3. Driven to Create
The problem is you tend not to switch off. I normally work seven days a week at Fraiche. I do fifteen or sixteen hours straight in the kitchen, except Mondays and Tuesdays when we're closed.
Monday is my day for meetings and job-runs, book work and wine ordering, compiling the lists and talking to my supply network for the following week, while Tuesdays are spent in the kitchen all day working on the dishes for that week.
So, now and again, when I need a break, I fly somewhere for a day. I go to Barcelona a lot. I love the architecture in Spain, especially the stunning modern buildings – the Guggenheim in Bilbao is better than the art inside! In particular, I love Catalonia – my second home.
I leave on a Sunday from John Lennon Airport, Liverpool, have dinner at a good restaurant, then maybe a lunch somewhere else the next day, on my way back.
That's what I'm doing this weekend. I'm going to Barcelona and eating at Sergi Arola on Sunday and at alkimia, which is so exciting, on Monday.
You know the food is going to make you sit up in your chair. It's not going to be a fishcake, lamb shank, or confit duck. You can eat food like that closer to home and it can be well cooked, substantial, comforting or whatever. But, for me, it's not excitement. It's not sensual, it's just sustenance.
I need these little breaks, just to fire me up. It's definitely important to eat out. Not enough chefs do. But I'd never go into a restaurant and copy a dish, just like for like. That's so lazy, and so unfair on the chef and restaurant that you've just visited. But they do it!
Gordon Ramsay's lobster ravioli, Marco Pierre White's lemon tart, Michel Bras' chocolate fondant... you'll find them everywhere. The trouble is, when things get copied, they sometimes end up far removed from the original. For instance, Beefeater restaurants have chocolate fondant on the menu now, but it's a completely different entity from the fantastic dish invented by Bras in Laguiole.