It is no accident that Russell Norman, who has died suddenly aged 57, made his late-1980s entrance into the restaurant world through the doors of the theatreland favourite Joe Allen; a place adored more for its scene than its ever-reliable American bistro food. Norman was on the run from a career as a drama teacher. He wanted to be at the heart of things and found a welcoming home in the carefully choreographed drama of a room frequented late at night by the biggest West End stars just off the stage.
After all, a great restaurant service has much in common with theatre: there’s back stage and front of house; there’s the set of the laid table and the performative nature of hospitality. Norman quickly recognised that he was temperamentally suited to it all. He had the born maître d’s ability to be interested in people. During the first lockdown I asked him what we had lost with the closure of the hospitality sector. It wasn’t about going somewhere to get fed, he said. It was about atmosphere. ‘The right restaurant atmosphere,” Norman said, “makes your heart beat a little faster. It makes you want to be in that room. It’s as important and significant a catalyst to appetite as any cocktail or bowl of olives. It’s restaurant foreplay.”
