Chef Speak

Thinking out of the box

As part of ITC Hotel's celebrity chef series, Stuart Gillies, the executive chef at Boxwood Café, London, whipped up delicacies at West View at ITC Grand Maratha, Sahar. By Neeti Mehra

Stuart Gillies Executive Chef, Boxwood Café, London

Pedantic is not the word; it is perfection. London-based Stuart Gillies says it takes 30 seconds to achieve perfection. And there are no second chances. At Boxwood Café - a collaborative effort with Gordon Ramsay - Gillies is not vying for accolades, but for excellence.

Gillies is a Scotsman, like his foul-mouthed partner. He fell into this profession per chance at the age of 18. "My mother was not a passionate cook though she did cook for us at home. There was no culinary association; we didn't even own a vegetable shop. At that time kitchens weren't glamorous environments. It was hard work with long hours," he says. This continues till date, and the chef points out that he's worked 16 hours a day for the past 15 years.

Cooking a storm

After completing his apprenticeship and acquiring the necessary culinary qualifications, he followed his then girlfriend to Sweden. "I worked, cooked and travelled for five years, which helped me get the travel bug out of my system and model my cooking style. Without it, I wouldn't have been what I am now," Gillies says. The maestro strapped on his backpack and trudged through Italy, Sweden, Norway and South America.

Between that and till Boxwood Café, his culinary jigsaw included stints at the Lord Byron Hotel at Rome, Daniel's in New York, and Le Caprice in London, before he teamed up with Ramsay, a friend since two decades, for Boxwood Café.

Gillies' food philosophy hinges on freshness, and he chooses flavour over texture and presentation. "You have to keep your mind focused on the dishes' flavour and texture. I balance sweet and sour, sugar and salt, because I feel that one has to have that combination of ingredients to keep the palate fresh," he says. Food, according to him, should look clean, bright, and colourful, with the ingredients adding a visual dimension to the food. "It is important to balance and blend ingredients without smothering the flavour. It is a very sophisticated technique that seems very simple," he says.

The final food frontier

Cut to Boxwood Café kitchen. An order has to be sent out. There is a flurry of hands to remove the slightest blemish or fingerprint from the dish - all to elevate a meal to a level of finesse synonymous with a Ramsay kitchen. "Twelve 'o clock is show time. The level of execution and attention to detail is obsessive. It is important to check and double check everything. And to produce that level we cannot have a bad day. Customers don't give you a second chance," he says, given that there are 30 restaurants within one square mile of Boxwood Café. Working akin to a well-oiled machine, each team member is a key player. Gillies admits his kitchen has no room for culinary mavericks.

A common mistake that he finds chefs make is deciding the impact of a dish on the palate after trying a spoonful. He says, "One spoonful isn't enough. Cooks put too much salt in one dish because they have tried a miniscule part only and determine the maximum impact accordingly. Consequently, a guest's palate gets saturated after four to five spoonfuls after which they can't taste a thing. I encourage my chefs to eat more than a spoonful." Gillies recreates Boxwood's a la carte menu once in four weeks, the highest frequency amongst all Ramsay restaurants. "We have a seasonal menu. Once the season changes, we need to change depending on what ingredients are available. This happens approximately once a month in the UK." For instance, English asparagus is available for six weeks, till the end of mid summer. "During that time I'll use it in abundance, and one the season's over, I won't use it again."

Seasonality does not pose an insurmountable challenge for the restaurant's signature dishes, as he uses alternate means to source his key ingredients when they're out of season. Take the fried oysters with fennel and lemon, for instance. The oysters are sourced from the west coast of Ireland during the off-season while West Mersea oysters from the east coast of England are used in season - an arrangement that works perfectly for Gillies.

His menu is skewed towards non-vegetarian, though Boxwood does have vegetarian dishes on a la carte menu, and a separate vegetarian menu, and dairy-free vegetarian desserts. "I find cooking vegetarian meals quite challenging. It is easier with fish because of the flavour imparted using fish stock and reduced sauces, but vegetables need more innovation," Gillies says. For him, the slow tilt towards vegetarianism has been a natural progression, and he uses virtually no red meat in his preparations.

Future fresh

The chef is also a staunch supporter of the slow food movement, something he stumbled upon while hunting for truffles in Bra, Italy, where the organisation is headquartered. "Farm produce has strong fundamental ethics behind it. It is all healthy livestock production which comes as close as to what god intended as possible," he points out. While produce is more flavourful, the appearance might be far from perfect. "A lot of chefs do send back produce. But that's arrogance. When I get this produce I take a look at it, eat it and then adapt it. Why send it back? It's important to have an honest approach with suppliers," Gillies adds. The trick is to go beyond certification. "Organic food can look odd at times. That's when a chef needs to decide what is important. I ask a lot of questions about it and when I'm professionally satisfied, it's enough," he feels. And transmitting this message to the customer is important. Talking about why he has become a part of the movement that tried to make a change in the culinary world, he says, "Either one is a part of the problem or a part of the solution. I cannot make the change single-handedly. I serve 80-day old chickens, which are twice the lifespan of factory-produced chickens that are mutated and unhealthy. Though they cost more, it's a decision I made years ago and I will stick to that."

The gastronomical trends he sees include the greater use of artisan food products - less chemicals, indigenous and locally-produced products. He sees molecular gastronomy percolating from its bastion, El Bulli, which is one of his favourite restaurants. "Simple is becoming simple and complicated," he says. The future will be using complicated ingredients in a simple way.

Culinary capers

Gillies feels that a restaurant can gauge success on the response of a few select - New Yorkers and women. "New Yorkers aren't afraid to speak their mind. And women are actual decision makers who share their experiences. If a man talks to seven friends after a good dining experience, a woman will speak to 21," he says. Clearly, the tables are tilted towards the fair maidens. To cater to women, he has tweaked the menu. "We made little twists here and there to make it more delicate, basically what a woman could relate to without making it overtly feminine - light, clean and healthy food that is exciting," Gillies says.

Apart from these commitments, Gillies is planning two restaurants in Amsterdam. His culinary responsibilities also include television, but despite this, Gillies is a reluctant celebrity. "One can be a successful chef, being passionate about what one does. But being labelled as a celebrity chef diminishes our trade, that's not what we're about. It's an art form and we do it because we love our craft," he says, adding rather metaphorically that the chef would rather crash and burn than fade away into abject culinary oblivion.