Romain, 32, arrives at his restaurant, La Fourchette, by 8am. He spends the day working on accounts, organising maintenance and meeting with suppliers and staff. He helps out on the floor when the restaurant gets busy. After the lunch service, around 2pm, typically he will eat a pizza, bruschetta or soup. He finishes work by 4pm to pick up his son from daycare and goes home to give him his dinner. In the evening Romain cooks or orders Japanese. On Wednesday afternoons he plays petanque and on Sundays goes mountain biking.
8am
Scrambled eggs on toast with smoked salmon — made by one of the team. I normally get to work early so I can take my time for breakfast. Some days I don’t have anything.
2pm
Steak tartare with fries or pizza with a glass of rosé or chablis and a macaron or eclair if I feel like it. Our menu and patisserie are a big temptation.
4pm
Nice cold Kronenbourg 1664.
7.30pm
Gyoza, prawn noodle dish from Taisho Japanese and glass of French wine.
Mikki Williden’s quick nutrition fix
Oh, to have someone to whip up breakfast and lunch — you are a lucky man. I’m not surprised that the sweet treats are tempting come lunchtime, especially on the days you don’t have breakfast. I recommend you make breakfast a priority to allow you to carry out the account and administration work throughout the morning — research has found that memory, attention span and productivity is higher in those that have breakfast. If the kitchen could add a decent amount of vegetables to your breakfast (such as spinach, grilled tomatoes, some mushrooms, perhaps) you would have ticked off three of your 5+ a day before 10am and wouldn’t be so hungry at lunchtime. That way, when you do indulge in a delicious eclair, you’ll enjoy it so much more as an occasional treat.
At lunchtime, swapping out those fries for a dark green leafy salad with a nice olive oil dressing will keep your energy sustained throughout the afternoon — your game of petanque will likely improve with less of the fat-carb combination that pizza or the steak and fries combo represent. Though you’re dining at an amazing restaurant, your body doesn’t know the difference between fries from McDonalds and fries from La Fourchette.
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Mikki Williden is a registered nutritionist and lecturer at AUT University, where she lectures in public health nutrition and sports nutrition at the School of Sport and Recreation. Read Bite articles from Mikki or visit mikkiwilliden.com for more.
