Today we interview another local legend, George, one of our top chefs at Mountain Action Holidays.
What inspire you to become a chef?
I was very young when I started working in kitchens. I was 12 and I just kept up as much as I could, through my teens, and then realised that I enjoyed it. I enjoyed the kitchen, I enjoyed being around the people and learning new dishes. It was something I was good at. I got into the direction of cooking, thinking, right, cool, I want to do this now for a career, instead of just a little part time job sort of thing.
When you’re at home, what are your favourite types of dishes to cook?
When I'm at home, it's really easy stuff as I'm cooking for one person, so it's just easy meals, like curries, pastas and roast meats. Just simple things but I don't get much time to cook at home anyway.
How much time do you take off?
It depends really, I'm quite lucky where I work hard with quite a lot of different clients at different times of the year. So that's my change of scenery. I get to go to different places, be with different people in different surroundings. And because I enjoy it, I don't really need too much time at home.
What style of cooking do you like most?
It really varies, like with some of the cooking I do, it's in bigger numbers, so it's more practical, it's great food, but it's been designed for a lot of people, whereas it goes down in small numbers when I work in chalets. You get to personalise the menu and actually get involved with the client, and they get to add their little bit to it as well. So it really varies, you know. And then you get different types of clients who ask you to put a little bit of this or something else, or some influence from somewhere else, which is always good for a challenge, and I always seem to come up with new ideas from that. It changes quite a lot and it really just depends on who I'm cooking for and with.
You live in the mountains, are there any types of local dishes you enjoy cooking and what do you like to prepare for MAH guests?
With some of the really traditional local stuff, like fondues, tartiflette, croutes, things like that, I would recommend the clients get that on the mountain. I think it's more part of the experience, it's part of being in those restaurants with the decor, or being on the mountain just being cold in salopettes (snow dungarees) or whatever. So I tend to steer away from things that they can actually find here and up the mountains, and take a modern kind of twist on things and present it in a bit more of a fine dining way, but also when it comes to guests here in the mountains, they're skiing a lot, they do a lot of activities. So it's also important to make sure I feed them plenty, make sure there's loads of carbs and enough to keep them satisfied for the next day.
What attracted you to living in the mountains?
I just wanted a change of pace from cooking in restaurants and hotels, and experience different surroundings. I spent a lot of time in cities and restaurants, so it was time to make a bit of a change and just see where else I could go with my cooking. I went into this private chef avenue so I could just enjoy a bit more time and enjoy a different culture, enjoy different surroundings, and just see what comes from it.
Where had you lived before?
I spent seven years in London, so that was quite a lot of time spent there. I was just learning, going from restaurant to restaurant, working events and doing little different bits and pieces, really understanding what my trade was. And then I spent some time in Vienna, which is quite nice, again, different culture, different style of food, and different influences. I always kind of seem to find myself ending up back in the Alps now.
When you worked in Vienna did you learn how to speak German?
The workforce for hospitality was more Balkan, so English was kind of the middle ground, with a bit of German in between. So we had our own sort of language in the kitchen. It always worked out.
What are your favourite MAH destinations to go to?
I really like Croatia. There are really amazing tour guides we work with there. Everyone's super friendly, all the bars, all the restaurants, all the locals are very warm towards us, and everyone's willing to help and just create really good times for the guests and myself. So, yeah, it's good fun. Living in Chamonix is one of Mountain Action Holiday locations anyway, so it would probably be Chamonix for the good all year round aspect, it has everything, and that's why I live here.
What is a typical day off for you?
Depending where I am, if I'm in Croatia, on a day off, it's usually: Get up, go to the beach, yeah, sunbathe a bit. Have someone else cook for me, maybe go for a bit of fishing in the afternoon, evening time. That's a good day off for me. And over here in Chamonix, when the mountains are open, it's straight up for snowboarding.
You’ve lived in Chamonix the whole year round, which season do you prefer and why?
I really like snowboarding so it's very easy for me to access the lifts throughout the winter, but it's also just a good vibe. It's everyone who comes out here, all the guests are always happy because they're on holiday. So you're always surrounded by positive people, which is always nice and always a delight to cook for. You pick up the energy from them, especially their first time in Chamonix. It's quite an exciting time over the winter, but the summer is also fantastic. There's a few more sports available in the summer, and you get a different perspective at how things look up there on the mountain. But for me, it's definitely winter I prefer.
What's it like working with Julie, the founder of Mountain Action Holidays?
Fantastic, she’s a great boss and she's got a lot of connections and she's really very willing to go in and put the work in herself to make sure things are done right. So it's very good to work alongside her, that's for sure.
Are there any kind of experiences that you've had with the clients, or stories that you can think of that stand out for you?
We get quite a few different clients come through the door. There was one particularly fun family. They were actually on their honeymoon, they're from Bermuda and they'd decided to come here. They were just really good fun, really wanting everyone to get involved and enjoying the celebrations. Most guests that come through the door are very happy to have you there, they're very thankful of what we do and we do try and make it as bespoke as we possibly can for them to cater to their needs, and just to make sure they have a good time really.
