Raising the Bargh

Robbie Bargh is head of the Gorgeous Group, which comes up with concepts for the hospitality business. Crucially, it also makes them happen. Christian Davis catches up with the ideas man

On the basis everyone wants an ‘experience’ these days, every drink away from home should either be an occasion or, at the very least, at an event. Ideally both. The days of going out for a mug of insipid tea or instant coffee and a stale sandwich served by uncaring, supercilious staff, are fading into the past – or should be.

But who fixes these occasions, creates the events and ensures we all have a positive experience? Well, you would think any idiot could switch the tea from standard own-label to Twinings or slam loads of ice and lemon into a tumbler to transform a gin and tonic. Sadly that still isn’t always the case.

Robbie Bargh is the 44-year-old founder and creative director of the Gorgeous Group. This is a man who positively drips with ideas. It’s the job of his 14 colleagues to mop up these ideas and make them happen. He has two fellow directors – Julian Shaw and Katherine Arnold, the former MD of the upmarket Corney & Barrow wine bar chain.

“I have the big ideas,” says the Mancunian, “I’ve know Julian for 22 years. Julian has to deliver them and Katherine manages the commercial side. She is the heartbeat of the business.

“We are a small team and clients need a lot of attention. Everyone (in the team) is an expert – drinks, food, bar legends, uniforms.”

We meet in Dishoon in Upper St Martins Lane, on the edge of London’s Covent Garden. Instead of a croissant or a bacon sandwich, they do a bacon naan roll. Bargh flew out to Mumbai to research the Bombay Café concept.

Bargh lives in Brixton, south London. The scene of some terrible riots in the early 1980s, it was, and some might say, still is blighted by the memory. But the area has been transformed by the sort of people Bargh communes with. What used to be a tatty indoor market is now ‘Brixton Village’, replete with cutting edge bars and eateries. For those of us who grew up in the area and witnessed the burgeoning West Indian community there, the positive transformation is little short of stunning.

Bargh is also a keen cyclist. So again, very ‘en place’.

Trying to reproduce Bargh’s breathless style of speaking severely tests one’s abilities with the English language, apropos punctuation. People talk about ‘being ahead of the curve’. Well Bargh appears so far ahead of it that he is round the corner and out of sight. That is what Gorgeous Group clients pay for.

So, what’s next? Bargh had mentioned a “chicken project in Ghana”. An African spin on KFC? Bargh says cagily: “A bit more special than that.” No more details forthcoming. Earlier he had mentioned that he was spending “every other week in Paris”. He pauses and opens up: “It is a Californian bistro in Paris, in a beautiful hotel right next to the Eiffel Tower.” But isn’t bistro an essentially French concept? “Clistro is about contemporary gastronomy,” he explains. “High quality, casual, less restrictive form of eating. French food is quite rigid. Southern California has different cuisines – bit of Spanish, bit of French. We are looking at LA and Palm Springs for a fresh, democratic, unfussy style of eating.”

He had also said that ‘enforcer’ Julian Shaw had been spending a lot of time in New York. So what is he up to in Times Square? Bargh pauses. “Supernova is about the history of the American cocktail from the 1850s and great American Comfort food such as meat loaf, tacos.” Grits? I ask. “Yes, grits,” he says devoid of enthusiasm, for once. In the next breath he goes on to say that he found a New Yorker working in Chelsea market in south west London, who makes great doughnuts – yes doughnuts. When was the last time you had a great doughnut…?

Bargh’s idea for a ‘doughnuterie’ is to have a special trolley in Supernova where guests, customers, ‘dough-nutters’ even, can customise their doughnuts. Jam or no jam sir? Strawberry, raspberry or peanut butter, sir? As it’s New York maybe there should be a ‘pickleback doughnut’ made with Jameson Irish whiskey and pickle juice.

“It is my job to inspire the clients and the team,” says Bargh. “It’s no good having a great idea if you can’t execute it. That is why Julian spends a lot of time training. We are constantly travelling. We have to have great passion as every client wants something different.”

How on earth did this all start?  Is there a university course for great hospitality ideas? “I was studying at Chester College and working part time in clubs in Manchester.” He pauses then says something that I didn’t get. Sorry? “I was a table dancer,” admits Bargh looking for a reaction. I try to hide my astonishment. “I also dabbled behind the bar. I loved it. Not knowing what to do, I went into management training with Muswells in the late 1980-90s. I worked with Carol Darwin. She was a really great boss. Never forgot how much  I learnt from her.

“I worked around Northampton and Cardiff, ending up in London. I worked for Whitbread on new ventures. I opened an Italian restaurant in Westbourne Grove.” He starts to reel them off: “I worked for Tower Thistle. Then Wagamama and the Pelican Group, Karen Jones, My Kinda Town with Peter Webber and Luke Johnson, who had the Caprice and Daphne’s. I worked for all the key players.”

Indeed he did. These are the names of some of the seminal players who have led the transformation of formal dining and hospitality in London. It has been a lot more than just about chefs such as Marco Pierre White, Gordon Ramsay, Raymond Blanc et al. London was pretty much a gastronomic desert (not dessert) before all these people started producing new, fresh ideas and instilling professionalism in the higher end of the hospitality sector.

Then what happened? “I went to the States,” Bargh says. “I did not know what to do. I had worked for some great bosses but I did not want to go into operations. Nor did I want to own a restaurant or bar. I advised a couple of people. I did the Zetter Bar at the Hilton Park Lane, and Hakkasan. I decided to start up my own business. Twelve years later there are 15 of us,” he says.

To describe Hakkasan as a Chinese is saying Johnnie Walker Blue Label George V is just another blended Scotch, or Château d’Yquem is a sweet, sticky wine. Best to leave the description to the experts. 

Here is what Square Meal magazine says about it: “A cross between an edgy, black-suited nightclub and a moody restaurant (think John Travolta’s Swordfish, says a movie buff), Hakkasan’s brand of glitzy, gilt-edged Chinese cooking still rocks the West End. 

“Once you’ve descended into the darkness, the dining room immediately works its ‘electrifying’ magic with smouldering incense, seductive spot lighting and a throbbing soundtrack providing the backdrop to some turbocharged Cantonese flavours. Exquisitely presented dim-sum platters are a hard act to follow (don’t miss the XO scallop dumplings), but visitors are regularly blown away by the stunningly beautiful crispy duck salad with pomelo fruit, the silky roast silver cod with Champagne and Chinese honey, and the bank balance-sinking seared Wagyu beef with white asparagus. Drinks also add to the ‘genius of the place’: glamorous cocktails keep the slinky bar at fever pitch, while the wine list is a ground-breaking collection of classy bottles.” (squaremeal.co.uk/restaurants/london/view/80677/Hakkasan)

Get it?

As you would expect, Bargh is passionate about people – getting the right ones and training them. He says: “The basics of hospitality is being able to look after someone. It is not rocket science. We have got to keep trying to get better. Many chefs and managers are self-obsessed. Without guests you have nothing.

“In Ghana there is no concept of hospitality. People just go home and eat. You cannot assume things. Sometimes you have to start with: ‘This is a plate. These are chopsticks,” he says. Someone said there was no cocktail culture outside of London. Well, I’ve been to Leeds, Glasgow, Manchester and there are pockets of great talent. You need to nurture talent,” says Bargh.

Bargh also believes there is an opportunity for providing hospitality for older people. “My mother is in her 60s and when we go out she wants a great experience. Older people still want great food and great drinks. There needs to be more thought about what they want. We have become so obsessed with youth, Generation X. There is a massive opportunity,” he says.

Bargh concludes: “It is good to give someone something unexpected, something that they do not know exists. That is our job: to bring that expectation to life.”