welcome to the world’s most elite dining club
moncler mens jackets They say that behind every great king, there an even greater queen. While this may hold some truth, what I cheap moncler learning tonight is that behind every great king/queen/president/state reception, there is a great chef.
I have come to Hakkasan Hanway Place on a Sunday evening to be a fly on the wall at the moncler jackets on sale annual meeting of what is regarded as the the most prestigious dining society. Not even the Bullingdon Club filled with its Old Etonian banking heirs and aspiring moncler coats outlet politicians can rival the global influence held by the moncler outlet uk illustrious crowd who have gathered in the restaurant dark basement.
moncler outlet sale They are the Club des Chefs and the secretive gastronomic society are on their first visit to the UK. Each moncler outlets uk member each dressed head to Official Moncler Outlet toe in Moncler Factory Outlet white has a direct link with a head of state and they all play a pivotal, if background, role in the daily running of their countries.
The 21 member group gathered in London includes chefs to the prime minister of Canada, the presidents of France, Austria, Italy and Poland and also those who represent royal households, including Prince Albert II of Monaco and our own Queen Elizabeth. The personal chef for Russia’s president Vladimir Putin https://www.newmoncleroutlet.com is absent from proceedings.
Notably absent: the chef for Vladimir Putin (AFP/GETTY)
monlcer down jackets The Queen own head chef Mark Flanagan, who is vice president of the society, is in charge of the troupe schedule while in cheap moncler coats for women Blighty. society moncler outlet location is moncler coats cheap about upholding culinary traditions so I making sure they get moncler coats to try out our British classics while they moncler jacket outlet here, he tells me. had fish and chips today and we are also going to see how Stilton is made, and everyone is going to have a go at making Melton Mowbray pies.
I ask why he missed jellied eels of the schedule. that a good point, I haven managed to fit that in somehow, Flanagan, who was once described as “having the temper of Gordon Ramsay moncler outlet usa without the talent”, replies jovially.
To be a part of the group you must be the current personal chef of a head cheap moncler jackets wholesale of state, or, if your country has no head of state, then you need to be the head chef for the venue that hosts official state receptions. As well as preserving culinary standards, the society, which was founded in 1977 by Gilles Bragard, gives the chefs a chance to meet like minded people who understand their moncler jackets kids daily stresses.
lot of us plan our holidays around out annual meeting, Tim Wasylko, the personal chef for moncler coats for kids the Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper, explains. a chance for us to really unwind.
cheap moncler sale can relax here and you can also learn from each other, cheap moncler jackets Barack Obama personal chef Cristeta Comerford adds.
So what does the president eat when his chef is half way across the world?
moncler sale outlet microwaveable meals, don worry, Cristeta, moncler outlet woodbury a moncler chicago 51 year old Filipino discount moncler jackets American chef who is both the moncler jackets canada first woman and the first chef of Asian descent to win the post, assures me. moncler outlet mall you wreck a dish, it harder to plead a cause, Hollande warned them. The moncler outlets usa late French strategist Charles Maurice de Talleyrand Prigord had similar sentiments, once telling Napoleon Bonaparte: me a good chef and I shall give you good treaties.
Hollande: aware of the importance of a decent meal (EPA)
moncler outlet This is the mantra that the club members adopt: A bad meal could cost them their job as well as moncler jackets cheap their country if it puts a president in a sour mood during negotiations.
buy moncler jackets As a result, they go to special measures to make sure their food is moncler coats for cheap up to scratch when another head of state comes for tea.
moncler sale have a chef language, so instead of other people telling us what to do, all I have to do is call up the chef in that country and say tell me more about your guy Kristeta says with a grin.
cheap discount moncler outlet moncler outlet Wasylko agrees that the society gives help for visiting heads. skip the protocol and get to have a conversation and find out the things we need to know, he explains to me. little things like the time of day they eat, if moncler jacket online there a certain portion size, or moncler jackets outlet we need to womens moncler jackets know if he travelling all month and needs something healthy.
cheap moncler jackets about nourishing them as well as moncler outlet ny feeding them. Especially moncler outlet online store if they having the same restaurant food night after night. A lot of people want to impress so they make rich meals but they need a balance.
True to form, Flanagan called on the help of Rosaleen McBride, the chef to the president of the Republic of Ireland, ahead of Martin McGuinness historical lunch with the Queen in April: was on the phone to Rosalind to find out what he liked. It just makes life so much easier.”
Not that what McGuinness “likes to eat” is up for discussion. Discretion is almost as important as culinary skill for the chefs. While mutterings about a president or monarch tastes do get out, it is rare for a chef in employment to do the revealing, and moncler jackets men if they do they probably moncler outlet canada won be employed much longer.
Foot in mouth
cheap moncler buy moncler jackets toronto coats Still, some secrets have become public. When President Sarkozy was in power he banned all cheese from cheap moncler jackets outlet the lyse Palace but got it back in if Germany Angela Merkel graced him with her moncler coats sale presence. Now under Hollande rein, the fromage has been reinstated, much to the delight of head chef Bernard Vaussion. someone who really likes eating, Vaussion has said of Hollande and his ever growing waistline.
moncler outlet store The Cheap Moncler sale Queen moncler outlet store meanwhile was outed as a fan of foie gras after a trip to Paris in 2004, when she was a guest moncler jackets toronto of the then President Jacques Chirac. She is said to have gobbled up two kinds of foie gras that Vaussion had prepared one from duck and one from goose. On the flip side, the slimline Duchess of Cambridge is known to stay away from such fatty foods, even once requesting a lighter version of what she deemed to be moncler coats for men a sauce.
cheap moncler The Queen was outed as a fan Discount Moncler Coats of foie gras (Dan Kitwood/ PA)
moncler outlet online Hilton Little, the chef to the president of the South African Republic, served the late president Nelson Mandela during his career. thing about Mr Mandela was that he liked his home comforts, Little says. liked his stews and oxtail like his mother used to make. Every time he said I cooked something like his mother would have, I knew my job was safe for another year.
The chefs begin to take their seats for their four course banquet, prepared by Hakkasan head chef Tong Chee Hwee, and I am ushered to a separate area to leave them to talk freely.