To take the top kitchen job in any leading restaurant is a challenge for any chef; but to take the top job in a restaurant that is as much an institution as it is a place to eat is infinitely more of one. How do you keep loyal diners happy, but attract new ones? How do you show respect for the heritage of a place, but make your own mark? How - in the case of L'Escargot - do you tempt customers with a French menu so classical that it features frogs' legs and snails in the heart of London's restaurant-land, when all about you are offering the latest in food fashion?
Andrew Thompson, 28, seems remarkably unfazed by the challenge he took on just six months ago when he was appointed executive chef at L'Escargot. "I'd been working in the Picasso Room [the more intimate, 35-cover upstairs dining room adorned with original Picasso ceramics and prints] so I knew how the kitchen operated. I was familiar with suppliers. And me and the old executive chef [Billy Reid] had worked quite well together." Nevertheless, Reid's departure for the Vineyard, Stockcross, was unexpected, and the process of Thompson being appointed was quick, so he does admit to a fleeting feeling of "What have I let myself in for?"
But fleeting it was - "If you don't go for these things there's no point in everything that's gone in the past," is Thompson's philosophy - and he is now starting to put his mark on one of Soho's most famous culinary landmarks. He oversees the Picasso Room and its separate kitchen, where head chef Brendan Phylles (Reid's old sous chef) works with a brigade of three, and the downstairs restaurant - Miro and Chagall are the favoured artists here - where a brigade of 12 including Thompson cook for up to 150 covers a night. The dining rooms run different menus, although they do use the same suppliers. "Billy left me to my own devices, and I pretty much leave Brendan to his own devices now," says Thompson.
Thompson was careful not to barge in with a dramatically different menu in February, although none of Reid's dishes was retained. "There was this tag of a Michelin star [achieved in 1996 when Garry Hollihead headed the kitchen and retained ever since], so the food had to live up to those expectations. With the first menu we put on dishes I knew would work. I didn't want to take any risks."
Six months on, however, Thompson is making real changes. "It's only with this menu, the summer one which will run to mid-September, that the staff are settled and we've tried to up things a bit." He is modest, preferring to describe the new menu as "well-rounded... something for everybody... a bit more modern" rather than "cutting-edge". Some of the dishes have remained from the first menu, such as the goats' cheese and oven-roasted beetroot salad with pissenlit and aged balsamic starter; and the main course of roast rump of new season lamb, sweetbreads, fresh pasta and sweet pea emulsion.
A big hit has been the starter of potted Morecambe Bay shrimps with seared scallop salad and lemon and ginger dressing: "It's summery, the lemon and ginger dressing is different, and the combination of the cold set shrimps and the hot seared scallops works well." Also popular is the peppered salmon terrine with new potatoes, leeks and yogurt dressing.
Other items are essentially fresh takes on traditional dishes such as the choucroute paysanne, new to the summer menu. "Nobody else is really doing it. I ate it in a brasserie opposite the Gard du Nord in Paris and it was one of the best meals I've ever had." Thompson has hauled it into the realms of Michelin stardom with the addition of different meats such as lamb's tongue, braised brisket, confit pork belly and Toulouse sausage.
Raspberries feature heavily in puddings. The best-selling pear and raspberry feuillantine combines a crisp millefeuille with summer fruit; a summery fresh fruit compote is served with vanilla cream scented with orange; and the nougatine parfait come with a raspberry and passion fruit sorbet. As always, chocolate is a hit. "Despite its name, the trio of chocolate features four types: a white and dark chocolate pavé, a Valrhona tart, a brownie, and a chocolate sorbet to cut through everything." Head sommelier Fabien Constant recommends a sweet wine by the glass for each pudding and claims a one-in-three uptake of his suggestions.
Throughout the menu, Thompson is trying to move away from the classical dishes that have been L'Escargot's trademark. With people eating out three or four times a week, Thompson argues, they don't want to spend £80 for food with wine on top, and they want lighter food.
Unlike his predecessor, he has no formal classical training, and is inspired by eating out, travelling, reading, adapting dishes and observing other chefs. He cites Philip Howard at the Square in London, where he was chef de partie from 1991-93, as a crucial influence: "Technically he's brilliant. He's super-intelligent and cooks with his head, always thinking how something is going to taste, how the textures will work. I always try to go through that thought process with new dishes."
From the Square, Thompson spent a year at L'Escargot during the Garry Hollihead/David Cavalier era - "It was very disciplined, and I learnt the importance of consistency and about running a large brigade" - before heading off to New York in 1994 to work at Aureole, Charlie Palmer's fine-dining restaurant that restaurant guide Zagat hails as "consistently one of NYC's best". He then spent 18 months heading the kitchen at Palmer's less-formal Lenox Rooms. "It was a small kitchen and I had nine staff and we were doing 200 covers a night plus an oyster bar, so it forced me to be organised."
The US experience was a mixed one: "More than whole dishes, I picked up little twists and turns. Some American chefs are still into gimmicks like spun sugar and strawberry coulis, but you can also find really cutting-edge stuff like Catskill foie gras terrine that's the best you've ever had."
Despite his modern style of cooking, Thompson cannot escape the fact that L'Escargot is as French a restaurant as they come, and that to take snails and frogs' legs off the menu would be unthinkable. The menu offers the classic snails served in their shells with garlic butter as well as a popular house speciality, an escargot tartlet. For this, mushroom duxelle is placed in the pastry base, topped with an egg poached in red wine, then tomato, snails and morel jus.
Fortunately, Thompson is supported by a strong brigade. Sous chef Dean Bouvett was Hollihead's sous at L'Escargot for three years, and pastry chef Mandy Whittaker was tempted from the Criterion. "They're all really keen and willing to learn, and I think they enjoy working here. I run a tight ship, and the food has to be good, but I want people to look forward to work - working the hours we do, that's imperative. I try and encourage them. I tend to say, 'Use your head and your common sense.' When they don't, that's when you find the result is not what you want."
Some are college-trained but that is not crucial. "For some people to learn the fundamentals of classical cooking can be advantageous, but it can be difficult to adjust to the pace of a working kitchen - it's different at college when you've got all morning to make one dish. Others come out of college with work experience as well as a qualification, so for them the change isn't so dramatic."
L'Escargot's reputation is, without doubt, key to the restaurant's continuing success in competitive Soho, but Thompson is confident that his changes will attract new diners. "We get a lot of people in by chance. It's not unusual to have 60-70 booked and do 120, and it's the menu outside that has enticed them. L'Escargot is a bit of an institution, and I want that to continue. But it should still move with the times."
A history of L'ecargot
Opened in the depths of recession in 1981 by wine importer Nick Lander, L'Escargot fast became one of London's most fashionable eateries, with a kitchen headed by Alastair Little.
Lander sold the restaurant in 1987, and it fell victim to recession five years later, but was bought by restaurateur Jimmy Lahoud, refurbished and reopened in March 1993. Michelin-starred David Cavalier and Garry Hollihead became head chefs in a job-share that some predicted would be unworkable but which, in fact, worked for more than two years - during which time Andrew Thompson spent a year as sous chef - until Cavalier left in May 1995. A year later Hollihead, who had been in sole charge of the kitchens when L'Escargot earned a Michelin star in 1996, left.
Returning to a more conventional arrangement, Lahoud recruited Billy Reid from the Stafford hotel in August 1996. Earlier this year he, in turn, left for the Vineyard restaurant at Stockcross, Berkshire, leaving an opportunity for Thompson to move down from the Picasso Room to become executive chef.