Kitchen Rat has heard the rather heart-warming tale of a young Chris Galvin staring wide-eyed through the windows of Richard Shepherd's Langan's Brasserie as a boy to take in the kaleidoscope of celebrity colour within.
Whether this childhood experience of looking in from outside had a bearing on him accepting the gig at the Windows restaurant in the Hilton Park Lane hotel, which has a damn fine view, isn't transparent.
Coming full circle, Galvin let slip that the phenomenal success of the Wolseley Cafe in Piccadilly totally threw the owners and team and led to their first highly experienced maitre'd having a breakdown due to the stress.
Owners Jeremy King and Christopher Corbin had to close the reservations book temporarily such was the demand from the great and good of the celebrity world and invest heavily in more staff for the restaurant. A real pane without the polish no doubt.
Chris and Jeff Galvin>>
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