Lane Cardwell

London Chefs Reflect on 2009

It is always interesting, and often informative, to see our industry through the eyes of professionals in other countries. Richard Vines, the London-based food critic for Bloomberg News, surveyed a large number of noted London chefs and restaurateurs for their views of trends for the year ahead. London, as is much of Europe, is suffering through a recession like the one that we are experiencing in this country. Many of their views are strikingly familiar to what we are seeing and reading. Their way of expressing those views are refreshingly British.

These are a selection of some of the more relevant comments to our country and situation. The name of the restaurant follows the restaurateur being quoted:

Tom Aikens (Tom Aikens): “People will be watching their pennies and budget when they go out to eat.”

Jason Atherton (Maze): “It’s going to be a tough year so having good-priced lunch menus and simple cooking is crucial.”

Antonin Bonnet (The Greenhouse): “Especially due to the economic situation, we will see an emphasis on straightforward, simple, no-nonsense food, with the focus more on good-quality produce used in a less complicated way.”

Claude Bosi (Hibiscus): “Restaurants will be taking extra care to look after their regular customers.”

Eric Chavot (Capital): “The trend is going to the purse string if I am being honest, darling. You’ve got to be very careful with your pricing and you’ve got to be very clever.” 
                    

Sally Clarke (Clarke’s): “Only those restaurants which are welcoming, which make the customer feel wanted and those who serve comforting, nurturing food, and which are good value will thrive.”

Anthony Demetre (Wild Honey): “A recession is upon us and the way forward is to attract more business at lunch time.”

Mark Edwards (Nobu): “There’s going to be a move to simpler, competitively priced food: quality food without the pomp and the service, which costs extra. People don’t want fluffy service.”

Sam Hart (Quo Vadis): “The rise of the restaurateur and the decline of the super chef. For a long time, we’ve had the rise of the celebrity-chef culture, where the chef is all. Of course food plays a massively important part, but so do things like atmosphere and service, especially in hard and uncertain times.” 

Angela Hartnett (Murano): “I see more support for local restaurants.”

Mark Hix (Hix Oyster and Chop House): “The trend will be stripping things right back to basics. Food needs to be accessible and -- given the option that you can spend a lot and have a blowout -- you should also have the choice of not spending a lot.”

Philip Howard (The Square): “It will be all about paring away at costs, overheads and unnecessary extras and anyone not offering value for money and delicious, satisfying food and great hospitality will struggle to keep afloat in such tricky times.”

Rowley Leigh (Le Cafe Anglais): “More restaurants are going to have reasonably priced menus. Everyone wants to have special offers and cheaper set menus but what diners want is a la carte menus that aren’t overpriced.”

Mourad Mazouz (Momo): “I see more restaurants like St. John, Hix etc. Simple comfort food, not challenging but very good and fulfilling, just like our grandmother’s food.”

Francesco Mazzei (L’Anima): “Rustic food: simple, honest and real, not fancy and expensive.”

Bruce Poole (Chez Bruce): “Who knows how the cold winds of recession will blow? There will be far more focus on value.”

Gordon Ramsay (Gordon Ramsay): “Expect menus and dishes to be less fussy and plates to be cleaner.”

Michel Roux. Jr. (Le Gavroche): “We have to think about recession because in hard times people want comfort food and the great classics will be making an appearance because customers need good food: No gimmicks, proper wholesome, tasty, well-cooked food.”

Marcus Wareing (Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley): “Simple food; value for money.”

Tristan Welch (Launceston Place): “I see a lot cheaper trends, to be honest. I see value for money coming into play. A lot of restaurants are still lining their pockets and I don’t think they can afford to any longer.” 

You see a lot of the same trends being expressed that we have read about for the past year, but increasingly so in the past few months. As the depth and duration of the recession settles in, the clarity of what will work settles in with it. Strong value, and simple, comfortable foods. Focus on the regular customer, not the wandering customer. Price points will matter more, no matter the value. And as always, quality will prevail. Some advice from across the ocean.

Posted by Lane Cardwell on February 10, 2009 | Comments (3)