Chef VIP PEOPLE

Everyone craves success.

OK, perfect.

We all love a winner.

Yeah!

But no-one makes it to the top on their own.

Behind every star is a team of people -

immensely talented, powerful in their own worlds.

-I need two crab on the pass now!

-Yes, chef.

But invisible to us until now.

Musical director.

I am an absolute genius at what I do.

These are the stories of the stars

and the teams who strive to make them shine.

Job done.

CHEERING

This is the world of the VIP people.

They say if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen

and things don't get much hotter than a busy day

at one of the country's top restaurants.

OK, ca marche, two scallops, venison rare, beef rare. 41.

We've seen plenty of hot-headed, shouty chefs on TV but what does

it actually take to be a top-flight chef in a real working kitchen?

This is the important part of the day.

If this is late, we are in trouble.

Adam Bennett is an award-winning

head chef at one of the country's best restaurants.

In fact, the food and service is so good, it's been given

the ultimate stamp of excellence in the cookery world - a Michelin star.

As we know, VIPs always have a top team of VIP people behind them

to make their job possible, and Adam is no exception.

The whole team really pull together and it is a nice buzz.

In a super-posh restaurant like Adam's, the VIP team have

special French names and all have important roles.

The assistant chef, known as a sous chef,

in charge of the day-to-day running of the kitchen.

The section chefs or chef de parties

who are in charge of their own parts of the kitchen.

And the junior chefs, called commis chefs, who fetch and carry.

In the restaurant, the front of house staff,

waiters and hosts are the public face of Adam's kitchen,

making sure they create the perfect posh dining experience.

Simpsons in Birmingham.

It's a top-rated restaurant that serves up to 180 people a day.

Customers book weeks,

even months in advance to get in, and among the famous diners

who've been here are Kylie Minogue and the Prime Minister.

The food is based on fine French cookery and they serve

all sorts of exotic stuff from caviar to tiny quail's eggs.

What we aim for with the food at Simpsons is interesting dishes.

Most emphasis is on flavour but also we go for a striking appearance.

For Adam, who's been cooking for 30 years,

being head chef is a dream job.

School hadn't made all that much sense to me

but as soon as I got to college and started producing food

and dishes from raw products, then that all made sense.

I knew that I belonged in a kitchen then.

The dining experience here will set you back about £100 a head

but it has earned the restaurant something that

most establishments can only dream of - a Michelin star.

A Michelin star for a chef is akin to an Oscar for an actor.

Thought up by French tyre company Michelin to show

drivers where the best restaurants were, Simpsons is one of

170 places in the whole of the UK to have been given a star.

It's a big accolade. It is important stuff.

We're following a typical day at the restaurant.

They have two sittings -

one at lunchtime and one at dinnertime - called services.

The doors don't open to customers until midday

but Adam's kitchen VIP team are at work from eight in the morning.

So, there are various people in the kitchen.

Different chefs with different roles.

Like most top kitchens there's a very strict pecking order here.

It's a system invented more than 100 years ago by French chefs

who wrote the rule book on fine dining.

And it means, whatever the job,

everyone here has a fancy French name.

Sous chef.

Junior sous chef.

I'm a chef de partie.

Then you get your junior chef de partie.

I'm a commis chef.

Starting his day lifting rather than cheffing is

the most junior of Adam's VIP team,

commis chef Paddy.

Every top chef starts their career as a commis chef.

The commis chefs do all the fetching and carrying and help with all the

basic cooking stuff like chopping vegetables and making sauces.

For Paddy, today's a big day.

The first full day on the job.

He's been chosen out of dozens of would-be chefs

looking for a start in this top-class kitchen.

My first day of going full-time after two years part-time,

so a big step up. I've got to step up to the plate.

It's heart-warming, to be honest. It's the best way I could put it.

He spent two years at catering college, but it won't count

for anything if he isn't prepared to put in some seriously hard graft.

They make sure you learn from your mistakes.

That's the best way I can put it. How many mistakes have I made here?

A lot.

'I've wanted to be a chef since I was 12. I went to college.

'College helped me out with a few little jobs'

and here I am now.

'I'm one of the very few in here that has got everything to learn.'

Not only has he got to get his head around the cooking, he also has to

get his head around the language and I don't mean bad language.

Soigne. Soigne.

OK, ca marche.

-Seven amuse-bouches. Apres, apres, yeah? Oui.

-Oui!

Because France is the home of really posh cooking, you hear

a lot of French in a really posh kitchen.

I don't know any French.

-Oui.

-Oui.

But you learn to pick it up

through phrases that you constantly hear when you are in work.

Venison rare, beef rare, 41.

Oui.

Oui is French. It means yes. So, yes, chef.

Basically, it means yes, they have heard me.

So does he know exactly what his job translates as?

Commis chef. No, that's sous chef.

I couldn't give you the definition of it.

A French to English dictionary might help you, Paddy.

It's got to be around here. Here we go. Clerk.

Assistant clerk, it says here.

Clerk, as in filing clerk, the lowliest job in the office

and in the kitchen.

Nine o'clock,

time to make sure the restaurant has all the right ingredients

coming from the suppliers.

Oh, hello, are you all right?

I am after some hand-dived scallops for tomorrow.

I've got a whole saddle of venison coming today.

Hello, Nigel, are you all right? Like a real proper gem.

Nothing too big and leafy.

Do you know the frozen scallops that came in yesterday with the driver?

With thousands of dishes to make

each week, there's an impressive shopping list, including hundreds

of fish and loads of exotic veggies like these weird-looking salsify.

And it all has to be the best quality and arrive on time.

Some mornings you can spend most of the time on the phone.

That's all sorted by the next member of our VIP team,

chef de partie Georgina.

Chef de partie means a chef of a section.

They're in charge of one area of the kitchen

and have a number of commis chefs working under them.

During a service the chefs de partie prepare specific parts of each meal.

We have people running this section who are known as chef de partie.

They're responsible for checking things within the section, making

sure it is running well, making sure everything is as it should be.

So, on the veg section you will have a chef de partie of the veg.

Sauce section, you have a chef de partie on the sauce section.

Pastry chef de partie. So each section has a chef for that part.

Between the three of us chef de parties, we need to really help

and make sure that everyone is pulling their weight and doing their

bit and the kitchen is kept clean, tidy and everything is done right.

The chef de partie makes sure the cupboards are stocked up

and gets to order the commis chefs about.

Are you ready, Paddy? Paddy. Hot tray, Paddy, yeah.

-Two on the mains, yeah?

-Yeah.

Paddy. Spinach.

-Paddy. Quick as you can, Paddy, yeah?

-Oui, oui.

Wake up, Paddy, you're not done yet.

Georgina has been here six years.

As a little girl, I always sort of watched my mum cook

and then thought, "The whole sitting in an office thing ain't for me."

I thought, "I'll give cheffing a bit of a go."

I really enjoyed it when I went to college and ended up here.

Georgina gets to make the staff meals.

But there's no fine dining for them.

We've got faggots for staff.

Faggots, or meatballs, and other big food help

keep their energy up during a long busy service.

We provide a good staff meal twice a day and it keeps everyone going.

I'll just spend a couple of minutes eating this

and then we are ready for service then.

It's just gone 11.30

and Adam's VIP team are working like a well-rehearsed orchestra.

Everyone knows their part.

Ingredients are chopped, sauces are fired up

and meat prepared, ready for when the doors open to the public.

Conducting it all is head chef Adam.

Even as the boss, he has an eye for detail, particularly when it's one

of the most important things in a professional kitchen - cleanliness.

I think if your kitchen is tidy and orderly,

then you have got a good chance of having a good service.

'I think you need a disciplined atmosphere.'

Get the cooked meat onto a separate tray. Get your knives clean,

-get your sink clean and work like a professional.

-Yes, chef.

We work very long hours so people need to feel

they're having some fun as well.

But when service is going on, everything else stops

and that's the only concern.

But Adam won't be conducting the show entirely on his own.

Myself and Matt will be running the service, checking everything,

making sure we are happy.

A busy service would not be possible without the most crucial

member of Adam's team, his right-hand man -

sous chef Matt.

Sous is French for under and while Matt works under the head chef

he has to be skilled enough to take over when Adam's not there.

Day to day, Matt ensures that

the kitchen is running at peak performance.

A good sous chef for me should be like a sergeant major in the army.

Keep discipline, keep everything running smoothly

and just look after the details.

Matt has been doing that for a long time

and he really is overdue for a head chef job.

Every chef aspires to be a head chef one day.

Matt has been here 14 years

and knows the style of cooking better than anyone.

I went to catering college.

My parents always tried to put me off that cos they knew

the hours that were involved and the work that was involved.

I went to college anyway. I started at the Birmingham College Of Food

and then I did my work placement at Simpsons about 14 years ago.

I sort of love the place.

As sous chef it's his job to make sure nothing goes into a dish

that doesn't meet very high standards.

It will be myself or one of the chefs de partie that will taste

pretty much everything.

You know, it is on my shoulders, obviously.

He also keeps the newer chefs on their toes, teaching them

the Simpsons way and making sure their equipment is up to scratch.

Blunt.

They keep sending up herbs and they're a bit bruised cos

their knives aren't sharp enough so I've just given it a little tickle.

Knives are quite personal items

and they're a personal preference on what you like to use.

Being a chef at this level, you know, it's a craft.

Every craftsman has his own tools

and for an example, that one is probably about £190.

I have had that a while now.

Everyone in the kitchen is expected to learn on the job.

Matt's there to make sure mistakes aren't repeated.

If they do something wrong, they need to be told.

You know, obviously, the first time, I try and show them

the right way instead of the wrong way.

And then, obviously, if it happens again and again and again,

I might shout a little bit.

Get a grip. Calm down, will you?

I know, yeah, but it's your job. We don't all scream and shout about it.

At the end of the day, we are all here to learn.

You know, I am still learning every day.

Adam and Matt will be conducting the service from the front

in an area known as the pass.

The pass is where we organise the service

so we'll be calling the orders out,

coordinating things between the different sections

and then finally it is where things go on the plate and get sauced

and taken to the restaurant.

It's 20 minutes to service

and preparation time is running out quickly.

Just giving Paddy a little hand now to get ready. He is a little behind.

You can tell by the way he's panicking a little bit. Eh, Paddy?

Yeah.

This is the period of the day where there is

a transition between getting ready and being ready.

Everybody's mind starts to focus on service now rather than

preparation, so this is the important part of the day.

If this is late, we're in trouble.

As the kitchen picks up the pace preparing food, in the restaurant,

the front of house staff are getting ready to serve it.

The waiters are a crucial part of Adam's team.

The service has to match the quality of the food

so the waiting staff are expected to know the menu inside out.

OK, anyone has any questions?

Have you seen the menu, the new menu, Alex? Yeah? OK?

What the customers are looking for from a good waiter is to have all the

information at their fingertips when a question is asked about the dish.

In charge is the final player in Adam's VIP team,

restaurant manager Tony.

Tony meets, greets and seats customers in style and keeps

the kitchen up to speed about what's happening in the restaurant.

It's his job to make sure the waiting staff delivers

a service that's second to none.

As the first customers arrive,

Tony pops into the kitchen to let them know.

First table is in.

Lunch is served.

There are around 50 customers expecting some top-quality grub

and the kitchen is in full swing.

First course went on onion veggie, pork...

This is the main room which is the conservatory.

We have seven tables here and in this room, you normally have...

At the moment it is Yannick and Alexander sort of making sure

that everyone has got bread, wine, water.

Just like the kitchen staff, there are different levels of waiter.

There are waiters to carry the trays of food from the kitchen

and waiters to actually serve the food.

An ideal person who would be working in front of house has

to have the drive, motivation, passion for good food

and good wine, be a good team player.

You have to be a caring person

if you want to work in this kind of industry.

Tony's been at Simpsons for seven years

but started his restaurant career serving takeaway pizza.

You have to have hospitality in your blood.

When an order comes in, the chef announces it with another

French word - ca marche.

OK, ca marche, two scallops, venison rare, beef rare, 41.

Oui.

Ca marche, in kitchen speak, means listen up or else.

Ca marche, three crab, one scallops.

With 150 dishes to make, no-one can afford to miss an order.

Communication is the key for a smooth service.

If everybody communicates well, then you should get a good service.

Ca marche, parfait, two egg, cod, pork, venison. The ven is medium rare.

-Table three.

-Oui.

And all the chefs, right from the commis

to the chef de partie to the sous chef aren't told what to do,

they're expected to know.

Three beignets, two raw.

As the elements of each dish are cooked

and delivered to the pass, Adam composes them like a painting

before they go out to the diner.

-We're away. Parfait, two egg.

-Oui.

Over the three hours, there's no slacking off.

Just waiting on you now, Pad.

The last dish has to be made with the same care as the first.

And even when the service is over, the work isn't done.

The surfaces have to be scrubbed down.

Everyone is expected to clean up after themselves

ready for the next session in just two hours' time.

Everywhere is soaped down, squeegeed off,

disinfected down, the floor is cleaned as well

just so that we are all fresh, ready to start again.

So while some staff are able to head home for a quick break,

Adam as head chef is never entirely able to switch off.

You need to be a little bit obsessed. Really, it is an ongoing process.

We are always thinking, looking, researching.

It is a job that you live.

We've seen how Adam's VIP team work together

to deliver an award-winning service.

It's a teamwork that's going to be put to the test as Adam takes

a break from the kitchen.

He's off to France to compete in a major

international cooking competition and has several weeks

of serious cooking practice to get in away from Simpsons.

Leaving his VIP squad to run things without him,

everyone has to up their game

and it's young Paddy who's really feeling the pressure.

Paddy, get a grip. I need two crab on the pass now!

It's 7pm, and the evenings are when the crowds

really start to turn up.

Good evening, gents.

Hello. Welcome to Simpsons. Evening. How are you?

Lunch, if we get business people,

it is a little bit more of a rush, and in the evening,

people like to take the time and relax and make an evening of it.

In a top-class restaurant, the waiters don't just serve

the food, they're expected to know almost as much about it as the chef.

You serve from the right

and make sure that you present the food the right way,

explain the main ingredients, what's in a dish, let them enjoy.

It can be difficult to remember though who exactly is having

what so they've developed a very special way of keeping track.

We have got a check here which describes every starter

for the individual. Gentleman, glasses.

Gentleman, no hair. Gentleman, hair, etc, etc.

So it just describes who is having what.

When we actually come to the table with the food on the tray,

we don't ask who is having what. We know already.

Sometimes being a waiter means being a mind-reader.

A customer has ordered a dish without realising they're

allergic to most of it, causing a bit of friction in the kitchen.

So, she is allergic to nuts, fruit.

It's your job to, you know, speak to them and find out more information.

I can't cook for someone if I don't know what they can and can't have.

You know, you have to have the information and

communicate with your colleagues and the chef.

That's how we deal and then prevent it. By communicating.

The service continues until the very last customer finishes.

The kitchen might not pack up until the early hours,

ready to start all over again.

Adam's always on the hunt for new menu ideas

and today he's looking for them at a local plant grower's.

We are going to see Will.

He's the guy that grows a lot of our herbs, shoots, leaves, etc.

Also flowers that we use in the dishes.

He is always working on something new

so hopefully today he will have something exciting to show us.

For Adam, just cooking the food is not enough, he needs to keep

the menu fresh and is constantly searching for new ingredients.

We are off to the greenhouse

to have a look at some of Will's new products.

Looking for something a little bit novel, a little bit new.

This is incredible.

The flavour of this is actually like oyster, seafood.

That is a perfect pea flower.

You will see an ingredient and it will start you

thinking in a certain direction and that can become a dish.

Edible flowers are a distinctive part of Adam's cooking

but not all flowers are safe to eat.

These have been grown especially for him, to look and taste great.

Flowers have been used before in food. It is not a new thing.

I think they have gone out of fashion a little

but they have come back with a vengeance now.

Look at those. Beautiful. This is red butterfly sorrel.

Sorrel is a herb with a distinct-looking flower

and a strong, lemony flavour.

Wow, yeah, it's sorrel-y.

So we will hopefully try to use this on our new dish.

Back at Simpsons, Adam's thinking about how

he can use the flowers he picked up.

So these are the flowers from this sorrel.

Then we have got the butterfly sorrel flowers as well.

So I think between all of these different things

we should come up with something good to go with the venison.

Venison is the name for meat that comes from deer

and is one of the luxury foods that the restaurant specialises in.

They'll be serving it tartare, which means raw,

and it's as much about getting the look right as the taste.

-Are we on the right lines?

-Yeah, yeah.

I think it would be nice to have it with watercress as well.

-For pepperiness.

-Yeah.

Even developing a new dish is not a one-man show.

Adam, as always, relies on sous chef Matt to help get things right.

Which is just as well

because Adam won't be in the kitchen here at all over the next few weeks.

Adam's such a top chef he's been asked to compete in a big

international cooking competition in France, called the Bocuse d'Or.

It's going to take a lot of preparation to get ready.

It's a bit like a sporting event with a bit of Eurovision thrown in.

It's quite a spectacle.

He even has a specially-built practice kitchen

set up at the local catering college.

It means Adam won't see the inside of Simpsons for at least

eight weeks, leaving Matt and the rest of his VIP team to

keep up Simpsons' high standards while Adam's away.

And today is really going to test them.

-Strain off three crab, one for table three. Soigne.

-Oui.

Sous chef Matt is in charge.

More than 80 guests - 240 dishes to make.

-Prawn cocktail, sea bream, two scallops, yeah?

-Oui.

When you got a really full-on service and it's going well,

it's a bit like flying, you know. You almost don't have to think.

Everything is automatic and you just get in the zone.

Dishes are flying out the door, the orders are coming in thick and fast.

Perhaps a little too fast.

You have got to slow it down. You're killing me here.

You're putting us under too much pressure here.

You can't get too many orders all together and you can't also

rush your diners because if they feel rushed they feel uncomfortable.

It is not an easy job finding a balance, you know.

Come on, Paddy, quick.

With Adam out of the kitchen, everyone has to up their game and

young Paddy has been given a salmon and crab starter dish to make.

-I need three crab, one potato terrine, soigne.

-Oui.

-Ready on three crab?

-30 seconds.

-Come on, hurry up, Paddy, please.

Paddy, get a grip. I need two crab on the pass now!

How many times do I have to call a check

before it registers in your head?

It's big step up for a commis chef like him.

And he's feeling the pressure.

Let's go, Paddy.

When it gets a bit trickier is when you're not in the zone

and you have to pull it back together.

Any dish, before it gets to the restaurant,

goes through a series of checks.

Everybody who handles it should be looking at it

and making sure everything is right.

-About time. Let's go. Come on, Paddy. Move, now.

-Oui.

Service, please.

Occasionally there is a slip up.

Restaurant manager Tony has noticed something missing

and it's on Paddy's dish.

In fact, the most important part of a crab dish - the crab.

Oh.

Did you definitely put crab on that salmon?

-The three salmon that you just sent. Was there crab?

-I didn't send it.

You have to be, first of all, apologetic about it

and offer apologies.

Just try and correct it as much as possible.

Paddy.

Paddy, when I say a soigne table, it's got to be the best you can do.

You forget the crab. The main thing on the dish is the crab.

Matt shows Paddy the right way to do it

and let's loose with some colourful kitchen language.

-Soigne. Soigne.

-Yes, chef.

French, of course. Soigne, meaning make it excellent.

-How long on four crab?

-Gone, chef.

-With the crab.

-Yes, chef.

The rest of the service is trouble-free.

Matt wouldn't have it any other way.

30 seconds on scallops.

I got shouted at more than Paddy, probably,

you know, when I was training.

But, you know,

that's what we like mistakes for cos you learn by your mistakes.

It sometimes gets frustrating when

you think you're past the learning curve and then go back.

Come here. Mate, that is like the worst service I've ever seen.

By far the worst service you've ever had. OK.

We have learnt a few things today, haven't we?

It's the tough days where you learn the most.

It is hectic and it is mad but that's part of the fun.

We are a family and we work together

and that is what makes our job easier and better.

And what about the boss?

Between services, Matt and the kitchen crew follow Adam

online as he competes in that big cooking competition in France.

Everyone is on Twitter, aren't they? Finding out, trying to find out.

A British chef has never done better than sixth place.

'United Kingdom.'

CHEERING

It's a fourth for Britain, the best result ever

and Adam's meat dish was so good it won an award of its own.

Done brilliantly well. We are chuffed. Chuffed.

A few days later,

Adam's back at Simpsons to celebrate with his VIP team.

Adam has only been able to step away from Simpsons

because his talented crew has what it takes to deliver

a Michelin star service even when he's not there.

You need everyone to concentrate, communicate

and really work well as a team. They're the three key things.

Everyone from commis chefs to the front of house staff have

played a part in Adam's success.

And his prize-winning efforts

establish him as one of Britain's top chefs.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd