It was garlanded with praise and its chef was compared to everything from a rock god to the new Heston Blumenthal.
Michael O’Hare spills the beans (simmered till tender and tossed in a white truffle purée) in his interview for Restaurant.
Today he is acclaimed for his Leeds restaurant, The Man Behind The Curtain. But in the magazine’s interview with the man they describe as “the enfant terrible of the Northern restaurant scene”, they ask him about his the Blind Swine which closed in 2013.
He replies:
The Swine was a bit trendier than The Man Behind The Curtain – stoneware plates and carrot tops everywhere. It was the style of cooking Noma popularised five years ago that the whole world still seems to be obsessed with.
I hope it’s on the way out, because René [René Redzepi, co-founder of Danish restaurant Noma] certainly doesn’t cook like that any more.
Well, we thought it was great Michael…
Downer on the name
Later he is asked about the name of his current restaurant – it is a line from the Wizard Of Oz.
Michael tells the magazine:
At least it didn’t contain Social, Kitchen or Street. I like The Man Behind The Curtain. It can’t be abbreviated or shortened and it doesn’t sound like a restaurant.
But having worked at some top restaurants in the capital he did prefer our city.
“I also did a stage with Nuno Mendes at Viajante,” he told interviewer Joe Lutrario. “He’s an incredible person to work with and I loved his food, but being in London got me down.
“I’d been living in York, which is a lot nicer than Bethnal Green.”
You can read the full interview with Michael here.