Every Thursday our Money Blog team interviews chefs from across the UK, to find out their cheap food tips and much more. This week we chat with award-winning TV chef Andi Oliver.
It’s very difficult to make money in the hotel industry… People think you’re doing like a bandit if you have a busy restaurant five or six days a week, but just turning on the lights costs a fortune, your business rates cost a fortune, your VAT costs a fortune, everything is very expensive. money. Good ingredients are very expensive. It is also costly, emotionally and physically, to deliver good food. You can’t take your eyes off the ball for a single second because the standard can drop very easily.
We’ve had 14, 15 years of pretty destructive government rule… We are in a no-win situation. It has become more difficult for many people, but I also think the national living wage needs to increase. It will take time to restore order in this country.
Read all the latest Money news here
If you go to a restaurant and have to wait an extra five minutes for your meal, be patient… Have a drink and don’t worry. People are doing their best.
There’s a reason why there are so many pizzerias around… You need to simplify your menu to reduce financial difficulties. You have to pay people properly and you have to be responsible as an employer. But I think the best thing to do is to deliver something simple and do it well, and you’ll be able to reduce your costs.
Poor communication is my pet peeve everywhere… especially in restaurants. It’s okay not to know the answer to a question, but go find out. Train your staff properly, give them the information they need to be empowered in the field, behind the bar, in the kitchen, wherever they are, because knowledge is power.
Miserable people in restaurants… I can’t stand it.
For cheap substitutes… I’m a fan of things like oxtail, pork belly and cheeks. They deliver flavor in the most amazing way. Cook them slowly, layering the complexity of spices, using things like stouts or dark red wines. This stuff will really give you depth of flavor.
Set a bowl next to your stove while you cook… Everything I cut, onion ends, carrot peels, stems and herbs, goes into the pot bowl. I start the pot on a Sunday and then throughout the week I add to it all the time, putting a little more water in, then maybe I’ll roast some chicken wings and then I can use that broth to make a nice chicken wing soup. Add some rice or noodles and you have chicken noodle soup. If you still have a pot, you have the basis of a sauce, a soup, a broth, and that means you use all your bits and pieces. It’s really easy to make, just add some coriander seeds, juniper seeds, fresh thyme, and you have a really tasty broth all week long.
Photo: iStock
People cook too quickly… Time develops flavors. If you’re going to roast a chicken, don’t try to do it in 40 minutes – take a good hour and 45 minutes instead. Make sure you do your shopping the day before. I say this all the time because I think it’s a really important thing: people go shopping and then they come home and have to cook and they’re overwhelmed.
Lower the heat a little… If you go that high, you lose control of what’s happening on the stove. I like gentle cuisine.
Learn more:
Food prices will “increase due to higher budget taxes”
“I was overpaid – can I keep the money?”
Is this the end of advertising?
If you boil potatoes… put a little fresh thyme, a clove of garlic and a little onion in the water with the salt and the potatoes. When you come to crush them, they will be imbued with a delicious flavor.
I use turmeric ghee all the time… Super Ghee with turmeric that I love. It’s clarified butter with turmeric in it. So at the end of a sauce, you take a spoonful and stir it in and it becomes silky, golden and delicious.
My favorite food writer is a woman called Edna Lewis.. She passed away a while ago, but she was an African-American chef and she wrote a beautiful book called The Taste of Country Cooking. This is one of the most beautiful cookbooks I have ever read in my life.
Don’t try to be impressive, try to be delicious… Being delicious in turn will become impressive.
A restaurant worth visiting is… The Dorian in Notting Hill – incredible. Max Coen is the chef there and his food is amazing. We went there for my daughter’s 40th birthday. And obviously, it’s a very, very special occasion. It’s not cheap by any means, but it’s worth every penny. He is a very moving, very imaginative cook and he prepares breathtaking dishes.
My favorite cheap meal is… my friend Shankeys’ restaurant in Hackney or The Raglan in Walthamstow. They are amazing and have an amazing range which is an Indo-Irish mix. Sasha in the kitchen prepares the most delicious food. He makes things like curried cheese and cauliflower paratha and they are crispy and silky and gooey and spicy all at the same time. The most incredible food. I would order the cauliflower paratha, the most amazing fried chicken and the amazing oysters. Go down there and have his chicken and curried cauliflower paratha, and you’ll thank me for it. At Raglan they do what’s called a spice bag where you get fries or chicken and you drop them in the bag with a whole bunch of spices and you shake it up and it’s absolutely delicious.