Celebrating Jay Rayner’s 20 years as Observer restaurant critic, plus delicious seafood recipes from River Cottage’s Gill Meller
I have been writing in the Observer for 26 years. A mere moment compared to the 48 years Delia Lees has been at the Hard Rock Cafe or the 40-something that Michele Wade has been handing out cakes at Maison Bertaux. This month we celebrate those who have been in the same place for most of their working life including Gino Nardella, master sommelier at London’s Stafford Hotel for 42 years. In an age when you rarely see the same face more than twice, when chefs couldn’t move around quicker if they were wearing roller skates, it is reassuring to know that some people are happy to stay put. But such loyalty to the job says more than that. It tells me that their employers are probably good people to work for and that makes me happier to give them my money. “I know my colleagues very well,” says Manuel de Jesus, kitchen porter at Clarke’s restaurant in Kensington. “When we’re all together, we’re a kind of family.” Peter Jackson has captured some of the industry’s old guard on camera and we find out why they have taken root so firmly while others have moved on.
Jay Rayner has been the Observer restaurant critic for 20 years. Jay has seen restaurants come and go, watched chefs grow up (or not) and has probably eaten his own weight in pork belly. I know I’m not the only one who trusts long-serving critics more than “influencers”. You get to trust your critic and their opinions. You know they are on the same culinary wavelength and are unlikely to lead you astray. In this issue, Jay looks back his tenure and at how the world of eating out has changed since he splodged chocolate fondant down his first linen napkin.
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