, the Italian cuisine is genuinely of a high quality; the
cocktail bartenders are passionate about what they do and
the wine list is impressive (slightly detached waiting staff
simply need more training). Should this be a destination
restaurant in its own right? Yes, absolutely. Is it likely to be
slightly wasted in a football stadium? Again, yes.
So why would White, 46, a consummate professional and
heartfelt cook, be prepared to do this – especially when he
is not cooking in the kitchen himself but putting his name
to the project? And are his critics, therefore, justified in their
accusations of him selling out, now that he has returned
from his self-imposed exile to step back into the spotlight?
His hosting of the Hell’s Kitchen television show (more of
which later) was seen as a vehicle to reintroduce him to the
public, since he had been in semi-retirement in the English
countryside, shooting, hunting and fishing.
Hot on the heels of his foray into television is a new wave
of international expansions, following on from Dubai and
Shanghai. This year will see launches in Las Vegas, Ireland, Abu
Dhabi and a deal with P&O Cruises. With six openings in the
pipeline and endorsements with kitchen equipment company
Russell Hobbs, White’s ventures reveal the commercial
businessman side to him is as strong as the creative artist.
alt="The young White, who was credited with revolutionising British cooking with his talent and rock ‘n’ roll attitude">
The ‘Great White’ – the nickname bestowed upon him for
his erstwhile ferocious temper, which once saw him scald a
member of his kitchen staff and carve the clothes of another
with a knife – comes to explain himself at another of his
restaurants, Luciano in Mayfair, named after his other son.
(He has three children with his third wife, Mati – Luciano, 13,
Marco, 12, and Mirabelle, six. He also has a teenage daughter,
Leticia Rosa, 17, from his first marriage to Alex McArthur.)
“I want this restaurant [Marco’s] to have a mixture of
Italian gastronomy as well as something classically English;
[I want it to] have a beautiful fish pie, or roast partridge with
all the trimmings, or else a gorgeous risotto or foie gras.
Do you see where I’m coming from? Why shouldn’t you
have good food in a football stadium?”
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/jan/004_voyager_jan_08.jpg" width="180" height="120"
alt="The Yew Tree Inn, Berkshire, which is among his portfolio of restaurants">
Besides, it was a marriage made in heaven, since
White’s other great passion, apart from food, is the beautiful
game. “To appreciate cricket you have to understand the
technicalities of the game,” he muses. “To understand polo,
you have to know the technicalities of the game. To me, it’s
just a load of people sitting on horses with sticks – I simply
don’t get it. But football I’ve always loved since I was a kid in
Leeds and used to go to Elland Road to watch Leeds United.
But I’m not a tribalist: I appreciate good football regardless of
which team. Chelsea and Manchester United are great teams
but right now I think Arsenal are playing the best football.”
Proximity to Chelsea, given that he lives in west London,
means that White is more likely to take his sons there to
watch matches. And despite having left school at an early
age (where his dyslexia was not dealt with) to throw himself
into the kitchen, his inbuilt intelligence and speedy ability to
learn set him far above not only his peers, but many more
conventionally academic success stories.
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/jan/005_voyager_jan_08.jpg" width="180" height="120"
alt="White takes time out from the kitchen for his other passion – fishing">
Which isn’t to say that White himself hasn’t taken his
passions to heart. So much so has he done this, that just
over eight years ago, when he was at the peak of his career,
having shot to fame as the first British-born chef to earn
three Michelin stars, White, then 33, took the extraordinary
decision to step out of the arena. At that time, he had his
name linked to some of the most prestigious restaurants in
the capital – The Oak Room at Le Meridien hotel, Mirabelle in
Curzon Street and Quo Vadis among others – and was seen as
one of the main creators of the British gastronomic revolution
at a time when Jamie Oliver was probably still at nursery. Even
now, his pugilistic streak remains strongly at the forefront
when he explains what led to his astonishing decision.
“I decided to hand them back [his stars] when I came to a
realisation: Michelin got their respect because of the chefs,
but one day when I woke up to realise that I was being judged
by people who had less knowledge than me, then what was
it worth? Sure there was the recognition: 10/10 in the Good
Food Guide, three stars in Gault Millau (the prestigious French
guide), five rosettes in the AA, three Michelin stars – all very
nice to have. But was I happy?”
It was a fair question to ask, given his punishing regime.
“I went to work when the children were asleep; I came home
when the children were asleep. I worked harder than anyone
I have ever met in my life. That’s not about praising myself.
It’s because I was a very damaged child. I lost my mother
when I was six; my father was diagnosed with lung cancer
when I was 10 and we were very poor. Hard work numbed
the pain – my addiction, if you like, is hard work.”
His work ethic was matched by his innovative talent and
very quickly celebrities were flocking to his smart and very
expensive restaurants. The likes of Madonna and Guy Ritchie
became close friends but he will not speak of it. Now, in the
prevailing wind of the Noughties, the expansion that White is
concentrating on is the chain of eateries he set up with Italian
jockey Frankie Dettori, called Frankie’s.
src="http://www.bmivoyager.com/images/2008/jan/009_voyager_jan_08.jpg" width="180" height="134"
alt="On Hell’s Kitchen">
“The next six openings are all Frankie’s,’ he says. “What I like
about them is that they are democratic. I don’t like restaurants
that are tribal – where if you don’t belong to that world, you’re
given a s*** table. Why? You’re paying the same money. At
The Oak Room, we didn’t discriminate against anyone.”
