FOOD
“When I took over here at 28 as head chef, there was a lot of pressure. I was very driven and focused and was probably more tough on people than I should have been just to make sure I wasn’t going to let standards slip.” Clare no longer has to prove herself and the pressure now is more about keeping the punters happy. “At the end of the day, it’s not about Michelin stars – it’s about the customers,” she says. “You don’t ever cook for stars – you cook the food that you love and that you’re passionate about. If you were doing it the other way round, I doubt if you’d have them. “It’s the customers that drive you. We want to spoil people, we want them to walk out the door with a massive smile on their face.” When she’s not working, Clare loves to check out the latest restaurants. “I eat out all the time – every weekend,” she says. Her favourite spots in Chelsea include The Surprise pub in Christchurch Terrace and Foxtrot Oscar
[Gordon Ramsay’s bistro in Royal Hospital Road]. “I know it’s one of our restaurants but I do genuinely eat there often because it’s a case of jumping in, grabbing a burger or a bowl of pasta and it’s always good.
“If we want a coffee on a Sunday morning, we’ll go to Colbert in the square, sit outside in the sunshine or do a bit of shopping. I often go to Partridge’s because it has weird and wonderful stuff. There’s lots to do in this area and it’s full of really cool, interesting people – generations of artists, politicians and musicians. “It’s got that kind of village feel – there’s never
a day where we go to The Surprise and won’t start chatting to someone. “We cook the Chelsea Pensioners’ Christmas lunch every year – we’ve been doing it for 13 years and Foxtrot Oscar has been doing stuff for the old people who live around here. This is very much our community and I feel very much a part of it.”
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