Interview

The Mosimann’s

Mosimann’s Club, one of the most prestigious private clubs in the world, has members including wealthy and noble families, not only from the UK but from all over the world.

At Mosimann’s, cuisine takes centre stage. Our motto of “passion for excellence” has characterised Anton Mosimann’s revolutionary innovations in fine food since the earliest days, and remains superbly evident in every fl avour that graces the palate in a Mosimann’s culinary experience.

In the past “good food” and “food that is good for you” were seen as mutually exclusive: food could be either one or the other but never both. The basic principles of good cooking and Anton Mosimann’s style of cooking have always been to use the freshest ingredients and prepare them in a way that brings out their fl avour and goodness. We do not use oil, butter, cream or alcohol and have reduced the use of salt and sugar. These ingredients undoubtedly have their rightful place in good cooking but they can have deleterious eff ects as well. When possible, we use low fat equivalents of traditional ingredients — natural yoghurt, fromage blanc, tofu; and our sauces are based on pure stocks made from meat, fi sh or vegetables. As a result the visual eff ect of our dishes are lighter, clearer and the natural fl avour is not overpowered.

“Nothing comes solely by chance”

The all-important qualities, Mosimann never ceases to point out, are planning, self discipline, energy, hard work and luck of course.

Anton was born in 1947, the only child of Swiss restaurateurs in the Jura mountains. Anton Mosimann spent his early years in Nidau, near Biel helping his parents run their own restaurant where he developed both a love for food and a desire to become a cook. The fi rst taste he clearly remembers is that of Emmental cheese. “It was so tasty and so diff erent from my previous food of vegetables and cereals.”

He started his apprenticeship at a local hotel at the age of fi fteen, and at the age of twenty-five became one of the youngest Chefs to receive the coveted Chef de Cuisine Diploma.

At the age of 28, he was appointed Maitre Chef des Cuisines at the Dorchester Hotel in London — the youngest ever to hold this position. During his thirteen year tenure he was awarded two Michelin stars; the fi rst time such accolade had been given to a hotel restaurant outside of France. In 1988 Anton acquired a Scottish Presbyterian church and set about creating Mosimann’s Club.

He also established a catering company, Mosimann’s Party Service, for which he has held the Royal Warrant of Appointment to HRH The Prince of Wales for Catering Services since 2000. In addition, he acquired a converted Victorian school in London’s Battersea and created The Mosimann Academy, with a demonstration kitchen featuring an enviable list of cookery courses and one of the world’s most extensive libraries of over 6,000 cookery books dating back to the 15th century.

“Food was the earliest infl uence on me as a child. I still remember the wonderful smell of apricots in season... it was fantastic... coming home from school to fi nd my parents in the kitchen cooking, it all smelt so good. Theirs was basic cooking with seasonal produce. We have lost all that now, products are available all year round and I feel that’s a pity, as waiting makes it more worthwhile.”