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04
Oct 2024
French chef dubbed the ‘culinary Pele’ dines at Harrogate pub
A chef dubbed ‘a kind of culinary Pele’ by the Guardian has dined at a Harrogate pub.
Pierre Koffmann, 77, who is one of only a handful of chefs to be awarded three Michelin stars, visited Three’s A Crowd on West Park.
The pub took to social media to share a photo with the culinary king, as well as a note left by Mr Koffman on a menu.
Along with a drawing of stereotypically French-looking chef, Mr Koffman wrote:
Excellent meat. Top sauce.
Pierre Koffmann's note to Three's A Crowd
Sabrina Kharfallah, the pub's events and marketing manager, said Mr Koffmann and his wife Claire ordered cheese puffs; a mushroom and smoked garlic vol au vent; a chicory, pear and walnut salad with blue cheese, and pork and fennel sausages to start.
They then chose the Hereford Chateaubriand with Diane sauce, and the Yorkshire pork chop with a quince glaze as their main courses.
Ms Kharfallah told the Stray Ferret seeing Mr Koffmann's name on the books was nerve-wracking, but added he and his wife were "kind and understanding". She also said:
Pierre Koffmann said that our meat was cooked perfectly and the sauce on the pork chop was amazing, it melted in the mouth.
Pierre Koffmann and Claire Koffmann took their time to speak to our chef Matthew Casey and they were incredibly kind to all of the team. They were very down to earth, making it an absolute pleasure to serve them.
According to his social media, Mr Koffmann was in town to assist heat one of the Deli Fresh Young Chef of the Year Competition, which was held at Bettys.
He can be seen in a social media video helping the young chefs in the kitchen, and was thanked for his time and hard work.
Mr Koffmann moved to London in the early 1970s, aged 22, where he took on a role at Michel and Albert Roux’s Le Gavroche.
By 1977, he and his late wife Annie opened Le Tante Claire in Chelsea. Within six years, the restaurant was awarded the maximum three Michelin stars and, according to Great British Chefs, Mr Koffmann cooked and served the best food in Britain at the time.
A particularly popular dish was said to be the pig’s trotters stuffed with chicken mousseline, sweetbreads and morel mushrooms.
Mr Koffman trained the likes of Gordon Ramsay, Marco Pierre White, Tom Kitchen and Tom Aikens.
As a Stray Ferret subsriber, you are entitled to 10% off at Three's A Crowd.
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