Holidays are meant to calm you down and relax you before you are ready to face the daily grind again. And as many people in high stress positions know, that feeling of relaxation can immediately turn sour on return to work. Chef Nick Bril, one of the top European chefs who runs The Jane in Antwerp faced just that last weekend after he returned back to work from a deserved holiday.
He went on to Instagram Stories to say that it was impossible to work properly because over a given service, there were 38 out of 80 customers who asked for something different because of allergies, a fashion diet or just because they did not like a given ingredient.
The chef of the restaurant, considered to be one of the most beautiful in the world, operates on a fixed menu given that it caters for over 80 covers at a time.
Nick Bril, who co-owns The Jane with Sergio Herman, then went on Instagram to explain himself on the trend of allergies, intolerances or simply not liking particular ingredients has been growing for the past years after he made it to the mainstream media.
“Some people have wished me or a loved one an intolerance or allergy and have started to hate me for saying this,” he said.
“People who have an issue will respectfully tell us in advance and we are able to adjust our menu. “We can host gluten and lactose allergies and also take peanuts out of the menu. But there is a fine line between those who suffer and those who use these issues because they don’t like to eat certain flavours or think they will not enjoy it when it is prepared by chefs who want to take amazing and expensive produce to the next level,” Nick said.
The chef of the Antwerp restaurant said that people who misuse such requests end up creating extra stress to employees and also costs in terms of loss of produce and meat that would go to waste. “People want to go and dine in a fine dining restaurant but don’t want to dine with finesse. That’s a big difference,” he said.
Nick said that fine dining is meant for people who love gastronomy, who love to explore new flavours that the restaurant industry has to offer. “But piling a collection of requests of things that you prefer not to eat but at the same time still wanting a 15 course menu that needs to be entertaining, flavourful, packed with texture, sexy and exciting, one course after another is like walking on water,” he said.
He said those who thought he was an ‘asshole’ for speaking openly about this should understand that he and his colleagues respect their demands. “But people who use intolerance and allergies as an excuse to stay in their comfort zone should maybe open up to chefs who invest their lives to present food in a unique way.”
Many chefs came to his support thanking him for saying it as it is and for making an issue that is very present in the food world public.
Chefs have often complained to Food and Wine Gazette particularly when guests were repeatedly asked before their visit to the restaurant if they had allergies or intolerances and would say no only to arrive at the restaurant and insist that they could not eat many things.
Leave a Reply