Moving on – time to see what a 2 Star Michelin kitchen is like……

It’s been 3 months since my last series of posts, and quite a lot has happened during that time. At MBC our lunchtimes have been pretty crazy with 50+ covers being the average – no surprise really because I reckon that we do the best lunch food in the neighbourhood. The evening services, on the other hand, have been a lot more “hit and miss” – sometimes 10, sometimes 40+. I still reckon that we’re just a bit too expensive and that the evening menu simply doesn’t change often enough. That said, last week we started our new evening menu – which I really like. Some great associations & contrasts of flavour / texture / colour – crabe / hélantis / crumble sarrasin-chataigne ; foie gras / champignon paris / kumquat ; st jacques / mâche fumée / cerfeuil racine ; raie / huitre / tajine rhubarbe-panais ; glace et madeleine blé noir / truffe / poire.

That’s MBC…..

As all of that has been going on, I’ve been planning my escape, and at the start of January 2011 I managed to negotiate my departure – “une rupture conventionelle” which allows me to leave and retain my dole if I don’t find a job that interests me….a nice safety net. During january there weren’t many adverts that interested me….and then I saw Senderens (2 star michelin kitchen) again looking for kitchen staff…..me in a 2 star kitchen ???…yep, I fancy that….before leaving for Nantes I want to take advantage of being in Paris to work in a top kitchen. The thing is that I’d been for a trial almost exactly 1 year earlier, but clearly I wasn’t ready – they didn’t even call me back as I recall. Since then I’ve made a lot of progress working at MBC, so I figured that it would be worth a 2nd attempt. My lunch service trial went well, I found a place straight away on the fish section (my favourite section), I was at ease and understood much better how one should function in a professional kitchen. Clearly the chef was happier with me this time around, and I was offered the role of demi chef de partie on the fish section.

I was delighted to finally be able to see what working in a 2 star kitchen is about – what an opportunity.

My chef at MBC thought that I should look for a chef position in a small, local café/restaurant. The idea being to replicate the kind of set up that I will probably have when I eventually set up my own restaurant. I could see his point of view, but I have so wanted to be in a michelin star kitchen ever since I started this coversion from consultant to chef, that this opportunity was too good to miss….even though the salary is even less than MBC !

I start tomorrow (after 1 week off from MBC) and I have to say that I am quietly “shitting” myself…..will I be up to it, will I follow the service, will I be too tired working from 7h30 ’til midnight ? We’ll see and I’ll let you know……