We headed down to the iconic CUT at 45 Park Lane, London restaurant by Wolfgang Puck and spoke to Executive Chef Elliot Grover about cooking for the stars.
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00:00 Imagine cooking for all of Hollywood's finest at the Oscars.
00:06 Well today I'm meeting Elliot Grover, executive chef of 45 Park Lane,
00:11 who works closely with world renowned chef Wolfgang Puck.
00:15 Today he invited me down to the kitchen to show us what he'll be cooking
00:19 and talk us through how it feels serving up these special dishes to the A-listers.
00:25 To be honest it was all a bit of a shock to the system and it all happened quite quickly.
00:29 I mean it just started out with a question with Wolfgang, I said, "Do you reckon I can come?"
00:33 And he literally said, "Yeah, yeah, of course you can."
00:35 And it was all very blasé, it was about six months before, because I think I've been around two years now.
00:42 And then all of a sudden I got a phone call around three months before, he said,
00:45 "Oh, have you got your British dishes ready for the Oscars?" And I said, "What do you mean?"
00:49 And then he said, "Well, you need to be ready, I said you're coming."
00:52 And then before I know it, sort of landing in LA.
00:56 Obviously a lot of preparation went into it before, but yeah, sort of found myself at the Oscars.
01:00 I was so, so excited and I don't think I quite realised how big it was until I actually got there.
01:07 But it was amazing.
01:09 Did you get starstruck? Was there anyone that you were kind of starstruck by?
01:12 I mean, I've cooked for so many wonderful people, so many amazing people,
01:16 but I think seeing Brendan Fraser was a massive, massive highlight for me.
01:21 And to be honest with you, obviously Lady Gaga was wonderful, Lisa Vanderpump.
01:25 The great thing is they were all so wonderful. They were all really lovely.
01:28 They loved the fact that we brought the British food there as well, so it was really special.
01:32 ...planted prawn rolls.
01:36 I mean, I was joking with Wolfgang last week, we were saying...
01:39 I have such an expectation of myself and how I want to deliver the food
01:43 and represent 45 Park Lane and cut London in the right way.
01:47 So the pressure won't go until the night, if that makes sense.
01:50 And there's an amazing team there as well, so yeah, no pressure.
01:55 Talk to me about the menu that you're cooking this year.
01:59 So I always wanted to do one better than last year, fingers crossed it all goes well.
02:03 This year we're going to do native lobster fish and chips.
02:07 It's going to be like a spicy style, so it will give a little nod to California.
02:12 We're going to be doing roast beef, wagyu, dripping, Yorkshire pudding and creamed horseradish,
02:17 which is amazing, it's really, really good.
02:20 And a prawn cocktail roll.
02:24 But yeah, it's going to be amazing.
02:26 And all of it is small bites, so you can eat it within three bites.
02:29 And you obviously need to be very conscious of them not dropping it onto their dress or suit.
02:35 It needs to be quite easy to eat.
02:37 So for the people that aren't going to the Oscars, can they try those dishes here or where can they try them?
02:42 Yeah, so you can actually try it in 45 Park Lane Hotel in Bar 45.
02:48 We've also paired the three dishes with an amazing cocktail.
02:52 It's a twist on the Americano that's been made by Enrico, our bar manager.
02:56 And it's absolutely amazing, so you can get that all at Bar 45.
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