Leeds's Michelin starred chef Man Behind the Curtain's Michael O'Hare aiming for second Michelin star

I don’t expect people to actually cook the recipes that are in my book, says Michelin-starred chef Michael O’Hare of his first book Violations on Good Judgement.

And to be truthful it is definitely more an art book than a cookery book. Standing at just shy of half a metre high and setting you back an impressive £135 you will need a pretty sturdy coffee table to hold it.

But O’Hare, 40, is deeply proud of his creation, as he is of his restaurant Man Behind the Curtain in Leeds which was awarded a Michelin star in 2015, a year after it opened and which it has retained ever since.

To regard Violations on Good Judgement as just another cookbook, is to regard Man Behind the Curtain as just another restaurant.

O’Hare’s view on the dishes he creates is different from most chefs. For him his dishes should be regarded as works of art or like high fashion. It is about creation and evolution, but he hates the idea that people think his restaurant is ‘wacky’ or ‘rock and roll’.

“The Man Behind the Curtain is a very different place to the one I opened seven years ago and I wanted the book to be a presentation of how it is now. It is as much about art and fashion as it is about food,” says O’Hare.

“It cannot stand still or it will be out of date.” He says Violations is not a collection of recipes, although it does include recipes of some of his signature dishes.

“Its intention isn’t ‘look what I can make, you can make it too’. It’s a freeze frame of where the Man Behind the Curtain is now.

“With art and fashion books people don’t expect to be able to make the things they see at home and the same goes for this. A Tom Ford book doesn’t show you how to make a shirt so why should a book about food be any different.”

He was first asked to write a book five years ago. But this self proclaimed perfectionist was not going to be involved in anything that he didn’t have full control over – and that wasn’t perfect.

And so it has come together over a number of years and the result is pretty much perfection; it is as idiosyncratic as his restaurant. The photographs are definitely works of art and they are not just of food.

There are surfboards and skateboards, a motorbike and even a pair of shoes makes an appearance – O’Hare is famous for his taste in shoes as well as his long locks and tattoos.

“I have worked with the same photographer Allen Markey for years so he knows me and my ways. Everything has to be 100 per cent right and I have to have complete control. I know it makes me sound like a bit of a maniac but it’s a character trait.”

Whether it is turning 40 or becoming a dad (the book is dedicated to five year old son Hedi) it feels like O’Hare has grown up since he first took the culinary scene by storm seven years ago.

“For quite a few years I took every opportunity that came my way. If they paid me I’d do it. I became a bit of *** if I’m honest. Once I had my little boy, life changed. I decided I wasn’t going to do anything that wasn’t creative and fun, I also wanted to make sure that I got the work life balance right, I drop my little by off at school every day. As a single dad your priorities change.

“I’m a different person to when I was 35 – my life is completely different.”

Growing up in Redcar, O’Hare’s parents were both from working class backgrounds; his mother running a florists, his father a welder.

He flirted with careers from ballet to aerospace engineering, before turning to food,

“I decided cooking was something I really wanted to do. I was 19 when that happened. Before then I’d never bought my own produce, but I was doing it on a daily basis. I used to buy fresh fish and things.

“I spoke to a local restaurant and asked advice on what to do and he said you can either go to college and start again or you can start working in restaurants. I chose the latter.”

He did a stint at Judges Country House Hotel, Yarm, before moving to Harrogate to work with former Royal chef Graham Newbould and later John Burton-Race in London.

He was also the driving force behind The Blind Swine in York, a venture he left in 2014 following an unfavourable rent rise.

He opened The Man Behind The Curtain under a veil of mystery above Flannels in Leeds, the former home of fine dining restaurant Anthony’s, in 2014. It now occupies a ground floor location on Vicar Lane. The name is from the Wizard of Oz and the idea was to make it a collaborative effort. However, his inaugural appearance on the BBC’s Great British Menu in 2015, where he was described as a ‘maverick’ chef and dyed his hair black, put paid to that.

His fish course, Emancipation, a contemporary take on fish and chips, served on a canvas, not a plate, won him a place in the banquet celebrating 100 years of the Women’s Institute, at his first attempt. A version of the dish appears in Violations.

For the last few years he has returned as a judge this year judging the North-East and Yorkshire heat.

“It was difficult as I knew the chefs competing - two of them are Leeds-based,” says O’Hare.

“It’s difficult because you are either seen as being kind to them because you know them or harsh because they are in competition.”

Although the last two years have been a challenge for everyone in hospitality, O’Hare says in some ways he enjoyed lockdown.

“I was looking after my son and spending quality time with him and it gave me time to reflect. I think the pace of life is too fast and if I could afford it I would close the restaurant for one month every year.”

The Man Behind the Curtain retained its Michelin star for a seventh year this year, something O’Hare is proud of, but his ambition is to get a second Michelin star for Leeds, something that had been put on hold due to the pandemic.

“If I am honest I didn’t think we would lose it,” he says of retaining the Michelin star.

“The goal has been to retain and not to push on for that second star over the last couple of years.”

Although, with the end of the pandemic in sight he is more keen than ever to push for a second star for Leeds

“It is my ultimate goal, to have two stars for Leeds. I am always planning for the future and not stuck in the present.”

Violations On Good Judgement by Michael O’Hare from www.awaywithmedia.com or from The Man Behind the Curtain, Vicar Lane Leeds, https://themanbehindthecurtain.co.uk £135.Photograph by Allen Markey