Pasta, Pheasant and Festive Feasts: A Conversation with Chef Director Arturo Granato, Galvin Restaurants
At Galvin La Chapelle in Spitalfields, a crab raviolo tells you plenty about Arturo Granato’s cooking. Homemade pasta speaks to his Italian background; beurre blanc brings the French foundations, with dashi adding another layer of flavour. As Chef Director of Galvin Restaurants, Arturo brings that same respect for ingredients to three distinct settings: Michelin starred La Chapelle, neighbouring Galvin Bistrot & Bar and the Galvin Green Man in Essex.
With festive menus on the horizon, he talks to The Knife about putting his stamp on an established restaurant, why pheasant deserves its Christmas moment and how using everything from pumpkin seeds to poultry bones helps make generous dining possible. There’s also the importance of sitting down as a guest in your own restaurant, and a personal ambition for the year ahead…
You bring an Italian background to a restaurant family rooted in French cooking. Which dish best brings those influences together?
Definitely the crab raviolo at La Chapelle. It’s very close to my heart, but also to the Galvins’. When I joined, we had crab lasagne, which was one of the restaurant’s biggest signatures. Over time, I replaced it with the raviolo.
You have the Italian technique of making homemade pasta, combined with beurre blanc, one of the classic French sauces. Together, they’re very indulgent. We also add dashi to the beurre blanc for extra umami. If one dish shows how Italian and French cooking can work together, it’s the Dorset crab raviolo.
Taking over an established restaurant comes with expectations. How did you begin making La Chapelle your own?
It was a big responsibility: this building has so much history. For me, the starting point was respecting what Chris and Jeff [Galvin] had built over the years. Even when designing my own menu, I wanted to respect the flavours and the cooking that were already there, then slowly introduce my own personality.
The biggest change was moving towards a more Mediterranean direction last year. But if you were a customer before and came back now, you would still recognise the foundations. The respect for the product is the same. In the beginning, it was about familiarising myself with the restaurant and gradually putting my own touch on it.
You oversee a Michelin starred restaurant, a bistrot and a country pub. How does the same ingredient take on a different identity in each?
The approach is similar across all three. I always say "we" because I’m talking about my team as well as myself. As a director, one of the most important things is helping people grow and learn the craft we want to deliver.
The differences come through the techniques and the way we present a dish. We have a pumpkin tart at all three restaurants, with a very similar base recipe. At Green Man, it’s more convivial, served with a classic coffee gelato. At the Bistrot, we use a clementine sauce and brûlée the top. At La Chapelle, we refine the presentation and add extra finesse.
The base is the same. It’s always about respecting the ingredient.
Winter cooking is often associated with richness and indulgence. How do you bring that sense of comfort to the plate?
It starts with seasonal ingredients. Using the things that belong to winter already helps create that festive feeling. Then it comes down to technique and skill: an ingredient can become richer simply through the way you cook it.
Of course, we use products people expect to find in a restaurant at Christmas, but the cooking is what brings everything together. We try to create warmer flavours and give the dish that extra feeling of comfort.
Roasted wild pheasant features on La Chapelle’s festive menu. Why choose it over turkey, and what’s the secret to getting it right?
We love pheasant, and we know our customers do too. It’s local, it’s beautiful and it’s at its best during this period. Honestly, if I had to choose between turkey and pheasant, I would choose pheasant.
The secret is in the cooking. We cook the breast and legs separately; we brine the breast and cook it gently to keep it tender, while the legs are slow-cooked and pressed. We finish the dish with a Périgueux sauce, with Madeira and black truffle. Those flavours give it richness and that extra finesse you expect at La Chapelle.
I hadn’t really cooked much pheasant before coming here. In Italy, we call it fagiano, and we might use it in a ragù or with pasta. Here, there’s a real culture around it. When it’s on our Christmas menu, it’s probably the bestseller.
It isn’t an easy bird to cook. If you don’t get it right, it’s no good. But when you do, it’s amazing.
At the Bistrot, festive dining is all about sharing. What do you want the table to feel like?
We want to create that feeling of Christmas Day, with all the food on the table and everyone enjoying it together.
We do a turkey ballotine with sage stuffing, and a classic panettone with zabaglione, which is a little more Italian. Those are things I would love to eat over Christmas.
But it’s less about one particular dish than the whole feasting menu. It’s designed especially for groups and parties, so everyone can have a piece of everything. You have the turkey, the little bites and starters, all to share. That’s the feeling we want to give people.
December can be expensive. How do you make a festive menu generous without relying on costly ingredients?
Costs have increased everywhere, but the first thing I look at when designing a menu is seasonality. Something that seems expensive can become much more affordable when it’s in season, whether that’s pheasant or a vegetable.
Then you have to treat the product with respect and make the most of it. If we have a bird, we use the breast, the legs and the bones for the sauce. With a pumpkin, we can use the seeds for oil, the skin for a powder and the flesh for the tart.
That’s the principle behind everything. For the festive period, we sit down and ask what’s in season, what people love to eat and what’s available, rather than deciding we want caviar and that’s what it has to be.
All those details help us be generous and competitive. At the end of the day, our guests are the priority.
Green Man’s Christmas menu pairs aged beef fillet with slow-cooked shin. What does each cut bring?
Beef fillet is tender and can be served rare, so you get a very clean, straightforward flavour of the beef itself.
With the shin, slow cooking gives you that richness we’ve been talking about. There’s red wine in there, and you get a sticky, intense flavour.
It’s the same animal, but two different ways of cooking and two completely different flavours. One brings warmth and richness, the other lets you enjoy the flavour of the beef very directly.
Do festive diners tend to stick with tradition, or are they open to something different?
There’s a mix. Lots of guests come specifically for the Christmas options on the festive set menu, but there are always people who would prefer a crudo, for example, to something more traditional. I’d say it’s a good 50–50, to be honest.
The Galvins have longstanding relationships with producers. How much do those conversations shape your menus?
It’s an ongoing conversation. Whenever we’re developing a menu, we speak to our suppliers about the best fish, meat and vegetables for that season. They give us guidance.
It comes back to affordability as well. If you choose a fish that’s in season, you’re getting the best available at that moment. Compare that with a fish that’s out of season: it’s harder to catch, harder to get delivered, doesn’t taste the same and costs much more.
Those conversations are part of our daily operation and happen all the time when we design menus.
You’ve hosted a series of collaborative dinners this year. What stays with you after the guest chefs have gone home?
It’s been great. Rather than one particular thing you take away, it’s the whole experience of having these chefs here.
You exchange ideas and share ways of working, even if it’s only for one night. There’s a lot to learn, a lot to understand and a lot to talk about with each other. That sharing of ideas is what makes the experience so valuable.
What have been your highlights of the year, and what’s your resolution for 2027?
Retaining La Chapelle’s Michelin star is definitely a highlight. In terms of menus, the Bistrot’s autumn menu has been one of my favourites: very seasonal, rich and full of flavour.
I’m probably one of Galvin Restaurants' best customers! I'm always going in to eat and try things, because seeing a dish as a cook is one thing, but experiencing it as a guest is very different. It's important to do both.
For the business, I want us to keep doing what we’re doing and keep making our guests happy. That’s always our priority.
On a personal level, we’re thinking about having a second child. It’s a plan, rather than an announcement! Work is work and life is life, but I think if you’re happy in your personal life, you’re much better at work.
