Gary Rhodes

His strategy was uncompromising. He began with a major assault on the palate by offering my friends and me a pimiento bavarois on brioche toast as an amuse gueule which, at the time, struck me as an appetizer designed to excite our taste buds rather‘than merely to amuse them. This was serious stuff. He wanted our attention before demonstrating the breadth and subtlety of his cooking but, first off, he was signalling his principal dictum of celebrating – even magnifying – the true flavours of his raw materials. The menu continued with a salad of calves’ sweetbreads, shallots and thyme; a scallop mousse on braised cabbage and leeks with a champagne sauce; and a loin of lamb with a confit of tomato and garlic. For his finale he produced what has now become a classic on his menu: a wafer-thin apple tart covering the entire surface of a large plate and served with an apple sorbet – a dish inspired by his spell at Lameloise in Chagny, the three-star shrine in the heart of Burgundy.