|
Published August 2005 in Fresh
My name is Michael Caines
Michael Caines, Britain’s youngest two-star Michelin chef, is unfazed by the tendency to mix him up with a certain actor. Indeed, he has tried to turn it to his advantage by basking in the extra attention it has generated. “It doesn’t bother me,” he insists. “Who knows one day somebody might turn round to Michael Caine the actor and say ‘aren’t you the chef’? It’s a nice confusion to have. As you establish yourself a bit more and create your own identity, brand and presence people do start to make the distinction between the guy with the s and the guy without it.” After spending an inspirational three years under his mentor Raymond Blanc at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire, Michael took up the position of head chef at Gidleigh Park, the prestigious country house hotel on the edge of Dartmoor, which boasted a highly-rated restaurant. Yet, just two months into the job and with an exciting career ahead of him, Michael fell asleep at the wheel of his car and in the resulting crash, lost his right arm. For many victims this may have brought a promising future in the restaurant trade to a premature end but after having a prosthetic arm fitted, it was business as usual for the single-minded chef. Michael, 36, said: “I don’t think you ever come to terms with the physical loss or the mental pain. But what you do learn is how to cope with it by doing things that are normal. By regaining confidence and getting back into the workplace and continuing to achieve and follow your dreams, you soon realise that very little has changed.
“Eleven years on, I look back and think perhaps it was a defining moment. It gave me a greater sense of determination to achieve what I wanted to achieve. I’ve had to do it through adversity so it gives you a certain tenacity and a more dogged approach.
“I have a prosthetic arm – it’s very practical and works for me and allows me to get on with things. It helped me regain my functionality around the workplace. Now it’s almost like putting on a pair of shoes in the morning. You feel barefooted without them and I feel undressed without my arm.”
Michael says asking him what area of food he enjoys the most is like inviting a mother with several children who she loves the most. “The answer simply is you love them all,” he replies. “They’re all very different anyway. I love pastries and cooking cakes, I love roasting meats and cooking fish so I don’t have any real preference.
“ I just love the whole process of preparing a meal. I love the idea that you are entertaining people around a table where food is a very important part of that process. It’s the symbolism of people coming together around a table that’s the most important part. What I do I see more as a gift that I can pass on to other people.”
Michael is as much a successful businessman as he is chef these days. He opened his first signature restaurant at the Royal Clarence Hotel in his home town of Exeter in 2000 and then opened a second at Bristol’s Royal Marriott Hotel.
Later after teaming up with business partner Andrew Brownsword, the pair launched a venture called Abode Hotels with the intention of acquiring 15 – 20 properties in the next 10 years. In every Abode Hotel will be a Michael Caines restaurant. They have already acquired the Royal Clarence in Exeter and The Art House hotel in Glasgow.
Despite the frantic lifestyle, Michael still finds time to cook in his restaurants and to spend time with his son Joseph, who is 2 in June.
“I work about a 16-hour day so I try to make time for everything. I spend about 5 hours in the kitchen and ten hours on other things. I don’t compromise my passion for food because I’ve got an interest in business.
“It’s more difficult to juggle being a chef with family life than being a chef and a businessman, but the quality time I have with my family and my son re-energises me. It gives me an extra sense of purpose and direction.”
Not a lot of people know that…
|
|
|
|
|
|
