Harveys
Following his arrival as chef-manager at Harveys restaurant in Bristol, Daniel Galmiche took six months to put together his brigade of seven chefs. Most of the staff who had worked for the previous occupant of the position - Ramon Farthing, now chef-proprietor of 36 On The Quay in Emsworth, Hampshire - moved on.
"It is inevitable when the head chef changes that the rest of the team follows," says Galmiche. "Six months is a long time to build a small team, but it is an indication of how difficult it is to find good-quality staff at the moment. At one time we only had three chefs, and it was very tough."
But now Galmiche is delighted with his team and he is hoping they will stay together to support him in his main ambition for the restaurant: the achievement of a second Michelin star. For the second year running, he hopes next week to retain the star that Farthing originally achieved for the restaurant in 1994. Galmiche now believes that the most talented chefs working in Britain are striving for at least two stars and he knows that he and his team have the potential to achieve the double. He is adamant he will not leave Harveys until he has done so.
"Although Michelin won't say exactly what you have to do to gain two stars, I know that it is important to achieve consistency in your food and service," he says. Galmiche, who is responsible both for the kitchen and nine front of house staff, knows he needs a stable workforce to achieve this. Therefore, for the first time, the restaurant will close for three weeks this year - for one week in February and two weeks in August. "The only way to be consistent is to have all the staff on and off together," he says.
Consistency is analysed by the staff themselves, who are all encouraged to eat in the restaurant. They are each allowed one free meal a year, when their guests receive a discount of 30%. If the staff want to eat at Harveys on subsequent occasions during the year they can do so, again at a discount of 30%. "We just ask them to write a report on what they have experienced," says Galmiche. "It is a good system for discovering any problems. And it is important for the chefs to be gourmets to be able to cook well."
Galmiche himself had been interested in food since he was a young boy, when he was inspired by his grandmother who cooked in a private household. Born in Lure, eastern France, he left school at 14 to take up a three-year apprenticeship with chef Yves Lalloz in the spa town of Luxeuil-les-Bains. Lalloz, who had worked as sous chef to Fernand Point, ran a restaurant which had a farm attached to it, enabling the young Galmiche to work with ingredients at every stage from the field to the plate.
At the age of 17 he decided he wanted a complete change of scenery and applied for a position as a commis at Le Gavroche. He arrived in London in 1977 and by the time he was 18 had been promoted to chef de partie. "It was magnificent working for the Roux brothers, but I was very young and was missing France," says Galmiche. He returned after one year to his previous position in Luxeuil-les-Bains.
Moves followed to several two Michelin-starred restaurants in nearby towns Colmar and Belfort before he won a competition to promote his home region of Franche-Comté in Sweden. From 1982 to 1983, Galmiche travelled backwards and forwards to Sweden, demonstrating and talking about the regional foods of Franche-Comté.
In 1986 Galmiche decided to return to the UK to become chef de cuisine at Knockinaam Lodge in Portpatrick, Galloway. "I was offered the job because I was the only shortlisted candidate who didn't smoke!"
It was an exciting time for Galmiche as, together with owner Marcel Frichot, he helped build up the reputation of Knockinaam, both in the UK and internationally, winning a host of accolades and awards for the hotel, including a Michelin star. "I loved it there and was very sad to leave, but the recession came and they decided they could no longer afford to keep me on," says Galmiche. "If I'd had the money, I would have bought the place myself."
For example, a starter on the present Á la carte menu at Harveys is a terrine of duck and duck liver foie gras flavoured with ginger and Chinese five spices, which is served with a compote of red onions, spiked with more Chinese five spices, and a frisée salad with lardons dressed with duck jus, flavoured with ginger. "It is very easy to overpower a dish with spices, you have to be careful to achieve the right balance," he says.
Before working in Singapore, Galmiche never cooked with chillies. Now he uses them, sparingly, to provide a hint of heat in a warm chilli oil and balsamic dressing which accompanies the starter dish of rissoles of langoustine in a light truffle marinade served with spaghetti of vegetables.
When his father died, Galmiche returned to the Continent to be closer to his mother, going to Portugal on a one-year contract as executive chef of the Peninha Golf Hotel and Resort on the Algarve. Running a kitchen of 44 chefs and having the responsibility of eight food and beverage outlets was a great experience, but Dawn was un-happy in Portugal and was keen to return to the UK.
When the opportunity at Harveys arose, Galmiche was immediately interested. "I decided to come here because there was the backing of a large company (Allied Domecq), Ramon had built up a good reputation for the restaurant and provided the potential on which to build for two Michelin stars, and the restaurant has one of the top wine lists in the country."
As well as building up a new brigade in the kitchen, Galmiche has introduced changes to the front of house, buying new china and replacing the waistcoats previously worn by the staff with braces and long aprons. "We've tried to break the formality of the place, creating a warmer and more casual ambiance."
The best produce
In compiling his menus, Galmiche always thinks of the advice given to him by Marc Meneau, for whom he worked for two months during a stage from Knockinaam Lodge: always use the best produce and keep dishes simple. For Galmiche, this means buying most of his meat, fish and seafood in Britain, and importing most fruit and vegetables from France.
He offers a fixed-price, Á la carte menu at lunch and dinner (£32.95 for two courses, £39.95 for three), as well as a monthly changing business lunch menu (£13.95 for two courses, £16.95 for three). The Á la carte is changed just twice a year, as Galmiche finds that the availability of produce is no longer confined to the four seasons. "We carry over the best-selling dishes, both to be consistent and keep the customers happy," he says. "Some people say we don't have a very big Á la carte with a choice of just six dishes at each course, but again, to be consistent we have to keep it small."
Galmiche's "discovery menu" - a daily changing selection of six dishes for £48 - reflects the best ingredients available each day. For £68, six different wines will be chosen to accompany the courses. An average of 12 discovery menus are sold in the 48-seat restaurant each week.
One of Galmiche's favourite dishes at present is a pigeon one which he first put together in Singapore. He uses young, corn-fed pigeon, imported from France, and removes the breasts which he roasts on top of the oven on the skin, making it very crisp, before briefly completing the cooking on the other side. A sauce is made from pigeon jus, garlic, tarragon, chervil, chives and basil, which is deglazed with sherry vinegar and reheated with more freshly chopped herbs and a touch of beurre noisette. New potatoes, which have been precooked in goose fat with thyme, bay leaf and garlic, are roasted again in olive oil and finished with sea salt and black pepper. To serve, slices of the potato are placed on a plate, topped with spinach and slices of the pigeon, and surrounded by the pigeon jus.
Among the puddings is the restaurant's best-selling crÁ¤me brÁ±lée, spiced with star anise, cinnamon and vanilla, and served with warm honey and pear cake, made from a recipe Galmiche gleaned from his grandmother.
But Galmiche's favourite dessert is the warm bitter chocolate tart. The simplicity of the individual chocolate tart, made with a shortcrust pastry base flavoured with orange zest, and a filling combining chocolate with a 72% cocoa content, cream, and one egg, is perfectly complemented by orange and pink grapefruit segments, with candied lime and lemon peel, and an orange and passion fruit coulis.
Cheese is popular at Harveys, with 50% of Á la carte customers ordering from the cheese menu, which gives details of the origins and makers of each of the 16 cheeses. "The cheese menu was introduced by Ramon and is an excellent idea - it really helps to sell the cheese. I order around £300-worth of cheese a week," says Galmiche.
