Even a passing glance at the CVs of chefs Chris and Jeff Galvin can astonish. Before working together, each built staggering careers of their own. Chris, the elder at 66, put in time at the Ritz and the Lanesborough, before he worked with Terence Conran to open Mezzo, Bluebird, Almeida and Marylebone’s Orrery, where he picked up a Michelin star — Conran’s first chef to do so. The Wolseley probably wouldn’t have made it without him; as executive chef, he devised its opening menu, the one that set the tone.
Though 12 years younger, glamorous hotels appealed to Jeff too: the Savoy to start (in a good year; he worked alongside Giorgio Locatelli and Marcus Wareing), then the Capital under Philip Britten. Soon came time with Nico Ladenis at Chez Nico, where Jeff helped the restaurant win its three stars; from there he was head chef at Marco Pierre White’s Oak Room — albeit working for Robert Reid, not Marco — and later executive chef at Soho favourite L’Escargot, where for five years he maintained another star.
After L’Escargot, the brothers partnered and opened their first restaurant. This was 2005, twenty years ago. It bore their surname above the door and “bistrot de luxe” on its awning. It was an instant smash. “I can’t imagine ever being miserable again,” wrote Giles Coren. “At least not when I’m inside it.”
Jay Rayner agreed. Fay Maschler took two visits to be persuaded, but in the end was charmed as well. Profiles of the pair appeared in every newspaper telling their story; of a tough life with a father who upped sticks and left when Jeff was just three, of their mother who raised them while washing dishes at a local restaurant. Of Chris getting his start under Antony Worrall Thompson, like his mother washing dishes, and then of their rocketing careers, of them being the first English brothers to hold a star separately. And along the way, the pair built up a reputation for being decent, solid sorts. No ego; all heart and welcome, types who come out and talk to their customers.
After Bistrot De Luxe came a flurry of success: Galvin at Windows, Galvin La Chapelle (where, in fact, Coren held his wedding), Galvin Bistrot & Bar. The latter two are still going strong today. In their 20 years the group has opened 11 restaurants, not just in London but out in Essex, up in Edinburgh, away in Dubai. Not all remain — the industry is ephemeral — but their impact is indelible.
Below, the pair share the dishes that mean the most to them, those that illustrate the tale of the two brothers that could.
1. The late Michael Gliksten of Denham Estate specialised in rare breed cattle, Soay lamb and the fallow deer we use in the restaurants. With an eye on sustainability, he encouraged us from the outset to use less familiar cuts. He also grew quince in his own orchard, and chestnuts. So we took the lot and made daube of venison with quince and chestnuts for winter at Bistrot De Luxe. We’ve always loved slow cooking, but bear in mind, this was before water baths came along, so it took a lot of skill and patience — we'd pop it in the oven after service, to cook slowly through the night ready for the next day.
2. Soupe de poisson reminds us of everything we love about France. On one of our trips to Marseille, we found a wonderful supplier of tiny mixed fish for it. Making it is a ceremony — the rouille, the crouton, the grated Gruyere — which Chris picked up from working as chef-director for Terence Conran, who was a passionate Francophile. In terms of technique, we apply the same discipline we honed working in two and three-star restaurants to bistro classics.
3. We’ve had crab lasagne on the menu since Bistrot De Luxe and still source our crab from Portland Shellfish, in Dorset. At first we were taking maybe six or eight crabs a day; steaming and picking them took a lot of work, it’s very labour-intensive. So we showed Portland Shellfish how we liked the crab cooked and prepared, and they started doing it for us. That was 20 years ago now and they’re still doing it! Our guests would say it’s a signature dish. The beurre nantais, with white wine vinegar and shallots, ties in our French training.
4. Rum baba is usually made individually, but for Bistrot De Luxe Chris had the idea of making one long one, which could then be cut at the table with guests saying “when!” when the helping was to their satisfaction. We’d then douse it in rum, add crème Chantilly, and then even more rum, our tribute to Nico Ladenis who at his three-star Chez Nico, where Jeff was sous chef, always said "Not enough rum! It needs more rum!" when making a baba.
5. Tagine of pigeon. Chris worked as a stagiaire all around France, including at the three-starred Troisgros, where they did tagine of lamb shoulder — very robust. When we opened La Chapelle, we wanted to do a lighter version, so Jeff did it with squab pigeon — in fact blood pigeon, which has its neck wrung rather than cut so it's very red. We served it with a little pastilla, salted lemon, and rose harissa jus; this was long before ingredients like this were popular. Taking the lid off the tagine at the table was a little bit of theatre, something we always aim to have in our restaurants.
6. We went to Paris to one of Alain Ducasse's bistros and had a little dish of pommes purée with a brunoise and what tasted like black pudding, or oxtail — turned out it was half-half boudin noir and oxtail. For our own version, which we called a parmentier (and is probably Chris’ favourite Galvin dish ), we compressed the meats into a neat disc; we took ages refining it. Then one day Chris told Ducasse about the dish and the lengths we’d gone to create it and he said, "I buy it in!" Admittedly from Christian Parra — a very refined maker — but still…
7. We love serving lamb or veal brains, poached in court-bouillon then roasted and served with beurre noisette and a mousseline. We knew it would be popular with a certain type of male gourmand, but were surprised how many women ordered it. Brains are actually very light and delicate.
Chris told Alain Ducasse about our version of one of his dishes and the lengths we’d gone to create it — and he said, “I buy it in!”
8. “Big Jim”, our man at Brixham fish market called us one day and said it was his last day. I asked what had happened and he said he was retiring — we'd worked with him that long! We took all the red mullet he could give us as we sold so much and always trusted him on quality and price. We'd serve it very simply, brushed with a little thyme oil and grilled, served with maybe a brandade and a stuffed piquillo pepper.
9. We love serving grouse but not necessarily every year; it's the king of game birds but sometimes you just can’t get enough, or good enough, birds. 2024 was a terrible year. We wait a week as it's better after the Glorious 12th — the 12th is too early. Generally we go classic, slow cooking the legs, a pâté from the liver and heart. We're of an age where we like tradition, but know we have to innovate too; we did a pithivier once with foie gras, and might serve it with blackberries and figs.
10. Pheasant pot au feu, with lentil stew and charcuterie, is amazingly successful for us. Pheasant is always popular as it's very lean, but that does mean it can get very dry if it’s not cooked skilfully. We'll do it a little pink. At Galvin Green Man, our pub, we're surrounded by a lot of farmland, and our pheasant is hyper-local, brought in for us by a regular who eats in the pub himself.
11. Our amazing fruit, vegetables and flowers are bought for us by our middle brother — yes there's a third brother! — David. He works for us full-time as our buyer, midnight to 7am, going to New Covent Garden Market. David also does a bit of foraging for us; come wild garlic season, he'll arrive with bags full of the stuff, which we'll use in a beautiful wild garlic risotto.
12. Salt-baked celeriac at La Chapelle is fun to make. It starts off big and by the time it's slow-cooked, it's half the size. We cut it into a lozenge and brush it with a barbecue glaze.
13. We were quite early adopters of having a vegan tasting menu. Even when we'd only see a vegan guest very rarely, we still wanted them to have the same level of experience as anybody else, rather than just cobbling something together for them. Now, about half of our tasting menus at Galvin La Chapelle are vegan or vegetarian. Our head chef, Arturo Granato, makes a beautiful miso-glazed aubergine baked slowly with olive oil, topped with coriander, spring onion and balsamic vinaigrette. It’s a stand-out dish for us.
14. Our nan was a great cook with big pear and apple trees in her garden, so we always wanted to make a tarte Tatin; we played with it over the years, and now serve it for two. We thought it would be fun to have a tarte Tatin competition, so we put it out to our customers. They make it at home to whatever recipe they choose; we judge them from photographs initially, then the shortlisted 12 bring them into the restaurant to be judged by a panel of experts — and us. Prizes are awarded for the top three, including free tarte Tatin for life, and it's taken very seriously — some people enter every year!
A 20th anniversary menu is currently being offered at Galvin La Chapelle, offering four courses for £55 (or with cheese as well for £12.50 supplement), including a glass of blanc de blancs, or £89 with a wine pairing. To book, visit galvinrestaurants.com
