Anthony Demetre talks credit crunch and cookbooks

Arbutus and Wild Honey​ co-owner and Chef Anthony Demetre says he believes staying true to the informal and value for money dining concept he created with business partner Will Smith is helping the business survive the credit crunch.

Despite both restaurants holding a Michelin star each and Arbutus​ winning a string of accolades – including coming 18th in Restaurant magazine’s list of the UK’s top 100 restaurants - Demetre and Smith have resisted raising prices and are still upholding their theory that if you serve imaginative dishes at competitive prices in central London the restaurant will have no problem filling up.

“Our restaurants are busy. We do about 2,000 covers a week at both restaurants,” said Demetre.

“It sounds as if we were crystal ball-gazing, but we didn’t know there was going to be a credit crunch in 2005 when we came up with the concept for Arbutus.

“We did our research in terms of exact style and exact pricing and where to pitch ourselves in the market. We have had no price rises since then and I think it makes us work harder.”

Demetre’s tendency to use cheaper cuts and previously less fashionable fish such as mackerel – the key ingredient in his famous Squid and Mackerel Burger – on his menus is now being adopted by many other chefs in a bid to improve profits.

The former Putney Bridge Chef/proprietor, said his flexibility with produce (he changes his menu daily according to what produce is available) has helped, but he has also refused to be bullied by suppliers.

“Lots of suppliers have jumped on the bandwagon and have introduced high price rises. Because of our position, we have got the strength to be able to say we can’t buy from you any more. We haven’t put our prices up. We have just had to work harder,” he said.

Although the business is going well, Demetre and Smith shelved plans to open a third restaurant in the city earlier this year.

“We do want to open more restaurants, but for now it’s just consolidating what we have got,” said Demetre.

For now, the chef and father-of-two is hoping for positive sales of his first ever cookbook – Today’s Special and a Glass of Wine.

Released last month, the book took Demetre a year to research and write – a task he describes as one of the hardest he’s had to do.

“It was hard, because I just work on the hoof,” he said.

“Arbutus and Wild Honey are very spontaneous restaurants in terms of dishes and menus and they constantly change. I don’t hold measures of recipes so that was the hardest thing, to put down how many grams of certain ingredients there are in each one.”

Today’s Special and a Glass of Wine by Anthony Demetre is published by Quadrille publishing and available from all good bookstores.