World-renowned chef Jean Christophe Novelli is no stranger to passion, which is why the prospect of his new cooking school and restaurant in Spain fills him with anticipation
Few people would ever say that the French display a lack of self-confidence. Sitting in The Hotel Lorcimar’s shiny, new Novelli Restaurant in Puerto Banus, celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli is in no mood to disprove the stereotype.
“I don’t have competitors,” he purrs when asked about the rising influence of Spanish chefs compared to ooh, let’s say, French cooks. “The only competitor I have is my own shadow,” he continues. “It has been like that for 25 years. I don’t have to worry about what other people do. I can appreciate what they do but I don’t have to use it for myself. I have my own story and I am quite happy with that. This is one of the best ventures I have been involved with. It is going to be magnificent.”
Novelli is possibly not over-burdened with modesty, but in this instance he may well be right. With a kitchen brigade led by his long term chef de cuisine Wesley Smalley and with younger brother Anthony heading up the front of house, Novelli Restaurant is the talk of the town. Although the doors had barely opened when we chatted, Novelli was keen to point out that “already everybody is queuing up outside” and he expects similar success when his Novelli Academy cookery school in Marbella welcomes its first pupil.
It has been 25 years since a young Novelli pitched up in the UK and started rocking the boat. His initial berth in Keith Floyd’s Maltsters Arms in Totnes was a stormy one but it launched a career which saw Novelli gain five consecutive Michelin stars and a mini-empire of restaurants based around his Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell.
Despite a major setback in 1999 when financial difficulties nearly swamped him (“I became very rich very quickly but it went wrong,” he says ruefully) Novelli has gone on to be one of the UK’s most recognised chefs with appearances on Hell’s Kitchen, Celebrity X Factor and, more unexpectedly, even MTV’s Cribs. While his career has often made a rollercoaster’s trajectory look rather pedestrian, he swears that he regrets rien but does take an immense amount of pleasure in being known as ‘Britain’s favourite French chef’.
Words: Jonathan Trew
Read the full article in our June 2009 issue.