Newcomer of the Year
Peter Gordon and Anna Hansen, owners, Providores restaurant, London
The traditional way to get to Australia and New Zealand is to hop on a plane and blaze a vapour trail over a few continents. The other way would be to just stay in London and ease yourself into a seat at this year's Newcomer of the Year, the Providores in London.
The restaurant is the brainchild of New Zealanders Peter Gordon and Anna Hansen, and gives Londoners a big chunk of southern hemisphere "no worries" dining on Marylebone High Street.
The venture, the duo's first, was launched in August 2001 with their personal and business partners Michael McGrath and Jeremy Leeming, who look after front of house. It spreads over two floors and consists of an all-day 50-seat café-bar - the Tapa Room - and a 44-seat fine-dining restaurant.
What makes it work is its relaxed, friendly style and the fact that it manages to be, as one of the Catey judges put it, "comfortably stylish".
Like the service, the food gets it right, too. It's fusion, but fusion done well. As judge Robin Hutson remarked: "It's been very fashionable to knock fusion, but Peter and Anna have shown that if you do it well enough you can buck the trend." A typical menu includes dishes like smoky tomato soup with blackbeans; roasted veg and basil yogurt; roast Trelough duck breast on coconut-braised butternut squash; grilled pak choi and edamame with mint and coriander salad; and guava sorbet with coconut tapioca.
Since it opened, the Providores has been, as the 2003 AA Restaurant Guide remarked, "buzzing", and has rarely had a quiet moment. The main restaurant averages 45-60 covers a night, and the Tapa Room serves 200 brunches in a typical weekend.
With an average spend per head of £40 in the restaurant and £9 in the caf‚, it means that the £400,000 spent refurbishing the site has long since been recouped. What particularly impressed the Catey judging panel was that Gordon and Hansen have created a product that delivers on all levels. They've established a reputation for quality both front and back of house.
"Operating different concepts is a brave and difficult thing to do and they've done it with flair and creativity," remarked judge Ram¢n Pajares. "It's not the sort of place you can take on lightly. Marylebone is a very expensive area - they've done their marketing homework well and seized their opportunity," said another.
Judges
ANDREW FAIRLIE Chef-proprietor, Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles
TIM HAMMOND Corporate development director, Whitbread
ROBIN HUTSON Chairman and managing director, Hotel du Vin
RICCI OBERTELLI Chief operations officer, Dorchester Group
RAMON PAJARES Director, Pajares Partnership
BEVERLY PAYNE Operations director, Macdonald Hotels
Previous Winners:
2002 Andrew Fairlie
2001 Brownes Brasserie and Townhouse, Dublin
2000 Coniston Hall Lodge and Restaurant, North Yorkshire
1999 Club Gascon
1998 The Star Inn, Harome
1997 The Bank, London
1996 Hotel du Vin & Bistro, Winchester
1995 Gordon Ramsay
1994 The Atrium, Edinburgh
1993 Morston Hall, Morston
1992 Paul Heathcote
1991 Paul & Jeanne Rankin
1990 Stuart Scher
1989 Nick Wainford
1988 David & Tina Thomson
1987 Marco Pierre White
1986 Calcot Manor, Tetbury
1985 Rue St Jacques, London
1984 Keith and Vanessa Gibbs
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