The All in One Ultimate Restaurant List Interview: William Drabble

William Drabble began his career at the tender age of 14 as an unpaid kitchen worker. By the age of 26 he had earned his first Michelin star at Michael’s Nook Country House Hotel in Grasmere, before going on to work for Tom Aikens at Pied à Terre, and becoming head chef of Aubergine after Gordon Ramsay’s departure.

Drabble joined Seven Park Place at St. James’s Hotel and Club as head chef in 2009. The Michelin-starred restaurant is at number 32 on this year’s list, having risen nine places from last year. Here he gives us an insight into working at the luxury hotel, and admits he enjoys cooking even on his day off.

“Like most young boys from Liverpool my first ambition in life was to play for the Liverpool football team, but when I was 8 and my family moved to Norfolk, we were surrounded by farmland for miles and my passion for food and ingredients began. If I hadn’t become a chef, I like to think that I would be coaching the team (I would be too old to play now).

I oversee all aspects of the dining concept at the St James’s Hotel and Club, which means the Michelin-starred restaurant Seven Park Place, our informal restaurant William’s Bar and Bistro, private dining, room service and afternoon tea. The kitchen never stops; in one moment you can have an order for a burger, at the same time you are preparing a poached lobster tail with cauliflower purée and lobster buttepr sauce, and you are plating a slow-cooked blade of beef for 40 people in banqueting. It can be very challenging sometimes, but also very exciting. Organisation in such an extremely busy environment is definitely a key skill. And you always need to foresee any problem that may happen.

I love the pressure of the kitchen and cooking for our guests at Michelin star standards, but I absolutely love cooking at home with my little daughter! I try to involve her every time I cook. Her favourite thing to prepare is without doubt blackberry and apple crumble. She just loves mixing all the ingredients together for the crumble and getting her hands dirty. She is also very good at recognising all the herbs I grow in our garden, which proves very useful when I need a particular herb as she likes to pick them for me without me having to leave the kitchen. We grow lemon verbena, thyme, rosemary, bay, sage and mint.

Since Seven Park Place is closed on Sundays, it is my day off, and this presents the perfect opportunity to cook a Sunday roast and get all the family together. I normally cook roasts in my wood-fired oven, I love the delicious smoky flavour that it gives to the food. And I always bake my own bread, like I do at the St James’s Hotel and Club."