倫敦米其林名廚,高級餐館要休閒化

You can tell a lot about a chef by the way they treat a potato. To Clare Smyth, who grew up in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, potatoes were their own daily religion. In more than 20 years working in professional kitchens, Smyth developed a ritual of eating a cooked one “plain” with salt and pepper before service. So it is fitting the humble tuber gets star billing on the menu of her first restaurant.

廚師廚藝水平的高低取決於做土豆的花樣。對於從小在北愛爾蘭安特里姆郡(County Antrim, Northern Ireland)長大的克萊爾?史密斯(Clare Smyth)來說，土豆就好比他們每天形影不離的宗教。在20多年職業廚師生涯中，史密斯養成了每天開工前吃個只拌鹽與胡椒的煮土豆習慣。所以，不起眼的土豆成爲她首家餐館的特色與招牌也就不足爲奇了。

“We work with a guy who grows really amazing Charlotte potatoes in Sussex and we’re really celebrating that little potato, cooking it in seaweed — growing up in Ireland we’d always eat dulse. We’re serving it with herring and trout roe, not caviar, and with fermented potato crisp — I eat salt-and-vinegar ingredients all the time, so it’s a joke. It’s looking beyond foie gras, truffles — and we’ve not got turbot or pigeon on this first menu draft. This is where I’m at. I’ve served all the caviar in the world.”

“我們的供貨商是蘇塞克斯郡(Sussex)上乘夏洛特土豆(Charlotte potatoes)的種植者，小小的土豆在我們這兒享受的可是‘高規格’待遇：與海帶一起烹製（從小在愛爾蘭長大的我們常吃紅皮藻）；而後用鯡魚與鱒魚籽（而非魚子醬）佐之，再配以‘發酵’薯片——我本人常吃的是鹹酸薯片，因此這只是開個玩笑而已。它看上去勝過用鵝肝(foie gras)與松露相搭——我們擬定首份菜單時，沒把多寶魚與乳鴿放進去。這就是我目前籌備餐館的最新進展。全球各地出產的魚子醬我們店都有。

Smyth can claim to be one of the best chefs working in the UK. For more than a decade she ran the kitchen team and consulted for the three-Michelin-star Restaurant Gordon Ramsay in Chelsea, but now she is putting her own name above the door. Core by Clare Smyth is the result, which to her signifies “the heart, the seed of something new; it’s been my life’s work to get to this point.” The project was “sitting in me and I had to do it”, she says in a cool, firm voice that one can imagine paying sharp attention to in a kitchen. “I’m so passionate about this industry. The fact that casual dining has taken off as a trend is a fact but it’s up to us to take fine dining forward.”

史密斯有資格自詡是全英國數一數二的超級大廚。10多年來，她一直是倫敦切爾西米其林三星餐廳Gordon Ramsay的主廚兼顧問，但如今她打算自立門戶，Core by Clare Smyth就是她正在籌建的餐館，她認爲這就代表了“新型餐廳的本質與‘種子’，是自己終生奮鬥的目標。”創建這樣的餐館可謂“不得不做的事”，她以沉着堅毅的口吻說道。不難想象，這種說話口吻在任何餐廳廚房裏都是老大。“我酷愛餐飲這個行當。休閒餐飲已成爲當下的風尚早已是鐵板釘釘的事實，但高檔餐飲的發揚廣大得靠我們。”

Some lateral thinking has been applied to find fresh answers. “We would always braise lamb shanks for navarin sauce but I’d always take the carrot out — it’s the best bit. So we’re doing a dish with the ‘lamb carrot’ as I call it. It’s a vegetable dish with the meat on the side. In 2017, we should be eating more grain and vegetables, so we’re flipping things around.”

獨闢蹊徑，就得藉助於發散性思維模式。“我們常用法式納瓦林法燉羊腿（即洋蔥馬鈴薯燉羊肉），但我總愛放些胡蘿蔔——這是錦上添花之舉。所以，我們用‘羊肉胡蘿蔔’來搭配（這是我自創的叫法）。它是道以蔬菜爲主的菜，羊肉在旁邊只是點綴而已。2017年，大家應該多食穀類與蔬菜，因此我們的做法是反其道而行之。”

Smyth’s vision of a different kind of luxury is significant in a city where the white tableclothed fine-dining room looks vulnerable in the face of an inComing tide of burger and “small plate” convenience. Instead, she intends to forge a model of the new neighbourhood restaurant — still ambitious but friendly and stripped of formalities, with chef and brigade visible to all diners behind a glass partition. The Victorian building in Notting Hill she has chosen for this enterprise is one she “fell in love with” but it had all the pleasant and unpleasant surprises you’d expect of a serious venture. “People offer you glass boxes in the City but I wanted something with character. I’ve always had a passion for neighbourhood restaurants. This was absolutely pumping when it was Prue Leith’s place.”

史密斯截然不同的精緻美食理念在倫敦意義非凡：因爲佈置考究的高檔餐廳在層出不窮的漢堡店以及便利小食店的“洶涌攻勢”下顯得不堪一擊。相反，她意欲打造新型的居民區餐館模式——依然高大上、但親和溫馨，不拘泥於俗套。食客們透過玻璃隔牆對整個廚師團隊的操作流程一覽無餘。她選中的餐館新址是諾丁山(Notting Hill)一幢維多利亞時代的大樓，她對這個樓可以說“一見鍾情”，但所有歷史悠久老建築的共性是：驚喜與遺憾往往共存。“在倫敦金融城(the City)，玻璃幕牆的建築比比皆是，但我喜歡有獨特內涵的建築。我一直對社區餐館情有獨鍾。”

When the builders moved in, they soon discovered the electrics were shot, the drainage didn’t work, bricks crumbled — but the expensive remedies are designed to be worth it. “It should last 15 years — I plan to be here for a while. It’s not a short-term investment.”

但裝修人員進場後，很快發現電路毀壞、下水不通、牆磚破損嚴重——但是耗資不菲的修復工程目的是讓其實至名歸。“整個修復過程應需花15年時間——我只是在此暫時過渡，但整個工程可是項長期投資。”

The chef-led restaurant is “unsustainable” in its current form, she says, and “they’re all moving out of Mayfair?.?.?.?Battersea’s Queenstown Road had Nico’s in the 1990s, for example, and you’d feel very relaxed. We’re not going to overly design or stage anything — no dress codes. Don’t feel intimidated. I want people to drop in here even if they’re on their own. We’re trying to strip away the things that make people feel uneasy about coming to a fine-dining restaurant. If fine dining is going to survive, that’s what we have to do.”

大廚開的餐館以目前的模式經營都是難以爲繼的，她說，而且“它們都在不斷撤離梅菲爾區(Mayfair)……比方說，倫敦巴特西(Battersea)的Queenstown Road路上上世紀90年代原先有家Nico’s餐廳，顧客在此用餐十分愜意。我們不想過度設計或是在此舉辦任何活動——也沒有着裝規定。我們不想讓顧客望而生畏，只是希望他們順道惠顧（即便事先未曾預訂）。我們想方設法把顧客到高檔餐館就餐的不自在感去除掉。高檔餐館若要繼續生存下去，我們就必須這樣做。”

Smyth is clearly gifted with a special type of workaholism, one that benefits the majority of people around her. “Ducking out was never an option because I always had a goal. I wasn’t that interested in going to the pub with my mates. I’ve always been single-minded at each stage of my career. I’m very detailed and into things — it’s a drive. Anyone who says we’re going to open a restaurant and says it’ll be great has never achieved anything before. We have to put our heads down and tighten our belts.”

史密斯天生是與衆不同的工作狂，能讓身邊的多數手下受益匪淺。“逃避永遠不是我的選項，因爲本人始終心存明確目標。我不太喜歡跟同事去酒吧瀟灑。我對自己職業生涯的每個階段總是專心致志。我做事事無鉅細，而且全身心投入其中——這就是工作幹勁。任何人說自己想開餐館、並且聲稱要幹成大事的，從來都是成果一般。我們必須埋頭苦幹、努力節省各種開支。”

Coming into the last year of her thirties, Smyth has travelled far from the farm where she spent her childhood and where summer jobs gave her the cooking bug. “It’s not a job to me. It’s something I’ve done since I left school at 16. I was working in local restaurants from the age of 13, 14 in my school holidays. My mum worked in hotels as a waitress and I just fell into it, then started to really enjoy it. I was 15 and working in one of the best restaurants in Northern Ireland.”

即將步入不惑之年的她早已遠離兒時的窮鄉僻壤農場（她在此度過童年，暑假打零工時迷上了烹飪）。“廚師於我而言不是工作，16歲畢業後我就一直幹這行。從13、14歲起，我利用暑假在家鄉餐館打工。我媽媽是酒店服務員，我只是無意中入了廚師這行，然後就真正迷上了它。我當時15歲，在北愛爾蘭最高檔的餐館打工。”

She laughs at the contrast between her interests and those of her peers. “When you’re really young, you have obsessions with pop stars and musicians; I was 15 and ended up buying Anton Mosimann’s Cuisine à la Carte and reading every letter. I’ve read Escoffier’s Le Guide Culinaire cover to cover, twice.”

她笑談自己與同齡人的迥異興趣。“少女們往往沉迷於流行歌星與音樂家，而15歲的我買的卻是安東?莫斯曼(Anton Mosimann)的《家常便飯》(Cuisine à la Carte)，並且認真拜讀了它；我把埃斯科菲耶(Escoffier)的《烹飪指南》(Le Guide Culinaire)仔仔細細通讀了兩篇。”

Smyth worked for French chef Alain Ducasse in Monaco for a couple of years, but it is Gordon Ramsay she describes as her “great mentor”, someone who instilled confidence in her ability. “He’s taught me a lot, some of the key things that stick in my head. [When I was] a youngster he’d tell me, ‘In life you’ll work with people you don’t get along with but why does that bother you? Focus on you, don’t focus on other people. Don’t let it affect you.’ I think that’s a great way to be.”

史密斯在摩納哥跟着法國大廚艾倫?杜卡斯(Alain Ducasse)幹了幾年，但她說自己的“良師”是戈登?拉姆塞 (Gordon Ramsay)，後者不斷灌輸她要相信自己的能力。“他教了我很多東西，有些東西至今仍是根深蒂固。我年輕的時候他曾教導我：‘生活中會與自己不喜歡的人共事，但又何必爲此苦惱呢？專注做好自己的事，不要整天盯着別人。別讓它影響自己的成長進步。’我覺得那是忠言良藥。”

There is something refreshingly unapologetic about Smyth; her tastes in wine, for example, are steadfastly classic. “I’m quite old-fashioned — I like burgundy, red and white, the odd bordeaux, California, Australia.” She is relaxing one unwritten rule about furnishing fine-dining restaurants: “Being in this fine-dining world, we always buy French brands without thinking about it. I didn’t want to do that any more.” So her cooking suite has been made in Lyon with an Oxfordshire grill built into it, the cutlery is Sheffield steel, the crockery Royal Crown Derby. “I wanted to work with British people,” she says.

史密斯有些固執己見，但又讓人耳目一新。比方說，她一直喜歡喝傳統口感的葡萄酒。“我相當老派——我喜歡喝勃艮第乾紅與乾白，口感怪異的波爾多、加州以及澳洲產葡萄酒。”她對於佈置高檔餐館的不成文規矩通常持開放態度：“顧客來高檔餐館消費，總是毫不猶豫地點法國葡萄酒。我可不想再這麼做。”因此，她的全套烹飪器具在法國里昂定製（安裝了英國牛津郡烤肉架），刀具由英國謝菲爾德生產的純鋼打製，餐具則是皇冠德貝瓷(Royal Crown Derby)。“我想與本國人合作。”她說。

As she leaves the building site, she says to the builders: “Don’t break anything!” Workers push wheelbarrows around her, a chorus to a restaurant-opening opera that is accompanied by maniacal drilling. But it’s Smyth’s voice that prevails. “It’s my first baby and I want to give it some love,” she says of the chaos at her feet. “I don’t ever stop work to be honest. I don’t see it as work — it’s just life.”

離開工地時，她對施工人員說：“不允許毀壞任何東西！”工人們推着獨輪手推車圍在她身旁，好比是在熱火朝天地共同演繹餐館開張的一幕大戲。但史密斯總是最終一錘定音的人。“這家餐館是我的第一個‘孩子’，我希望用愛澆灌它。”她這樣評點身邊混亂的施工場，“說句心裏話，我從沒停止工作的腳步，我不認爲這是工作——這就是我的生活。”