The Educated Amateur

Historically, dining out in Britain has been – and for the most part remains – a middle-class pastime. The great pre-war eating places were found principally in the grand hotels and restaurants of London but in the Fifties and early Sixties a new and more informal style of eating took root. The movement was led by a small band of educated amateurs who had travelled abroad and who took a fancy to becoming patrons of their own intimate and often cramped little bistro-cum-restaurants in and around the fashionable streets of Chelsea and Kensington. Dr Hilary James, a psychotherapist, opened Le Matelot and La Bicyclette in Elizabeth Street. Walter Baxter, a novelist whose books landed him in court, opened the Chanterelle. Nick Clarke, an Old Etonian, opened Nick’s Diner. These, with a handful of other enthusiastic visionaries, and not the professionals of the large established kitchens, seemed to touch the popular imagination of the day and invariably their menus echoed the recipes of Elizabeth David. For the first time, Londoners encountered the tastes of soupe de poisson, aïoli, ratatouille and tarragon with their chicken.