A French teacher by the name of Janik Jarnet inspired me. Monsieur Jarnet told me about how people in Europe would follow a chef’s progression from restaurant to restaurant as if he were a movie star. How the French treated food religiously. He used to mention the Michelin Guide and Michelin Stars and how much they meant to a chef and his restaurant’s reputation. Monsieur Jarnet is now one of my most valued customers at Vue de monde.
About this time, Marco Pierre White had his own cooking show on SBS TV called Cooking with Marco. The show so interested me that I watched all eight episodes without skipping a beat. How could I have known that one day I would work with him? He created a dream in me that I knew would become a reality. I wondered if it was his awe-inspiring skill, his technique, his knowledge, or his unquestionable leadership. It was all these things, but foremost it was his energy, optimism and youth that inspired me.
“One day I will be Marco!” I proclaimed to my parents. I now understand that was a fantasy — that there will only ever be one Marco Pierre White.
Scared, yet drawn to Marco at the same time, I don’t believe any chef on the planet will ever have what he had at Harvey’s, his first restaurant in Wandsworth.
[Marco] once said, memorably, on the show, “Cooking is difficult for the ignorant and easy for the vulnerable.” I often think about it and wonder. I have found that it reverses from day to day in my life.
Home economics to crêpes Suzette
There is a big-boned teacher standing in front of the chalkboard before a home-economics class of twenty. She is elegant, and has a definite presence in the room. She eyes the room looking for troublemakers and finds twenty of them. We sit up dead straight. Mrs Malcolm’s goal was to teach at least a couple of us to fend for ourselves. She saw something in me and quickly reined me in. By the end of our time together she had become the most approachable teacher for me.
