I was born in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and my early days were kaleidoscopic spent in a succession of countries.  My father was an international businessman with ties to the intelligence community and by the time I reached 18, we had lived in China, Kenya, the United States, Holland, Turkey, Germany, Denmark and Belgium. 

 

OUWARD BOUND - SWITZERLAND

My education was as unconventional as my nomadic childhood. I attended Aiglon College, an international boarding school in Switzerland that followed the principles of Kurt Hahn and his Outward Bound system. Along with the academic curriculum, I learned to be self reliant, focused and able to meet physically demanding challenges. When we weren't immersed in our studies we were climbing mountains, navigating glaciers and competing in all the disciplines of Alpine ski racing.  I thrived in this physically demanding environment, but at the same time I had also developed a growing creative drive. So when I graduated in 1968, I knew conventional college was not for me and I found myself searching for a vocation that supplied a combination of creative and physical challenges.

​

THE SAVOY - LONDON

The answer, when it came, was a five-year management-training program with the Savoy Hotel Group in London. The Savoy Group included four luxury hotels; The Savoy, Claridges, The Barclay, The Connaught and two restaurants; Simpson’s on the Strand and Stone’s Chop House. I became one of six candidates chosen annually to train in the complexities of running what was widely considered to be the best luxury hotel group in the world. It was a hard place to get into, involving a series of recommendations and multiple interviews. When I finally got through the door I learned that my syllabus included an academic program with the Hotel and Catering Industry Training Board and Westminster Technical College, and a physically demanding work week at the Savoy of split shifts that never ran less than 12 hours a day. I had to purchase my own chefs uniforms - hats, jackets and pants - but they would launder them.  I also had to buy my own knives. My Savoy stipend of 5 pounds sterling ($12.00) weekly, was barely enough for public transportation and a few basic necessities, but they supplied two meals a day, albeit in a very marginal cafeteria, and my father sent me another $80.00 a month. That gave me  just enough to share a two bedroom apartment with 3 other trainees and buy an occasional beer at the local pub. 

 

It’s fair to say the Savoy was made to measure for my temperament, especially in the kitchens. They were hot, noisy and high stress but afforded  an amazing learning experience. I spent the best part of 18 months navigating stoves, working stations and service and memorizing Saulnier's Repertoire de la Cuisine, the culinary bible of classic French cuisine. Our lunch and dinner menus changed each day depending on what came in fresh from the Bermondsey, Smithfield and Covent Garden markets and special suppliers and farms all over Europe. Everything except our Espagnole and base sauces was prepared anew each day. A monumental task for a large formal restaurant with 6 private dining rooms, 4 banquet rooms and 24 hour room service.  Our kitchen brigade consisted of over 100 and included porters, plonge, dishwashers, butchers, apprentices, trainees, commis chefs, chef de parties, sous chefs and of course at the apex there was Mâitre Chef de Cuisine Silvino Trompetto MBE.

 

From the Restaurant kitchen I went to the River Restaurant - known by us as the River Room; first as a junior service bartender to learn to mix all the fashionable cocktails and how to handle and correctly decant a litany of rare vintage wines, and then as a commis waiter in the private dining rooms and the River Room. The next stop was as a commis waiter in the Savoy Grill.  Then on to accounting at Simpson's followed by stocktaking for the china, glass and silver department for the entire group.

 

By the third year I knew that being a manager at the Savoy was not for me. I was still required to do a year abroad to learn a language followed by a year in reception in order to complete my commitment.  I already spoke fluent French and passable German from my years in Switzerland, and I knew I wanted to stay in the restaurant side of the business versus the front of the house in an hotel. After some discussion the Savoy allowed me to forgo those last two years and gave me credit for the training I had completed and a letter of recommendation.  It was an unusual deviation from their requirements but they made an exception and I am grateful for my time with them to this day.  

​

WORKING CHEF 

I was conflicted about my next step and decided to take a short break in Spain. I went to Estartit on the Costa Brava but ran out of money a month or so into the trip. The only logical solution was to look for a job at what I knew best, cooking.  I would end up staying in Spain for the better part of two years, but by the end of the second summer season I knew it was time to move on and I returned to London looking for interesting work.  There I met James Antoine, who along with Peter Morton, had recently opened the über hip "Great American Disaster." It was so far from my Savoy training that my father thought I was crazy.   GAD was one of the very first European chains and Peter’s prototype for his Hard Rock Café chain; still in existence today. We opened two GAD units in London - Worlds End and Beauchamp Place - followed by Manchester and Munich and a then a nightclub in Amsterdam.

 

RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT 

After Amsterdam opened, I found that GAD was no longer challenging. Peter and James were gone and other opportunities and salaries in London for an ambitious young man with my skill sets were still limited, so I decided to move to New York City. I had five years of multi faceted restaurant experience and could very capably execute French classical cuisine, and I spoke French. Since most of the top New York restaurants were French, I thought it would be simple to get a decent job. Instead I found it hard to find an open door.  Finally a well known French chef told me at an interview that he only hired French chefs and advised me that was the norm for all the best French restaurants in the city.  I appreciated his honesty but not the arrogant culture behind the policy.  Frustrated, I  decided to leave New York. I  went to a headhunter who found me a management job in Baltimore with a now defunct steak house chain. It was a huge step backwards but I needed a job to pay the bills until I worked out what to do next.

 

I was lucky to choose Baltimore. It was a good place to live after the furor of London and New York and once I settled in I started networking. My new contacts eventually led me to the Rouse company. Owned by Jim Rouse the visionary developer of the village of Cross Keys in Baltimore, the city of Columbia, MD, and the retail markets of Faneuil Hall in Boston, Fulton Fish Market in Manhattan and Harbor Place in Baltimore, it was a unique, forward thinking company. Rouse also owned a luxury hotel division, the Cross Keys Inns. He had designed a first class "Continental" restaurant for their brand new Baltimore location, and was importing the staff to run it from Europe.  Luckily my interviewers decided that I was the ideal candidate to manage their main restaurant, and the diverse European team manning it.  This was a real chance to use the knowledge I had already amassed and work for a highly respected company.  In time I would also understand that I had been given the unprecedented opportunity to work for a true leader. Jim's example taught us to embrace change; to take calculated risks and then work hard to get results.

 

    LINK - THE CAREER YEARS - 1973 - 2018

​