Opening chapters
Andy McLeish is happy, and enthused to be working back in a restaurant. That's because he believes the working environment in a one-off, independent, destination eaterie is more suited to serving quality food than that which exists in other industry dining rooms. And having worked in both restaurants and hotels, he should know.
In fact, although he is now firmly ensconced as head chef at Chapter One in Locksbottom, Kent, McLeish's most recent hotel experience was a less than happy one. Before joining Chapter One in February, he was head chef at the main restaurant in London's Landmark hotel. Unfortunately, the recruitment of John Burton-Race to operate the restaurant made his position untenable, although he was offered a post in the main hotel kitchen under executive chef Georg Heise.
"I didn't want to be a hotel chef. There are too many other activities going on in a hotel for the management to concentrate on what is happening to the food," he explains. Luckily for him, he now has the full support and interest of Chapter One's owner, Ken Sanker, of Selective Restaurants, enabling him to produce the kind of food he knows best of all: modern British and European.
Although this was the kind of food McLeish was cooking before he left the Landmark, the hotel's management had originally tried to push him down the fusion route. "But we received very mixed comments - it just wasn't the way forward," he says. Now McLeish doesn't even contemplate cooking with Asian ingredients for the 105-seat restaurant at Chapter One.
Having spent a year working in Thailand as senior sous chef at the Baan Taking Ngam - a 67-bedroom luxury resort in Koh Samui, owned at the time by Mandarin Oriental - he has firm views on fusion food. "I love Thai food, but it just becomes too confusing to mix it and other Asian foods with European."
Of greater importance to his development was the experience, before Thailand, of working in two renowned London restaurants: with Nico Ladenis at his then three-Michelin-starred eaterie, Chez Nico, where McLeish was chef de partie; and with David Nicholls, as sous chef, at the Ritz. "Nico gave me my philosophy on food of not overcrowding a dish with flavours - hence my dislike now of fusion - while David taught me how to manage a kitchen," he says.
Some of the dishes on Chapter One's seasonal menu are tried-and-tested ones from the Landmark, although about half of the eight starters, nine main courses and seven desserts change every three to four months. The ballotine of Scottish smoked salmon and scallops, for instance, has always been popular, so McLeish sees no reason to alter it.
He lays down one side of a whole 8lb salmon on a piece of clingfilm and tops it with roasted scallops, before seasoning it with salt, pepper and sugar. After placing the second side of salmon on top, he rolls the fish in parsley, dill and mint, securing it tightly in the clingfilm. The salmon is then poached for 37 minutes and, after being chilled on ice, it is sliced and served on a bed of cucumber, dill and crème fraîche.
Taking time to source prime raw ingredients - another Ladenis influence - helps shape McLeish's menu. For example, he likes to use only wild, line-caught sea bass, weighing about 6-8lb. "There's no point using the smaller, farmed ones, as by the time you get the skin crisp, the fish is overcooked," he says. McLeish is currently offering sea bass on a bed of saffron leeks with a bouillabaisse sauce emulsified with olive oil. As with all his fish, it comes from one of two suppliers - either Daily Fish (020 7383 3771) or M&J Fish (01622 815100).
Like most top chefs, McLeish is also fussy about his beef. Chapter One's meat - Aberdeen Angus - comes from Wilsons of Sloane Street, where the beef is air-hung for four to five weeks to mature the meat and maximise its flavour. "I won't touch any meat that is vacuum-packed - it sucks out all the juices that give the meat flavour," says McLeish. He serves a fillet of Aberdeen Angus, unfussily - pan-fried, with an olive oil potato purée and a beef bourguignonne sauce.
Requiring more preparation is a popular braised oxtail that McLeish serves with roast parsnip and parsnip purée. The oxtail is boned to produce a flat piece of meat, which is stuffed with pancetta and a confit of shallots. After tying the meat back into shape, McLeish braises it for four hours in a red wine jus. Then the oxtail is wrapped tightly in clingfilm, left overnight and cut into medallions before being served, reheated in its own cooking liquor and topped with a foie gras truffle mousse.
Unlike many non-specialist pastry chefs, McLeish is happy to spend afternoons in the pastry kitchen with his pastry chef Remy Dupray. "I like the preciseness and creativity of preparing desserts," he confesses. And McLeish's enthusiasm reaps rewards, when about 80% of the 40 lunchtime customers and 80 diners (130 on Friday and Saturday evenings) order the likes of hot chocolate fondant with Tahitian vanilla ice-cream, warm apple charlotte and apple sorbet; or banana and caramel mousse with mango sorbet.
All desserts cost £4.95, while starters at dinner are £5.50 and main courses £13.50. Lunch - from the same menu - is priced at £16 for two and £19.50 for three courses. All of which is in line with Chapter One's aim to provide affordable fine dining, a philosophy that is being followed successfully, with average spend at dinner standing at £30 per head including wine.
Only 11 months into the job, McLeish - who is supported by 14 chefs, including sous chef Lyndon Edwards - has much to concentrate his mind. As well as taking the quality of food at Chapter One to new heights, he is overseeing Chapter Two, the company's second restaurant, in Blackheath, south-east London, where he has employed Derek Baker, formerly of the Tenth restaurant at London's Royal Garden hotel, as head chef. Next year presents another challenge: the opening of a third eaterie in the group, Chapter Three, in the City of London - and McLeish is already involved in designing its kitchen and employing its head chef.
