Food & beverage
Right: Luke Selby works closely with Raymond Blanc and the garden team at Le Manoir.
Below: Each week Selby meets with the garden team to find out what vegetables are coming into season.
Below right: Le Chocolat au Lait et Fruits Exotique.
I don’t think he’ll ever slow down… if I’m like him when I’m 74 I’ll be very happy.”
Each week, Selby meets with the garden team to find out what vegetables are coming into season (Brussels sprouts, salsify and scorzonera are among the treasures ready for picking at the time of our interview). Dishes on the ever-changing menu are carefully built around the produce before being tasted by the sommeliers and matched with the perfect wine pairings. As we talk, the team is in the process of revisiting some of Blanc’s classic dishes and updating them with a modern touch to celebrate Le Manoir’s 40th anniversary. There’s also space for Selby to embrace his creative freedom; he tells me about a recent dish he added to the menu crafted around Cornish mackerel. The fillets are pin boned and cured in rice vinegar before being lightly torched and served in a bowl with a purée made from apples grown in Le Manoir’s orchards, a drizzle of dill oil and a refreshing horseradish and yoghurt sorbet. “It’s that classic flavour combination of apple, horseradish and mackerel but with my own twist using Japanese techniques and super modern presentation,” he says proudly. He’s also been working with Blanc to streamline kitchen practices so that most of the chefs at Le Manoir have three days off a week. I tell him it’s
refreshing to hear him talking about work/ life balance in this way given the industry’s notoriously gruelling hours. Some chefs, I say, still seem to think the punishing working culture is essential for reaching the highest levels.
For the first time in our conversation, Selby’s laid- back demeanour vanishes. “It doesn’t need to be like that,” he says, without missing a beat. “You can’t treat people the way you were treated. That’s something we’ve changed and we’re super proud of. Raymond wants this place to be somewhere you would send your children to train to become a chef.” Besides, he continues, this year they had the best staff retention that Le Manoir has ever had with a waiting list of over 25 chefs wanting to work there. “Amidst this staffing crisis, everyone in the industry keeps talking about, we’re in a very fortunate position. “We’ve made lots of amazing changes in the kitchen over the past year,” he tells me as his eyes light up. “I just really want to push forward and build Le Manoir to be the best it can be.” ●
This article originally appeared on
elitetraveler.com.
30
Hotel Management International /
www.hmi-online.com
Belmond
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