Bax treat

For Marco Bax, the key to a successful kitchen is a happy and contented brigade. "Only then can you achieve your objectives," he says. Bax hopes the harmonious feelings he has helped create among his staff at the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf, London, where he is executive chef, will have filtered through to the 60 eminent guests who sat down for yesterday's Hotelier of the Year lunch.

"By encouraging my chefs and being there for them as a father figure," he says, "I've helped them to respect the people around them as well as the products they work with. My aim is to help them shine, and the results, I hope, can be enjoyed by all the guests who come and eat here."

Bax's quiet and considered approach to his staff is one of which the guest of honour at yesterday's lunch - the 2002 Hotelier of the Year, Gordon Campbell Gray - would doubtless approve, and it is the same approach Bax used when planning the menu for the occasion.

His aim was to marry the essential skills and techniques of his Italian repertoire with the excellent ingredients he has found available in London since arriving in 1999 to become the first executive chef of the new 142-bedroom hotel. "I quickly discovered that the fish and meat you can get in the UK is among the best you can get anywhere," he says. "You need to look around a bit more for vegetables of the same quality, but you can find them."

Another early discovery for Bax was the genuine interest in, and knowledge about, the food displayed by guests at the hotel. "I've found that very exciting," he says. "The only other place in the world that I've experienced that is in Singapore."

The interest that guests attending the Hotelier of the Year lunch will have taken in their meal is undoubted. Many are, themselves, leading hoteliers. Among them was Karen Earp, who, as general manager at the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf, was the 2001 winner of the Louis Jadot-sponsored award. Before the lunch she said: "I'm hoping my peers will be able to take away with them something of the special flavour of Marco and his cuisine. It is something that the new 2003 Zagat guide has recognised, having just named the hotel as one of the top five venues in London serving Italian food."

The lunch began with a dish of seared king scallops, served on a bed of caramelised Swiss chard with a light sabayon. Bax's method of cooking the scallops ensured maximum flavour and moistness. After being marinated in olive oil, salt, black pepper and a little chilli pepper - "just enough to provide some flavour, but not heat" - the scallops were flash-fried in a very hot pan and then placed in a hot cabinet at 68°C for 20 minutes. "Scallops are not usually served at functions as they need to be cooked à la minute, but by following this method we can," says Bax.

The scallops were served on the white stalks of Swiss chard, the green leaves having been discarded, together with some cime di rapa (turnip tops) sautéd with fillets of anchovies and garlic. A saffron tuile garnished the dish. "It is a simple dish, but one which shows off the greatness of the scallops," says Bax, who buys his fish and seafood from M&J Seafoods.

Fillets of English veal, roasted and served on a bed of fregola - a type of semolina pasta from Sardinia that is cooked in a similar fashion to rice when making risotto - formed the centrepiece of the main course. After being marinated in olive oil, thyme, rosemary and sage, the veal - bought from Direct Meats - was treated in a similar way to the scallops. It was sealed in a very hot pan and then transferred to an oven at 85°C for 25 minutes.

Diced and roasted vegetables, including yellow and green courgettes and Sardinian artichokes, were added to the fregola halfway through the 20-minute cooking time. Once the pasta was cooked, olive oil, butter and Parmesan were stirred through. Slices of candied lemon and tomato, together with some deep-fried rhubarb, completed the dish.

For dessert, a millefeuille made from layers of almond-flavoured Italian meringue, sandwiched with chestnut and persimmon cream, made a major visual impact. Served on square plates, the millefeuille was accompanied by two sauces, vanilla and pistachio, served inside hollow balls of bitter chocolate. Pastry chef Domenico di Clemente worked with Bax to create the dish.

A selection of home-made breads (including focaccia, white rolls, white and ricotta rolls, apple bread and grissini) was served throughout the meal. Among the petits fours to follow were a choice of three home-made jellies - lime and vanilla, passion fruit, and raspberry - as well as some nougat, whisky tartlets and chocolate and mint islands.

Having been born in Milan and brought up in Lombardy, both in the north of Italy, son of a north Italian mother and a father from the south, Bax likes to cook dishes from all over his native land. However, the 90-seat Quadrato restaurant at the Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf tends to specialise in his home cuisine.

The greatest influence on Bax's cooking comes from the man he describes as his mentor, Sergio Mai. Having known from the age of 11 that he wanted to be a chef, Bax took a weekend kitchen job in Bergamo when he was 14 while studying at the hotel school in San Pellegrino. There, Bax encountered Mai for the first time, meeting up with him again 16 years later when he joined the Four Seasons Hotel Milan as junior sous chef, having worked his way up through a number of restaurants in Italy and in Paris.

Mai was the executive chef at the Four Seasons Hotel Milan and, through his encouragement, Bax was eventually promoted to executive sous chef. "He was the one who taught me the importance of respecting ingredients and my fellow chefs," says Bax.

London provided Bax with his first executive chef's position, in charge of a team of 30. As well as cooking for the Quadrato restaurant, the brigade provides room service and banqueting for as many as 180 covers at a single dinner.

While much of Bax's cooking is based on classic Italian flavours, he likes to offer a lighter style of cooking, often with a contemporary twist. For instance, the tried and tested combination of mozzarella and tomatoes is enhanced by the accompaniment of a Caprese coulis, a dressing originating from Capri that combines finely chopped tomatoes, shallots, capers, oregano and olive oil.

"I'm very happy here in London, both with my work and my style of life," says Bax. "But chefs are used to moving - it's important for developing their knowledge. With Four Seasons expanding all over the world, who knows where I will be in the future?"

Hotelier of the Year lunch

Four Seasons Hotel Canary Wharf Ballroom,
4 December 2002
Seared king scallops on caramelised Swiss chard, light sabayon
Pouilly-Fuissé "Le Mont de Pouilly" 1997 Louis Jadot
Roasted fillet of veal, Sardinian fregola mantecata, candied lemon and tomato
Santenay "Clos de Malte" 1999 Louis Jadot
Chestnut, almond and persimmon miringa mille foglie, pistachio and vanilla sauces
Coffee and petits fours
Vin santo and biscotti