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‘Princess Diana was lovely – she took me go-karting’

Jesus Adorno
Jesus Adorno

Jesus Adorno has subtly gestured to the waiter to refill my drink. I’ve only just finished what was in the glass, but the Bolivian restaurant supremo didn’t go from washing pots to becoming London’s top maitre d’ without developing a forensic eye for detail.

Boasting one of the best contacts’ books in the capital, the 69-year-old father of three is trying to recreate the magic of Le Caprice, the celebrity hang out where he ruled the roost for almost 40 years before its Covid-induced closure in the summer of 2020.

Back in its 1980s heyday, the A-list haunt behind The Ritz was a paparazzi magnet, with everyone from Jeffrey Archer to Joan Collins sashaying through the door for a slice of its upmarket French brasserie meets New York diner chic.

Former US president Bill Clinton once took up every seat of its famous long bar with his minders while Diana, Princess of Wales, was regularly photographed leaving the intimate, black-and-white dining room on Arlington Street, where she would always be seated at the only, much-coveted corner table.

When it was closed two years ago by owner Richard Caring - its managers Jeremy King and Chris Corbin were the so-called “Rolls and Royce of London gastronomy” - Adorno was devastated.

He thought his front of house days were over until a phone call from the hotel mogul Sir Rocco Forte put him back at the helm of Mayfair’s high-end dining scene.

Sir Rocco Forte brought Adorno to his restaurant Charlie's to be maitre’d
Sir Rocco Forte brought Adorno to his restaurant Charlie's to be maitre’d

Recently reprising his role as London’s leading maitre d’ at Charlie’s, the restaurant at Forte’s five-star Brown’s Hotel, Adorno is already well on his way to reintroducing the post-pandemic “power lunch” with the likes of former prime minister David Cameron, Oscar-winning actor Sir Michael Caine and Downton Abbey creator Lord Fellowes among the famous faces already enticed through the doors of the contemporary eatery on Albemarle Street.

So how has the son of a Paraguayan shoemaker, who came to Britain 50 years ago at the age of 19, barely speaking a word of English, managed to ingratiate himself with the great and the good? Princess Diana became so fond of the ever cordial host that she regularly invited Adorno and his colleagues go-karting in Battersea, south-west London, with her sons Princes William and Harry and their bodyguards. “Diana was the most amazing person with a beautiful smile,” he recalls fondly.

“We went go-karting three or four times. She came with her security people and we went with some people from The Ivy. Our kids were also there. It was amazing. She was just a lovely person.”

Impeccably polite, immaculately dressed and with a knack for knowing exactly how much interaction well-to-do diners want with waiting staff (ie not much), Adorno has carved a hugely successful career simply by adopting the somewhat lapsed mantra: the customer is always right.

“I’ve always said happy staff [make for] happy customers,” he insists. “It’s the best philosophy for me. Hospitality is a gift if you love it. It’s not that younger people have lost the art, I just don’t think they’ve been taught properly. The Government hasn’t paid as much attention to the industry as they should. It employs over three million people. It’s a great area where people’s careers can really grow. Just look at mine.”

Princess Diana grew fond of Adorno on he visits to Le Caprice - Alan Davidson/Shutterstock
Princess Diana grew fond of Adorno on he visits to Le Caprice - Alan Davidson/Shutterstock

Having landed at Heathrow armed only with a work permit in 1972, Adorno’s first job was at Downside School, then an all-boy Catholic boarding school in Bath.

“I was serving food to the boys at these big long tables and I remember they used to smile or give me applause when I brought the trays of food. I thought: ‘Oh that's nice. They're happy.’”

A job washing pots and pans at the Saracen’s Head in Beaconsfield swiftly followed but was so “horrendous” Adorno jumped at the chance of being promoted to the floor where he was put in charge of the dessert trolley. That is until the day both he and the gateaux-filled contents ended up sprawled across the restaurant floor.

“I just ran and tried to hide. I thought I was going to be chucked out of the country,” he chuckles. “The restaurant manager, a Spaniard, came over to me and said: ‘Don’t worry about it, it happens.’ He taught me the best ever management skill – how to handle a situation with a junior staff member. After that I adored him, I wanted to be the best for him at everything.”

Waiting work at Frederick’s in Camden Passage and Au Jardin Des Gourmets followed, when he was invited by Corbin and King, then the owners of Joe Allens and Langan’s Brasserie respectively, to launch Le Caprice. (The pair would go on to open The Wolseley on Piccadilly and The Delaunay in Covent Garden although the business has now been taken over by Minor Hotel Group after going into administration in January).

Opening in 1981, the year Charles married Diana and the start of a new economic boom under Margaret Thatcher, Le Caprice, with its monochrome decor and black and white photos on the walls, soon became the restaurant of the era.

It was where Omar Sharif clashed with Ian Dury over a girl and punched him to the ground; where Jeffrey Archer pitched up for lunch the day after he was released from prison and where Stephen Fry took refuge following his shock West End disappearance. Madonna, Mick Jagger, Kate Moss, Tom Cruise, Sharon Stone, Harrison Ford – name a superstar and they probably dined there. When Laurence Olivier chose it as the venue for his 80th birthday, the guest list included none other than Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minelli and Barbra Streisand.

Sharon Stone was among the diners at Le Caprice - Nikos Vinieratos/Shutterstock
Sharon Stone was among the diners at Le Caprice - Nikos Vinieratos/Shutterstock

And throughout those dizzying four decades, the one constant was Adorno, ready to greet diners at the door and escort them to their “power” tables. Thumbing through the contacts on his phone, it soon becomes clear that he has carefully curated arguably one of the world's most prestigious little black books. Some stars are listed by name – others are referred to literally as “the guy who knows X” or “the woman who works for Y”.

“I’ve got a couple of thousand in there at least. They want a good table, they want good service and they want good food,” explaining that the most powerful tables in a restaurant are the ones around the outside looking in. And always round, never square.

But what if he’s called by a major player and he simply doesn’t have the space to seat them that day?

“There is something that I call the royal table,” he says. “The royal table is the table that you don’t have but you make it appear. You have a folding table downstairs and you just produce it at the last minute.’

Although you might imagine that dealing with the demands of A-listers, day in, day out, might be rather demanding – if not demeaning – Adorno insists that the bigger the star, the less likely they are to make a fuss.

“Big celebrities always just wanted to be left alone. At Le Caprice, we wouldn’t allow other customers to come up for autographs or photographs – it was not done.”

Stars like Joan Collins, picture with husband Percy Gibson at the restaurant’s 30th anniversary party, would come from far and wide to visit Le Caprice - Can Nguyen/Shutterstock
Stars like Joan Collins, picture with husband Percy Gibson at the restaurant’s 30th anniversary party, would come from far and wide to visit Le Caprice - Can Nguyen/Shutterstock

In fact, when he did have any altercations with customers, it usually involved nobodies with more money than sense.

Recalling an incident at Le Caprice when a 6ft 2in diner squared up to him after he politely asked him to relinquish his table after he overstayed the two hour time limit, he says: “The restaurant had only just opened and was completely booked out. There were these five men who came in for an early dinner and at 8.30 they ordered a round of coffees and I said: ‘Sir, the table has been booked by someone else at 8.30.’ One of them said: ‘Go away.’ I went back 10 minutes later, by which time the next diners were waiting. I went back and said: ‘I must insist you pay the bill.’

“He got up, he was tall and took me to the corner of the bar and said: ‘You’re upsetting me. I’m going to buy this restaurant tomorrow and I’m going to sack you.’

“I said: ‘By all means, if you want to buy the restaurant, one of the owners is sitting over there. Talk to him.’ The man stormed off and I was really shaken. I turned to the owner and said: ‘Why didn’t you say anything?’ and they said: ‘Because you were handling it well enough yourself.’”

With two grown up daughters, aged 36 and 34, from his first marriage and a six-year-old daughter from his second, Adorno admits that working in the hospitality industry has inevitably meant sacrificing some family life. But it seems he wouldn’t want it any other way.

“I feel more comfortable being sociable in the restaurant than anywhere else. I move like a gazelle around the room. I feel I can read what customers want. I can read their body language almost immediately.”

Pointing to the stunning interiors, designed by Sir Rocco’s sister Olga Polizzi and featuring bespoke wallpaper by Adam Ellis, he declares: “I’ve got a simple mission really. It’s to make Charlie’s the best restaurant in London.”