london actually
DESCRIPTION
A magazine which deals with the Londoners and their lifestyle.TRANSCRIPT
Editorial
London remains one of the most
ancient cities in the world, from
where parts of civilization were
progressively constructed by
people living there. It is always
the same combination of wealth
and power, dynamism and
freedom which create, invent
and break the mould. Yet it
appears that, nowadays,
globalization has provided such a
significant change in inhabitants’
behaviour that you wonder what
makes being a real Londoner. The
question of what it means to be a
Londoner and how far it is
located in the core of the
individual is open for exploration.
There is a sense of being in the
middle of a great migratory
process in which Londoners are
constantly re-inventing
themselves, or at least making
adjustments to radically new
conditions. Hence, you no longer
necessarily define a Londoner as
a good old Cockney. In spite of
London’s huge historical
background, is being a Londoner
more a matter of origin or rather
of attitude? A day trip in London
has enabled us to answer to
these questions, but as being
Parisians, to be also given the
opportunity to establish a
contrast between Londoners and
Parisians and especially how they
view each other. This is what we
did: transcribing the random
voices of those who live in
London and especially those who
put up to share their
observations at some cafe table.
London 2012 The place to be at in 2012...............6
Statistics The British Family...................................8
Gordon Ramsay A Master chef in town................10
Identity The Cockney’s heritage ...........................16
Diversity Cosmopolitan London.............................17
Being a Londoner The attitude you must get .......19
Paris and London Frogs and Rosbifs......................26
We all remember the packets of
biscuits bunched in the luggage by
our mother before leaving to
England. She was afraid we died of
hunger given the so-called awful
food eaten by the Brits. Yet, it is no
longer the case. Things have
changed, evolved, the UK and
especially its capital has become
quite a likable place to enjoy healthy
and refined cuisine. After several
years of hard working, the Master
British Chef, restaurateur and
television personality Gordon
Ramsey is today, the favorite chef all
around the world. Awarded 13 times
by Michelin Guide Stars, he currently
owns 12 for his momentum of
courage, and his numerous skills that
led him through the difficulties of
being such an important figure for
the entire culinary domain.
Ramsey has described
his early life as
“hopelessly itinerant”
Born in Johnstone, province of
Scotland, and raised in Stradford-
upon-Avon Ramsey is the second of
four children. His father Gordon was
at various times a swimming pool
manager, a welder, and a
shopkeeper, besides being a very
violent man in the household, unlike
his mother Helen Cosgrove who kept
a steady job as a nurse. Ramsey has
described his early life as “hopelessly
itinerant” due to the aspirations and
failure of his father that made the
family move constantly. However, in
his autobiography Humble Pie the
renowned chef describes his early life
as being marked by abuse and
neglect from this "hard-drinking
womaniser" of his father.
“Perhaps I was doomed
when it came to
football”
He wasn’t predestined to be a chef in
his youth. He played football for
almost 8 years when seriously injured
his knee, smashing the. His football
career ended up with several wounds
causing him to remark later in his life
“Perhaps I was doomed when it
came to football”.
By this time his interest in cooking
had already begun and he started to pay more attention to his culinary
education so he enrolled at North
Oxfordshire Technical College to
study Hotel Management and
describes his decision to enter
catering college as “An accident, a
complete accident”. He started in the
late 1980’s as a commis chef at the
Roxburgh House Hotel. After some
issues in the institutions, he was
forced to move to London where he
worked in a series of restaurants until
being inspired to work with the
temperamental Marco Pierre White
at Harveys.
“Rages, bullying and
violence”
Ramsay, tired of “the rages, bullying
and violence” decided that the way
to take control of his career was to
study French Cuisine when his
mentor White encouraged him to
work for Albert Roux at Le Gavroche
in Mayfair. After a successful year of
cooperation working, Albert Roux
invited him to work in the French
Alps as his second. Upon his return
to London in 1993, Ramsay was
offered the position of head chef at
La Tante Claire in Chelsea. Shortly
thereafter, Marco White re-entered
his life, offering to set him up with a
head chef position and 10% share in
the Rossmore, owned by White's
business partners. The restaurant was
renamed Aubergine and went on to
win its first Michelin star fourteen
months later. In 1997, Aubergine won
its second Michelin star. Despite the
restaurant's success, a dispute with
Ramsay's business owners and
Ramsay's dream of running his own
restaurant led to his leaving the
partnership in 1997. In 1998, Ramsay
opened his own restaurant in
Chelsea, Restaurant Gordon Ramsay,
with the help of his father-in-law,
Chris Hutcheson. The restaurant
gained its third Michelin star in 2001,
making Ramsay the first Scottish chef
to achieve that feat of winning 3 Michelin Stars.
Brett Moore depicts Gordon
Ramsey’s book Humble Pie
“Gordon Ramsay has been
called a lot of things in his life.
“Nice guy” probably isn’t one
of them. Chef Ramsay is more
known for his temper and
scathing outbursts in the
kitchen. However, despite his
unconventional management
style, he is without a doubt one
of the best chefs in the world
and has several successful
restaurants to prove it.”
Moreover, Gordon Ramsey’s
celebrity is also due to his
participation in many shows such as
“Hell in Kitchen” on the American
BBC or “Nightmare in Kitchen” on iTV
where he helps restaurant owners to
deal with their issues. He says in one
episode I quote “From an early age I
understood that cooking was never
going to be a job, it's a passion. Poor
old Antony Worrall Thompson, poor
old Delia Smith, I don't think the
penny's dropped yet!”
So far, Gordon Ramsay’s one of the
most favorite chefs of all the
audience and yet, he is still down to
earth. It is very unaccustomed for a
celebrity to still feel compassion
about his own journey, and to feel
that he’s able to make mistakes as
well. But the important part of his
journey is his wanting to bring closer
the French and English gastronomy.
What we need to focus on is the way
we must go beyond the clichés of
English food seen as bland and
strange because English chef
innovate and build themselves a
reputation around the world
precisely because they want to
export their expertise, give a true and
real image of the current English
cuisine that inspire itself from many
other cuisines of the world, becaus
e if you look closely, they’re many
kind of restaurants in cities such as
London. And it’s precisely what
makes the wealth of English cuisine:
heritage is being built in a globalized
world where are cultures meet. As for
French cuisine, it’s more a
phenomenon that has continued
throughout the centuries by
becoming a model of tradition and
creativeness for all the chef around
the world. After questioning a few
people in London, their thought
about French cuisine was that they
use strange animals to make a plate
such as frogs. Likewise, the French
people say about English cuisine that
it looks more like fast food than
elegant and sophisticated. Their
worst nightmare is the English
traditional pudding that looks ,
according to them I quote“like a
strange mountain of moving jelly”.
This year, since London became the
place to be at in 2012, our team
decided to make a small course if 5
places through the city for all the
tourists in need to eat where London
food calling takes place:
1. Bloomsbury
Malabar Junction
107 Great Russell Street,WC1
020 7580 5230 ££
TOTTENHAM COURT ROAD
Indian. Do not be deterred by the exterior , so 1970’s. The bright room
with a great fence , candelabras , and
Plant look like chic restaurants of
south India. It’s a good thing since
the house is specialized in cuisine
from Kerala Enjoy the cheap cocktails
such as the Imperial (£5.90), and be
aware that the Amritsari fish is a
must !
2.Soho
Wahaca
80 Wardour Street, W1
020 7734 0195 ££
PICCADILLY CIRCUS
Mexican. Customers are flocking to
this new address ! In the huge L-
shaped room with walls made of
gray bricks. The idea is to stay green,
starting with the 100% recycling of
garbage . The cuisine excels with
dishes inspired by Mexican market
such as tacos or enchiladas. Grilled
fished, including the famous red
mullet with chili worth the trip.
3.Mayfair
Sartoria
20 Savil Row, W1
020 7534 7000 £££
OXFORD CIRCUS
Italian. Spacious, elegant, serene ... are the first adjectives that come to
mind when you go into this Italian-
tailored located in the middle of
Savile Row tailors. On the menu, a
set of classic dishes Alps,
meticulously cooked and served.
Spinach ravioli, baked monkfish sprinkled with crispy Parma ham, the
list never ends. A real treat!
4. Shoreditch
Bistrotheque
23-27 Wadeson Street, E2
020 8983 7900 ££
BETHNAL GREEN
Local cuisine. A Quasi-institution in Shoreditch, Bistrotheque is prized for
its innovative cabaret as for its dining
room. Located in a back street that
looks like White Chapel, this
restaurant is very bistro road with its
white tiles and dark wood chairs. The
menu is short but appetizing,
starting with the generous fish &
chips, with mushy peas, or the
refreshing fennel salad. Set menus
from £ 17.50, and Sunday brunch is
always mobbed.
5. Clerkenwell
Bistrot Bruno Loubet
The Zetter hotel
86-88 Clerkenwell road, EC1 £££
020 7324 4455
FARRINGDON
French. This annex of Zetter
Townhouse stands with a green
terrace on the small square of
Clerkenwell. It may be the !ost
pleasant baroque dining room of
London. Original idea of Bruno
Loubet from Bordeaux who flew back
to the British capital after a decade in
Australia. Loubet has not earned his
Michelin star for nothing and the
menu holds the upper hand. The
cocktail menu and wine list is also
exemplary. “Ze meust”