I went to work in California in 1979 and met Alice Waters of Chez Panisse. When I walked in there I realised they were doing exactly what I’d had in my mind since the age of 12½ or however old I was when I first thought: ‘If I ever had a restaurant, it would offer just one menu of the day – of whatever was picked in the garden or bought from the farmers’ market.’ And I couldn’t believe this mad idea of mine actually worked.
[See also: Introducing Spear’s Magazine: Issue 93]
Fruits of winter
When I came back from California, I started to search for a site for a restaurant in London. I found the original site in August of ’84. The builders worked throughout the summer, and eventually we managed to kick them out one week before Christmas, which was probably the worst day to open any restaurant. There was no PR, no advertising, no fanfare – nothing. Just friends and family, word of mouth and the vision that the dinner menu would be this four-course set menu that changed every day.
In the morning I was unlocking at seven o’clock to get the deliveries in; during the day I was in the kitchen; in the evening I was at the door greeting, and then I would lock up at midnight. That was my day, six days a week. On Sundays I would sit at home and write the menus for the following week, based on what our suppliers had coming in.
Related
I heard from Skye Gyngell recently; when she was young, she used to walk past the restaurant religiously every week just to gain inspiration for her menus, even though she couldn’t afford to come in and eat at the time.
Curtsy Call
There have been some well-known guests. Jeremy Paxman, Paul Smith, Mick Jagger, Jerry Hall, Eric Clapton, Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. We had Princess Margaret once or twice after the theatre or ballet. The deepest curtsy I’ve ever seen was by Princess Margaret’s lady-in-waiting when she received her in the downstairs dining room for dinner. [Princess Margaret] was so beautiful and so lovely, and we loved her coming.
Art scene
We looked after Lucian Freud in his latter years – for breakfast and lunch almost every day. His studio was just four doors away. Then, one day David Dawson [Freud’s friend and studio assistant] walked in and said: ‘Can I have a word with you?’ I wondered if a member of staff had been rude. Had we upset him, or served him some awful food? But David said: ‘Lucian would like to paint you.’
Content from our partners
To sit for him was one of the most special moments of my life. Sometimes we said nothing to each other; sometimes he would chat about his time in Soho; he was very, very good company. It really was the greatest honour.
Wheel of fortune
When I first opened the restaurant, I thought I’d do it for a few years and then move to the country. But I got in my hamster wheel and I’m still going round. One of the things that sustains it all is what I call ‘the art of the table’. It could be anything – a bowl of cherries, a plate of cheeses, a ploughman’s lunch – it’s the fact that it’s been prepared with love and presented with style. You’re creating a stage, in a sense. At the end of the day, if my customers are happy, if the plates look happy, if my staff are happy, then we’re doing a good job.
Clarke’s will celebrate its 40th anniversary with two dinners in aid of charity. A new book, In Season for 40 Years, will be published on 24 October
