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It’s Hussar for Michael, still going strong at 93
Former Labour leader Michael Foot talks to Peter Gruner about the restaurants he has known and loved
AT 93 Michael Foot still maintains an extraordinary passion for life, I discovered, when I met him at his home in Hampstead.
We sat for the interview in the basement of his house off the High Street at a table groaning with books.
Michael Foot (pictured) is frail now and unable to get out as much as he did, which makes his books all the more important to him.
Gesturing towards his table, he said: “It’s crowded with books now, and there is nothing wrong with that. But there have also been wonderful times when friends would come to dinner and we would eat lovely food, cooked by Jill, and argue politics into the night. His wife Jill Craigie died in 1999 aged 85.
He said: “I remember having Trade union leader Frank Cousins and his wife for a meal at home with Jill and me. I was surprised to discover when they invited us back that it was Frank who did the cooking – and did it extremely well.”
Michael Foot’s name will be forever associated with the Hungarian restaurant, the Gay Hussar, in Soho, where he held political meetings with friends and colleagues from both sides of the Commons chamber.
Closer to home the Italian Villa Bianca, in Hampstead, has a special place in his heart and is always associated with his wife Jill, the love of his life.
They were married for 50 years until her death, and food, particularly their favourite Hungarian spicy bean soup, or Italian risotto, was never far from the agenda.
And he still gets delivered to his home delicious Welsh cakes from his former constituency in Ebbw Vale where he was MP for more than 30 years.
He still regularly goes to the Gay Hussar, where he meets the two Ians, journalist Ian Aitkin and former Tory Defence Secretary, Lord Ian Gilmore, two old friends and political sparring partners.
He said: “I used to enjoy wine but I’ve had to give it up and have become a teetotaller these days.”
He remembered that he and Jill enjoyed the Hussar’s soups and goulashes so much that they sometimes had them delivered to their home when they held parties.
He said: “It was the days after the war when takeaways, let alone continental food, were virtually unknown.”
He recalls with fondness editorial meetings of the Labour newspaper, The Tribune, in a private room upstairs at the restaurant.
There were also lunches with a wide variety of friends and colleagues, including the late Labour MP and journalist Tom Driberg and more recently with writer and journalist Francis Wheen. Michael is a great admirer of Wheen’s work, particular his biography of Karl Marx.
Michael and Jill went to Villa Bianca a great deal.
He said: “She was rather scornful when people talked about my association with Hampstead. She had lived here a long time before me, and knew the place really well and the good places to eat.
“Going into the Bianca, the aromas and ambiance reminded us of our holidays in Venice. I’ve always loved and admired Italian hospitality, whether it is here or in Italy.”
Michael’s choices:
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