Daniel Clifford on Midsummer House, The Cube and why he's going back to Great British Menu
The chef, who took over the kitchen of the Cambridgeshire restaurant in 1998, made it through to the final in this year's BBC series, preparing the main course for the Olympic-themed banquet.
During an exclusive interview with BigHospitality's editor Emma Eversham at the Restaurant Show earlier this month, the chef, who went through to the final on his third attempt, said he wasn't satisfied with winning once.
He said: "I wouldn't have stopped until I won it. I wanted to be like Sat (Bains) and Glynn (Purnell), I wanted to be on that leader board. Glynn won it twice and I want to do the same."
The Cube and Midsummer House
Clifford, who trained under Marco Pierre White and has himself employed a host of successful new generation chefs such as Matt Gillan of The Pass, Mark Poynton of Alimentum and Tim Allen of Launceston Place, also talks about why he has been spending stints in London to cook at Electrolux's The Cube and the importance of nurturing the talent of the future.
"It's something we need to do," he said on supporting new talent. "We need to go back to basics and start teaching the youth of today because we are going to end up with no history in our cuisine."
The chef also shares his secrets to holding onto two Michelin stars for nine years and keeping a restaurant in business for 14 years.
"It's down to basic training, having a great team behind me and a great business partner as well as understanding what the customer wants," he said.
With thanks to Real Impact Productions for filming and editing
