It has been a turbulent year for most restaurateurs and chefs, although in the end they have been far busier than they had feared may have been the case a year ago.
It has also been an exceptional year for me personally because the single question I have been asked most frequently over the past 20 years, 'Which is your favourite restaurant?' has been replaced by 'Why, if this is a recession, can I not get into my favourite restaurant when I want to?'
The explanation is that customers are using and enjoying restaurants not just for the food and drink that are their stock in trade but rather for the warmth, comfort and sense of well-being that the best provide. It's no surprise therefore that the one chef who has seen his reputation suffer most this year has been Gordon Ramsay, who has most conspicuously seemed to ignore these aspects of the profession, in my opinion.
This phenomenon was reinforced as I pored over the menus I have collected over this year. The number, names, and significance of the chefs who had played their part in these meals was, it began to emerge, far less important than the influence, presence and personality of the restaurateurs, hoteliers and general managers who were either running the restaurants or had inspired their teams to follow their example in the places where these memorable meals had been enjoyed.
As a result, this year I am not going to name more than one other chef personally but concentrate instead on their often overlooked but more visible partners in the restaurants. And in doing so I believe I am echoing a sentiment felt and appreciated by restaurant-goers everywhere.
That the restaurant industry has not suffered the anticipated fall in demand is due to a series of unrelated factors.
The first is that while the internet continues to make huge inroads into how we live and spend our disposable income, it cannot yet – and I hope it never will – affect restaurants in the way it has impinged upon so many other retailers. The dining experience cannot be packaged up, despatched and delivered to the customer through cyberspace. For the foreseeable future at least – and obviously I hope for the rest of my professional career – customers will have to go out to enjoy restaurants for themselves.
And for as long as this state of affairs persists, restaurateurs have the opportunity to add to the sheer enjoyment of a good plate of food or a well-chosen glass of wine by giving their customers that extra item which never specifically appears on any bill: a feeling of warmth and well-being that comes from the practice and execution of professional but heartfelt hospitality.
This year's particular legacy, therefore, is that customer care will only get better. Restaurateurs are only too aware now that they cannot let standards slip or their customers will drift away to the competition even though the profits of past years that used to underpin training in this area have evaporated. Incidents of bad service and indifference will persist – no restaurateur and staff are perfect – but the bar by which the standard for good service is measured has been irrevocably raised.
And perhaps what is most encouraging is that this phenomenon has been set in motion by men and women of widely differing ages selling very different food at very different price points.
The women whom I found exuding these professional charms most obviously in 2009 included Anne Byer, the young American in charge of the dining room at S'Atic in Port Soller, Mallorca; the waitresses at the very basic Kwan Kee restaurant in Hong Kong, where customers are asked before they eat to finish the washing up of their bowls using the jugs of hot water provided; Agnieska Ilsa, the Polish partner of Lebanese chef Jad Youssef at Yalla Yalla in London's Soho; the contrasting charms of Margie Thybulle, the Haitian-born maîtresse d' at Bistro de l'Hôtel in Beaune, France, and her Japanese counterpart, Sachiko Sawahata, at Bissoh only a 10-minute walk away; the sheer dynamism of Marie-Pierre Troisgros at Maison Troisgros in Roanne, France; and the accumulated culinary wisdom of Ece Aksoy on display in her own restaurant in the heart of Istanbul, Turkey.
The men who have led by example fall into two distinct categories: those who add a particularly obvious touch of sartorial elegance to their performance and those who do not.
Among the latter are Chris Johnson at Ramson's in Ramsbottom, east Lancashire; Gerry O'Brien, the Irish host of The Churchill Arms in Notting Hill, London, which pioneered the Thai food now so prevalent in British pubs; John Macleod, the architect who designed the cracking Crabshakk in Glasgow, Scotland; and Vikram Vij, the ebullient proprietor of Vij's in Vancouver, Canada.
Amongst those who would rival Jeremy King of The Wolseley – last seen sporting a three piece suit, red and white spotted tie and a white handkerchief in his breast pocket – for the world's best-dressed restaurateur, if such a title existed, would be: Gabriele Bertaiola at Antica Locanda Mincio, a 20-minute drive from Verona, Italy; Randy See and Raymond Lim at Cépage, Hong Kong; the 86-year-old Leon Vifian, on duty alongside his son Robert, at their Vietnamese restaurant Tan Dinh in Paris; and, with his flowing kimono, the supremely relaxed, welcoming and charming Takao Inoue at Robata Honten in Tokyo, Japan.
And it was in Tokyo that I was fortunate enough to eat Seiji Yamamoto's food at RyuGin, where my most exceptional meal of the year also met with a similar seal of approval from fellow diners Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck in Bray, England, and his 'development chef' Kyle Connaughton.
My account of RyuGin was subsequently read by Bill Emmott, the former editor of The Economist, who emailed after his visit, 'An unforgettable meal. As was the bill!'
I do hope that restaurants in 2010 will yield as many exceptional meals and characters for you.
