The Most Controversial Restaurant in the World

Since opening, we have been dubbed by publications such as The New York Times as interchangeably the most controversial restaurant in the world, in England or in London. I would call us the most honest. There is a distinct difference between being honest and being controversial. To be controversial insinuates that you are trying to create a polemic. Being honest is just saying what you view to be true. Far from being controversial, our restaurant is extremely conventional. We provide the typical service repeated all over the world of a table, at which you order food and wine, and then pay for it at the end. As for the so-called eccentricities of having to use the telephone to book a table (or even come by in person, god forbid!) and having to pay in cash, these are habits that would not have been strange at all only a decade or so ago in this city and are still practiced widely throughout Europe and even in many parts of the English countryside. The main reason for trading in cash is because it is the simplest form of commerce and requires no third parties, including having to pay fees to banks, ‘point of sale systems’ and card companies who I don’t particularly care for. And as for doing lunch only Monday to Friday, given that we are only three people involved, why wouldn’t we only open for five shifts a week? Or is it controversial to not have any interest in exploiting the labour of others? Or perhaps an eccentricity to know when to stop and to not see the need to always be raking in money.

And so to honesty. To be honest is to say what you think and believe. I believe that any remotely independent and serious restaurant who claims that they don’t mind if a customer consumes a lot or a little is lying. Every restaurant, particularly small and good ones, knows that there is a minimum they must make per table to stay open. If the restaurant is very small, the products very good and the prices very reasonable, then everyone there needs to contribute financially in a significant way or the restaurant will not make money. There are ways around this; the restaurant can be big enough and under staffed enough to have tables consuming very little and others consuming quite a lot. The other way is to cut corners with produce, making a greater profit, or to charge high prices, so that money is made with the expectation that money may be lost elsewhere. But if the restaurant sells good products at low prices and has very little tables then there is no room to lose money on customers who take up seats but don’t spend anything. Particularly when rent and cost of living in London are taken into account. Hence why most of the high street is being turned into low quality food businesses. Because they can make a high profit quickly and pay extortionate rent costs easily.

To honestly tell people that if they do not consume properly then they are not worth serving may not be what people want to hear but it is the truth. And I am not in the business of serving people I neither like nor care to know for free. I prefer to do that for my friends and family. I am in the business of serving food and wine to people who wish to have it served to them and pay a price for it. I do that generally with an air of great generosity, giving away drink freely to those who show enthusiasm. To those who don’t, I simply provide a polite service. The prices are kept extremely low and the quality of produce extremely high. We sell the best wine available in Europe and the best meat, fish and vegetables available in England for tiny mark ups. What is controversial about all of this I fail to see. Does it simply ruffle the feathers of those who feel entitled to sit in my restaurant but not spend any money? Or perhaps annoy the restaurateurs who spend their lives pretending to their customers that they have no interest in their custom, but only their presence?

I don’t know the answers to these questions and I assume I never will. I do, however, resent the fact that when attempting to open a small, owner-operated “chef-patron” style restaurant selling high quality food and wine for a very fair price, I have been dubbed by the British press (and later the Americans etc) as a controversial character running an incredibly controversial establishment. My intention was only ever to run and own an honest establishment. One which I would like to visit and which had principles and values. As a French chef once explained to me “that life is false. That life of selling one thing to the public and consuming another yourself at home. There is no truth in that life. It is a dead end philosophy.”