Ludlow's Chef Claude is keen to join the immortals

Claude Bosi, one of Europe’s greatest chefs, is looking to join the immortals.

“I want three Michelin stars,” he says, matter-of-factly.

He had two at his last restaurant, Hibiscus, which relocated from Ludlow to Mayfair. But that didn’t satisfy his craving to join the greats.

“I am not here so that I can achieve less than I had before. It’s time to go one better, it’s time to win three.”

Bosi moved to Ludlow 20 years ago. Though he relocated to London 10 years hence, he retains strong links with the town. He co-owns The Townhouse Hotel, with his brother, Cedric, and also co-owns The Church Inn, at Ludlow, with his wife, Lucy, brother, Cedric, and sister-in-law, Amy.

Yet it is his move to London’s iconic Bibendum that has set pulses racing. In forming a business partnership with the great restaurateur and retailer, Sir Terence Conran, Bosi is moving in elite circles. Sir Terence approached him when the chef decided to close Hibiscus, in Mayfair, after running out of gas.

“I had had enough,” he says. “I needed to do something different. So I decided to sell up and move on.”

Sir Terence’s call was a coincidence. When he left Hibiscus he hadn’t planned to move to Bibendum.

“Sir Terence asked me to be a consultant. He wanted to revive Bibendum and do something new. But I told him I wouldn’t do it. I told him that a restaurant as important as this needed somebody who was committed, somebody who would put their heart and soul into it, somebody who would give it everything.”

That somebody was him. And having closed the restaurant for a complete refurbishment, Bosi is now back at the pass and looking to prove what he’s made of.

If he achieves his dream, he will become one of only four UK chefs to cook at the highest level. “It is my dream. It is unfinished business.”

He doesn’t plan any more moves. “I’m a little older and a little wiser. This is my last move. I will be here for the longest time. There won’t be any more after this. I’m here for the duration. I want to achieve something special.”

Sir Terence pops in regularly to offer ideas and talk. “He was in yesterday. Sir Terence is a remarkable man. He has the most amazing mind. He is very strong intellectually and creatively. It is a great opportunity to work with somebody who is truly amazing.”

With Bosi cooking his heart out at one of London’s great restaurants, he is set for sustained success.

And yet it might all have been so different. For had he not fallen in love with Ludlow 20 years ago, he would have returned to France, never to be seen in Shropshire again.

“I only came here to learn English. There were certainly no plans to stay. I was cooking at Overton Grange, near Ludlow, and then the job for the head chef came up. They told me that I could take it but that I had to achieve three AA rosettes within a few months.”

Remarkably, he did. But AA rosettes were the least of his cares. Soon, he was part of the wave of great Ludlovian chefs – Bosi, Shaun Hill, Chris Bradley and Ken Adams – to win recognition from Michelin as the town became the most talked-about destination outside London. And it wasn’t long until he’d opened his own restaurant, Hibiscus, in Corve Street, earning first a single star and then a second.

“I love Ludlow,” he says. “It is a marvellous town. I still visit regularly and we have strong links with it. I didn’t plan to stay, but I am glad that I did. And though I moved to London a long time ago, I am regularly back – not least to check up on The Church Inn.”

Bosi will be in illustrious company if he achieves a third star. Only three UK restaurants presently hold the accolade. Not that he is daunted by that.

“Why not? Why not? We are looking to create a restaurant that is world class. We want people who live in the north of Scotland to think ‘It will be worth booking a flight so that we can eat at Bibendum’. And we want those people to know they will have an exceptional dinner if they come here. It’s about consistency, consistency, consistency. We have to be the best.”

His inspiration for his new restaurant comes from home. Born in Lyon, in France, Bosi and his brother, Cedric, grew up in their parents bistro. His mother was the cook and his father ran the restaurant. They were a formidable team and soon the Bosi brothers were following in their parents’ footsteps. “The first time I cooked I set fire to the pan,” Bosi laughs. Though things have since changed and now he’s one of the best cooks in Europe.

His brother, Cedric, meanwhile, found he didn’t enjoy the heat of the kitchen and became a formidable restaurant manager and maitre d. Dishes that his mother cooked feature at Bibendum – although in a more-refined style.

“There’s a dish of cuttlefish and tripe,” he says. “And it’s delicious. It’s with a little ham cake, to soak up all the juices.” The dish – and others, including roast chicken – have got critics raving. For providing informal food is all part of the plan at Bibendum.

“I was at Hackney and I found an old carving trolley,” he says. “So I bought it. And now we have the most incredible rotisserie, with a rib of beef or pork or lamb on the lunchtime carvery. It is stunning food at amazing value.”

He has also surrounded himself with the heritage of Michelin. Bibendum was formerly Michelin’s UK headquarters and the stunning building, in the heart of Chelsea, was bought by Sir Terence and the late publisher Paul Hamlyn for £8 million, during the 1980s. They converted it into a restaurant though when it grew tired and in need to inspiration, Sir Terence turned to Bosi.

“Lucy and I ate here, but we didn’t really know the history. Then we saw the amazing stained glass windows and the busts of Bibendum – the Michelin Man. We got a sense of what it was all about.”

They’ve respected that heritage by restoring the Bibendums to plinths around the dining room. And there’s also large book cases full of the fabled red Michelin guide, paying homage to the great and the good of the culinary world.

Bosi, of course, is already part of that club. Though he eschews TV programmes – preferring to let his food do the talking and stay in the kitchen – his reputation goes before him. And having cooked in some of the greatest kitchens in France before he moved to Ludlow – L’Arpege and Restaurant Alain Ducasse – other chefs now view him in the same exalted manner.

At Bibendum, he’s finally found his true home.

And over the coming decades, he will no doubt achieve the highest standards of all as he goes on to find a place among the world’s very best chefs.

For now, he has got his nose to the grindstone as he cooks for guests from far and wide.

Vive Michelin. Vive Bosi.