Originally posted by d000hg
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But, I wouldn't say that they can't cook better than chefs in restaurants.
A bit of technique goes a long way. I have some friends who have trained as and worked as chefs in the past, and I would say that their cooking is as good as 90% of restaurants, and probably not because they are among the top 10% of chefs. Anyone can learn to cook well, and learn to cook different cuisines. Someone that loves food and cooking will be constantly learning new things, trying to cook new dishes, sampling the work of others, trying ideas of their own and so on. I personally have made a number of holidays to e.g. Japan, Italy, Thailand where sampling the food & even taking cookery courses was part of the reason for going. Most (not all, obviously) people that work in restaurants are preparing a small part of the menu, often the same dishes over and over for weeks at a time, and are quite probably bored to tulip by cooking when they knock off.
Also, with simpler dishes especially raw ingredients are the biggest influence on the quality of the end result.
In London in particular restaurants are generally far more expensive than the food warrants. The startup cost on even a modest restaurant can easily run into a million quid or more, and you frequently end up paying £40-50 a head + booze for what is usually OK but not great food. Also worth mentioning that cost & quality of food aren't proportional, there is some great food to be had in cheaper places where the people running the operation clearly care about quality of ingredients and good food. Then there are plenty of trendy places more concerned with decor and atmosphere where the food comes a poor second or third. While it's hard to match the good places for quality I can easily outcook the mediocre places simply by sourcing better ingredients and sticking to things I do well.
Lets face it, I'm 37 and have cooked (and eaten) a lot of Sunday roasts, I know how to do them. I can buy a good piece of organic rib with the bone in from my local butcher for £20-30, or a chicken for £10-12, & some decent organic veg and instantly I have a massive head start over some kid working in a restaurant that has to pay for wages, business rates and so on & hit the same £10 a head price point. I can cook the meat for 20 minutes more or less than planned and it will still be better, as long as I don't ruin the veg or make lumpy gravy I'm onto a winner. Half of the competition are serving frozen yorkshire puds & bisto FFS.
So yeah, I would say that for the price I can make a better roast dinner than anywhere within half an hour of my house. In fact, most of them want > £10 a head for a roast dinner so I can beat them on price as well.
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