Ladenis preaches a return to simplicity
Nico Ladenis, one of only a handful of chefs to hold three Michelin stars in London, was last week tasting dishes with Jeremy Brown, his new head chef at Deca restaurant. Brown was formerly head chef at Marco Pierre White's Belvedere restaurant and before that sous chef at Mirabelle, also owned by White.
Brown replaces Paul Rhodes, who parted company with Ladenis last month after more than nine years of service. Rhodes is concentrating on running his own outside catering company.
Ladenis described Rhodes's departure as "probably a blessing in disguise". He explained: "When you have someone working for you for nine years both of you get in a rut. We needed a breath of fresh air. Marco has taken enough chefs from me and it's my turn to take just one from him."
Deca's cuisine will not change. Ladenis stressed that, although he is now semi-retired and lives in the South of France, he retains full control of his menus and denied that Rhodes had had any input into drawing up his menus.
Ladenis would like to see more London restaurants return to the roots of cooking. "I'd like to see more restaurants serving very, very simple food, as simple as you can get it, with a minimum of sauces, very little fusion, very good ingredients, based on the French classics," he said.
The pressure on restaurateurs to create dazzling interiors was not helping London's eating-out culture to grow, he said. "Design and style means fashionable people. And what happens to fashionable people? They're here today and gone tomorrow. They go to the next place," he said.
Ladenis said if he were starting out today, he would shun Mayfair for an outer London suburb, and set up a very simple neighbourhood restaurant. He believed Indian and Chinese restaurants were disappearing from the high street and said he would much rather eat in a good local curry house than spend £70 in a one-Michelin-starred Indian restaurant.
This preference for simplicity is shared by the two greatest living French chefs, Joöl Robuchon and Alain Ducasse, who are both planning to open Paris restaurants offering back-to-basics fare. Here, Paul Heathcote is among other chefs simplifying their cooking.
Ladenis has no plans to attain Michelin stars for his two London restaurants. He said turnover at Incognico was down to £1.5m this year from more than £2m in 2001. He predicted that Deca, which opened in June, would turn over £1.5m also in its first year of trading.
