Comedy legend Lenny Henry has revealed what it was like to train at world-renowned restaurant L'Ortolan. The 64-year-old played Gareth Blackstock in the nineties sitcom 'Chef' and trained at the Berkshire-based eatery to refine his cooking skills.
L'Ortolan is still going today and is led by head chef James Greatorex. When Lenny Henry visited in the nineties it was being run by John Burton-Race - who actually opened the restaurant.
Henry discussed what it was like to work alongside the "shouty" chef on a new episode of the Off Menu Podcast. Comedians James Acaster and Ed Gamble run the podcast and have fellow comedians and celebrities on to talk about their 'dream menu'.
READ MORE: Berkshire pub hailed amongst "cream of the crop" for CAMRA's Pub of the Year crown
For Henry, the premise of the podcast brought back memories of time spent at L'Ortolan in Reading. This restaurant wouldn't have been too far away from his house, as at the time he was living with Dawn French in Spencer's Wood. During the podcast, the comedian also mentioned performing comedy gigs at Blazes in Windsor.
Ed Gamble encouraged Henry to speak about the "legendary sitcom" Chef during the podcast. Henry described it as "kind of a comedy-drama" and said that his character was "mean" and "articulate." Blackstock also thought he was "the best chef in the world", which meant that Henry "had to go and train at L'Ortolan."
Whilst he was there, Henry worked alongside Rowley Lee and John Burton-Race and also got to go to "the River Cafe and talk to people and see what it was like." Dispelling a few myths about Michelin star restaurants, Henry said that "often there was no shouting in the kitchen."
"Often people were very cool and Rowley Lee's kitchen was very calm, very cool, people doing things because they wanted to do them and enjoy the process," he said. However, this wasn't the same for all restaurants.
Henry went on: "Of course, Gordon Ramsay and Marco Pierre White came along and did lots of shouting. But John Burton's kitchen was a bit shouty, but only when he was there, when he wasn't there it was kind of cool.
"But they got exposed on the telly. They had secret cameras and they go into trouble. But you know, the world of cooking is quite militaristic, there's a real sense that you've got a brigade of people and you've got to get it done."
Having recalled what it was like to visit L'Ortolan, Henry went on to talk about his daughter, who visited the restaurant as a baby. Henry said that he "was at L'Ortolan" all the time with her and they now joke that she remembers tasting "amazing" food when she was a baby up in her high chair.
Read next:
