Holy shit am I ever terrible at this blogging thing. So its been two months since my last, first and only post. Again a lot has happened. Again a quick recap: New and gifted head chef at the bistro, did a stage at michelin starred Windows(which is where I hope to be working come fall), gained the respect of the Galvin brothers(fuckin' 'ell!), was severely burned and almost blinded by a defective oven incident, 50% of the kitchen staff have changed over, the restaurant is busier than ever, taking on more responsibility(im training/the superior of chefs that have been cooking 3 times as long as me....don't tell anyone), ate at the Ledbury(second best meal of my life), Windows, The Harwood Arms, The Nahm, La Chapelle, St. John Bread And Wine(all the time), in the process of moving into my own flat, had a visit from my family and friends from back home, went to brighton, loving London more and more(and missing home more and more). Its summer now in London which means its nice for a day and then shitty and cold for 4 but thats good when youre in a kitchen 90 hours a week. Now that I've settled in its time to up my game and start pushing myself, my dishes and my colleagues. I came here to cook and i want to throw myself mentally and physically as far down the culinary rabbit hole as possibly. Should be easy though we are down to a bare bones crew, thus meaning that everyone is working extra shifts, tension and tempers are at an all time high. Most restaurants have a day or two a week where everyone gets reset and a bit of a break.....not here. Its hard banging bistro cooking 18/7. I really miss fine dining so my planned move to a new restaurant will hopefully come by the end of the summer. Its been a good experience learning to cook really good food on such a massive scale with such limited resources...I have proven to myself that I can knock out 2000 covers of high end bistro food in a week.....whether that will be beneficial to my cooking career in the long run who the fuck knows? Its definitly not what I want to be doing.
I want/need to work somewhere that involves a lot more finesse and a lot more maturity from the brigade. Im not ready or qualified to be a senior member of staff......Its been 11 months since I graduated from cooking school for fucks sakes.
A few more months and I have to for my own sanity move somewhere more technical and a bit more hardcore. My dinner at the Ledbury and Windows definitely opened my eyes to what this city has to offer and gave me a better idea of what Id like to be doing culinarily speaking. Im now saving my pence to go to Hibiscus for dinner woo!
