Mauro Colagreco Cooks on the Pallets

It was a great privilege to welcome chefs Mauro Colagreco and Leonel Aguirre to cook on the pallets here at Le Marché. Mauro is a legendary chef with many Michelin stars - including three stars for his flagship restaurant Mirazur in Menton, France. Here in London, he oversees the the kitchen at Raffles hotel with the help of Leonel, his head chef.

From left: Marcus Rowlerson, Leonel Aguirre and Mauro Colagreco

If you are not familiar with our Cooking on the Pallets series, this is an opportunity for chefs to visit our warehouse in the early morning to cook for our team of delivery drivers. It’s a no-frills set up: a camping stove on a stack of wooden pallets - hence the name.

For this visit, Mauro and Leonel cooked a squash rosti served with a citrus hollandaise and a winter salad with various radicchios.

Leonel explained that citrus is a particular passion for Mauro. His three-star restaurant is located in Menton in France, where they hold a citrus festival every February. “Citrus is of course a fruit but you can use it in different ways - for freshness, bitterness, sweetness - some of them have a minerality.”

The menu at Raffles includes dishes such as poached langoustine with clementine, finger lime and green cardamom.

Leonel explained that he has always enjoyed working with Le Marché: “One of the great things Le Marché showed us is the importance of quality over quantity. And the customer service is very good and very fast. Working with you guys is always a pleasure rather than a headache.”

Would you like to cook on the pallets? We welcome all chefs and you definitely don’t need Michelin stars. We were so impressed by the attitude of Mauro and Leonel, who went out of their way to cook a proper breakfast for our drivers. Leonel has the final word: “To be honest it was a lot of fun - even though it was very early in the morning!”