Dave Ahern is a food writer turned chef he is also better known as @CorkGourmetGuy. He writes the blog http://gourmetguy.wordpress.com/ and is about to launch a pop up restaurant at @06StChadsPlace on the 22nd of July. He has teamed up with the guys from The Cornish Grill to use Cornwall’s best produce to do a burger pop-up with a bit of a difference. We caught up with him for a really interesting chat about what his likes and being a chef in London.
Which is the last restaurant you visited and what were your thoughts?
The last place I ate out was at the Patty and Bun burger pop up at The
Endurance in Soho. I have to say honestly it was the best burger that I’ve ever had in London, there is a lot of these American style burger pop-ups & restaurants around
London now but none I’ve had are on the same level as Patty and Bun.
Which is your favourite local restaurant?
My favourite local restaurant is a little family run Italian place near East
Putney tube station called Vera Italia. I discovered it when I lived there
last year, my girlfriend and I were trying to decided where to go to eat
while stood pretty much outside it and decided that we may as well give it a
try. It became a place we visitied at least once a week and often more. The
whole family worked there and it came to the stage where we could tell who
was in the kitchen that night by the subtle differences in your dish.
Despite no longer living in the area we still try and go back there to eat
every month or so, it’s everything a local Italian should be, friendly,
welcoming, with simple dishes that are wonderfully fresh and cooked with
love.
What is the most difficult part of your job?
Kitchens are unusual working enviroments, stress filled, usually cramped,
hot and tough places to work. Getting the very best from your brigade is
hugely important and it’s the most difficult part of being a head chef. You
have to make your brigade want to work for you, many chefs think that
shouting and screaming is the way to run a brigade but all you will end up
is a brigade that works just hard enough to not get shouted at. You also
can’t push your brigade flat out all day, you need to manage them so that
prep gets done but they can relax and enjoy some banter when not on service.
You also need to use this time to work one on one with your junior chefs and
develop their skills by showing them new things, this keeps them interested
and motivated to beome better chefs. You need to be able to be one of the
gang when the kitchen is relaxed but on service your brigade have to respect
that what you say goes. It’s that along with instilling a sense of pride in
what you are doing as a brigade that are the toughest part of the job but
ultimately the most rewarding if you get it right.
What annoys you in the hospitality industry at the moment?
The undervaluing of the art of cheffing. The explosion of the chain
restaurant has led to a culture where the people running franchise kitchens
are little more than cooks following company step by step recipes. This has
lead to non chain restaurants expecting head chefs to work for the same
money as chain “head chefs but demanding they create menus, look after
budgets, financials, HR, staff training and all the other duties involved in
being a head chef.
What personal attributes do you think make a good chef?
A calm head, without that you’re never going to achieve anything. The line
in the poem should read “If you can keep your head when all about you are
losing their’s and blaming it on you….then you’ll be a chef my son”
If you had to give one piece of advice to an up and coming chef, what would
it be?
Prepare to make sacrifices. As someone who started work as a commis chef 1
month before my 35th birthday I think more than most I know what it takes
and more to the point what you have to sacrifice to make it as a chef. One
thing I always tell young chefs is study the great chefs, look at their
menus and ask yourself why they are cooking what they are cooking.
What should a chef working for you, never do?
Show a lack of respect to me or anyone in the brigade, you do that with me
then I will run you into the ground.
Which Chef (Chefs) do you most admire?
Gordon Ramsay (he’s the reason I became a chef)
Nathan Outlaw
Richard Corrigan
Ben Spalding (having worked along side him when he came to my restaurant to
cook for the first time since leaving Roganic I was simply blown away by
watching how the guys mind worked, an exceptional chef)
People always ask chefs what their last meal on earth would be… Instead,
if you had to cook one last meal (the last dish ever!) what would it be and
why?
Loin of venison, thyme fondant, beetroot puree, pickled wild mushrooms,
blackpudding and walnut crumble and a damson and chocolate sauce, it’s
simply me on a plate.
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