From party frocks to invites and Christmas cocktails, we've got everything you need to throw a fabulous party
Meet the CH-WAGS*
(*chefs' wives and girlfriends)
Forget fake tans and hair extensions, the wives and girlfriends of Britain's top chefs are very different to their football counterparts
Words: caroline stacey
Photographs: Matt Munro
Reproduced from the October 07 issue of olive magazine. This month's issue on sale now. Subscribe now and save 30 per cent.
Olga Garcia
From the moment they wake up in the morning, until last thing at night, Olga Garcia and boyfriend, the precociously talented Anthony Flinn of Anthony's in Leeds, live, breathe and, occasionally, eat, food together.
Anthony's dazzling moleculargastronomy approach to cooking (he spent time training under El Bulli's Ferran Adria) and Olga and her talented front-of-house team have proved a winning combination. But it's no picnic for the partners. 'We argue a lot at work,' admits Olga. 'But at home, no.' Not that they're at home much. They return from work at 1am, watch TV for an hour, go to bed then hit the restaurant again at 8am. 'If I didn't work in the restaurant, I wouldn't see my boyfriend,' says Olga. The couple haven't known it any other way. They met eight years ago at a hotel in Gloucestershire, when she was fresh from hotel school in Spain and he was a rookie chef.
Of their two days off a week, one is spent sleeping. Food shopping consists of little more than cereals, milk and bread bought from the corner shop, and their kitchen sees about as much action as an Antarctic ice-cream parlour. 'We cook when there's something in the fridge,' says Olga. 'We make a lot of toast.'
Olga is from Barcelona and she says she'd never be allowed back if she didn't keep her Spanish omelette pan oiled. But that's as far as her repertoire goes. 'I don't have the patience for it; I make a mess and Tony has to finish it off.' On their rare nights off, it's most likely to be steak or something from the local noodle bar.
So is it stressful working together? 'Chefs always shout when they know you more,' says Olga. 'I don't take it personally - you need to remember you're in service.'
Favourite place to eat: Fujihero, 36 Sundridge Road, Bradford (01274 728811)
Cooks for the chef: Spanish omelette
- Anthony's, Boar Lane, Leeds (0113 245 5922; www.anthonysrestaurant.co.uk)
Amber Nuttall
Amber met her husband Tom Aikens on a blind date - they spent time at Borough Market before cooking dinner together. 'I was his commis chef for the day,' recalls Amber, whose sashay up the aisle this summer featured in Hello! magazine.
Some girls might quake at the idea of taming the notoriously hot-headed chef. Not Amber. The well-connected 29-year-old trained at The Connaught under Michel Bourdin - Angela Hartnett's classically Gallic predecessor - and souffles are her speciality.
Amber now works for Robert Earl, the restaurateur and owner of London club Fifty, and says she appreciates having a career that's separate but complementary to Tom's. 'I miss cooking, but I think one chef in the family is enough. It's easier for me to fit in with his world.'
Amber says it's hard to tear Tom away from his work. On Saturday afternoons, he'll type up recipes with one eye on the football: 'The man never stops.' But food is a shared obsession. 'He's married the world's greediest person and greatest lover of food,' she says, adding that they're avid collectors of cookbooks. 'I made him buy me Heston Blumenthal's book for Christmas,' she says. 'He said, "What do you want that for?" and then spent more time reading it than I did.'
When they're putting their feet up, they might get a takeaway from Deliverance. Better still, they'll eat out. 'It's one of our joys when I can steal him away from the kitchen for long enough,' she says.
Favourite place to eat: China Tang, The Dorchester, Park Lane, London W1 (020 7629 9988; www.chinatanglondon.co.uk) for dumplings.
Cooks for the chef: 'He recently gave my scrambled eggs 9 1/2 out of 10.'
- Tom Aikens, 43 Elystan Street, London SW3 (020 7584 2003; www.tomaikens.co.uk)
1 | 2 | next
printer friendly
send to a friend
Delicious
Digg
reddit
Facebook
StumbleUpon
Horoscopes| Message Boards | Quizzes | Newsletters | Join
iVillage Ltd is a UK company registered in England & Wales (3837269) at 80-110 New Oxford Street, London WC1 1HB
