Globetrotting chef Jason Atherton likes to stay organised
Spend a few minutes with Jason Atherton, and he'll tell you he's a lucky man. The mastermind behind Hong Kong's buzzing tapas bar 22 Ships is an award-winning chef, head of a growing international restaurant empire and happily married father of two. But it wasn't luck that got the British-born Atherton where he is today. "I never went to a private school; I didn't have the advantages kids have today. I just had a dream, and my dream was to be the best chef I could possibly be," he says.
Atherton, who grew up in Sheffield, says his dream started in his early teens. "I just knew it was my purpose in life, I don't know why. Even my mum says, 'God knows where you came from'."
At 16, he left home and got to work, living in youth hostels while studying cookbooks and training under some of Britain's best-known chefs, including Pierre Koffmann and Marco Pierre White. He is the first British chef to complete a stage at pioneering molecular gastronomy restaurant elBulli.
After nearly 10 years working for the Gordon Ramsay Group, Atherton set up his own restaurant company - with the backing of Singapore's Khoo family - and opened London's Pollen Street Social in April 2011. Within the year, the "contemporary bistro" earned its first Michelin star. "Every now and again a door of opportunity opens, and it's down to you whether you walk through it or not," he says. "That door opened up for me. I didn't even think about it, I just ran straight through it. And here we are today, eight restaurants down the line and so far, so good."
"It's exciting, but at the same time it's very hard work. People assume it's very glamorous, but it's not. It's just another kitchen, another town. I get off a plane and go to a hotel, unpack, get in a taxi and go straight to the kitchen, make sure everything is in order. That's what I do," he says. "But at the same time I'm very fortunate because I have a successful restaurant group."
Atherton admits he has yet to master time management but likes to stay organised. "I've got OCD [obsessive-compulsive disorder]. That's why I have such a love affair with Japan. Everything is so in order, so neat and tidy. Everything works, everyone queues. I just love that," he says. "My wardrobes are like that. My life's like that. Even the way I go through an airport is very organised, because I just don't want to waste time."
