Chef Jason Atherton: From runaway at 16 to Michelin stars
Celebrity British chef's advice to all who dream is - talent only succeeds with hard work
This is the story of a runaway from the small coastal town of Skegness, who bought a one-way ticket to London.
This is the story of a 16-year-old who felt working 18-hour days was the only way to become the best in his chosen path.
This is the story of Michelin-starred British chef Jason Atherton, who lives by the mantra that discipline and hard work pays.
The 52-year-old has built a chain of Michelin-recognised restaurants around the world, a celebrity with multiple television shows and cookbooks. Most people would consider taking it a bit slow by now, resting on the laurels – not Atherton. Fired by a constant desire to quote Tina Turner, to be ‘simply the best’, he works with a single-minded drive that was set in pace 36 years ago.
“I am a massive advocate of the fact that hard work pays off. Talent without hard work is just talent, and I believe in that a lot. You don’t become an amazing chef because you wake up one day and someone thinks I am going to bless this person with skills and talent. It takes hard work and that’s what I told myself at a very young age. At the age of 16, I worked my tiny socks off to become the chef I am today.
“At 16, did I really run away from home? Absolutely, yes. I was adamant to be a chef; unfortunately back in the 1980s, the north of Britain was not the gastronomic place like it is today, with all the amazing chefs. You couldn’t really learn to cook. The epicenter of good food was in London. I was so determined but my parents would not let me go to London, at the young age of 16.
“They went on their yearly vacation to Spain, my sister and I stayed at home. The minute they were gone on a plane, I packed my bags, booked a one-way ticket on the bus and the rest is history.
“I arrived in London, it was 1988, a very long time ago, when Wham was on the charts and people used to have big frizzy hair, and London was a very progressive place - going through a very unusual turn of events. The city of London was about to boom, the yuppies were about to arrive in the 1990s … it was a very interesting time for Britain, and I certainly benefitted from that.
“I had applied to many jobs, got only one, working at The Glasshouse in Kensington run by Chef Anthony Boyd. He was not too happy with me to start with because of my limited experience but because of my dogged determination and how hard I worked, I became an integral part of his team. I learnt very quickly, just put my whole life into it working six days a week, 18 hours a day, only sleeping on a Sunday, no social life but you know I think things only affect you if you allow it to affect you. I make that quite clear to people. “
Work at your craft, no quick fixes
“I think we live in a world today where people have a million excuses at their disposal about why their life is tough. I come from a humble background. I didn’t come from luxury, I didn’t come from money but my goal was never money. Unfortunately, we live in a world where money rules everyone’s goal, whether one wants to become a Michelin star chef or sports person. All that is irrelevant because if you are not good at your craft, whether that is a sports person, a chef, or a businessperson – you do not have that passion, the money will never come because you are not going to be good at it. Moreover, if the money does come, it will all fall apart because you don’t have the talent to carry it through.
“I knew at a young age that I wanted to be a great chef. It was never about the Michelin stars, money, the television shows, or cookbooks or fame. It was about learning how to bake bread, learning how to fillet fish, learning how to be an actual cook to understand the flavours, and the seasoning. I was just obsessed by cooking, literally obsessed about ingredients … became just like an obsession to be good at it. Thirty-six years on I think we are getting somewhere close to achieving our goal, and but I don’t think my job is ever finished.
“It will never be finished till the day I die. There’s too much to learn, to do and achieve. Too many cuisines to know about. You can never be finished as a chef.”
Go after what you want with focus and discipline
His parents ran a bed and breakfast in the coastal town of Skegness in Lincolnshire, UK, and would have 8 to 10 guests every day for breakfast, sometimes lunch and dinner. Before school Atherton his sister would wake up early, lay the table, put out the toast, marmalade, wash up and then go to school. They would come back and help with stocking up.
“We were just always around hospitality and how that fed our own family. It was very natural for me to fall into hospitality in a very different way.
“I just fell in love with how food made people happy. We would get builders, people just travelling through or staying at the bed breakfast, and when they used to eat a full English breakfast cooked with a bit of love, as my mum would love cooking that style of food, it would make them happy. I got addicted to making people happy with food. I thought this is a cool job! Wanted so desperately to be a chef.”
After working at The Glasshouse for about two years, he went on to work with French Chef Pierre Kauffmann at La Tante Claire in London. “The restaurant had two Michelin stars at the time. That move changed everything. He was a very tough chef to work for, as the standards were impeccably high. First time really I was in an elite Michelin kitchen.”
From there he moved on and eventually found his way to Harveys run by Marco Pierre White, “which was considered the toughest kitchen in the world at the time and I loved Marco. He was a culinary powerhouse, a tall, rugged chef who turned cooking into rock ‘n’ roll.” Harveys attracted the celebrities in droves, from supermodels to Hollywood stars.
“We would be in our Reebok trainers and white t-shirts cooking Michelin star food. We were the rag and bone chefs of the cooking world. He really changed cooking in Britain - gave the young British chefs the hope that they could be something.”
Atherton then left for Alsace in France, to work in a remote Michelin-starred restaurant, followed by a long stint at the famed Coast in London, run by Chef Stephen Terry. He was 27 years old and now a sous chef, but not ready to take on a management role.
I was sent to Dubai to start Verre by Gordon Ramsay. I totally fell in love with Dubai. I had never been to the Middle East … I came here completely open-minded to what was going to be in store for me. Today we go out to dinner and play golf with people who have been friends for 20 years.
He decided to go back to being a chef de partie and take a further risk by applying to yet another remote kitchen on the Barcelona coast that “was creating noise” for its modernist cuisine. The restaurant, El Bulli, had been awarded its third Michelin star. His letters requesting employment opportunity were left unanswered by the Spanish restaurant team. Atherton decided to check it out directly.
He quit his job, took a flight, a night bus, slept on the beach overnight, hiked up a mountain and arrived at the kitchen door of El Bulli. It was 11am. Chef Ferran Adria was there.
“They said, ‘look you can’t work here.’ I said let me do something, please, let me wash pans, clean. They allowed me to stay. Washed pans, did prep … working free. I was fast, was very useful. Stayed for the summer. They asked me to come back.”
After two seasons, Atherton returned to London and was snapped up by British Chef Gordon Ramsay. It was the year 2000.
Discovering Dubai
“I was sent to Dubai to start Verre by Gordon Ramsay. I totally fell in love with Dubai. I had never been to the Middle East … I came here completely open-minded to what was going to be in store for me. Today we go out to dinner and play golf with people who have been friends for 20 years.”
He then opened and ran Glasshouse for Gordon in Dubai, where he met his wife Irha.
“She was working at the reception of the hotel. I was a chef de cuisine and we were not supposed to date colleagues. We fell in love; kept it secret for a while, then decided the right thing to do was get married in 2004.”
His wife is from the scenic coastal city of Cebu in Philippines, known for its diving and beautiful beaches.
“I had big ambitions for myself, decided to go back to London and work with Ramsay. I opened a restaurant called Maze for him, the first restaurant to do small plates but in haute cuisine. He had put his neck on the line for me on this restaurant, so it was my job to deliver.” Many months later Atherton got his first Michelin star for Maze – the hard work and discipline had paid off. He bought a home, his oldest daughter was born. More than five years passed, when a thought clicked in his head.
“I had to do this for myself. At this point, I was with Ramsay for 10 to 11 years. I was probably 39 – 40 years of age. It was never about the money. He was very good to me. He paid me extremely well. I had a nice house, my wife was pregnant with our second child, but I couldn’t not know what it was to run your own restaurant - wholly and solely. Therefore, I took the very bold decision to put in my notice and went to see Gordon Ramsay. It didn’t go down very well but he understood. That was it, we were out, mortgage to pay, school fees to pay, children to feed and the daunting task of setting up our own restaurant.”
Hard work pays off
In 2011, he set up Pollen Street in Mayfair on the edge of Regent Street; it was modern bistro food with an edge. A Michelin star came in a few months’ time.
“It was the most amazing feeling that our restaurant in Mayfair now had a shiny Michelin star and it was our business – I was 40 years old.
“It was a defining moment that gave me the courage to continue because hard work was paying off.”
He went on to open many more Michelin-awarded restaurants, with locations now in Japan, Hong Kong, Philippines and his favourite city of Dubai, which includes Row on 45, City Social, Jazz by City and 7 Tales. His family and he have been awarded the Golden Visa. Atherton said “…Dubai would be our retirement place eventually. We like it here.” Until then he plans to keep going.
“I am still in the kitchen. My passport says chef, and that is what I am. Morning after I go to the gym, I put on my chef whites and that’s what I am in until I go to bed.”
Accepting the challenges that life throws
This success and focus does come at a price, says the father of three daughters – Keziah – 15 years, Jemimah – 12 years, and Athena – 4 years.
“Work-life balance in some jobs like mine don’t go really well. I chose it and I am passionate about it. It satisfies me as a human being. However, my children cannot choose their father either. Therefore, every spare minute I am with my family. I go on a holiday I am with my family because without a solid base, I cannot do what I do. My wife supports me and is an integral part of the business. My children do spare jobs, clearing tables, paring mushrooms … to earn pocket money. They understand the hard work. I miss my children desperately when I am working away from home, but don’t overthink things. You have to be disciplined and consistent and to achieve anything; you have to shut out the noise. That’s what defines my kitchen – discipline, discipline in cleanliness, behaviour, the way we prepare food, from the minute we arrive until we leave.
“There will always be noise, someone giving you what seems like good advice but is not good advice. It is what it is! You have to have single-minded focus. Always somebody who doesn’t want you to be successful. You have to see it through.”
• Favourite ingredient is white truffle because it cannot be farmed, only found in the wild for a few weeks and has a distinct flavour and smell.
• Favourite dish to make is seafood because it needs extreme attention to detail and a high level of skill to know when it is at the right stage, not overdone or undercooked – a very small window of opportunity to get it right.