Anton's top twenty
Six months into his job as maitre chef des cuisines at the Savoy hotel in London, Anton Edelmann nearly quit. "I was so depressed in the beginning that I very nearly walked out," he recalls. So it's hard to believe, 20 years down the line, that today Edelmann still presides over one the most famous kitchens in the world, at the Savoy Group's flagship hotel.
The reason for his depressed state, as he calls it, was that he simply wanted to introduce change to the food at the hotel, but became so frustrated by the lack of support from the directors that he very nearly gave up.
"Foodwise, nothing had changed at the Savoy for years," he says. "The chefs were still cooking the likes of sauce espagnole [Careme's classic recipe for brown stock, brown roux, a mirepoix of vegetables and tomato purée] and classic Escoffier dishes. One of the Savoy's directors told me that it was best not to change anything."
However, Edelmann ignored that advice and introduced a light, modern style of cooking. While the directors, along with some of the older members of staff, found it hard to accept change, the customers loved the new dishes that Edelmann introduced to the 150-seat River restaurant and on to banqueting menus.
Today, he looks back on the past two decades with fondness. Following the retirement last year of Michel Bourdin from the Connaught and Peter Kromberg from the Inter-Continental, he is also now the longest-serving five-star hotel chef in London.
"I certainly never intended staying this long. Previously I had never worked anywhere for more than two years," says Edelmann, who arrived at the Savoy from the capital's Grosvenor House hotel, where he had been responsible for opening 90 Park Lane. "I've stayed because it is an interesting place to work. There is an enormous amount of hustle and bustle, and the customer expectation is huge - there are always new ideas to come up with and tough demands to satisfy. I said to my wife early on that I would leave when I got bored but, to be honest, I've not yet got bored."
Edelmann is responsible for a food turnover of £8m. His kitchen serves about 1,500 covers a day in the River restaurant, the Thames Foyer, room service throughout the 207-bedroom hotel, and banqueting in eight private dining rooms and three banqueting suites. The Savoy Grill has always had its own head chef, and has just announced that two-Michelin-starred chef Marcus Wareing will come on board as a consultant in 2003.
An enormous variety of banquets held over the past 20 years at the Savoy has provided many highlights for Edelmann. Two in particular stand out in his memory - the dinner for 500 guests to mark the Savoy hotel's centenary in 1989, and the Millennium Banquet, when 220 guests paid £3,000 per head.
"New Year's Eve dinners have always been a major event at the Savoy, but the Millennium Banquet was especially memorable," Edelmann says. "We made a huge effort with the food and it was just exquisite." The eight-course meal, with canapés, coffee and wines, included royal beluga caviar, goose liver "Noel Coward", fricassee of lobster "Marlene Dietrich", baked black Perigueux truffle "Carroll Gibbons", tomato elixir "Maria Callas", roasted pav‚ of Buccleuch beef "Laurence Olivier", sweet extravaganza "Nellie Melba", and Millennium chocolate bombe "Josephine Baker".
Edelmann is continually inspired to cook better food. "The more I cook and eat, the more I learn," he says. "Food is an endlessly fascinating subject. I go to Paris a lot, and to other parts of France, Germany, Switzerland and Italy to eat and learn."
While Edelmann will also look at food further afield than Europe, he will rarely use what he sees at the Savoy. "I don't think I should be changing the culture of food at the Savoy," he says. "It has always had a French base and continues to do so, but now we like to offer a few English dishes as well."
Staffing of the Savoy's kitchens has changed considerably in the past two decades, with 76 chefs now employed, compared with 110 on Edelmann's arrival. "I like to think that is because we work more efficiently now," he says. "Also, by cooking lighter and less complicated food than we used to, there is not the same need for such a large brigade."
Unlike many of his colleagues, Edelmann has no shortage of applications for posts. "I don't have a problem recruiting chefs at most levels," he says, "although I don't see many young commis chefs coming through from the colleges at the moment, and that greatly worries me." The Savoy's apprenticeship scheme, though, which recruits two or three 16-year-olds each year, helps ensure the balance of the brigade is maintained.
Savoy survivors
While new dishes are introduced to the River restaurant and banqueting menus all the time, there are several favourites that Edelmann first cooked at the hotel nearly 20 years ago that still appear. They include a rendezvous of baby smoked eel and quails' eggs set in jellied aspic, and a millefeuille of calves' kidneys and veal sweetbreads in a truffle sauce. He also still likes to serve a whole poached turbot, as inspired by Escoffier, for private parties.
Peach Melba, too, still appears on the menu. But instead of being served, as originally intended, in front of the customer, with a member of the waiting staff putting together the different components, it is now served ready-plated.
Anton Edelmann - the man
\* Born on 2 July 1952 in Bubesheim, Germany. He is the first German head chef at the Savoy - the position had previously been occupied by only French and Italian chefs.
\* Married to wife Susan, and has three daughters.
\* Spent one year at the Savoy in 1971 as commis saucier at the age of 19, returning just over 10 years later as chef des cuisines.
\* Keeps fit by running three miles every morning and playing squash. Has run 12 marathons, raising money for the Children's Liver Disease charity. Currently organising a banquet, together with other marathon-running chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Philip Howard, for the charity at the Savoy for 25 March 2003.
\* Has written nine books.
\* On retirement: "I will never retire. I enjoy what I do too much. If I'm not still working here, then I'll be somewhere else."
\* Following a party - shared with Angelo Maresca, who joined the hotel on the same day, as maitre d' of the Savoy Grill - Edelmann celebrated his 20-year tenure at the Savoy by eating dinner in the River restaurant, for the first time, with his wife.
by Janet Harmer
