There’s a good reason for the partition between restaurant guests and the culinary craftsmen producing their cuisine. Perhaps foremost -although you certainly didn’t read it here- is the tendency for a Chef’s artistic flair to blend, seamlessly into their vernacular. When lunchtime pressure rears its head tempers often sizzle and discourse can, on occasion, become a little colourful.

During these times the heavy-swinging pantry door is a guests shield, a floor managers best friend and a fearsome inescapable threshold for unwitting waiters. Fortunately, this passionate if rather volatile breed of creative tends to transform upon exiting the kitchen. Slipping into a calmer gentle alter ego the out-of-kitchen-Chef is often seen (cloth over shoulder) receiving flattery and praise for a job well done.

Interviews with a Chef are rarely carried out in the kitchen- the previous paragraph will go some way towards reasoning the rather hefty logic employed here. This interview with Chef Jeffrey Le Bon took place in an office, over a series of emails and through a number of conversations, during all of which the writer found Chef Le Bon to be a thoroughly pleasant and agreeable fellow. Calm and approachable it would be almost impossible to postulate the existence of a fiery Chef de monsieur Hyde found within. ‘Almost’ being the operative word, for the position of Group Executive Chef at Staunton’s Group contains one conclusive four-lettered condemnation ...Chef.

On to the interview! >>