An unrivalled passion for food

(Hospitality Today)

For someone who's achieved and had great success as a chef, Michael Lee-Richards lives each day like it's his last. Not in the sense of contemplating his own mortality but more towards fitting in as much fun, activity and work into his life as possible.

Everyday is an adventure for someone who is as passionate about food and his work as humanly possible. With youthful enthusiasm, his face lights up and eyes twinkle as he talks about his numerous projects.

His passion for food is malleable - he says it can be whatever you want it to be. "It's everything from cooking a great meal to cooking for friends, to cooking for a restaurant to writing and TV work, it's all those things and rest assured I've done them all."

Having worked in kitchens for decades he says he is not a fan of shortcuts. Restaurants need to try to be better than their customers' last eating experience. "You've got to be better than the last country they travelled through, it's got to be something that takes them by the neck and makes them say 'wow!'" The best advice Mr Lee-Richards says he has been given is to know your costings when cooking.

"There's nothing more rewarding than knowing that you've done a good dish at your costings price. It's the hardest thing to get your head around, and it's so good to know that you've done a dish at a good food cost."

He also believes there is always room for improvements by focusing on the basics of cooking. "Any pub would improve if it keeps it simple and earthy, and not just a f***ing lettuce with strings on top."

For someone who admits he wasn't a high achiever at school, but who still finished a Masters in law, Mr Lee-Richards still considers being expelled from high school as one of the most fortunate things to happen to him. Living life at breakneck speed, he is sure to maintain his work and enthusiasm for food.

Mr Lee-Richards' tips a chef should never forget: 1. Chefs need to aspire to own the restaurant they're working in. "If you don't aspire to own it, you're in the wrong industry."

2. Know your food costings.

3. Know your staff costings.

4. Keep to simplicity on a plate. Ideally, keep to two or three main flavours on a plate.

5. Devise your menu around the seasons to keep food costings down. "One of my tricks is to divide the year into four seasons and to work really hard at those four seasons."

6. Combine cheaper and more expensive ingredients to make a menu. "One of the best things I learnt once was to do a list down the page of seasonal ingredients (the cheaper ingredients) and another list down the page of the expensive. So you might do a dish with the cheaper ingredients, to keep the price low, and then add one of the expensive ingredients to get you up to 22 percent."