Jean Christophe Novelli

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Costa celebrity - Jean Christophe NOVELLI

As most of the coast will know, Jean Christophe Novelli, who has been described as the UK’s favourite French Chef, recently opened his new restaurant in Puerto Banus at the Lorcrimar Hotel. With a career spanning 30 years Jean Christophe Novelli has become one of the most popular chefs on both sides of the Atlantic. We caught up with him to have a chat about his life and career.

He was born in 1961 and he began his exciting career at the age of fourteen as a baker in his home town of Arras, Northern France, becoming private Head Chef to Elie de Rothschild in Paris before the age of 20. He remembers his early days of learning and told us that it was the smell of the bakery and the fresh bread that drew him into the world of cooking. A hyperactive child and, by his own admission, a bit of a dunce at school (he was given sedatives and placed in remedial class for fighting) he left at 14 to work in a local bakery. He found the smells captivating and soon graduated from cleaning the bread tins to glazing the croissants. Twice a week he would accompany his mother to market, marveling as she guided herself around the fresh produce stalls with her eyes closed. Afterwards, watching her prepare simple dishes in their cramped kitchen, Novelli was also infected by what he calls the ‘‘melodious process of cooking’’.

He also recalls how, being the youngest in the bakery, he was subject to all the usual tricks and skull duggery bestowed on any young apprentice. He tells us the story of how he was once dunked in a pan of meringue ‘‘it was everywhere, up my nose, in my ears, down my throat. I remember thinking at the time that I was going to drown in meringue!’’ From being locked outside the bakery in the early hours to getting covered in flour and eggs he says it was ‘‘tough school’’ but it prepared him for the future and certainly toughened him up. ‘‘Compared to these guys Gordon Ramsey is a pussycat’’. His life changed completely when he arrived in Great Britain in 1983. After working for the Rothschild family, Elie de Rothschild got it into his head that his brilliant young chef should cross the Channel to learn English. At the age of 22 he made his way across the channel to start a new life and a new language in the UK. He spent a year taking care of Keith Floyd’s pub, ‘The Maltsters’, as Head Chef whilst Keith was filming his famous TV Shows. In 1996, Jean-Christophe opened his first restaurant, Maison Novelli in Clerkenwell, London, followed quickly by Novelli W8, Novelli EC1 and Les Saveurs in Mayfair. In addition to his mini empire, Jean-Christophe also launched Novelli at the Cellars; Cape Town’s leading five-star Relais ET Chateaux Hotel, Moulin de Jean in Normandy, France and was Chef Consultant on Sea France Ferries.

By 1998 he had a seven-restaurant empire, 200 staff and two further Michelin stars. Then misfortune struck. Novelli had expanded too fast and spread himself too thinly. Others say he was a poor businessman and had forgotten to pay a £350,000 VAT bill - typical, say his critics, of his Gallic disdain for the niceties of English tax law. He says of the period: ‘‘As we say in France, I swallowed the frog. I had stopped being a chef, I was a bad businessman’’.

Whatever, it was a stressful time for all concerned. South African model Anzelle Visser, who had just taken Novelli's name, found herself having to take calls from irate creditors - a factor that may have contributed to the break-up of their marriage. Then the accountant resigned and Novelli came down with a bad case of shingles.

Marco Pierre White came to his rescue by providing funds to keep Maison Novelli open, giving him a chance for a fresh start. After all, he still had his reputation and good looks!

For the next few years he continued to work hard and got his T.V. break in 2003 appearing on ‘‘The Games.’’ In 2005 he appeared on Hells Kitchen when he became one of two Head Chefs in the second series with Gary Rhodes. Jean Christophe became the head of the blue kitchen. But this time the two chefs had to teach normal people rather than celebs. He recalls how his plate smashing incident lifted the popularity of the show and how the clip of him smashing plates and losing his temper with one of the contestants was aired all over Europe. He laughs ‘‘even in France this incident was shown on television, I couldn’t believe it; I knew afterwards I shouldn't have done it, I could have hurt someone, and we could have got sued!’’ Although it was unintentional and he says certainly not deliberate he admits the incident sent the ratings through the roof as people tuned in to see his ravings. He feels this T.V. moment made a marked contribution to his growing popularity and says that at that time the second series of the show which had Gary Rhodes as his opposing team leader was slipping in ratings but it soon picked up again after his eruption and went on to be a great success.

At around the same time The Novelli Academy opened its doors on April 22nd 2005 and, within three months, was voted amongst the ‘Top 25 Cookery Schools in the World’. Jean-Christophe restored part of his 14th century Hertfordshire farmhouse so that the Novelli Academy could be accommodated in his own home.

In September 2007 Jean-Christophe was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Arts from Bedfordshire University for his 30 years of dedication to his craft and outstanding achievements in cooking. Jean- Christophe is only the 3rd Chef in history to achieve this recognition!

Jean-Christophe is also a well-known TV chef having appeared on a wide variety of the UK’s most popular cookery programmes including Daily Cooks, Saturday Cooks, Richard & Judy’s Tender Loving Cooking and Maa Osama Atyab in the UAE. In addition, he has also featured on an impressive selection of prime time TV shows including Friday Night with Jonathan Ross, Hell’s Kitchen, Celebrity X Factor, Loose Women, Through the Keyhole, The Apprentice, The Alan Titchmarsh show, BBC Breakfast and MTV Cribs.

He makes regular appearances at regional, national and international events including the Festival of Dubai, Ideal Home Show, The France Show, BBC Good Food Shows, Grand Designs and Homes and Gardens and in April 2008 launched London Restaurant Week.

Jean-Christophe also has extensive consultancy agreements with a number of blue chip companies including Carlsberg and Volkswagen UK. Jean-Christophe signed a deal in 2008 with Mentorn USA for an exclusive series for NBC BRAVO. ‘‘Chef Academy’’ is a nine part series that chronicles his move to Los Angeles as he opens a cooking school, which will air in December 2009. Ten chefs with varying levels of cooking ability are set to be trained by Novelli, all of whom want to improve their skills, some to a professional standard. A second series is expected to be filmed early in 2010. On 7 January 2009 he also appeared as a judge on Top Chef, an American reality competition show that also airs on Bravo, in which chefs compete against each other in weekly challenges. They are judged by a panel of professional chefs and other notables from the food and wine industry with one or more contestants eliminated each week.

This year, has been an exciting one so far. In January, Jean-Christophe was once again the ‘face’ of the France Show 2009 at Earls Court in London where he hosted his own Cookery Theatre for three days. The demonstrations were watched by as many as 600 people per show.

In February 2009 he was invited to Russia for the French Cuisine Restaurant Week at the Pavilion Restaurant in Moscow where he personally designed a special menu which provided the clientele with a ‘‘fusion taste experience extraordinaire’’.

His plans for 2009 are many and varied and mirror his determination to continually expand his horizons.

Not only April was a busy month for him it was also a very exciting month! He became one of the very few chefs to return to Hell’s Kitchen, the blockbuster reality show which this time takes a new collection of celebrities to face devilish challenges which only the Kitchen can produce. He says that he was flattered to be invited back to the show which he feels really launched his T.V. career. Although he has worked with most of the well known T.V. chefs he says that Marco Pierre White is his favourite and that it was he who changed the rules of cooking in the UK and helped to launch such successful careers as Gordon Ramsey.

Twice divorced with a 21 year old daughter named Christina from his first marriage, Novelli got engaged in November 2007 to his girlfriend of 2 years, Michelle Kennedy, with the couple announcing in February 2008 that they were expecting their first child. On the 29 August 2008, the couple welcomed a healthy baby boy called Jean Frank Patrick Kennedy, in Los Angeles. Jean-Christophe also teamed up with Pizza Hut in April to celebrate the launch of their Salad Station by creating an exclusive ‘limited edition’ salad dressing containing gold and champagne among a host of tantalizing ingredients.

Later on in the year, on the other side of the Atlantic, Jean-Christophe will be setting up a Novelli Academy / Chefs Table in Los Angeles, building on the success of his TV series which he will use as a spring board to launch a new and innovative culinary regime on the American continent.

He is currently in training for the London Triathlon, Olympic distance in August 2009. He loves football and his favourite team is Middlesborough and he doesn’t have a favourite French team! The past 12 years have seen the chef open a sevenrestaurant empire, gain four Michelin stars, go bankrupt, lose the restaurants, be divorced (twice) and gain TV celebrity on Hell’s Kitchen. Now he has a new family, a new restaurant in Spain and a bright T.V. future both in the UK and in the USA. His key he says is that you have to have belief and passion about what you do. I asked him if when he went bankrupt he lost his belief and he delivered an emphatic ‘‘no, never. I lost everything, everything, but never stopped believing. I came to Spain and spent time in Ronda with my brother and re grouped and started again. You can make thousands of mistakes in life but you should always learn from them, it’s the only way to grow.’’ On money he says that he is not tight but is now much more aware of his finances. ‘‘When I went bankrupt I was drunk on success, I spent money like there was no tomorrow, I employed friends, family, anybody, but now I have learned to watch and take care of my money, I don’t spend huge amounts of money on cars like Ferraris, I look at them and think I could buy two apartments for the same money, much wiser’’.

With regards to his new restaurant in Banus at The Hotel Lorcrimar he says. ‘‘This is a wonderful opportunity to create the most exciting cuisine which will feature the finest foods, the most fabulous flavours and an originality which will make Hotel Lorcrimar the undisputed centre ‘where the elite meet to eat’. It is my goal that this new restaurant will stimulate the appetites and tastebuds of all those who seek the very best ‘fine dining experience’’’.

Nestled in the nearby hills is the Sisu Retreat where Jean-Christophe is simultaneously opening his new Academy where local residents and visitors to Marbella can improve their skills in the kitchen, enjoy new taste experiences or simply appreciate the outstanding culinary skills of the Master Chef. The Novelli cookery courses are designed to appeal to all ages and abilities, novice or experienced. The Novelli Academy team aim to make cookery and wine appreciation accessible to everyone and Jean- Christophe personally hosts a number of courses.

Whatever the future holds for this most popular of T.V. chefs it is sure that Jean Christophe will be around for years to come; he has learned many tough lessons in life but believes they are lessons that have helped him to survive and continue on in the passion of his work and in the end rebuild his career and achieve success. Jean Christophe is, as most people who have met him will agree, a charming guy with a huge passion for his craft and, in fact, for life. He has recently become a father again and is looking forward to a very busy time over the next couple of years what with his restaurant ventures and T.V. work. He's a genuine down to earth guy and we wish him all the success for the future.