Happy New Year!

Looking back, 2007 was a good year. My first sole book was published in the spring by DK selling more than we could have hoped for. Over the summer we finished my second book titled One Perfect Ingredient which is due to be published this spring.

I have to agree the timing of the photos was not great, my wife was expecting our third baby in July and the only dates available for the team were right over the due date! Jessie arrived safely on the last day and fitted in perfectly!

It is almost a year to the day that we gained our second Michelin star at Pétrus – something that the team and I dreamed about for a long time. When the call finally came it really was hard to believe but the best possible timing.

I wonder who will be in the headlines this year, who will lose stars? Who will gain stars? The chef world has been buzzing for a while with rumours but of course no one really knows until that press release comes out – it’s the best kept secret in catering! Whatever happens, I hope there are lots more stars around – it can only be good for this country and its culinary reputation. My predictions? I think I will keep them to myself!

I continue to be amazed at how busy Pétrus is, even in January, a traditionally quiet month when everyone completes their tax returns and thinks about the pennies and how much they spent at Christmas. We are still busy, which is great to see.

We have received some pretty good reviews recently too: Tatler, Hardens etc but something that means a lot was the Top Table award for Most Highly Rated London Restaurant. This award is based on feedback from customers – the people who really count.

At home it seems I have been usurped from my position of head cook, as my eldest son Jake, aged six, received a wonderful cookery book (‘Easy Peasy Cooking’) and a new apron for Christmas and is slowly working his way through the recipes. I suppose I should be grateful of the break!! My other son Archie, aged three, is also showing signs of enjoying cooking – he made a pasta salad at nursery and ate the lot!

Marcus