Hollih ead's horizons

TEN years ago Garry Hollihead was one of the brightest young talents in the industry. He spectacularly rose through the ranks in many leading international kitchens, including London's Grosvenor House hotel, Louis Outhier's famous L'Oasis restaurant in the Côte d'Azur, and the Savoy, London.

Still only in his early 20s, he became head chef and partner of Sutherlands restaurant in Soho. He wowed diners with his ornate, expertly executed dishes and was rewarded with a Michelin star.

But, rather than continuing this trail-blazing course, Hollihead's career took a different turn over the following few years. He ran into a series of problems, lost his momentum and, until this autumn, had almost completely faded from the limelight.

According to Hollihead, the troubles began in the early 1990s after he had been at Sutherlands for less than five years, regularly working 15- and 16-hour days. "I was there every minute of the day and my life was food, food, food for all that time. Nothing else mattered. But in the end I burnt myself out. I got to the stage where I couldn't even face the building any more."

He left the restaurant in early 1992, not knowing what he would do next, but just five months later was made virtually bankrupt when Sutherlands - in which he still had a share - went into receivership.

It was restaurateur Jimmy Lahoud who persuaded Hollihead back into the kitchen in 1993 at L'Escargot in Soho. He was recruited as joint head chef with David Cavalier, and for a couple of years the pair of them enjoyed what they were doing, he says.

"It was good times for a while and I think David and I took L'Escargot to some good places." They brought back traditional dishes such as cassoulet, bubble and squeak and poitrine de porc. "Everyone started copying what we were doing and that was great."

However, the good times were to be short-lived. Cavalier fell out with Lahoud and quit and, although Hollihead stayed on and won the restaurant a Michelin star in 1996, his heart wasn't really in it. The large number of covers at the restaurant did not suit his style. "I really wanted to do something on my own again."

At this point, Cavalier put Hollihead in touch with another restaurateur, Tony Kitous, who was looking to revamp Baboon restaurant in London's West End. The pair rapidly struck a deal that saw Hollihead take control of the kitchens and get his name above the door.

But four months later, Kitous and Hollihead found they wanted to take the style of the food in opposite directions. Hollihead felt he had no option but to leave.

Marco Pierre White then stepped in, offering a job at Les Saveurs. "It's not really what I wanted to do, to go and work for Marco, as I had [established] my own name. But I had a baby on the way, bills to pay and so swallowed my pride and took it," Hollihead confesses.

But, no sooner had he got the kitchen running as he wanted it, than White sold Les Saveurs to Rocco Forte, who brought in Pat MacDonald as head chef. "There was no way I was going to work under another head chef there, so I left and was without a job again."

This time, White called and offered Hollihead the position of head chef at MPW Canary Wharf, which was to open in July 1997. "Again, I felt I had to take it as I had responsibilities, a child to take care of, and other offers weren't coming in," says Hollihead. "But it was hard because no matter what I did, it was Marco's name above the door and Marco who'd get the credit."

New doors open

It was early last summer that Hollihead finally got wind of an opportunity he felt certain would get his career back on the leading edge of the industry. He heard on the grapevine that the owners of Morton's private members' club in London's Berkeley Square - Andrew Leeman, Simon Lowe and Howard Malin - were considering bringing in a top chef and opening the first-floor dining room to the public.

"I picked up the phone and said to them, ‘Hey, I'm looking'," he says. "We then had a couple of meetings and I went to see the venue and fell in love with it immediately - it was exactly the right size [75 covers] to do something good again. I knew they had someone else in line for the job, but I felt this thing was mine and went for it. I cooked the owners lunch. They were happy, so we thrashed out a deal and I was on site for the shop-fitting in August. We opened the restaurant on 14 September."

Hollihead's deal is as an employee only - he has no share in the business. But it is not something that bothers him. "I feel very secure here, as if I've come home again," he says. "This is what I should have been doing the last few years. I'm more this type of chef than a brasserie scenario with big numbers.

"I'm not trying to repeat what I did at Sutherlands, because that's a closed chapter, but I do have the same feeling now as I had then. I want to serve some serious food - food that takes my heart and soul."

Hollihead says he has toned down and simplified his cooking. He no longer uses "gimmicky" ingredients, such as parrot fish, but is concentrating on classical combinations and clarity of taste.

"I've matured in my cooking. I'm not trying to mask or force flavours, I'm just letting ingredients speak for themselves. I want to achieve a real burst of flavour and cleanness in my dishes."

Hollihead cites a starter of autumn leaf and vegetable salad with soft herb mineral water vinaigrette (£7.50). The salad includes baby carrots, artichokes, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, cäpes and girolles. With it is served a vinaigrette in which sparkling mineral water is substituted for olive oil. The water is infused with chervil, tarragon and coriander. "The water makes the dish very fresh and clean-tasting and adds a sparkle. It's all so simple, but it works really nicely," says Hollihead.

The search for clarity

He says his current favourite main course - rabbit and langoustine tails with girolles and Sauternes butter (£17.50) - also works because of its clarity of flavours. Rabbit is stuffed with langoustines and served with a sauce made simply from butter and Sauternes and nothing else. "It's quite a sweet sauce but this allows it to cut through the richness of the rabbit and langoustines nicely and brings out the flavours."

Hollihead is also concentrating hard on texture, something he has always regarded as important. In the starter of pavé of tuna with beignets of scallops (£9), for example, the scallops are prepared in a beer batter and cooked. "That means they're very crisp outside and then you get the sweetness and softness of the scallop inside," he explains.

In another dish, the roasted and spiced John Dory with braised chicory main course (£17.50), spices are rubbed on the back of the fish and it is then roasted on its side. "That means you get the crispness of the spices on top, while the other side of the fish is moist, so there's a lovely texture difference."

The presentation of desserts has been Hollihead's focus in recent weeks. He wants to give his diners something sensational to look at as well as to taste.

Apart from the dish shown here, he is also particularly pleased with the peach and cräme brñlée napoléon with green tea. For this, he makes a little cup out of brandy snap, complete with a tiny handle, and pours the brñlée inside it.

"Again, the brandy snap ensures the dish has a nice combination of textures," he says. The peaches and green tea are then arranged around the base of the cup, giving colour to the dish, as well as flavour.

Pushed to talk about accolades he hopes to achieve at Morton's The Restaurant, Hollihead admits he would love to win two Michelin stars. But he stresses that this is not his raison d'àtre any more.

"Stars would be great but I'm not cooking for the guides. I'm cooking for the customers and for myself. You have to please yourself first before you can please others, and I feel happier with what I'm doing than I've felt in a very long time.

"I'm getting the balance right this time - no question about it. I plan to be here for the duration." n