My Original Inspiration: Monsieur Zarb

Many years ago when living in England I had the privilege of staying at a little guest house in the quiet countryside town of Ross-on-Wye, not far from the border with Wales. The owner was a man of great joy, welcoming all with a warm smile to rooms that were beautifully decorated, offering a sublime respite from the rush of inner city London. His name was Raymond Zarb, and while I did not know it at the time, he had been one of the greatest French chefs to work in Britain before 'retiring' to this lovely corner of England to offer hospitality at a less frantic pace.

James Walsh writes that Zarb "was really the first super chef in London. He had huge articles in The Observer newspaper long before these things became commonplace and he was the first Maitre Cuisinier to come to London."

The first night there, I ordered a seafood soup. I was perhaps 22 years old, and my experience of soup was largely confined to Campbells. I can only tell you that one bite was an epiphany; I did not know - I could not have even imagined - that such a delicate yet powerful blend of taste and texture was possible to achieve. It all continued the next morning when breakfast was served - the most astonishingly delicious scrambled eggs I'd ever seen or tasted. Many years later I discovered the recipe for those eggs in the Le Cordon Bleu Cuisine Foundations cookbook, and was able to just about capture the magic of what Chef Zarb served his guests at breakfast. It took a lot of time and lot of work. 

In a way, that bowl of soup and that plate of eggs changed my life; I didn't pick up the knives and spoons and whisks of the trade til many years later, but I knew from the start a standard that was possible and by that delectable perfection I set my compass. I knew I had to start with French techniques, get over the intimidation factor, and embrace the detailed demands such cuisine would seem to demand. In fact, the cuisine embraced me, the sheer joy of creating beautiful food that might just offer a new world of discovery to the palates of my friends, becoming something of an obsession. 

Raymond Zarb passed away a few years ago, but he left his mark on me - and in a much deeper way on a generation of new chefs in London, many years ago, laying the foundations for a revival in English cuisine, the fruits of which are recognized around the world today. I was eating the soup of a master and didn't even know it. Today, I am deeply in his debt, and thankful for his memory.