From Mick Jagger to Warhol and Madonna – who is Mr Chow, the man who ran the ‘Studio 54’ of restaurants?

Ever since Michael Chow threw open his doors in London in the Sixties, the A-list have flocked to his restaurants, but there was a dark side to the glitz and glamour. As a new HBO documentary reveals the painful truth, Bill Borrows goes to meet the man with the most extraordinary life

Zhou Yinghua, aka Michael Chow, aka Mr Chow, aka M, became a legend in many A-list lunchtimes (Courtesy of HBO)

It’s 9.30am in the Hollywood Hills, and Mr Chow’s favourite time of day. He has attended to his ablutions, styled his archipelago of dark hair (c/o “Touch of Grey” shampoo), and affixed a pair of two-tone blue Cutler and Gross round glasses to his kind and remarkably unlined face. In his pristine “athleisure” wear, he looks about 56 instead of his 84 years of age.

He may be over 5,000 miles away in Los Angeles, but when Michael Chow asks you to do something, you do it. Ask me, he says, “What do you do?” I politely comply. “Well, I used to be an a**hole, but now I’m a legend.”

The artist and restaurateur to film, fashion, music, and art nobility for over five decades looks delighted with his proclamation as he rocks back in front of the tropical flora print wallpaper in one of the two houses he bought from Katy Perry for $12.7m five years ago.