Quality and freshness are the most important things for a successful restaurant says our new food critic, Café Delancey co-owner Tatiana von Saxe. Sunita Rappai spoke to her

Tatiana von Saxe

TATIANA von Saxe, co-owner of the legendary Café Delancey in Camden Town, is no shrinking violet. The ebullient Peruvian-born restaurateur, a property developer with interests in film and publishing as well as a writer and food critic, is about to don a new hat – as restaurant critic for the New Journal.
And she is forthright about her views on the roles and responsibilities of a restaurant critic.
“It is the independence of the reader that is at stake,” she says, “not the fame of the writer. When I am in a restaurant, I am representing the public and I want to represent a place the way the public will be perceiving it.
“The reader is the most important person. It is not about my ego or the restaurant’s. I want the reader to be able to make up their own mind. It is about time that we gave the reader more credit.”
Born in Lima, Peru, to a Russian father and Peruvian mother, Tatiana was a society columnist for Peru’s edition of Vogue, which soon took her to New York and London. She also wrote for the International Herald Tribune as an independent restaurant critic.
But it is as one of the three owners of Café Delancey in Delancey Street – which she says brought a new concept in dining to London back in 1984 – that she is perhaps best known.
Living in Highgate Village at the time, she bought the property next door to the restaurant – then a transport café – initially planning to set up offices there.
But the prospect of opening a new restaurant proved too strong.
“We created a more relaxed approach to eating out,” she says.
“In those days, if you think back, there was nothing like it. We were the first to open from 9am to 11.30pm, seven days a week with no minimum charge, no cover charge and free newspapers for our clientele.
“The idea is that you can have whatever you want, whether it is breakfast, lunch, dinner or just a coffee, whenever you want. All the food is freshly cooked on the premises – there is nothing frozen or microwaved. And we have remained true to that concept.”
As a cordon bleu chef herself, what does she look for when she visits other restaurants?
“First and foremost, atmosphere,’ she says. “If a restaurant gets the atmosphere right, then the other things usually follow. The food comes next – I look for good quality, fresh food.
“I try not to follow trends in restaurants or chefs. The customer should always come first. Don’t be drawn into what they try to sell to you and what they want you to eat. Quality and freshness are the most important qualities.”
And, as she points out, she is uniquely well placed to write about good restaurants for New Journal readers.
“As an entrepreneur, I have been fortunate enough to eat in some of the best restaurants in the world,” she says. “I adore the New Journal. I think my experiences mean that I am well qualified to talk about what I am talking about.”
“I don’t believe in being venomous for the sake of it”, she adds. “Being bitchy brings you a false fame. If I am vigorously against something in a restaurant, I would go to the owner and ask them to better it. It is important to be constructive.”

• Cafe Delancey, 3 Delancey Street, NW1. 020 7387 1985.