Bars & Pubs

There are three people in the cooler pastry section– this tends to be the beginning of a culinary career, because once you get into the hot kitchen you don’t ever want to go back. Pastry is like a science: you have to follow the recipe, weigh things out, and be precise in every way – there’s not the spontaneity of the hot kitchen, you can’t go against the rules. Obviously making a soufflé work is satisfying too! But, as we say in the kitchen, you need ‘cold’ hands to do pastry.

The grill, right next to the pass, is manned by three people, and it’s a lot of fun. You throw things under, you do the garnishes for the meat. It’s your first step in the hot kitchen. You learn the secrets of a very simple dish on the grill; you understand how to keep it hot and clean.

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One of the most important roles in the kitchen is that of the tournant, an experienced chef awaiting promotion to sous-chef status, who can work on any section.

Being head chef means I orchestrate every order. During service it all revolves around pasta, so if a customer orders a linguine, which takes five-and-a-half minutes to cook, and that goes with the scallops, then two minutes before it’s ready the pasta man tells the scallop man to put the scallops on. If it comes with salad, then you dress that one minute before. And so on. Someone once said to me that it must be like conducting a symphony.

My pass is in the middle of the kitchen, near each section so I can jump anywhere if need be. Take risotto: it’s cooked from scratch, the only thing we do before is sweat the onions. When an order starts we’ve got 17 minutes on a meat risotto and 18 on a fish one. It only takes two minutes to overcook, so sometimes I have to intervene. Meanwhile, if there’s a problem with the pasta section I can be over there in a flash. On one order you might have one scallops, one burrata, one linguine, one risotto and fillet of cod, with the overhead lights on the pass keeping things warm while the dishes come together.

Things wind down after 10pm, and at 11pm we start to strip down fridges, clean up, make lists and order for the next day. I talk to everyone to check they know what shift they’re doing, and that they’re not too stressed after four hours of manic service. The washer-uppers will be finishing off too. The pasta guy will be making more dough for the next day’s bread. At midnight we’ll lock all fridges, check that the stoves have been cleaned down and take the keys to the office.

It doesn’t end there. The cleaners arrive at 1am; the baker at 4am, and the first chefs at 7am. I always say that the early chef catches the pans [chefs who arrive early to work claim the best equipment]: that’s the way we work. And so it begins again…

Zafferano, 15 Lowndes St, SW1X 9EY (020 7235 5800) Knightsbridge tube.