Sophie Michell is the idea face for a consumer campaign in fresh produce. The chef, author and television presenter is likeable, chatty and has a taste for simple, high-quality produce, rather than the fancy techniques showcased by others in the world of high-cuisine.
With a stellar CV in food that already includes six books, training at Michelin-starred restaurants Le Gavroche and The Greenhouse, and becoming the UK’s youngest female executive chef at her restaurant Pont St, in west London, Michell has been making waves in the food industry since she was 15.
Its this last achievement that currently takes up most of her week – she says she is in the kitchen between five and six days a week, and nothing gets ordered without her checking out the supplier. “We change our menu quite a lot, so at the moment we have a steamed hake dish, with rainbow kale and blood orange hollandaise, so just using stuff that is in season now. And we’ve got a rhubarb meringue pie on as well.
“I am influenced by the Mediterranean, so it’s about colour, vibrancy, olive oils and lemon juice. In Greece, where my family live, we sit round and have lightly-boiled wild greens and courgettes, and waxy potatoes with a little bit of olive oil and lemon juice – this way you get much more of the flavour of the actual vegetable.
“I love courgettes, I eat them all the time,” she enthuses. “I did a really nice slow-cooked ragu with courgettes and smoked garlic the other day, and that was really nice. And I love fennel, fennel is amazing.”
With a way of talking about food that makes you feel hungry, it’s not surprising that Michell has done a couple of product endorsements in the past, for South African stonefruit and branded clementines ClemenGold. “I love doing product endorsement for fresh produce, rather than doing something that is a product in itself. Doing something with fresh produce as an ingredient is a really nice thing for me to do. I’d like to do an asparagus one, or artichokes, or new Jersey Royals which I love. As part of the endorsement I would usually write recipes, talk about the product, and do some demos.”
Michell’s Pont St restaurant, located at the upmarket Belgraves Hotel, receives its fruit and vegetable supplies from Yorkshire wholesaler Wellocks, and New Covent Garden Market firm Solstice, and she has a range of premium and niche suppliers for other products including mushrooms from Wild Harvest, rare breed meats and ethical shellfish. She explains: “For a corporate business, or a more cost-sensitive business, you just want one or two suppliers that supply everything, so if it’s about making the numbers rather than making the food, you get two suppliers and big discounts, cut the costs and cut the corners. But for me, my whole menu is based around the fact we have good produce. That is it basically.”
She puts paid to the image of a chef getting up early to wander round the markets, although says she will occasionally visit suppliers to view what products they have and meet the team. So how would she select a new fruit and vegetable supplier? “I would talk to people in the industry, and talk to friends who run restaurants to get some advice on who they use,” she says. “But you just know the suppliers – I’ve been in the industry for 20 years so you know who’s good and who’s not.”
One of Michell’s more unusual claims to fame is her stint as private chef to supermodel Claudia Schiffer – a post she held for two years after she heard of the position through her mother sharing the same private doctor. She is understandably reserved on the topic – the relationship reportedly turned sour after Michell used a comment from Schiffer on the cover of one of her books – but says the experience gave her other challenges to working in a restaurant.
“It’s demanding because you’re really going on someone else’s last minute whim every day, and often it’s a very last minute whim. We planned menus a few days ahead, and I usually did the shopping myself or got Ocado to deliver,” she says.
The rise of the celebrity chef has been much documented, and as of yet has shown no signs of waning. Michell thinks the public has an appetite for new influences, and that some people are getting tired of the ‘super chefs’. “Jamie Oliver going on about fresh herbs is a good thing. And having a group of good chefs who are actually showing people how to cook is really positive,” she says. “Do I think it’s changing? I think people are getting bored of what they see as the ‘super chefs’, who just have been around for long enough now in some respects, and people want some new influences. For example, I watched someone making ramen noodles on Saturday Kitchen the other day, which I thought was really interesting.”
She won’t name names as to who has been around too long, but cites two female chefs as her inspirations in the food industry. “I think Angela Hartnett is amazing, she’s had an amazing career – I love the way she cooks and I love the way she sets her restaurants up – I think she’s very inspiring. And I think Nigella Lawson is very inspiring for what she’s done – she’s a very good writer and she’s into her food.”
Michell’s nutritional understanding of food means she has a fresh perspective on the benefits of the 5 A DAY campaign. “The 5 A DAY campaign is a bit alien to me, because it’s not something I would do, I wouldn’t imagine eating meals in that way,” she says.
“If someone was getting their 5 A DAY from bananas, sweetcorn, carrots, parsnips, that’s a very different 5 A DAY from kale, asparagus, broccoli and spinach. So it’s a loose term, though I suppose it’s simplistic to help people who aren’t aware of food. But a lot of fruit and vegetables are very different nutritionally.”
Recently-engaged Michell is full of plans for the future – not least with planning a wedding – but with another book about to launch, the Gorgeous Kitchen restaurant project at Heathrow Airport as well as her full time job at Pont St, it’s clear she’s already won over the UK food industry.
The real Sophie Michell
Favourite meal? I love a big seafood platter. That’s the purest form of food. Sitting having a seafood platter somewhere with a nice glass of wine, that does it for me entirely. And I do really love pasta as well.
What do you do in time off? I sleep as late as possible, which is normally about 9am, then I get up, go and have lunch with friends, and that’s it really. It’s only about one day a week, which is normally a Sunday. Or we go for a walk with my fiancée’s lurcher cross.
Favourite restaurant in London? The Beaumont Hotel, by Jeremy King. I like the atmosphere – I love the 1920s era, and you go into that hotel and they treat you like a princess.
What do most people not know about you? I always wanted to be a marine biologist when I was younger. I was always obsessed by the ocean.
What is your dream? One day I’d like to have a restaurant on a seafront, somewhere warm, and just do amazing, fresh, colourful and vibrant produce.
Where will you be in 10 years time? I suspect I’ll be in London, doing more hotels and restaurants. Or I could be in America through my link with Thompson Hotels.
