Jason Atherton: 'Top restaurants are run by testosterone-fuelled lunatics so I put my wife in charge'

 
New venture: Jason Atherton with his wife Irha and, left, head sommelier Laure Patry (Picture: Alex Lentati)
Alex Lentati
Rod Kitson12 March 2015

Michelin-starred chef Jason Atherton aims to distance his new restaurant from the “testosterone-fuelled lunatics” in London’s top kitchens — by handing the reins to his wife Irha.

She, together with head sommelier Laure Patry, will run Atherton’s seventh London venture, Social Wine and Tapas in James Street.

The chef, who fell out with Gordon Ramsay over a financial dispute after working for him for nearly 10 years, said: “Having females heading up the restaurant softens it up. We don’t want to be the testosterone-fuelled lunatic bunch of guys running restaurants 20 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Chefs do that because that’s just what we do. But in a male-dominated world — which I’m afraid the industry still is — ladies can shine a bit more. The pubs and bars around Marylebone can be a bit male-driven. With Selfridges nearby we’re hoping people who shop there will have a glass of wine and a little tapas to relax on their way home.”

The Athertons have two young daughters, and the 43-year-old chef — whose Pollen Street Social flagship has a Michelin star — said he brought his wife into the business after his “crazy” workload took its toll.

Fall out: Gordon Ramsay, who fell out with Atherton

“As a family unit, the way my life was, it was unsustainable,” he said. “I was off a plane, straight into the kitchen at Pollen Street.

“What I was doing was crazy — I was like a mad man. On top of cooking were cook books, TV shows, flying around the world. And Irha would say, ‘You’ve missed your daughter’s hockey match.’ And that’s just as important as winning a Michelin star. If the family’s not happy at home, then it’s not a happy business.”

Irha, 37, said: “It’s much better now. Before, I was a full-time mum and didn’t see inside the business. Now I’m here I understand it.”

Atherton will have 19 venues worldwide by the end of the year, but says he is not trying to compete with Ramsay, for whom he ran Maze, or the fiery chef’s other protégés. He said: “I don’t say, ‘I need to have more restaurants than Marcus Wareing or Angela Hartnett, or prove I was the best protégé that came out of Gordon Ramsay’s kitchen.’

“I came to London with nothing — four or five quid in my pocket. I lived in a youth hostel. I still took pride in my appearance, I worked hard, and then it was my chance to seize the moment … I come from a mining family in the north of England where being okay at stuff was okay. I didn’t want to be ‘okay’.”

The ground-floor wine shop and tapas bar will have seating for 30 when it opens in July, while in the basement is a wine bar and restaurant with room for 40 more. French sommelier Patry, 35, said: “It’s about making wine more accessible.”

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