Curious Cook. Foodies: Darina Allen. Foodies: Vivek Singh. ‘When I was still in my formative years I came across a rock star called Marco Pierre White. His total self-belief changed everything for me’ Chef-restaurateur Vivek Singh opened The Cinnamon Club in 2001, in St James’s Park, London. A sister branch in Soho will open on Kingly Street later this month. What were your school dinners like? I went to a Catholic school, St Patrick’s, in a small industrial town close to Calcutta. I distinctly remember the smell that would come out of the kitchens, which I still associate with Anglo-Indian food: boiled mutton passed off as stew.
They did have rice pudding, which I could relate to, though we had it without cardamom. What was the first meal that really impressed you? In the late 1970s, my brother and I went for the first time to a catered wedding, in Asansol, west Bengal. What was your big break in food? I wanted to join the Indian air force, and my parents wanted me to be an engineer, but I ended up doing hotel school in Delhi. Www.cinnamonclub.com. Marco Pierre White's Little Black Book. Foodies: Chris Galvin. ‘My father won on the horses and drove us through France for two weeks. That was when I got hooked ’ Chris Galvin grew up in Brentwood, Essex, and started his career there as a washer-up for Antony Worrall-Thompson. He went on to work at the Ritz and other restaurants in London, France and New York. In 2005 he opened Galvin Bistrot de Luxe with his brother Jeff; their fifth venture, Galvin Demoiselle, run by Chris’s wife Sara, has just opened in Harrods.
What’s your earliest memory of food at home? Every Saturday my nan would feed about 30 or 40 people – my mum’s family was huge. I liked watching her cook, and she had a lovely garden with gooseberries, pears, rhubarb, chickens, fruit trees – they had kept their plot going after the war years. What inspired you to cook? When I was about seven my dad won a “yankee” on the horses – you put money on one horse, it goes on to a second, and the money escalates; he won about £300. What was your most hated chore as a trainee? I always feel lucky. Foodies: Andrew Fairlie. ‘I remember eating beef chasseur, with a taste I didn’t recognise: tarragon. I still call it my tarragon moment – it made me want to become a chef’ Chef Andrew Fairlie opened his restaurant Andrew Fairlie at The Gleneagles Hotel, Scotland, in 2001, following spells at prestigious kitchens in Europe.
He will take part in Relais & Châteaux’s annual Grands Chefs dinner in New York next month. What were your school dinners like? I was at Perth Academy, and the food was actually very good. What was the first meal that really impressed you? I had a job washing dishes at the station hotel in Perth when I was still at school, and I remember the day when the chef made a main course for a wedding: it was beef chasseur, with a taste I didn’t recognise: tarragon. What was your big break in food? Winning The Roux Scholarship, almost 30 years ago, changed my career.
Who were your food heroes? When I was younger it was Albert Roux – he and Michel were the only chefs who had any profile at the time. Rowley Leigh. Rowley Leigh (born 23 April 1950) is a British chef, restaurateur and journalist who lives in Shepherd's Bush, London.[1] Born in Manchester, Leigh attended Rushmoor school in Bedford before going to Clifton College and Christ's College, Cambridge in 1968.
After Cambridge he tried his hand at farming and novel writing before falling into cooking "almost by accident" in 1977. After a couple of years at the Joe Allen restaurant, Leigh went to work with the Roux brothers at Le Gavroche in 1979. After stints at Le Gavroche and the brothers' pastry laboratory, and becoming buyer for the group, he took over their prestigious Le Poulbot restaurant as head chef in 1984, receiving many accolades including The Times "restaurant of the year" award in 1986. He opened Kensington Place restaurant with Nick Smallwood and Simon Slater in 1987.
Leigh remains cookery correspondent of the Financial Times.