A Claire perspective
AFTER 21 years running one of the country's most fàted restaurants, La Tante Claire on the Royal Hospital Road in London's Chelsea, Pierre Koffmann took the decision earlier this year to move on. The doors of the establishment closed for the last time at the end of July and then, following a £1.4m refurbishment of the restaurant within Knightsbridge's Berkeley hotel, the new-look La Tante Claire opened in its place earlier this month.
For the Savoy Group, owner of the Berkeley, bringing Koffmann under its roof is a major coup. Although long regarded as the capital's most prestigious hotel group, the company has not before had a three-Michelin-starred chef to rival Nico Ladenis at Ninety Park Lane (part of Forte's Grosvenor House hotel) or Marco Pierre White at the Oak Room (within Le Meridien Piccadilly, also owned by Forte). Koffmann's move means there are no longer any independently owned three-starred restaurants in London.
The financial costs of maintaining three-star standards are high - a large hotel company can help cushion this, while in return benefiting from the prestige and high profile that having a lauded chef on the premises can bring.
But while Koffmann does not admit that the move is for financial reasons, saying instead that he welcomes the challenge of having a change in his working environment, he does say that it wouldn't have happened if Gordon Ramsay hadn't offered him the right price. It was Ramsay who set the move in motion with an approach, out of the blue, asking Koffmann if he would consider selling the Royal Hospital Road premises.
"I then had to look for somewhere else to go and, through Michel Roux, discovered that the Savoy Group was looking for somebody," says Koffmann, who speaks enthusiastically about the move. Despite a reputation for shyness, he is warm and engaging in conversation and shows a passion for cooking on a daily basis which is clearly as strong as it has ever been.
In today's era of the celebrity chef, Koffmann is a refreshing anomaly. His only concessions to stardom are the two books he has written - Memories of Gascony and La Tante Claire, Recipes From A Master Chef. But even these are not the glossy tomes favoured by some of his more egotistical counterparts. Instead, they are well-written accounts of his roots and his working life before and after the birth of La Tante Claire, dotted with recipes that have inspired him along the way. The former won him the prestigious Glenfiddich award in 1990.
The managing director of the Savoy Group, Ram¢n Pajares, is plainly thrilled with the opening of La Tante Claire at the Berkeley. "It's always been one of my dreams to be connected with a company with a three-star restaurant," he says. "Now it is a reality. For many years, I have admired the style and professionalism of Pierre Koffmann. I have a deep respect and understanding of the kind of work he does. His abilities, combined with the location, will together create a very special restaurant."
For Koffmann too, the restaurant is special. The romantic theme he suggested to interior designer David Collins provides a welcome relief from the minimalist interiors that have become de rigueur among the most recent high-profile restaurant openings in the capital.
Collins has used the wide palate of colours of the camellia flower, from deep pink to ivory, as the basis of the design. He was inspired to do so by the name Camille, shared by Koffmann's teenage daughter and his grandmother, who so influenced his cooking style - and by the fact that Koffmann's late wife Annie loved flowers. "It is a very uplifting room," says Collins, "very bright, light and happy, and yet at the same time very elegant."
The entire cost of the refurbishment has been met by the Savoy Group, while Koffmann has invested in the silverware, from Warriss in Sheffield, and the china. Dress plates are a pink-and-green flower design, Famoa, from Limoges, while all food is served on plain white china, Candlelight, by Wedgwood. Koffmann pays the Savoy Group an annual rent for the use of the premises.
At the heart of Koffmann's new kitchen is a purpose-built Rorgue stove, an updated version of the one he had in Chelsea. Koffmann was the first chef working in England to import the stove from France in 1985, since when many other luminary establishments, including the likes of the Connaught and Claridge's, have followed suit. Besides the Rorgue, Koffmann describes the kitchen as very simple. "I have no need for pressure steamers or any other gadgets here," he says.
As far as the food and ambience are concerned, Koffmann had no wish to change what was obviously a winning formula. The existing staff has been expanded - there are now 15 chefs and 18 front-of-house - to allow for the fact that the restaurant is now also open on Saturday evenings, whereas in Chelsea it opened only from Monday to Friday. The number of covers has also increased from 40 in Chelsea to 50, plus a private room at the Berkeley for up to 14.
In the early days of La Tante Claire, Koffmann employed a predominantly French brigade, to ensure that his exceptionally high standards were always met. Its international flavour today - with chefs from England, Scotland, Finland, Austria, South Africa and Australia - is a reflection, he says, that standards in France have dropped over the past 20 years.
Koffmann's food continues to be a refined version of the French country cooking that he has made so much his own, particularly that of his home region of Gascony. Despite working in a kitchen for more than 30 years, he still never fails to be inspired by the season's new produce. At the moment, wild mushrooms, either those he imports from France or those that he picks himself in the English countryside, are providing the starting point for many a dish. They may be used to accompany pigeon or one of Koffmann's most celebrated dishes, pieds de cochon aux morilles (stuffed pig's trotter).
While he has been flattered over the years that his version of pig's trotter has been so extensively copied, he also declares it "stupid" that so many chefs have not bothered to take the time to put their own interpretation on the dish. He believes the dish became popular because he introduced it at a time when no one else was doing it. "A lot of people used to like eating it, but it became difficult to find in a restaurant because of the work involved," he says. "Although fiddly to do, I made it easy to eat by deboning it and stuffing it with chicken mousse, morels and sweetbreads."
Now Koffmann, who has served the dish throughout La Tante Claire's 21-year history, cannot take it off the menu. He regularly changes the garnish, though: one day it might be mashed potato, another day cabbage, sauerkraut, or wild mushrooms.
Although Koffmann himself prefers to eat hearty, robust meat dishes, it is one of his fish dishes - saumon confit à la graisse d'oie (salmon cooked in goose fat) - of which he is most proud. While it is very difficult these days to be able to create a completely new dish, Koffmann believes that no one before him has cooked fish in goose fat.
Flavours of Gascony
The dish, like many others in his repertoire, is inspired by Gascony. Salmon is caught in its rivers and goose fat is a staple of the region. Fillets of salmon are cooked very slowly (at a temperature no higher than 50¼C) in plenty of goose fat, enough to completely cover the fish, for between seven and 10 minutes. "People think the salmon is going to be fatty to taste, but it is not at all," says Koffmann, who only ever uses wild salmon for the dish. "It is a perfect way to cook the fish, ensuring that it remains moist all the way through and allowing the real taste of the salmon to come through." The salmon is sometimes served on a bed of piperade.
Koffmann's love of meat comes to the fore on his lunch menu, where he is not afraid of serving almost any organ of a beast. One dish, a plate of lamb, includes the sweetbreads, heart, kidneys and testicles, while another includes various elements of a pig's head. The ears are boiled and then pan-fried, the nose is boiled and served with a vinaigrette and gherkins, the cheeks are braised in wine, the brain is deep-fried, the tongue boiled, and the skin served as a crispy garnish.
The move to the Berkeley has resulted in more space for the pastry kitchen, which Koffmann expects will allow a greater emphasis than before to be put on the presentation of desserts. Despite this, he expects that old favourites, such as croustade aux pommes caramélisées (a flaky croustade of caramelised apples) and soufflé aux pistaches (pistachio soufflé), will remain as popular as ever.
The price of the restaurant's lunch menu, at £28 for an amuse bouche, three courses, coffee and petits fours, has not increased since the move. A more extensive à la carte, with a choice of seven starters, five fish dishes, seven meat dishes and seven desserts, is also available at both lunch and dinner, together with one or two daily-changing specials.
Another major aspect of La Tante Claire that is certain to remain entirely unchanged is Koffmann's devotion to the business. He is always the first chef through the kitchen door every morning, and he is still at the stove every night until the last order has been served. "It is not hard for me to do," he says simply. "I enjoy it." n
