Memories of Gascony

Pierre Koffmann  has been at the heart of fine cuisine in Britain for nearly fifty years. After working as a young chef in France, Koffmann arrived in London in 1970 to work under Michel and Albert Roux at Le Gavroche and then the Waterside Inn. Within six years of opening, La Tante Claire had its third Michelin star, setting new standards for cooking and creating extraordinary dishes from classically simple ingredients, while also serving as an academy for many of today' s culinary superstars. Between them Koffmann' s proté gé s now boast over twenty Michelin stars in their own right. After a short-lived retirement, he returned to the kitchen at Koffmann' s at The Berkeley, with a more relaxed, informal style and classic provincial French cooking. It is the food that first inspired him to become a chef, the food of the French countryside, the food of his grandparents' farmhouse kitchen in rural Gascony.