Chef Alan Murchison in the kitchen at l"ortolan nearby Reading. Photograph: Rex Features
Talk about creation yourself a warrant to fortune. Meet Alan Murchison. If you don"t know the name, you shortly will.
Currently cook at the one Michelin star l"ortolan in Berkshire, and owners of the likewise starred La Becasse in Ludlow, Murchison - it is reported in this month"s Restaurant Magazine - has voiced plans to open an additional eight Michelin-starred restaurants by 2018, that would take his sum to 10. Speaking at the launch of his third venture, Paris House, he voiced that he and his commercial operation partner Richard Pursey have shaped a company, Ten In Eight, privately for this purpose, and that they are already seeking at a fourth site in Edinburgh.
At a little level, you"ve got to admire his chutzpah. This is the kind of death-or-glory, who"s-got-the-biggest-cojones plan we thought we competence never see again this side of a nearby 90% dump in increase at Gordon Ramsay Holdings. Moreover, if my new experience at La Becasse is anything to go by then, even permitting for the unconstrained variables that could derail such a hugely desirous project, Murchison competence only lift this off. La Becasse, that is run, mostly autonomously, by a unequivocally gifted thirty year-old cook called Will Holland, delivers a severely gratifying experience at the point where populism meets � la mode excellent dining. It is a grill where essence is emphasised over pyrotechnics in a relaxed, clubby atmosphere. If that is Murchison"s model, it might infer a unequivocally charming formula.
But, still, I"m left asking, why?
Money, I presume, is not the vital motivating cause here. Yes, if he pulls it off, Murchison will be a media prodigy able of leveraging that celebrity opposite all sorts of money-spinning side projects. But nobody ever got dirty abounding opening Michelin-starred restaurants. You can have a decent living, but even at one star turn margins are tight. Naturally, and somewhat depressingly, therefore, Murchison is acid for sites in abundant areas; seeking to open what, by excellent dining standards will be incomparable restaurants of up to 50 covers; and is penetrating set up in lucrative, status-purchase sidelines similar to in isolation dining and chef"s tables. He told Restaurant:
"It"s scarcely unfit to have income in a thirty cover establishment. You need value-added high domain things similar to chef"s tables."
But do we unequivocally need any of this? Do we wish it? What happiness will be combined to the universe by opening some-more Michelin-starred restaurants in places similar to Edinburgh that are already well served at that level? Much as I love the occasional posh meal, it should sojourn an sparse extravagance. It should be an unusual experience. And, on that basis, as a nation, we already have some-more than sufficient Michelin stars to go round.
What Britain lacks, however, opposite the spectrum from infrequent restaurants to coffee shops, is decent, democratically-priced places to eat and drink. If then, as I suspect, Eight In Ten is not essentially about money, but is some-more of a bequest project, couldn"t Murchison be putting his team"s talents to most improved use?
You open a couple of some-more restaurants, you suggest the same polished food to a well-heeled chosen of food fetishists, you get your gongs from Derek Bulmer. All well and good. If zero else, it"s a challenging technical challenge. But, ultimately, if Britain"s strong Michelin men wish the love, indebtedness and to consequence a couple of quid, shouldn"t they be directing their energies to on condition that wish and great food at an accessible, mass-market level? Could that even suggest a some-more suggestive compensation than in progress for guide inspectors?
It is a realization that most tip chefs have already come to, either for commercial operation or reliable reasons. Ferran Adrià has his shining burger chain; Nigel Haworth has his pubs; Jamie has his Italians; Heston has the Hinds Head and his Little Chef project; Rick Stein has his chippy, boozer, delicatessen and cafe; Claude Bosi, Simon Rogan, Nathan Outlaw and Phil Howard all have cheaper, freeing venues; Sat Bains (last time I asked) was still seeking for brasserie premises in Nottingham, and the list goes on.
Do you admire Murchison"s plan? Does this kind of thing expostulate up customary opposite the industry? Should I be praying he opens in Manchester? Or do you haven your indebtedness for those chefs who, carrying proven themselves at the top level, seek, not to repeat themselves, but to variegate and widespread the love around at an affordable price?
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