In our restaurant, our Head Chef is, rather inconveniently for television producers, a calm and balanced person. During our peak seasons, he stands before a grill that behaves less like a cooking surface and more like a military operation. Three dozen steaks at once are fairly standard, sometimes more, each demanding its own treatment and precise moment of intervention.
A Rib Eye prefers the simplicity of medium rare. The next one has been ordered well done. A line up of Tenderloins insists on restraint, patience and widely differing cooking points, while one of our famous Picanhas rewards a decisive sear. Somewhere on the edge of the grill, a Skirt Steak waits to be sliced properly so that it ends up tender rather than obstinate.
Around him the kitchen and restaurant are boiling. Orders pile in, plates depart at second intervals, and the grill emits a steady soundtrack of sizzling fat and metre high flames. Yet our Chef rarely raises his voice. He flips, rests, bastes and checks with the quiet concentration of someone who understands that panic never improves a steak. This has been his pattern for well over a decade, which is precisely why we value him so highly.
Unfortunately, calm chefs like him are often the exception. The restaurant industry has long cultivated a curious figure: the tyrannical head chef who believes culinary excellence is best enforced through shouting, intimidation and the occasional airborne utensil. In this particular mythology, precision thrives best in a climate of fear, and a soufflé rises more reliably if someone nearby is being loudly humiliated.
Television, naturally, has preserved and amplified this character. The most famous embodiment of the angry chef persona is undoubtedly Gordon Ramsay, who managed the impressive feat of transforming volcanic temper into a global media franchise. His television kitchens operate somewhere between cooking school and gladiator spectacle. Contestants tremble under verbal barrages, dishes are condemned with theatrical brutality, and viewers watch the drama unfold while safely seated on their sofas munching popcorn.
The phenomenon is by no means limited to male chefs, although it has also seen prominent female figures accused of similar behaviour. One of the more widely discussed examples involved April Bloomfield, the chef associated with New York’s once fashionable Spotted Pig. Former employees later described a workplace culture in which bullying and intimidation appeared to be part of the daily kitchen rhythm. The issue is therefore less about gender than about overall restaurant culture and leadership.
Which brings us to the latest chapter in this uncomfortable discussion, involving Copenhagen’s once legendary restaurant Noma and its celebrated founder René Redzepi. He has been accused by former staff of violence and intimidation, and of creating a workplace in which shouting, public humiliation and even physical aggression were allegedly common. One chef described going to work there as entering a war zone; another compared the atmosphere to a hospital emergency triage room.
To his credit, Redzepi has acknowledged that he struggled with anger and has spoken about seeking therapy to address his issues. The Noma organisation has also stated that the workplace culture today no longer resembles the one described in these accounts.
Even so, the broader debate within the restaurant industry is unlikely to disappear anytime soon. Running a high performance restaurant like ours, serving over 200 steak covers a night, is unquestionably stressful. Dinner service needs to unfold with the precision of choreography performed under fire. Guests expect perfection rather than explanations, and a steak cooked two minutes too long cannot be persuaded back to medium rare. Still, pressure does not justify abuse.
We as restaurant owners have always maintained that we carry the ultimate responsibility, not only for the quality of the food, but also for the culture in which it is produced. The notion that temper tantrums are a legitimate management strategy is one we have always rejected, and one the industry at large needs to retire.
From day one, we took a deliberately unfashionable and distinctly non TikTok approach. Rather than tolerating theatrical outbursts, we opted for something that would not look dramatic on television – communication. Every quarter or so, the kitchen and service teams sit down together for an open exchange of views and issues. The purpose is not to assign blame, but to identify what works during service, what creates friction, and what could be improved before the next busy season arrives. It is remarkable how many operational problems dissolve once people simply speak to one another like colleagues.
Following these sessions, we organise a complete day off for team activities chosen by the staff themselves. Sometimes it is a beach outing, sometimes dinner somewhere else, occasionally karaoke, games they select, or something entirely unexpected. We as owners help organise and cover the costs. Everyone attends, many with spouses or partners, not as rival departments but as members of the same successful enterprise.
It is, admittedly, not the sort of system that produces viral kitchen meltdowns, but for us it functions rather well. Our restaurant has been operating continuously since January 2012, and we suspect that this rather mundane emphasis on mutual respect between kitchen and service teams has contributed more to that longevity than any amount of shouting or media coverage ever could.
The culinary world will continue to produce stories of chefs throwing pans, berating apprentices or declaring war on failed plate designs. Meanwhile, our own kitchen remains quietly occupied with the more traditional task of cooking excellent steaks.
Three dozen at once, sometimes more. No shouting required.
Image Credit: https://churrascophuket.com (AI Generated)
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Churrasco Phuket Steakhouse serves affordable Wagyu and Black Angus steaks and burgers. We are open daily from 12noon to 11pm at Jungceylon Shopping Center in Patong / Phuket.
We are family-friendly and offer free parking and Wi-Fi for guests. See our menus, reserve your table, find our location, and check all guest reviews here:
https://ChurrascoPhuket.com/
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