Tales of Tanaka

Politeness, calmness, a happy and well-balanced kitchen team - these are the hallmarks of Jun Tanaka's work. And underneath it all, a steely determination to create the best food and gain the respect of his peers. Janet Harmer finds the inner man.

The day that Jun Tanaka decided he wanted to be a chef, he asked his father, a chemical engineer who dined out frequently, which were the best restaurants in London. The answer he gave was: "Le Gavroche, La Tante Claire, Chez Nico and Harvey's." Not a bad assessment, given that all four were highly rated Michelin restaurants at the time.

Following up on that judgement, Tanaka - today head chef at the 80-cover QC restaurant in the new Renaissance London Chancery Court hotel in High Holborn, London - wrote to all four restaurants seeking a position. Only Le Gavroche replied and, within a short time, he arrived at the restaurant's Brook Street premises to take up his first job as a chef - an experience that left him in a state of shock. "I was really thrown in at the deep end," he says. "I had no idea before about the number of hours chefs worked to cook the kind of quality food served at Le Gavroche. But it was a great place to start my career and provided a grounding that enabled me to move elsewhere."

It was no wonder that Tanaka was unprepared for the reality of a kitchen-based career. When he had his conversation with his father, in 1991, aged 19, he had just completed the first 12 months of a three-year HND hotel management course at Cheltenham & Gloucester College. "I hated it," he says. "It all seemed totally irrelevant, except for the one session a week we did in the kitchen. So I decided not to go back to college and to become a chef rather than a hotel manager."

As his determination to kick his career off in a Michelin-starred restaurant shows, Tanaka understood from the outset the importance of building a good culinary CV for himself. Not only would it provide him with invaluable experience, he reasoned, but it would also help to open the doors to working in the best kitchens in town. So, in the years following his initial training at Le Gavroche, he worked at Chez Nico with Nico Ladenis, the Capital with Philip Britten, Les Saveurs with Joël Antunes, The Restaurant and the Oak Room with Marco Pierre White, and then back at The Capital for a second stint with Eric Chavot.

While each establishment greatly added to Tanaka's abilities as a chef, it was the time he spent with Antunes at Les Saveurs that left the most profound mark. "Kitchens are generally tough places to work in," Tanaka says. "While they usually can't be described as friendly or cosy, it came pretty close at Les Saveurs. The family attitude and team spirit that Joël encouraged made a refreshing change. We were always encouraged to help our colleagues out, so that we all went off on a break together. And Joël made sure that all of us - chefs and waiters - sat down and ate a meal together before service, no matter how busy we were. These things may appear small, but they make a huge difference to life in the kitchen."

Creatively, Les Saveurs also proved to be an inspiring workplace, with Antunes changing the menu degustation and lunch menu, five dishes at each course, on a daily basis. "In the year that I was there," says Tanaka, "I hardly saw any repetition of dishes on these menus, which was fantastic for the chefs, as we got to see and do so much. I recognise now that the drawback of a constantly changing menu can be a lack of consistency."

Now that he too is a head chef, the 30-year-old Tanaka has tried to incorporate some of Antunes's philosophy in the way he runs his own kitchen. "I certainly don't head a hard kitchen," he declares. "I don't want to work in that environment myself and I know it would only scare people off."

Tanaka's calmness and politeness are certainly to the fore in general conversation, and no doubt his cultural upbringing is a significant factor in his demeanour. He was born in New York to Japanese parents and lived in Japan for the first five years of his life before doing most of his growing up in England, after the family moved to London when he was six. Yet, from a culinary point of view, little of his cultural inheritance comes through in his cooking. "All my experience comes from classical French kitchens, so that is the way I cook," explains Tanaka, who believes that his appreciation of good food stems from his childhood when his mother, whom he describes as an excellent cook, produced both Japanese and Western dishes.

The food he is cooking at QC is building on the repertoire he established during his first head position at Chives, the 55-seat Fulham restaurant from the Red Pepper Group. He joined Chives in 2000 from the Capital as its opening chef, and remained until he moved to QC in early October. "It was quite a different working environment to the Michelin-starred establishments I'd previously worked in," he admits. "There was no big budget. Having a three-course menu for £23.50 taught me how to be innovative."

It is clearly the combination of his Michelin-standard experience coupled with the invaluable budgetary lessons learnt at Chives that impressed Tanaka's current employer. Renaissance wanted the skill of a top fine-dining chef, but it didn't necessarily want all the frills that a Michelin tag often brings - hence the lack of appetisers or pre-desserts on Tanaka's menus. In fact, his remit is to offer the luxury of a grand hotel without the stuffiness, and to raise the profile of QC. The restaurant was opened alongside the 357-bedroom Chancery Court hotel in December 2000, but he has so far failed to make an impact on the capital's dining scene because of a lack of stability in the kitchen before Tanaka's arrival thanks to a succession of short-lived head chefs.

The set-price menu, offering a choice of four dishes at each course, is available at lunch and for pre-theatre customers. At £14.50 for two courses and £18.50 for three, it provides real value for money, but Tanaka's true creativity comes to the fore on the à la carte menu. Some dishes have been inspired by the establishments he once worked in, while books and magazines often provide the impetus for other creations.

An open ravioli of foie gras with an egg beignet (£9.50), for instance, is a starter developed from a dish he once prepared at the Capital. Tanaka serves a slice of caramelised foie gras, together with a compote of onions, bacon and duck confit, between two layers of pasta, topped with a bread-crumbed poached egg. The dish is accompanied by a duck sauce spiced with ginger, cinnamon, mace, coriander and cloves.

A recipe in a Reader's Digest Mediterranean cookbook was the trigger for a lamb dish which is Tanaka's take on his favourite Greek dish, moussaka. He marinates a rump of lamb for 48 hours in yogurt combined with cumin, cayenne pepper, coriander, crushed garlic, chopped onions and lime juice. The meat, now flavoured and tenderised by the yogurt, is roasted and served alongside a moussaka (spiced lamb mince, layered with aubergines and courgettes) topped with a potato galette and a Greek salad, made from finely chopped cucumber, tomatoes, red onions, feta cheeses, olives and basil (£16.50).

Yet another dish is inspired by a classic which has accompanied Tanaka from Chives to QC. Crisp belly of pork with Toulouse sausage casserole of white beans and bacon is served as a starter (£6.50). For his version of cassoulet, Tanaka cures some belly of pork for 24 hours before confiting it for five or six hours. He then presses the meat between two trays to flatten it, before cutting it into perfect squares. Each square is roasted skin-side down until very crisp and is then served with a cassoulet of white beans, button onions, trompette mushrooms, bacon and truffle paste, topped by some Toulouse sausage.

Tanaka, who heads a team of nine chefs, has no dedicated pastry chef but describes QC's desserts as classic and straightforward. The à la carte menu offers panna cotta with marinated citrus fruits and candied orange; carpaccio of pineapple, passion fruit and banana sorbet; chocolate fondant, pistachio ice-cream; papillote of figs and blackberries with rosemary and yogurt ice-cream; and banana tarte tatin with vanilla ice-cream.

The lack of a pastry chef is not, he admits, ideal but, at the moment, due to a bit of belt-tightening in the wake of the 11 September attacks on New York, there is no immediate prospect of recruiting anyone to fill the gap. However, Tanaka hopes to rectify the situation as business stabilises in 2002. The run-up to Christmas was particularly busy, so hopes are high that the restaurant is beginning to make its mark.

There is no doubt that Tanaka is being watched by his peers - he was tipped as "one to watch" in 2002 in Caterer‘s end-of-year predictions (Caterer, 20 December, page 34) - and their respect is something he sets above any guide accolades. "It's always nice to get good reviews from food critics," he says, "but I prefer to get word-of-mouth recommendations from people I've worked with in the industry."

Rump of lamb with moussaka and Greek salad (serves eight)

INGREDIENTS

For the lamb marinade
2 litres natural Greek yogurt
1tbs ground cumin
1tbs cayenne pepper
1tbs ground coriander
1 clove garlic, crushed
Lime juice
Honey
Salt
8 rumps of lamb

For the moussaka
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1kg lamb shoulder, minced
60g duck fat
Salt and pepper
1tbs mild curry powder
½tbs ground cumin
1tbs cayenne pepper
1tbs tomato purée
700ml chicken stock
About 800g each of aubergines and courgettes, sliced lengthways on a mandolin, 2.5mm thick
Olive oil
2 cloves garlic, diced
1tbs thyme leaves
40ml sherry vinegar
Optional: mint and coriander, chopped

For the Greek salad
400g small cherry tomatoes, cut into quarters
1 cucumber, peeled and deseeded, in 1cm cubes
60g taggiasca olives, sliced into ovals
1 red onion, cut in half and sliced on a mandolin
Basil, diced
120g feta cheese, cut as for cucumber
4tbs olive oil
1tbs condimento morbido vinegar
Salt and pepper

METHOD

For the marinade, mix all the ingredients together and season to taste. Trim the lamb rumps and place in the marinade for a minimum of 24 hours.

Sweat the onions and garlic in duck fat until soft, in a heavy-bottomed casserole. Add lamb mince and caramelise on a very high heat. When it starts to colour, season, add the spices and tomato purée and cook out. Take the mince out of the casserole and deglaze the pan with a little water.

Put the onion and mince back into the casserole and cover with chicken stock. Place a cartouche on top and cover with a lid. Cook in a low oven for three hours. Pan-fry the aubergine and courgette slices in olive oil with garlic and thyme (and optional chopped mint and coriander), deglaze with sherry vinegar.

Line a non-stick mould 9cm x 2cm with greaseproof. Lay the aubergine first, followed by the courgette. Once the lamb mince is cold, spoon on to vegetables. Fold the overhanging aubergine and courgette to completely seal the mince.

For the salad, place all ingredients in a bowl and mix. Season to taste.

To serve, rinse lamb rumps and dry well. Season and roast in the oven for about 8-10 minutes for medium-rare. Once the lamb is cooked, leave to rest on a wire rack. Put the moussaka in a hot pan and place inside the oven; it will take around the same time as the lamb. When the moussaka is hot, turn out into a large bowl. The aubergine should be nicely caramelised.

Slice the lamb and layer on top of the moussaka. Neatly spoon the Greek salad around the lamb.

Pissaladière of tuna Nicoise (serves eight)

INGREDIENTS
Parmesan vinaigrette (see below)
250g puff pastry
300g onion confit (500g finely sliced white onion cooked in duck fat with garlic and thyme)
About 100g confit tomatoes (plum tomatoes, blanched, peeled and deseeded, dried on trays, with olive oil, thyme and garlic)
100g anchovies in oil
40g taggiasca olives, sliced into ovals
10g salt
1 orange, sliced
1 lemon, sliced
12 quails' eggs, boiled for 2½ mins
100g extra-fine green beans, cooked and split in half
500g fresh tuna, cured and cut into 3cm cubes

For Parmesan vinaigrette
4 egg yolks
1tbs Dijon mustard
1 clove garlic
2 anchovy fillets
50ml sherry vinegar
700ml vegetable oil
100g grated Parmesan

METHOD
For the vinaigrette, make as for a mayonnaise, adding the grated Parmesan last. Add water to achieve the desired consistency.

Roll the puff pastry though a pasta machine at setting 3, rest for several hours and then cut into eight rectangles, 15cm x 6cm. Prick the puff pastry using a fork.

Using a small palette knife, spread the onion confit about 2.5mm thick on to the rectangles, leaving a border of 5mm on either side of the 15cm length.

Cut the tomatoes and anchovies in strips of identical size - the length of these should be the width of the onion confit. For one tart, use four strips of tomatoes and three strips of anchovy, placing them alternately on the onion.

Place six pieces of olive per tart. Cure the tuna for about three hours in a salt cure with orange and lemon. Wash under running water, dry well and place in the freezer. When the tuna is firm, cut into 3cm cubes.

Cut quail eggs in half and season lightly.

To serve, cook the tarts at 180ºC for about eight minutes. Check that the base of the tart is golden in colour. Dress the split beans in a flat plate. Drizzle the Parmesan dressing over the beans in a zigzag pattern. Place the tart on top of the beans.

Caramelise three cubes of tuna in a non-stick pan, keeping it rare, and place them with three halves of quail eggs on the tart.