Newsroom

Fish2Fork Oct 16th 2009

Michel Roux jnr, one of the most illustrious names in the restaurant industry, decided against filling in our questionnaire.

“ I think the questionnaire is loaded against the restaurateur and unfair,” he said.

M.Roux, scion of the French family who helped introduce haute cuisine to Britain, said he supported the aims of fish2fork.com but couldn’t agree with its methods.

“It all comes down to information, how well informed you are about fish but the vast majority of chefs simply don’t have the time to ask about every fish,” he said.

“We have enough pressure as it is trying to run a restaurant without taking the extra time to look at where every fish comes from.

I speak to my supplier every day of the week and he tells me what is available and what is not. I know that he makes every effort to obtain the best fish from the right areas.

When I first saw your questionnaire I thought it was designed to have a go at the restaurants. It is for diners and customers to fill in – not chefs – but I think you should redesign it and put the questions more directly to the restaurants.”

M.Roux, 49, was speaking at his Le Gavroche Restaurant in London’s exclusive Mayfair district which is one of only a select handful to hold two Michelin stars.

To reach that level a restaurant must show a consistent standard of excellence in ingredients, preparation, flavours and presentation.

Le Gavroche was the Roux family’s first venture in London in the early 1970s and Michel grew up at the restaurant first in Lower Sloane Street later transferring to its current home in Upper Brook Street.

He first learned about fish on family holidays in Ireland with his father, Albert.

“ We would catch lots of gurnard and pollack which my father knew were good to eat but then generally were thought fit only for fish stews or turning into fishmeal,” he said.

“But I have had gurnard on the menu at Le Gavroche for years and look how popular those two species now are.

I do support your project because I think it is important that people take an interest in the food they eat and where it comes from. I think every restaurant, particularly the Michelin restaurants, has a part to play but we need help.

Information about fish should be much more readily available so that we can take the important decisions. Bluefin tuna, for instance, is something that I haven’t had on the menu for years because we now know how threatened it is.

I wanted to put skate on the lunch mention but was warned by my supplier that it wouldn’t be a good idea because stocks are low. But often the lists contradict each other – a fish banned by one organisation is accepted by another, so which one do we use?

But as in any industry there are rogues. I know for a fact that there are restaurants who claim their fish are wild caught when they are farmed. Everybody knows this goes on.

In France there are authorities who regularly check fish sold in restaurants to make sure they are correct. They will examine a restaurant’s order books and receipts and trace where the fish came from. If it isn’t as they claim they can be heavily fined but it doesn’t happen in England.”

M.Roux’s fishmonger, Steve Downey who has supplied some of Britain’s top restaurants for more than 20 years, said: “ I can say with certainty that most restaurants want to be seen to be behaving in a responsible manner but too often they rely on information from their supplier.

Obtaining sustainably-sourced seafood isn’t difficult and it doesn’t always cost more. Having cod on the menu isn’t wrong if it is caught in the right area where it is still plentiful and the way a fish is caught can be misleading. Line-caught isn’t necessarily the best method if the target fish is in trouble anyway.

I saw recently a menu which stated that the hake was line-caught but it is impossible to catch that way. Restaurants do lie.”

M.Roux concluded: “ We need more information and better education. You will get a lot more out of the chefs if you give them information.”

www.le-gavroche.co.uk