Tim Allen, Launceston Place, London

Tim Allen, 38-year-old head chef at Kensington’s Michelin-starred Launceston Place, has been the deputy at some great restaurants like L’Ortolan, The Landmark and Whatley Manor. Now he is in charge of his own place for the first time. The Staff Canteen caught up with him to find out how the Yorkshire lad is coping with life in the Big Smoke, becoming media savvy and picking up cigarette butts…

Let’s start from the beginning. Is it true that you were a keen gardener from an early age?

I was, we had a large back garden when I was at school, which was largely unused, but most of it was a complete failure if I’m totally honest! The only thing that worked was the potatoes. I think having twelve-foot high hedges on either side of the garden didn’t really help, except for the potatoes.

I studied physical geography and environmental science for A-levels so I was very interested in use of the land, soils and that kind of thing from an early age as well as cooking. I was working in a kitchen while I was studying. I was also working on a dairy at the same time. I used to go to the dairy at 4 o’clock in the morning, bottling and feeding, then I would go on to college and four days of the week I’d go to work in the kitchen after that.

You didn’t have formal training so where do you feel you learnt most of your trade?

In terms of real solid grounding, I worked with Jeff Baker at Pool Court and from him I learnt how to organise myself and how to conduct myself. Then I worked for Simon Gueller at Rascasse and there I learnt confidence with food. From there it was with John Burton Race. I really cut my teeth at L’Ortolan in the late nineties. I started there as a CDP and progressed up to junior sous with Martin Burge as the senior sous then I went to The Landmark as senior sous.

Then you followed Martin Burge to Whatley Manor. How was your time there?

There was no roof on the building when I first moved there as senior sous. It was an enormous amount of work to set Whatley up. I would say I learned to cook with John Burton Race but my palette developed massively at Whatley. I did seven and a half years there.

That’s a long time for a modern chef. What was it about Whatley Manor that kept you there?

At the end of the day I don’t think you should leave somewhere until you’ve taken everything you can out of it and that’s the problem in this day and age; these days chefs think that doing six months somewhere is beneficial but it’s not. I’m not a hopper. I like to stick at places. I mean it took two and a half years just to get things set up and settled down at Whatley, mainly because we were pushing so hard and in fairness we were making things quite difficult for ourselves doing things like lobster salad cooked á la minute on the room service menu!

What finally made you leave Whatley and come to Launceston Place?

I couldn’t grow anymore. I always felt that a spur would grow off Whatley like it would from a Ramsay place or a Wareing place or something like Roganic, but that never happened at Whatley and at the time I found that quite disheartening. Whatley took quite a lot out of me but after six months off I was approached to work here in London and I decided to give it a try. At first it was a challenge but now we’re just starting to find our feet and really express ourselves on the plate and obviously getting the star very quickly helped a lot. It’s all about getting consistent return business and that’s what we’re getting now. We’re 17% up on last year and £21 a head up on spends and we don’t charge a lot of money, so we’re doing well.

What other challenges have you found working in London for the first time and heading your own restaurant?

The media side of things has been a steep learning curve. We’ve been on MasterChef this year and I’ll be doing The Spirit of Summer Fair in Chelsea which will be a big demo in front of a live audience. I think the other steep learning curve is knowing that all of a sudden the spotlight’s on you and are people going to enjoy what you put on plates? That might sound like a really stupid thing to say but until you actually have to do it on your own, you don’t think like that because at the end of the day it’s not you that has to answer for it. But my confidence has grown about that especially with the return guests we’re getting. I’m very open with critiques and I ask regulars who come here to chat or email me about the experience because that kind of feedback is absolutely paramount to moving forwards.

The other big learning curve has been working for a big company and within a corporate structure which I haven’t done before, but I think I’ve taken quite well to it and their support has been paramount. I’ve been able to take the reins and run a business with essentially other people’s money and that takes a huge amount of pressure off. The business makes more GOP now than before from less turnover so I feel that we are running it well for them.

And do you see yourself making that jump in the future to being someone who owns as well as runs the business?

That would be awesome at some stage but I don’t feel like my time at Launceston is finished. I’d like to see it go to the next level. Whether it will or not I don’t know. All I can do is keep coming in, keep it busy and keep being as consistent as we have been and who knows…?

And as you said you’re someone who sticks around.

Yes, and who knows where it will go? I want to stick around and find out; that’s very exciting. This place feels like my own. I know the bricks and mortar aren’t mine but I walk in here every morning and I pick other people’s cigarette butts off the pavement outside because I love the place and that’s why I come to work.

 Have a look at our vacancies on our jobs board if you want to be a head chef like Tim.