Chef Award – Bruce Poole

13 July 2006
Chef Award – Bruce Poole

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It's a brave man who takes over the kitchen of an iconic restaurant. It's a clever man and talented chef who manages to make a success of such a move and carve out his own niche on the competitive London restaurant scene. This year's Chef Award winner, Bruce Poole, has done all three of these things.

Just over a decade ago, in 1994, Poole was asked by London restaurateur Nigel Platts-Martin to step into the kitchen of Harvey's, the Wandsworth restaurant made famous by a certain Marco Pierre White. With the restaurant rechristened Chez Bruce, he took up the challenge, wisely not trying to compete in the same culinary milieau as the charismatic White - cooking, instead, gutsy and unpretentious French food that soon won him and the restaurant a raft of accolades.

Those accolades include a Michelin star, awarded in 1999. More recently, in the current Harden's guide, Chez Bruce achieved the unthinkable by knocking the perennial celeb's haunt, the Ivy, off its perch as London's favourite restaurant. No mean achievement as the Ivy had ruled that particular roost for nine years.

Ask any chef or foodie what they love about Poole's food and the answer is always the same. The food is straightforward and cooked from the heart; dishes are flavour-charged and don't compromise on using quality, not necessarily luxury, ingredients. "His food is simple because he wants to keep it simple - because he believes in it and in the fact that it's what people want to eat," commented one of our judges.

Perhaps "simple" is too glib a term for Poole's food. It has textures and flavours a-plenty but doesn't sport fussy show-off techniques - actually, it's French terroir cooking of the first rank. Think daubes of venison or beef, parmentier of oxtail or a meaty fish, like cod, with olive-oil mash. "His cooking is utterly greed-based. There's nothing cerebral about it at all," was a widely-applauded verdict from another judge.

Poole became a chef relatively late, in his mid-twenties in fact, so maybe this accounts for his ability to stay in touch with his diners and his refusal to be seduced by passing trends. Early training with Simon Hopkinson at Bibendum (alongside Jeremy Lee, Phil Howard and Henry Harris) clearly cemented his culinary direction, grounding it in seasonal honesty. And there's no denying the success of Poole's butch, life-rooted cooking as judge and former Catey Chef winner Marcus Wareing attested. "It's my local restaurant and it's absolutely booming - it's rocking," he told the 2006 chef judging panel.

Chez Bruce is Poole's heartbeat in terms of culinary identity, but over the past decade he has trained and nurtured a new tier of London chefs, including Anthony Boyd of Kew's Michelin-starred Glasshouse, and James Bennington of Chiswick's hugely popular La Trompette - both restaurants co-owned by Poole and Platts-Martin. But his protégées don't work only in his own restaurants. "One of the best chefs we ever had at Hotel du Vin came out of his stable," commented Robin Hutson during our judging process.

"There is a real feeling that he cares deeply not only about the food he puts out at Chez Bruce, but also about the development and wellbeing of his staff. He leads by example and a great example that is," concluded food writer and restaurateur Simon Wright.

The shortlist

  • Jason Atherton, Maze, London
  • Andrew Fairlie, Andrew Fairlie at Gleneagles, Auchterarder
  • Bruce Poole, Chez Bruce, London

Judges

  • Nigel Haworth, managing director/chef-patron, Northcote Manor, Langho
  • Philip Howard, chef-proprietor, the Square, London
  • Robin Hutson, chairman, Soho House
  • David Nicholls, executive chef/director of food and beverage, Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London
  • Marcus Wareing, chef-proprietor, Pétrus, London
  • Simon Wright, food writer and proprietor, Y Polyn, Nantgaredig
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