CODE Quarterly | Issue 14 | Spring 2018

Issue 14 Spring 2018

Quarterly

The eyes & ears of the hospitality industry 100 most influential women | Vegan moguls | Chefs in schools | Mind the career gap

A special issue entirely devoted to the women making waves in hospitality

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Contents 5.

Staff briefing

6.

In season: shopping pages

8.

CODE breaking: restaurant news

Editor Lisa Markwell

10.

The 100 most influential women in hospitality

24.

Creative Director Alexander Taralezhkov

The vegan explosion

28.

Head-to-head: who loves/hates eating alone?

30.

What we’re eating this edition

32.

The food world’s in-betweeners

35.

Tools of the trade: the Annabel’s godmother

36.

Primary purpose: chefs in schools

40.

Food’s journey from plant to plate

42.

Restaurant design: adventures in space

48.

The tastiest new books of the season

50.

24 hours in Hanoi

52.

Checking out the hottest check-ins

55.

Planet-saving plates

57.

What’s cooking on Instagram

58.

Staff meal: what they have for supper at Sabor

Publisher Adam Hyman

Contributors Melanie Arnold Nieves Barragán Mohacho Rozalina Burkova Chloë Hamilton Katie Hammond Laura Harper-Hinton Margot Henderson Ophelia Keane Jules Pearson Harriet Raper Victoria Stewart Anna Sulan Masing Amy Tighe Emma Underwood

Head office CODE Hospitality 6th Floor Greener House 66-68 Haymarket London SW1Y 4RF Tel: +44 20 7104 2007 contact@codehospitality.co.uk @CODEhospitality @codehospitality CODE Quarterly (online) ISSN 2398-9726

New destinations on the app include:

DIRECTORY

Australasia, Manchester Modern Australian dining from Living Ventures Quo Vadis Jeremy Lee’s Soho institution The Coral Room Grand salon bar in Bloomsbury Koya City A second site from the udon noodle experts

For full list of participating restaurants and bars, see page 59 -3-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

THE CODE APP

Gymkhana Mayfair mainstay for Michelin starred Indian

“ It’s all about building networks of respect and love, with an eye on the future of coffee, the planet and it’s people.”

Quote from Marta Dalton, of Coffee Bird, Ozone Coffee green bean supply partner.

Image: Coffee cherries ready for processing at Rabanales, Guatemala taken by Courtney Snowdon, Ozone Coffee Head Roaster.

www.ozonecoffee.co.uk

Staff briefing What’s hot.

Being a man, I feel like a slight fraud writing in this issue. Led by our editor Lisa Markwell, everyone that has contributed to our first magazine of 2018 is female and involved in the industry.

The past year has been a tipping point for women around the world and we wanted to champion this. Our 100 Most Influential Women in Hospitality was not only a reminder of the diversity of what women have achieved and are doing, but I hope also highlights the opportunities to the next generation looking at their career paths that hospitality is at least worth considering and that it’s now possible to do so and have a family at the same time. I’d like to give a special thank you to our judges Diana Henry, Jeremy King, Ewan Venters and Richard Vines.

In other news, the CODE app will relaunch this month, not only with a funky new look and feel, but with a far better user experience and improved functions that our community of members have asked for over the past couple of years. If you still haven’t joined the CODE app community, I urge you to as not only do you gain access to a plethora of industry-only dining and drinking offers but it’s a great opportunity to discover old and new restaurants around London and parts of the UK. We’ve also been working behind the scenes on CODE Careers and have appointed former chef Max Coltart as its head. As well as helping hospitality business to fill roles, we want to work at promoting hospitality as a career. Please do feel free to contact Max on max@codehospitality.co.uk. As always, thank you for all your continued support.

Adam Hyman Founder, CODE @AdamMHyman

White City Might west be best? The BBC TV Centre opens soon and is home to outposts of Kricket, Homeslice and Soho House

Proper pies As seen at the recently opened Pie Room at Holborn Dining Room, Rochelle Canteen and Quality Chop House

Not your full English No bacon baps – just funky, fiery breakfast options at Koya City, Smoking Goat Shoreditch and Villa Mamas

Russian doll restaurants Eating out goes through a second door... Evelyn’s Table at the Blue Posts, the Asador at Sábor and the soon to open Maison Bab

What’s not.

The last straw The Evening Standard and Spring are leading the way: It’s great to see restaurants on a mission to become plastic-free

Chain reaction Every week seems to see a big operator getting smaller.

Customers want less cookiecutter, more indie

Blooming awful It’s time for less flower power.

Chefs stop with the petals please

Pints don’t pull #timesup for terrible sexist drinks advertising. In other words, no more bottoms up

Lisa Markwell Editor, CODE @HoldsKnifeLikePen

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

One of the joys of working with CODE is that it combines my two loves, food and journalism. (I’m that curious combination of trained chef and ex-newspaper editor.)

Both can be tough, unforgiving environments but both – I’m happy to say – are changing to better reflect our society and to offer a decent quality of life. So it gives me enormous pride and pleasure to edit this special edition of CODE Quarterly. You’ll notice that (CODE publisher and art director aside) it’s been produced by women.

This is not a token gesture – no one is here because they’re a great female chef/restaurateur/designer/whatever, it’s because they’re great, full stop. And the themes covered in the issue, from career breaks to restaurant and hotel interiors, the rise of vegan businesses to a thoughtful study of the untold stories around the restaurant experience, are relevant to everybody in our industry.

There isn’t room to include all of the incredible women involved with food, so we had to stick quite strictly to ‘hospitality’ itself for the Top 100. Hence the lack of cookbook writers and so on. I’d also like to acknowledge those working to make hospitality a more welcoming place – including the women of Ladies of Restaurants, Les Dames d’Escoffier, The TMRW Project and Parabere Forum.

I’m very keen to hear what you think about this edition (but please, save the mansplaining). And, as ever, your thoughts on other subjects we should be covering. I’m on lisa@codehospitality.co.uk

In season From pure decorative pleasure to almost-indestructible kitchen kit, spring is surely the right time to treat yourself to something new, made by creative minds

Designs on you

Jemma Wilson is a social-media megastar for her baking tutorials, and her Soho cake shop Crumbs & Doilies is a sugary heaven – but she’s also known for her body art.

Now Jemma’s created a line of accessories including these ace temporary tattoos. Warning: ink, like icing, is addictive. £4.95 for a sheet with over 30 different designs, cupcakejemma.com

Suck it up

CODE hugely supports the restaurants, hotels and bars banning plastic straws. If you want to switch to biodegradable too (and why wouldn’t you?), these paper straws from eco-friendly party supply company Little Cherry are the way to go. While you’re on the site, take a look at the great bamboo kit that founder Sandra Adar has found too. £2.99 for 25, littlecherry.co.uk

Chop, chop

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

The beauty of a high-powered machine in the kitchen is what it can do for the tougher (and tougher to love) ingredients. With the new Vitamix Ascent A2500, it’s a case of once-tried, always-trusted. Chef Anna Jones agrees: “My Vitamix really speeds things up in my kitchen, making light work of food that might otherwise go to waste. Because it’s so powerful it lets me use ingredients in their entirety with no peeling; for example, you can make dough for a brilliant whole orange and almond cake in a matter of minutes.” £499, vitamix.co.uk

SPRING

2018 -6-

Her dark materials

Maxine Thompson rightly has a growing fanbase for her chefs’ trousers made to fit women – CODE’s in-house chef is one of them. New for this season, Maxine has created a great black-on-black design – they’re comfortable, sturdy and stylish, easy to just bung in the wash and, of course, you don’t have to be a chef to wear them. £50 (£55 for longer leg) size 0 – 22, polkapants.com

Palate palette

Delicate, beautiful drawings and painting of food are Anna Koska’s speciality – her work hangs on more than one chef ’s walls, we hear. Now you can buy prints from her website.

From £120, annakoskaillustration.com

Strong words

Based in the States, Kerry Diamond and Claudia Wu run Cherrybombe, a website, podcast, magazine, cookbook, online store and much more.

There you’ll find some brilliant articles and visuals celebrating the best women in the food world, but also some challenging editorials on what’s going on in the restaurant business concerning conditions and harassment.

Find out more cherrybombe.com

Dish of the day

When guests rush to finish their food so they can turn over the plate or bowl to see the maker, you know you’ve got it right. Ana Kerin of Kana London makes the most stunning tableware – her background in sculpture is clear to see. We’re in love with the resolutely hand-made looks and gorgeous colour palette of the plates and bowls.

From £15, kanalondon.com

Grub crawl

… what she’s having! A new edition of the brilliant Where Chefs Eat book is just published, and has some top tips on where to eat out from, among others, Erchen Chang, Sam Clark, Allegra McEvedy, Hélène Darroze and an array of other international culinary stars. If you buy the book through the Phaidon website, where it is priced £19.95, you get free access to the Where Chefs Eat app, for stellar food advice on the go. uk.phaidon.com -7-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

I’ll have…

Entomophagy (eating insects) could soon move from a restaurant quirk to becoming commonplace in the West, as it already is for 2 billion people in Africa, Asia and Latin America. It’s worth knowing that adding this ‘mild and nutty’ powder to your postworkout shake or loaf of sourdough can deliver almost 62g of protein per 100g, as well as a range of other nutrients. Available from smart foodie online store Sous Chef, founded and run by Nicola Lando. £12.99 for 100g , sous-chef.co.uk

CODE breaking In addition to our weekly digital Bulletin, here we round up this quarter’s biggest news in the global restaurant and hotel scene. By Amy Tighe

London

Kerridge at Corinthia It had been announced that Tom Kerridge was to open at the Rib Room at the Jumeirah Carlton Tower but plans quietly changed and 2018 will now see the Marlow chef open his first London restaurant at the fivestar Corinthia hotel. The current operation, Massimo Restaurant & Bar, will close this summer with David Collins Studio drafted in to set the scene for Kerridge’s relaxed, British brasserie dining, opening in September.

Market Halls

London’s food hall scene is set to be transformed this year with a series of openings from Market Halls. With Pitt Cue’s Simon Anderson at the helm as director of restaurants and operations, the aim is to create permanent community-dining hubs in locations of historical or architectural interest. Spring brings the first opening, in the Edwardian ticket hall of Fulham Broadway tube station, before Victoria’s Terminus Place debut in summer and the UK’s largest food hall yet opening in the former BHS building on Oxford Street later in the year.

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Brigadiers

Bloomberg Arcade already boasts a lineup of Koya, Caravan, Bleecker Burger and Homeslice and will be joined in May by Brigadiers, the new restaurant from JKS. Recreating the convivial nature of Indian mess halls, there will be live sport, pool, low-alcohol drinks, and a dedicated shoe-shiner. A little later in the summer – most likely July – they’ll be joined by Andrew Wong with his premium casual second site that promises a faster and less intricate dining style than his eponymous, Michelin-starred Victoria restaurant.

Brat

Ex-Kitty Fisher’s head chef Tomos Parry will open his debut restaurant, Brat, this March in the space above Smoking Goat Shoreditch on Redchurch Street.

Influenced by Parry’s Welsh heritage and a trip to the Basque coastal town of Getaria the menu will serve a fish-forward menu cooked on an open wood fire at the center of the dining room. Keeling Andrew & Co – a new wine import business from the founders of Noble Rot – will have a hand in the sherry-focused wine list.

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Rest of the UK

The eyes and ears of the industry

It has been announced that three more Pig hotels - or rather ‘restaurants with rooms’ - will open over the next two years: The Pig at Bridge Place near Canterbury will be first, followed by conversions of two Grade II-listed buildings in Arundel and Padstow, with interiors by Judy Hutson. As with the rest of the litter, the menu is dictated by what’s good that day on the hotel’s farms, with many of the kitchen staff doubling as foragers and gardeners.

Gary Usher

Chef, restaurateur and serial crowd-funder Gary Usher is to add two new restaurants to his Elite Bistros empire in 2018. The first, Pinion, will take the site of a former Betfred shop on Prescot high street and hopes to be part of the community’s plan to regenerate the area. Details of the second new opening, Kala, in Manchester city centre are still under wraps but rumour has it the site will be on King Street.

BrewDog Hotel

Craft beer lovers – rejoice! Enjoy BrewDog Punk IPA on tap in the comfort of your hotel room, or if you prefer, grab a cold one from the built-in fridge in your shower, or stroll down for a tour of the brewery. Due to open in early 2019 in northeast Aberdeenshire, DogHouse Ellon will have 26 rooms overlooking their brewery and will sport the same industrial, post-apocalyptic punk aesthetic synonymous with the BrewDog brand.

Spuntino taking off

Dear Lilly

A floral fantasy world, Dear Lilly is designer Ashley Sutton’s latest creation, and another collaboration with Dining Concepts, the fastest-growing hospitality group in Hong Kong. It’s definitely not a place for hay fever sufferers as flowers are hung dreamily from the ceiling by kinetics, draped over staff and artfully stuffed into vintage perfume bottles, recreating the feel of reading a love letter at a Parisian flower market. There are rumours of a new Dining Concepts bar opening in the 19th century Central Police Station, named Dragonfly.

Gjelina NYC

It seems that Gjelina’s new NoHo site will be bringing their New American cuisine and Gjusta-baked delights to the Manhattan masses. There’s been some to and fro since the project was first announced in 2016, but is now touted for a spring opening. A lot of the details are still shrouded in mystery, but it seems that the new Gjelina will be a twin of its LA sister, with a similar menu on offer. Expect beautiful Manhattanites photographing their vegetable-focused dishes in a minimalist setting.

Tokyo Midtown Hibiya

Feast your eyes skyward upon the new behemoth of Midtown Hibiya: designed by UK-based Hopkins Architects, the 35-storey building comprises 60 shops and restaurants with office space and a whopping 2,300 seat cinema. Fresh from Paris and New York, Buvette are opening their third site here, and eminent Ginza cocktail bar Star Bar will be operating from their second site. There’ll be plenty of homegrown talent too, with a high-class dining room from ex-Hyotei chef Yoshihiro Takahashi, serving dim sum and kaiseki, and a second Morceau for acclaimed chef Sakura Akimoto.

El Jardín

Wilkins will be opening her first solo venture this spring in San Diego. The modern Mexican restaurant will comprise 100 covers on an outdoor patio with five seats at a chef ’s counter offering a more experimental tasting menu. Inspired by her restaurateur aunt, ZepedaWilkins hopes to smash the ‘patriarchy of cuisine’ and will work with a predominantly female team.

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Things are taking off for the Spuntino brand with news that Polpo founders Russell Norman and Richard Beatty have signed a deal with airport operators TRG Concessions. The franchise agreement will see the smallplates format adapt to the airport audience with the addition of breakfast, takeaway and on-board options (think bottled negronis), whilst retaining the look and feel of the original Soho restaurant. The number of sites and location details are yet to be announced.

Rest of the world

More Pigs

THE 1OO MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN IN HOSPITALITY

she’s mature but she stays relevant by knowing everything that’s going on.”

In the first category, chefs, judge Diana Henry noted that Pam Brunton is really ploughing her own furrow at Inver, and says of Angela Hartnett, “I have huge admiration for her – I think she’s one woman who shows other women that you can be a successful female chef in what is mostly a male world.” She also mentions the supportive kitchen environments run by Skye Gyngell and Asma Khan.

We believe this is a really powerful, positive list at a time when there are stories in the press about both struggles in the hospitality business to recruit and keep staff, and the difficulties women face in reaching its higher echelons (kitchens have long held the reputation for being brutish and inflexible). Talking candidly about mental health, running kitchens and front-of- house where there is zero-tolerance of abuse and either modelling or establishing customised working hours are all highly significant in 2018. There are many women on the list who show

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Welcome to CODE’s inaugural list of the 100 most influential women working in British and Irish hospitality. With industry stalwarts Ewan Venters (CEO of Fortnum and Mason), legendary restaurateur Jeremy King of Corbin & King, highly respected author Diana Henry and Bloomberg food expert Richard Vines, Adam Hyman and Lisa Markwell have selected the women who are trailblazers, highly successful, inspirational, socially conscious … and just damned good at their jobs.

From the young woman pushing at the staid world of sommeliers to the chief executive of a major drinks company; from the ex-chef transforming Britain’s school canteens to the Michelin-starred patron at the height of her powers – the diversity and creativity is astonishing. The list is deliberately not ranked to reflect that influence is shown in many different ways.

As Ewan Venters said, on studying the list, “what’s important here is relevance – it can be someone who’s a long-standing success but are they still fresh, still influential? I’d put Fay Maschler firmly in that category –

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that despite the traditional view of it being a business too punishing for parents, it’s possible to combine motherhood with a successful career.

Jeremy King came to the judging table with a carefully annotated list.

His own company is well known for its initiative to keep women in the business, and to help those returning after career breaks. King had studied the candidates in detail. “These women are not only doing their jobs as well, or better, than any man – they are also inspiring others, making waves and are full of the innovation that singles them out as special.”

There are lots of women who do brilliant work to produce and promote food and drink in Britain, but we had to keep the list strictly to hospitality – so authors of the myriad brilliant cookbooks have not been included, for instance.

And, as judge Richard Vines pointed out in his assessment of the list, “there are many more I could mention, but they fall into a ‘rising stars’ category, so they can be on the list next year!”

We look forward to it.

Pam Brunton

Allen joined Nigel Haworth’s restaurant at Northcote Manor as a demi chef de partie in 2001 and by 2004 was named as executive chef of the restaurant, running the kitchen at just 24, and retaining the Michelin star that Haworth had won. In 2010, she reached the final of The Great British Menu; this year she created her own dinner at Northcote’s prestigious annual Obsession event. __

Brunton is making waves on the shores of Loch Fyne with her seasonal, elegant Scottish menus. She abandoned her philosophy degree at Edinburgh and got a kitchen job to pay the rent. Later she moved to London in 1999 and cooked at Restaurant Tom Aikens and The Greenhouse. After returning to academia, and a parttime role as a cheesemonger at Neal’s Yard Dairy, Brunton decided to leave London and open a restaurant. With her partner, she launched Inver – a favourite of critic Marina O’Loughlin - in 2015. __

Chefs

Lisa Allen

Executive chef, Northcote

Jane Alty

Head chef and co-owner, The Begging Bowl

Head chef and co-owner, Inver

Before many of the Thai restaurants getting plaudits in London, there was The Begging Bowl. This Peckham trailblazer was opened by chef Jane Alty, with business partner Jamie Younger.

Alty had previously worked at the some of the top restaurants in London including the Michelin-starred outpost of Nahm, where she spent four years working with chef David Thompson. __

Melanie Arnold & Margot Henderson

Ravinder Bhogal Chef patron, Jikoni

Bhogal has been described by Gordon Ramsay as his new Fanny Cradock.

The accolade is interesting, for Bhogal’s greatest strength is the warmth and vivacity she brings, with her cosy restaurant and multicultural dishes. The Kenyan-born chef and food writer has worked at Trishna, Le Café Anglais and for Mark Hix, wrote her first cookbook, Cook in Boots, in 2009 and has appeared on many TV shows. She opened her first restaurant, Jikoni, in 2016. __

Chef and co-owner, Sabor

Sabor, in W1, is one of this year’s most raved-about openings – thanks to the passion and skill of its co-creator Nieves Barragán Mohacho. She grew up in Bilbao and, after arriving in London in 1998, she worked for Nico Ladenis before joining Sam and Eddie Hart as sous chef at Fino in 2003. Four years later she become the group’s executive chef and launched Barrafina, one branch of which was awarded a Michelin star in 2014.

Chef and TV presenter, co-owner of Mere

Galetti is to be applauded for her visibility both as a top-flight chef and as a woman of colour. Samoan-born, she moved to New Zealand at eight.

After studying hospitality, in 1999 Galetti moved to England and got a job with Michel Roux Jr at Le Gavroche as a first commis – a role she didn’t even know existed – and rose to senior sous.

Since 2009 she has been a judge on MasterChef: The Professionals and last year, she opened her first restaurant, Mere, alongside her sommelier husband David Galetti. __ Head chef and owner, Romy’s Kitchen

Sam Clark

Chief proprietor, Moro and Morito

British-Indian chef Gill opened her first restaurant, Romy’s Kitchen in 2013 in Thornbury, South Gloucestershire. She was appointed an MBE in 2016, has a female-led kitchen and spends much time flying the flag for women in the industry.

Gill is writing her first cookbook, to be published this year. __

Clark met her husband Sam Clark in the early ‘90s (fascinatingly, her maiden name was Clarke). After a stint at The Eagle in Farringdon, they both joined The River Café, where they learned techniques and philosophies that would be the foundations for the cooking at their restaurant Moro. The Clarks have run Moro and Morito for more than 20 years and published four cookbooks. __

Sally Clarke MBE Chef patron, Clarke’s

Sally Clarke is one of Britain’s culinary legends. Cordon Bleu-trained, Clarke worked for Prue Leith, before moving to California in 1979, where she met Alice Waters of Chez Panisse, who became a friend and mentor. Back in London, she opened Clarke’s Restaurant on Kensington Church Street in 1984 offering very simple, incredibly elegant fixed menus – artist Lucian Freud ate there almost every single day. Clarke can be found most days in the restaurant and shop. __

Hélène Darroze

Chef proprietor, Hélène Darroze at The Connaught Constantly travelling between her -11-

Helen Goh

Head pastry chef, Ottolenghi Helen Goh was born in Malaysia.

After seven years as head pastry chef at Donovans, a landmark Melbourne restaurant, she moved to London and soon joined Ottolenghi. She has worked closely with Yotam Ottolenghi as the lead product developer for the past ten years – and the pair published

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Nieves Barragán Mohacho

Monica Galetti

Romy Gill MBE

Chefs and co-owners, Rochelle Canteen

Impressive, inspiring and inseparable, Arnold and Henderson first met at the French House in Soho (opened by their husbands, Fergus Henderson and Jon Spiteri). After taking over the fabled, tiny space, the pair then went on to launch their catering business Arnold and Henderson in 1995. They opened Rochelle Canteen in 2006 in east London and opened a second outpost at the ICA on Pall Mall last year. __

restaurant in Paris and two-Michelinstar restaurant at the Connaught in London, and juggling motherhood too, Darroze is a brilliant role model for a full-time chef/restaurateur. In 2012, Darroze was admitted into the French Legion of Honour as a Chevalier (Knight) by President Sarkozy. She was also the inspiration for the character Colette in the film Ratatouille – much to the delight of her daughters, Charlotte and Quiterie. __

‘Sweet’ last year. Helen draws widely on Asian, Western and Middle Eastern influences in her cooking – and is known as a perfectionist. __ __

Skye Gyngell

Chef proprietor, Spring A stint in Skye Gyngell’s kitchen is a real education – she is supportive (particularly of women), forensically-detailed and creative.

Her restaurant, Spring, has a strong focus on sustainability – fighting food waste and phasing out all plastics. Originally from Australia, Skye Gyngell came to her own restaurant by way of The French House and Petersham Nurseries – she is now one of Britain’s most respected and acclaimed chefs. __

Rachel Humphrey Executive chef, Le Gavroche

Rachel Humphrey has a fascinating professional trajectory: she joined Le Gavroche as an apprentice in 1996. But between 2000 and 2003 she took a break to expand her culinary experience by working in the catering corps of the RAF. In 2008, Humphrey was appointed head chef at the Mayfair restaurant – the first woman to have the role. __

Marianne Lumb Chef patron, Marianne

Women reaching the final stages of Masterchef: The Professionals is rare enough, so it’s gratifying that Marianne Lumb is making the most of it. She was already an accomplished chef, dropping out of an architecture degree at UCL to train at the Michelin-starred Gravetye Manor. In 2013, Lumb opened her acclaimed eponymous 14-cover restaurant in Notting Hill. __

Anna Hansen MBE Head chef, co-owner The Modern Pantry

After moving from New Zealand in 1992, Hansen started working on the London restaurant being mentored by fellow New Zealander Peter Gordon at the Sugar Club before opening The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell in 2008. In 2012 she was awarded an MBE for her contribution to the restaurant industry. __

Angela Hartnett MBE

Chef restaurateur, Murano, Café Murano and Merchants Tavern

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

One of the UK’s most loved chefs and restaurateurs, Hartnett’s love of cooking was inspired by her Italian ‘nonna’. After Aubergine, Zafferano and L’Oranger, Hartnett became head chef at Pétrus within seven short months, helping the restaurant to achieve a Michelin star. She went on to launch The Grill Room at The Connaught with Gordon Ramsay. She now runs Murano in Mayfair, Café Murano in St James’s and Covent Garden and Merchants Tavern in Shoreditch. __

Mary Ellen McTague

Chef restaurateur, The Creameries

Asma Khan

Chef patron, Darjeeling Express Asma Khan hit the headlines last year when the Michelin guide posted a patronising tweet about Darjeeling Express’s all-women kitchen coping well with a busy service. Cue fury, but not from Khan, who simply said “There are no all-women kitchens around,” she said. “I would like to see more women and women of colour in Michelin.”An elegant response from the restaurateur who had no cooking experience until she decided to open her own place – she got schooled by her family back in India on her royal Mughal heritage. __

Selin Kiazim Chef patron, Oklava

About as far from a kebab-shop cook as you can imagine, Kiazim is doing her utmost to reinvent Turkish food – and having great success. After training, she worked with Peter Gordon at The Providores and Kopapa but her own Turkish Cypriot heritage is the inspiration for Oklava, opened in 2015, in Shoreditch, with business partner Laura Christie. __

A powerful trio of women, headed

by McTague, has just smashed the crowdfunding for a reinvention of Chorlton’s The Creameries. McTague has a strong CV – from cooking for bands at Manchester’s Roadhouse to Sharrow Bay and The Fat Duck. She then ran her own restaurant, Aumbry in Prestwich, from 2009 to 2014.

Together with baker Sophie Yeoman and designer Soo Wilkinson, she’s working towards an April opening. __

Saiphin Moore

Chef and co-founder, Rosa’s Thai, Lao Café and Saiphin’s Kitchen Saiphin Moore is a business inspiration: she’s taken her Laos/Thailand heritage and created a hugely successful minichain. Along with her husband, Moore now runs 10 Rosa’s Thai restaurants across London, as well as Lao Café and Saiphin’s Kitchen. __

Chantelle Nicholson Chef patron, Tredwells and Director, Marcus Wareing Restaurants

Originally from New Zealand, Nicholson trained as a lawyer before entering into hospitality. Fast-tracking through restaurants, she is now Marcus Wareing’s business partner, involved in all aspects of the business and oversees The Gilbert Scott and Tredwell’s.

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In addition, Nicholson does a huge amount of philanthropic work and is involved with the brilliant new Life Kitchen, helping those with cancer to prepare tasty, nutritious food. __

the age of five and went on to train at Butler’s Wharf and the Orrery under Chris Galvin. She then worked at J Sheekey before moving on to head up pastry for Ottolenghi and was executive chef at Nopi during its first year. She runs Honey & Co with husband Itamar Srulovich. __

_

Helena Puolakka Chef patron, Aster

Puolakka, a 21-year restaurant veteran, is executive chef for Aster, D&D London’s newest restaurant, which opened in early 2017. She has worked in very male-dominated restaurants for years – bringing a different perspective to such fine-dining establishments as the three-Michelin-starred La Tante Claire as sous chef with Pierre Koffmann, and for Pierre Gagnaire at the Hotel Balzac in Paris. Her Finnish background matched with classic French technique has many fans. __

Emily Scott

Director and executive chef, St Tudy Inn Scott trained as a chef in France before moving to Cornwall in 2007, where she ran The Harbour Restaurant for more than six years. In 2014, Scott opened St Tudy Inn – a Cornish pub celebrating seasonal cooking and produce, which she runs alongside looking after her three children. It holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand and appears in this year’s Top 50 Gastropubs awards. __

Shuko Oda

Head chef and co-founder, Koya When Koya first opened in London’s Soho, the intimate noodle bar was an instant hit with the hospitality industry and consumers alike queueing on Frith Street for the handmade udon. Despite the original site closing in 2015, John Devitt and Oda – who brings her fashion and food backgrounds together to great effect - opened Koya Bar next door and last year opened a second outpost in the Bloomberg Arcade. __

Ruth Rogers MBE Chef owner, The River Café

A total inspiration to chefs everywhere, and the conduit for many of our strongest talents, Ruth Rogers is as relevant today as when she opened the River Café with Rose Gray in 1987.

She has held a Michelin star since 1997, brought out ten cookbooks and is always careful to share the credit for the restaurant’s success. She still wears whites every day to the River Café kitchen.

Co-owner, Honey & Co Anyone who has heard Packer talk knows she is a force to be reckoned with. Not only has she made Honey & Co and its offshoots wildly successful, she is a great supporter of women in the industry. Packer started baking at -13-

Chef owner, CORE by Clare Smyth Authoritative and calm, Smyth is of the most recognisable female chefs in the UK, and is a standard-bearer for future generations of leaders. She worked her way up the ranks at Restaurant Gordon Ramsay – either side of a stint at Alain Ducasse’s Le Louis XV in Monte Carlo - and became head chef at 29. Last year she opened her own, much-anticipated restaurant in Notting Hill.

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Sarit Packer

Clare Smyth MBE

Restaurateurs and operators

Sophie Bathgate

Co-owner, Sophie’s Steakhouse Restaurants run in Bathgate’s family.

Her father, Roger Mogford, founded the Browns chain of restaurants. She had worked at Gaucho and run a pub prior to jumping into her own venture, Sophie’s Steakhouse, in 2002, with childhood friend Rupert Power. Seen as a future industry leader, Bathgate runs two restaurants in central London, Fulham and Soho. __

Joanna Brennan

Founder, Pump Street Bakery

Sarah Gill

Restaurateur and co-owner, The Dairy and Sorella Whilst studying Business and Marketing in Dublin, Gill also worked in restaurants where she met her husband, chef Robin. She then moved to work at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons before setting up a private members’ club at Arsenal FC. In 2013, the couple opened The Dairy on Clapham Common, with Gill running everything from FoH to PR. Gill is known for her attention to detail and her wicked laugh. __

An obsession to open a restaurant serving the kind of food Indians eat at home, promoted Katona to leave her career as a barrister to launch Mowgli in 2014. The Indian streetfood restaurant - where the savvy Katona still insists on hand-picking ‘curry virgins’ as her chefs and training them - now has two sites in Liverpool, one each in both Birmingham and Manchester, along with new openings set for Leeds and Oxford this year. __

Managing director; Co-founder and executive chair, Salt Yard Group If young restaurateurs are looking for mentors, Laing and Moll would be great examples. Moll co-founded Salt Yard in 2005, going on to open Dehesa, Opera Tavern and Ember Yard. After a period of time away from the company she returned as executive chair in late 2017. In her other base, Edinburgh, she invests in and mentors female-led businesses. Laing did management training at Carluccio’s before starting her own successful City sandwich bars – since 2011 she’s been with Salt Yard, moving last year from HR director to managing director. __

Camilla Fayed Owner, Farmacy

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Founder, Mowgli

Georgina Laing & Sanja Moll

Brennan quit her job as a speech therapist in London to move to Suffolk to set up a bakery and café with her father, a self-taught baker. They opened Orford’s Pump Street Bakery in 2010 and won Best Food Producer at the 2012 BBC Food and Farming Awards – it’s now a Suffolk landmark. __

The woman behind the ‘plant-based’ restaurant has world domination on the agenda. Fayed founded Farmacy, in Notting Hill, west London after changing her diet following the birth of her first child. Farmacy champions the notion that ‘food is medicine’ and supports both local farming and sustainability. Following the release of the Farmacy Kitchen cookbook this summer, Fayed is keen to open more branches across London, and then internationally. __

Nisha Katona

Laura Harper-Hinton

Creative director and co-founder, Caravan Restaurants Originally from New Zealand, HarperHinton worked in the creative and food and coffee scenes in Wellington before moving to Europe in her early 20s to work as a photographer, and on to London to become managing director of a London events company. HarperHinton brings her expertise to the look and feel of Caravan’s restaurants. __ -14-

Claire Lattin

Co-owner of Ducksoup, Raw Duck and The Little Picklery and co-owner of 84 PR

Zoë Paskin

Managing director, The Palomar

Lattin has a veritable duck farm – she’s the founder and proprietor of Ducksoup and co-founder and proprietor of Rawduck, Little Duck and The Picklery. She is also the coauthor of Ducksoup: The Wisdom of Simple Cooking. That might be enough for some; inspirational Lattin is also the co-founder of 84 PR – a restaurant communications agency. __

Paskin has the eye for a smash-hit.

With her brother Layo she owns and runs The Palomar – launched in 2014 - adding The Barbary, Jacob the Angel and – this year’s buzz pub – The Blue Posts. She began her career managing Browns restaurant in South Kensington, gaining experience at AKA, nightclub The End, and in 2011, she became manager of Hawksmoor Spitalfields. __

Linda Lee

Emma Reynolds

Chef restaurateur and owner, Koba, On the Bab, Mee Market and On the Dak

Managing director, HIX Restaurants

She started out in the kitchen, but Thompson has become one of the most recognisable front-of-house talents in London. It was a chance encounter with Matthew Hobbs, now MD of The Groucho Club, that cemented her hospitality career; working firstly at Scott’s, and became the first female GM in the history of Caprice Holdings. In 2016, she joined Mark Hix as managing director of his restaurant group. __

Restaurateur and co-owner, Tonkotsu Tonkotsu is a great place to work, thanks to co-owner Emma Reynolds.

Not just because she’s great fun and with boundless energy – employees are eligible for a two-week sabbatical after five years’ service, everyone can access Perkbox and the company is committed to a 50/50 gender split by 2020. Reynolds and Ken Yamada won the OFM Cheap Eats award in 2013 for the first ‘Tonk’ in Soho, now there are eight branches. __ -15-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Dubbed “London’s queen of Korean food”, Seoul born Lee started off working in the fashion industry before moving into hospitality. A great example of the rule “do one thing well”, Lee focuses solely on one cuisine, opening fine-dining Koba in Fitzrovia in 2005 and adding the first of four On The Bab Korean street-food restaurants in 2013. Last year, Lee opened a Seoul-style rice-bowl deli – Mee Market – in Soho, closely followed by a sister fried-chicken brand for On The Bab, On The Dak. __

Danielle Thompson

Anita Le Roy

We love seeing Chang giving wine advice on BBC’s Saturday Kitchen – she’s an ace mix of relaxed and authoritative. Originally from California, she first trained as a chef at internationally recognised Culinary Institute of America in New York and went on to work at Noma and Per Se, where she met her husband and business partner, James Knappett. She then became wine buyer at Roganic and worked at Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley. Chang is sommelier at both Bubbledogs and Michelin-starred Kitchen Table. __

Trailblazer Le Roy started Monmouth Coffee back in 1978 with the aim of buying coffee beans directly from farms. Despite this being practically impossible to start with, she has consistently supported coffee in London with her two shops in Borough Market and Covent Garden - they constantly have queues outside. __

Wine and drink

Sandia Chang

Co-owner and sommelier, Bubbledogs and Kitchen Table

Founder and owner, Monmouth Coffee

Denise Harris

Co-founder, Harris Vintners We’ve come a long way since ladies retired from the table when the brandy came out: now one of Britain’s best suppliers of French brandies, digestifs and aperitifs is Denise Harris. She’s worked in hospitality since 1986, with Simon Hopkinson at Hilaire and Rowley Leigh at Kensington Place. She helped Leigh open Le Café Anglais in Bayswater, and was a guiding force and ‘voice of reason’ at her husband Henry’s restaurant Racine. Two years ago, Harris took over the family business Harris Vintners. __

Diana Hunter CEO, Conviviality

With a market valuation of almost £700m, wine suppliers Conviviality serves more than 25,000 hospitality outlets and has a portfolio of around 6,500 wines. Its powerhouse CEO, Diana Hunter, joined in 2013 and has since listed the company on AIM and led the acquisitions of Matthew Clark for £200m and Bibendum for £60m. __

Kate Hawkings

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Restaurateur and wine consultant Hawkings is well known in both the Bristol and London hospitality scenes, through her role as a restaurant and wine consultant. Hawkings curates the wine lists at both Bell’s Diner and Bellita in Bristol and regularly writes for a variety of newspapers and magazines. She is Chair of the Guild of Food Writers and is a strong champion for women in hospitality. __

Jancis Robinson OBE Wine critic, journalist and wine writer

Henrietta Lovell CEO, Rare Tea Company

Eloquent, passionate Lovell is known around the world as Rare Tea Lady and founded the global brand Rare Tea Co. in 2004. She has been at the forefront of the tea revolution, working tirelessly to find service solutions, pair flavours and create bespoke blends for some of the best restaurants in the world including Noma, Eleven Madison Park and Claridge’s. In 2017, Lovell founded Rare Charity to support tertiary education scholarships on their partner farms, donating a direct percentage of all the company’s tea sales. __

Laure Patry

Executive sommelier, The Social Company Patry caught the attention, and respect, of Jason Atherton while working as head sommelier at Maze. She joined Atherton’s Pollen Street Social and after two years became executive head sommelier for the Social Company.

Patry set up Social Wine and Tapas, her own wine bar with Atherton, focusing on small wine producers. __

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Described by Decanter magazine as ‘the most respected wine critic and journalist in the world’, in 1984 Robinson was the first person outside the wine trade to pass the Master of Wine exams. She travels the globe to conduct wine events and act as a wine judge. As well as her weekly wine column for the Financial Times, she has published a number of books on wine.

She has been awarded four James Beard Awards and advises HM The Queen on her private cellar. __

Sunaina Sethi

Co-owner, operations director and wine buyer, JKS Restaurants Sethi, along with her two brothers, runs the hugely successful JKS Restaurants, a group which includes Trishna, Gymkhana, BAO and Hoppers. Sethi creates the wine lists at Trishna and Gymkhana and champions wines from lesser known regions such as Greece, Germany and India. Named Imbibe’s 2016 Restaurant Personality of the Year, Sethi is currently working towards her Level IV Master Sommelier Diploma, and expecting her first baby. __

Ruth Spivey

Wine consultant and founder, Wine Car Boot With a string of awards to her name including 2014 Imbibe Innovator of the Year, 2016 GQ Sommelier of the year and 2017 YBF Award for Drinks, Spivey has been at the forefront of the wine revolution in London.

She founded Wine Car Boot, which promotes independent wine and wine shops. Spivey has also written and consulted on wine lists including Stevie Parle’s Rotorino and Craft restaurants. __

Influencers

Rosie Birkett

Chef, food writer and TV presenter Someone who really understands social media and uses it brilliantly is Hackney-based Birkett. She works as a chef and food stylist, writes widely on food and has published her own cookbook, A Lot On Her Plate, as well as co-writing Alain Ducasse’s foodie guide to London, J’aime London.

She’s currently EasyJet Traveller’s food columnist. __

Gizzi Erskine

Chef, food writer and TV presenter What hasn’t Erskine done? After graduating as student of the year from Leith’s School of Food and Wine, she started running pop-ups, authored five cookbooks and has a successful career in TV with shows on Channel 4, Sky Living, Sky1 and Good Food. After a sell-out pop-up of her vegan fast-food enterprise Pure Filth, with nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson, she’s working on rolling it out, as well as co-owning and running all four restaurants in the new Mare Street Market later this year. __

Lily Jones, Chloe Scott-Moncrieff and Amy Thorne Co-founders of The YBFs

Jones, Scott-Moncrieff and Thorne created The YBFs seven years ago to shine a spotlight on the future stars of the British food and drink industry. Jones is a baker and owner of Lily Vanilli Bakery. She is currently working on a new baking book to support #BakeforSyria. ScottMoncrieff is a food journalist who has written prolifically across the national newspapers and magazines for 15 years, and was food editor at Metro for seven years. Thorne has worked in food and drink for more than 15 years, setting up her own PR and communications consultancy, Taste PR, in 2009. __

Jemma Wilson

Founder, Crumbs & Doilies From upstairs at her bakery, Crumbs & Doilies in London’s Soho, Wilson often hears her ardent fans in the shop asking if she’s available for a picture. She has a huge following as Cupcake Jemma, with her YouTube videos getting more than 30 million views. The former artschool dropout began baking cupcakes and selling them from a market stall in 2004. Her towering bespoke cakes are showstoppers. __

Charlotte Harbottle Butcher and owner, Charlotte’s Butchery

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Theology may not be on most butchers’ CVs, but then Harbottle is not most butchers. It was while reading Theology in York that she got a part time job in a butcher’s shop. She then trained at O’Shea’s of Knightsbridge and Lidgate’s in Holland Park. In 2012, the same year she won a YBFs award, Harbottle discovered a butchers for sale in Gosford and after securing a start-up loan she, and her brother, opened Charlotte’s Butchery in 2013. __

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Leaders

Alison Brittain

Darina Allen

Chef, food writer and founder, Ballymaloe Cookery School One of the best-known names in food, Allen owns and runs the Ballymaloe Cookery School in Shanagarry, Co. Cork. Students love the Allen experience. She is also a well-known cookbook author and television presenter. Allen set up the first farmers market in Ireland on the Coal Quay in Cork in 1996. As if all that wasn’t enough, she is also President of the East Cork Slow Food Convivium. __

Chief executive, Whitbread A huge industry figurehead, Brittain became one of just seven women heading FTSE 100 companies when she was appointed CEO of Whitbread PLC (which owns brands such as Premier Inn and Costa) in 2015.

Brittain is also a non-executive director for Marks and Spencer Group PLC and a Council Member and Trustee at The Prince’s Trust. __

Alice Chadwyck-Healey

Executive director, The Arts Club

Carole Bamford

Founder, Daylesford Organic These days, organic farm shops are everywhere, but it was more than 30 years ago that Bamford converted their farms to organic and the idea for Daylesford Organic was born. There are now three farm shops with cafés in London, the Wild Rabbit pub and restaurant in Kingham, and in May Bamford is releasing Nurture, a lifestyle and recipe book about her organic farm. __

Petra Barran

Founder and creative director, Kerb Barran founded Kerb in 2012. Starting with a chocolate van and a Masters in Urbanism, she created a collective of street-food traders which now has 90 active members. Her role as the ‘Mother of Street Food’ has inspired legions of women to work in the sector.

She’s known for free lunchtime talks, Kerb Crates, and her TED talk – How Street Food Feeds The Soul. She is currently on an extended research trip in New Orleans. __

Lara Boglione

Managing director, Petersham Nurseries

Irha Atherton Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Co-director, The Social Company Philippines-born, Atherton has experience in accounting, broadcasting and hotels. So she’s ideal for running the HQ of The Social Company, while husband Jason is its face. She oversees all back-office operations and supports multiple charities, while keeping family life with two daughters on track. __

From her parents’ idea – the original Petersham Nurseries adjoins their Richmond property - Lara Boglione has ramped up the action. She will open two new restaurants in Covent Garden in April and, with her husband Giovanni Mazzei, has established Petersham Cellar, which promotes an ever-evolving selection of hand-picked Italian wines. Boglione has aspirations to take the brand international. __

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The Arts Club is on a massive growth spurt, and its executive director, Chadwyck-Healey is ready for the challenge. With a background in marketing and PR (plus a no-doubt helpful MA in philosophy), she joined the Birley Group and stayed when it was acquired by Richard Caring.

Now, with The Arts Club, she oversees business development, memberships, events and marketing, as well as their global expansion programme. __

Zuleika Fennell

Managing director, Corbin & King In a company known for HR excellence, Fennell is a huge asset. She began her career at restaurants and hotels in Australasia, including Hyatt, Hilton and Radisson. Upon returning to the UK, she undertook a Masters in Human Resource Management. She joined Corbin & King in 2004, working as director of human resources and COO before being appointed managing director last year. __

Cerys Furlong Co-founder, Milkwood

The highly successful restaurateur Furlong was announced as the face of women’s equality in Wales in 2016 and is chief executive of Chwarae Teg, a charity working in Wales to support the economic development of women and improve working practices. Furlong coowns Milkwood, The Lansdowne and The Grange in Cardiff. __

Jillian MacLean MBE

Managing director, Drake & Morgan MacLean had the idea of creating an innovative new group of bars in London that were not only femalefriendly but offered food and drink allday. Backed by the Imbiba Partnership, she opened the first site, The Refinery, in Southwark in 2008. In 2013 she was awarded an MBE for her services to hospitality and there are now 22 sites in London, Manchester and Edinburgh. __

Thomasina Miers Chef, author and co-founder, Wahaca

Known for her warm and supportive attitude, Miers came to co-found Wahaca, the UK chain of Mexican street food restaurants, after appearing on BBC’s Masterchef in 2005 and then working at Petersham Nurseries. The multi-site company celebrates its 10th anniversary this year. Miers, mother to three girls, also writes books, and articles for The Guardian. __

Niki Kopcke Founder, Mazi Mas

Inspired by her Greek godmother Maria Maroulis’s dream of opening a bakery, Kopcke founded Mazi Mas to help other women achieve similar dreams. The social enterprise organises cooking nights for women from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

Mazi Mas takes on six chefs at a time – but the kitchen is women-only. They’ve worked with such enterprises as Tate and The Prince’s Trust and is growing fast. __

Lilly Newell

Karen Jones

Sinead Mallozzi

Jones – an industry legend - says her passion for hospitality started at Betty’s Tearoom in York. She teamed up with Roger Myers to open Peppermint Park, Coconut Grove and Fatso’s Pasta Joint in London the 70s and 80s, before they went on to launch Café Rouge in 1989. Jones has also served as the CEO of Punch Taverns plc and Spirit Pub Company plc. She is currently chairman of Food & Fuel Limited as well as chair of Hawksmoor, Mowgli and sits on the board of Corbin & King. __

Despite a desire to study art, Mallozzi completed a degree in hospitality management. Following this, she won a place as a fast-track graduate trainee with Swallow Hotels. Seven years later, and after becoming a mother, she was the youngest and only female London hotel general manager. Before moving to sketch, Mallozzi worked for three years at Somerset House with Oliver Peyton, creating the first ice rink in London... __

Founder, Food & Fuel Limited

Monika Linton

CEO, sketch

Tracey Matthews

Linton is a visionary of our food industry. She founded Brindisa in 1988 with an aim to not only sell Spanish products but to export the way of eating to the UK – at a time when the knowledge of Spanish gastronomy was non-existent in the UK. She later opened the first Tapas Brindisa restaurant in Borough Market in 2004 and now runs five restaurants and two shops in London. __

An expert in chain restaurants, Matthews started in management at Gaucho in 2000, and was appointed managing director in 2014 and in addition, last year Matthews was also appointed as managing director of CAU, the sister restaurant business.

She now oversees the running of 16 Gaucho restaurants and 22 CAU sites in the UK, alongside a handful of international venues. __

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With a pedigree including Chanel and Harrods, Newell is well placed for her role as executive director of Richard Caring’s operations. She works closely with Caring on the running of Caprice Holdings and The Birley Group, which includes Sexy Fish, Scott’s and the recent, blockbuster opening of the new Annabel’s. She’s the mother of two young children too. __

Nicole Pisani

Chef and co-founder, Chefs in Schools See page 36. __

Gillian Thomson

Chief operating officer, ACT Clean Thomson’s first taste of the industry came at the age of 12, when she started cleaning rooms at a local holiday park.

She has some of the finest hospitality experience, having worked for luxury hotels all over the world and as head of global operations for Gordon Ramsay Holdings. Thomson is now COO for ACT Clean, which provides cleaning services for the hospitality industry. __

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Founder, Brindisa

Managing director, Gaucho Restaurants

Executive director, Caprice Holdings & The Birley Group

Front of house

Plaxy Locatelli

Co-founder, Locanda Locatelli Locatelli credits another strong woman, Eleanor Salvoni at L’Escargot, with teaching her FoH secrets. On meeting her-now husband Giorgio, they decided thanks to the brutal hours of hospitality, they’d have to work together to see each other…

First they opened pizzeria Red Pepper, then Zefferano and – most famously Locanda Locatelli, in 2002. Locatelli has balanced the complex health needs of one of her children with a very high-profile business with great aplomb. __

in preparation for starting her own restaurant consultancy last year with her husband, Sebastian Fogg.

She’s worked at the Monkey Bar in Manhattan and Soho House West Hollywood with Fogg, as well as on Dean Street House, 34 and Sexy Fish. __

Gordana Sherriff Senior maitre d’, Scott’s

Instantly recognisable, Sherriff’s career started as a 17-year-old hat-check girl at Joe Allen restaurant in Covent Garden, spending hours opposite the maitre d’, “subconsciously learning many tricks of the trade.” Sherriff was general manager at 192 in the 80s and the Groucho Club in the 90s, before leaving the industry to have children.

In 2006, she returned by joining Caprice Holdings working at The Ivy and J Sheekey, before moving to Le Café Anglais. She joined Scott’s in 2014 as senior maitre d’. __

Emma Underwood

General manager, Where the Light Gets In and co-founder, The TMRW Project

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Laura Montana

Restaurant consultant and cofounder, Montana Fogg She may have worked for Richard Caring, Nick Jones and Graydon Carter, but Montana’s experience running her own café and deli in central London was just as valuable

Underwood has a tattoo on her arm, the letter A – which stands either for anarchist or arancini… She is a major rising star in hospitality, having been an integral part of the success of Gary Usher’s first restaurants, and now as restaurant manager for acclaimed Stockport indie Where The Light Gets In. And in addition, she organises debates and events for The TMRW Project, which supports those making their way into hospitality. __

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Vanessa Xuereb

Member relations director, Soho House & Co Twenty years after covering a friend’s shift on reception at the original Soho House on Greek Street, Xuereb is now member relations director for the members’ club business. Despite managing to cut-off founder Nick Jones three times on the phone when she first started, Xuereb now plays a central role in opening all the new houses globally, working alongside Jones and chief operating officer Martin Kuczmarski. __

Communications

Gemma Bell

Founder, Gemma Bell & Company Having worked in restaurants to pay the rent while at music college, Bell fell in love with the hospitality industry. She now runs her own hospitality PR agency working with chefs, restaurateurs and hoteliers across London, the rest of the UK and around the world. She manages the PR for Tom Kerridge, Angela Hartnett, Ottolenghi, Padella and Dishoom. Bell is also joint founder of #CookForSyria and trustee for charity Amos Trust. __

Maureen Mills

Founder, Network London Canadian-born Mills worked in hotel PR in Toronto before moving to London 30 years ago to work in the PR department for British Airways.

After a stint editing publications, Mills started her restaurant PR business, Network London, which celebrates its 21st anniversary this year. Current clients include Tom Sellers, Hotel Café Royal and Cliveden. Mills also supports the vitally important Gold Service Scholarship. __

Paula Fitzherbert

Jules Pearson

Partnerships and insights director, Ennismore; and co-founder, London On The Inside Pearson is adept at juggling. As well as being co-founder of London On The Inside lifestyle website, which she started nine years ago, she works as partnership and insights director for Ennismore, working across The Hoxton, Gleneagles and the group’s restaurants. Pearson is set to relocate to the US for the next six months, where she’ll work on global partnerships for all the brands. __

Group director of communications - Claridge’s, The Connaught, The Berkeley - Maybourne Hotel Group

Tiffany Robinson

Universally loved and admired, Fitzherbert makes the job of managing press, celebrities, management and creatives at the prestigious Maybourne group look like a breeze. Underneath her unflappable, chummy demeanour lies huge attention to detail and hard graft – an amazing role model for communications. Fitzherbert first worked in hospitality at the Hyatt Carlton Tower before joining the Savoy group. She has been working at Maybourne for more than 20 years. __

Robinson trained as a chef at Ballymaloe when she was 17. After university, she published ‘From Pasta to Pancakes, The Ultimate Student Cookbook’ and ‘The First Flat Cookbook’. She is now marketing director for D&D London.

She has worked on the marketing and PR strategies for more than 10 new restaurant openings and refurbishments. __

Marketing director, D&D London Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

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Media

Catherine Hanly

Editor and co-founder, Hot Dinners The website Hot Dinners is quick and comprehensive, but some may not know that co-founder Hanly, up until earlier this year, worked full time as associate editor at Mumsnet, too. She founded the restaurant news website with her brother Gavin in 2008 and it has become one of the most influential sources of restaurant and hospitality news in London. __

Grace Dent

Marina O’Loughlin

Originally from Cumbria, Dent has become one of the most recognisable faces in the world of food and restaurant media. From 2011 to 2017 she wrote her Grace and Flavour restaurant column for ES magazine, before recently moving to The Guardian as its restaurant critic. Last year Dent won Reviewer of the Year at the London Restaurant Festival and was the creative director for the Evening Standard’s London Food Month. __

Despite managing to remain anonymous – quite some feat in the world of social media – O’Loughlin’s prominence as a restaurant critic started at Metro, from 2006 to 2012, then at The Guardian. In 2017, she took over the late AA Gill’s column at The Sunday Times. As well as winning innumerable awards for her work, she has made The Sunday Times “Britain’s 500 Most Influential” list three years running. __

Food writer and The Sunday Times restaurant critic

Food writer and Guardian restaurant critic

Sheila Dillon

Journalist and presenter, The Food Programme Dillon is known to Radio 4 listeners as the presenter of The Food Programme and is responsible for educating millions of listeners about food and drink in Britain. She also hosts the annual BBC Radio Food and Farming Awards. __

Food writer and TV presenter Lawson needs no introduction, having graced our TV screens for nearly 20 years. As well being an accomplished TV personality and broadcaster, Lawson is also a journalist and food writer. She published her first book in 1998… and the rest is history. As well as a role model, she champions women in food and journalism and shares her invaluable restaurant experiences on social media. __

Sarah Durdin Robertson

Fay Maschler

Durdin Robertson has a specialist interest in food, which she brings to her work with independent TV production company Optomen. In an influential role, she finds the latest culinary talent to take part in the Great British Menu series. __

There aren’t many people who can say they won their job in a competition the Evening Standard’s restaurant critic can. Maschler started her job at the London paper in 1972 and has held the position ever since. Despite a radically different restaurant industry now, Maschler has remained as relevant as ever – working tirelessly to eat out most days, usually with her sister Beth and husband Reg. __

Series food producer, Optomen

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Nigella Lawson

Food writer and The London Evening Standard restaurant critic

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Amanda Ross

Co-founder and CEO, Cactus TV Any chef who’s appeared on Saturday Kitchen will know Ross – who is always there, knowing exactly what she wants. Cactus TV is one of Britain’s most prolific cookery show production studios. The long-running Saturday Kitchen is still one of the most watched food TV programmes and showcases the leading chefs in the UK. Ross is also an ambassador for Wellbeing of Women. __

Hotels and interiors

Afroditi Krassa Founder, AfroditiKrassa

In 2002, Krassa set up her own design studio and worked with Pret a Manger founder Julian Metcalfe to design Itsu’s branding. Krassa also designed Heston Blumenthal’s The Perfectionist Café and worked on the creation of Dishoom. __ __

Isle Crawford Founder, Studioisle

Crawford was the launch editor of Elle Decoration, before setting up her own design studio in 2001. Projects include Soho House New York, Babington House and Cecconi’s in Mayfair.

Crawford also designed Ett Hem hotel in Stockholm and Duddell’s Arts Club in Hong Kong. She most recently redesigned St Cuthbert’s community centre in London for Refettorio Felix, a community kitchen and non-profit organisation founded by Massimo Bottura. __

Irene Forte & Lydia Forte

Group project director, Rocco Forte Hotels; Bar and restaurant development manager, Rocco Forte Hotels Irene Forte joined her father’s hotel business in January 2013. Since joining she has launched Rocco Forte Brand Standards, including a new service philosophy and values. Last year, she was appointed group project director which also has her overseeing the spa and fitness offerings across the group.

She created a skincare line for the hotels called Forte Organics. She has also launched Map My Future careers and training app for the industry.

Lydia Forte is responsible for the concepts, management and performance of the hotel group’s restaurant and bars across the portfolio.

In 2015, Lydia opened Irene, a Tuscan bistro at the Hotel Savoy in Florence and in 2016, she re-launched Sophia’s Restaurant and Bar at the Charles hotel in Munich. Most recently, she has worked on the five food and beverage offerings at the new Assila hotel in Jeddah. _

Judy Hutson

Interior designer, Home Grown Hotels

Tara Bernerd

Founder, Tara Bernerd & Partners

Co-owner and design director, Firmdale Hotels Kit Kemp, along with her husband Tim Kemp, has created some of London’s best hotels. Firmdale, which they founded in 1981, operates eight hotels in the capital including the Ham Yard hotel in Soho and the Dorset Square hotel in Marylebone.

They also operate the Crosby Street hotel and Whitby hotel in New York.

Kemp oversees all the interiors of the properties. __

Jill Stein OBE

Restaurateur and interior designer In 1975, Stein started The Seafood Restaurant with her then-husband, Rick. They’ve grown the business to now include a further nine restaurants and cookery school. After designing the interiors for her restaurants, she established Jill Stein Interior Design in 2009 and last year launched a range of natural toiletries – Porthdune - with Amanda Barlow. __

Sue Williams

Hotelier and general manager, Whatley Manor Williams has worked at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, The Bath Priory, Sydney House, Gidleigh Park and Cliveden.

She is now GM at Whatley Manor, won Hotelier of the Year in 2017 and is an ambassador for The Gold Service Scholarship Awards. __

Photo credits: Emma Underwood, credit: Kathryn Wood; Clare Lattin, credit: @tacaworks; Tara Bernerd, credit: Jason Alden; Darina Allen, credit: Kristin Perers; Asma Khan, credit: Ming Tang Evans; Rosie Birkett, credit: Kristin Perers -23-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Connected and energetic after a long time in the design business, Bernerd left school at the age of 16 to follow a career in interiors. Having trained with designers and architects such as Philippe Starck, she went on to open her own architectural practice in London. Her latest project – The Principal London – opens later this year. __

Home Grown Hotels, operators of the group of Pig hotels in the UK, was founded by Hutson’s husband, Robin but has Judy to thank for its idiocyncratic and welcoming feel.

Hutson is working on the interiors for three new Pig hotels in the UK. __

Kit Kemp

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Clockwise from top left: Farmacy; The Spread Eagle; Pure Filth; The Spread Eagle. Opposite: Gizzi Erskine and Rosemary Ferguson

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Green shoots It’s the biggest growth area in food right now – as vegan dishes and menus move from pop-ups to fine dining, and from street vendors to supermarkets. Chloë Hamilton talks to four entrepreneurs on their reasons for embracing the plant-based future But after digging deeper into the environmental impact of intensive farming and its contribution to climate change, Erskine and Ferguson were compelled to fill a gap in the market. In their development kitchen they worked, not on another veggie bean burger, or a seitan creation, but something that would feel comfortable in everyone’s hands.

“You have people very cleverly designing burgers that act and feel and bleed like meat,” says Erskine, “but the vegetarians and vegans I know won’t be interested in eating that - aside, maybe, for novelty reasons. And what about the meat eaters? Ultimately the fast food industry has to implode at some point… science is saying we might

Richard Turner as two of the best meat chefs who share this approach and who follow a mostly vegan diet.

And she points out that veganism doesn’t just belong to hippies and health food bloggers: “It also comes from rap and grime music with artists like JME. That’s the most exciting part of it, you go down to Boxpark in Croydon and they have two or three vegan places and they’re all really cool with loads of rappers in there and grime artists. That’s a really cool movement.”

Pure Filth’s part in the vegan movement is very much geared up and ready to go. Since their pop-up at Tate they’ve refined their burger patty to be even better than before, their manufacturing operation is all

and nutritionist Rosemary Ferguson had its first outing as a pop-up at Tate Modern last December, with artist Jake Chapman’s limited edition ‘unhappy meal’ lunchbox casting a cynical, anarchic undertone. Their stand against the fast-food industry and its over-consumption of cheap meat fuelled the conversation about making plant-based food good enough for everyone – and the ticketed events sold out.

It wasn’t always going to be an ethical plant-based statement, indeed at the beginning of development there was meat on the menu.

not be able to have beef eventually.

At which point, what are people going to eat?”

Although not vegetarian or vegan, Erskine has taken a conscientious approach to eating meat for the past 10 years, placing value in where it comes from and eating it infrequently. “Moderation is fucking boring, isn’t it? No one wants to talk about how boring moderation is. But let’s moderate our meat intake in the same way we moderate our drinking or smoking or whatever – it’s a luxury.”

She cites Neil Rankin and

laid out and the only thing they’re missing is the perfect first site. “What we really want to do it get our first site and build it and love it and learn from it and understand exactly what we’re trying to offer. But the ambition is to go multi-site,” Erskine explains. “This is not just coming out from one idea, this is a movement and we really want to work with the movement in order to educate people about eating meat. Because the way we’re currently eating it isn’t good.”

Meriel Armitage, founder of the popular vegan street-food operator Club Mexicana, made headlines in

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Veganuary may have been and gone but the press releases keep on coming.

There’s pulled jackfruit on the shelves in Sainsbury’s, Dirty Bones are launching Dirty Vegan, Veggie Pret is multiplying and Gauthier has honed a high-end vegan tasting menu. It doesn’t feel long ago that to request a plant-based dish in a restaurant was a quirk, now it’s almost the norm.

Vegan is going mainstream, but why now? And is it going to move from a trend to an established part of the food landscape?

Gizzi Erskine, chef, food writer and soon-to-be Mare Street restaurateur has cropped up in these headlines for her ‘healthy food for hedonists’ concept, Pure Filth. The collaborative creation with friend

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Top: Farmacy. Above: Filmore and Union

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January when she opened London’s first vegan pub, The Spread Eagle in Homerton, with friend and publican Luke McLaughlin. But the climate in which she’s done so is dramatically different to when she started her business. “When we first started trading with Kerb we didn’t put ‘vegan’ anywhere on the menu because it would scare people off”.

But the pub has already attracted a complete cross-section of people coming in; some who’ve been vegan for 20 years, some who are brand new, “really enthusiastic vegans” and others who maybe eat meat two or three times a week and want to eat vegan the rest of the time – the oft-quoted ‘flexitarians’. “We want people to feel totally comfortable doing that and we don’t want to preach or tell people what they should do. We just want to give them a vegan meal they absolutely love”.

Armitage’s own veganism is motivated primarily by the ethics of where meat comes from and the nature of the dairy industry, but she acknowledges that over time, other reasons creep in. “I was pretty naïve to the environmental impact of meat production until I started to read up on it,” she says. It was whilst working in advertising in Melbourne, with its vibrant vegan scene that she went from vegetarian to vegan. “It was so easy and didn’t feel at all like I was missing out. I worked in an industry where people would go for really expensive lunches and all I would do is call up the restaurant beforehand and they would do me a seven-course vegan tasting menu. Or going out for dinner with friends you could happily suggest a vegan place and they’d all be like ‘yeah ok, brilliant, let’s go there’”.

She experienced a similar scene whilst travelling in the States and, on returning to the UK, was disappointed to find it was “a bit of a wasteland”. Even at Street Feast in Dalston in 2012, where some of the most innovative food was happening, none of the traders were serving anything vegan. So Armitage quit her day job and Club Mexicana was born.

In today’s context of plant-based populism, Armitage says putting the word ‘vegan’ on their street food stall means getting a queue of people before anyone else. “As we’ve taken on the pub we’ve had to look for

some help with press because the amount of request we’re getting – for collaborations, pop-ups, residencies – is insane”. So much so that they’re having to turn things down. “I think it’s on everybody’s radar now and it’s something people can’t shy away from, because it’s the truth about where a lot of our food comes from.

It’s started a massive conversation that will keep on going.”

Outside of the London scene, Adele Ashley has just as tangibly seen the surge in demand for vegan food.

Her Yorkshire-based healthy eating brand Filmore and Union has grown to 16 sites since it first opened in York in 2012. “I’ll be honest,” says Ashley, “when we started we didn’t consider vegans, only vegetarians.

About 40 per cent of the menu was either vegetarian or dairy-free and over the past couple of years, these have morphed into vegan options, purely due to the demand for it”.

The challenge, she says, is to keep it interesting: “You can go anywhere and have a risotto but we don’t want to put anything on our menu that you can get at a high-street restaurant.

We’re used to going that extra mile.”

And they did literally go the extra mile(s). Ashley, a pescatarian with a lactose and gluten intolerance (her own perfect customer) has a major hand in menu development and recently took her chefs on a research trip to New York. They scouted out plant-based restaurants - JeanGeorges Vongerichten’s abcV being a favourite - in the search for new ideas and techniques to take back to their test kitchen in Wetherby. Chickpea water and nutritional yeast are common components of their menus and they now hold monthly vegan nights at some of their sites, which are known to sell out.

But Ashley maintains the emphasis is on being a neighbourhood restaurant, somewhere you can bring your granny and your dog and there might be one person in the group who is vegan. “It’s a subliminal message,” she says, “those that are gluten-free or vegan or veggie know what we’re about. But we don’t want to shout about it because we don’t want to preach. We don’t want to sit in a niche category; it’s daunting for people to go in somewhere that’s too niche”.

Back in London, Notting Hill’s Farmacy might once have been seen as a niche concept, with an overtly health-focused brand and a fully

‘planted-based menu’ menu, aka vegan but with eggs. Certainly the syringe-style vitamin-rich shots got plenty of press attention, as did the famous-family background of the founder.

But Camilla Fayed, who opened her restaurant in 2016, recognises the importance of appealing to a wider audience. “As more people turn to a conscious lifestyle, there’s an increased demand for places that offer a fun and stylish atmosphere too”. A lot of thought goes into their lighting and music to create a grownup evening atmosphere. And their standalone bar, private dining room and high tea menu are features more common to ‘mainstream’ venues.

The plan for Fayed’s ‘friendly face’ of plant-based eating is to open several other Farmacy sites in London and to eventually expand the brand worldwide. There’s a book due this summer, too, to add to the boom in vegan cookbooks being published.

Motivations may differ, from a personal drive to expand diners’ horizons – as these women show to seeing an opportunity to make money from a fast-growing market (see chains and supermarkets), but the consensus between those at the forefront of the vegan movement is that progress unequivocally lies in shaking off the niche image and confidently conquering the middle ground. In a generation where meat is a cheap commodity, the relentless influx of vegan news is a sure sign that chefs, restaurateurs and big business are finally paying attention.

Supermarkets are investing heavily in vegan ranges this year, and there’s even a vegan Baileys on the market (which sold out on first launch). “The people have the voice in this dynamic and increasingly it’s being heard,” says Gizzi Erskine.

“There’s a huge revolution going on out there.”

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

“In today’s context of plant-based populism, putting ‘vegan’ on a street-food stall menu means getting a queue before anyone else”

Head to head In each edition, we ask two industry figures to face off on a subject exercising the food world. This time we ask two women who know each other well whether meals are better with company or alone

“TO EAT TOGETHER CAN MEAN BUILDING BRIDGES, EVEN STOPPING WARS ...”

Margot Henderson, Rochelle Canteen

with all these incredible cuisines all over the world, with women pouring love on to the table for all to share, to get stuck into? I say don’t eat alone, eat together and stop wars!

It’s the same with families, the more they eat together at the kitchen table, the closer and the stronger the bond will be. The happiest groups of people in the world know to sit down and share their worlds with each other.

Bonvivre!

Anyone that knows me, knows that I love a party and I’m a natural feeder, so to share with your friends is always a happy moment.

The chaos, the mess, the

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

To sit and gather with friends and family around the table, to eat and drink together, to nourish and nurture from the inside and out is one of life’s true sensorial moments. Whether it’s a small or large event, an evening feast or an intimate lunch, it is the sitting down together that can build bridges, stop wars even. The more we know of people’s cultures the richer people we are. The French for instance, have been sharing the beauty of their food with us for a long time now and we have learnt that to sit at a crisp table cloth (although not that many can afford the cleaning bills these days) is one of the great arts of past and present!

When a table is full to brimming with food and wine, and the people are squeezed in shoulder to shoulder, the excitement can be giddy beyond belief. Platters of food to share and pass around add to the interaction and joy of the coming together. “Eat more chickpeas…” I keep saying, “and maybe we would have more peace. Chickpeace.” So many dishes are for sharing; cassoulet, lasagne, dumplings, paella, Georgian food, the list goes on. So, why are there wars

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table that starts almost slightly stiff then moves and relaxes, as a little wine and food start to warm the cockles of the heart, stomach and mind.

The atmosphere in a restaurant is heightened by happy eaters, interacting, chatting, coming together enjoying each other’s company and enjoying the food.

“EATING ALONE MEANS PEACE AND QUIET. MOST OF US DON’T GET THAT IN A NORMAL DAY...”

Melanie Arnold, Rochelle Canteen

It is such a huge treat to eat alone, of course we all love to sit at a groaning table in the middle of family and friends, but there’s a special feeling to the whole process of eating by oneself. If I’m at home on my own I don’t eat, but choosing a restaurant, completely your own choice, not compromising at all, I love that. When I go out on my own I wander around until I

find somewhere that entices me in, whether it’s the menu or the style of the place. I like those more old-school restaurants for dining alone, preferably with lovely white napkins, but it doesn’t have to be posh. I like oldfashioned family places, somewhere like Ciao Bella.

I always take a book or a newspaper, but a lot of the pleasure is in watching, watching the world go by if I’ve scored a window table, watching other guests (now what’s their story?), watching the waiters or watching the chefs if it’s a counter place, all their skill and practice!

You get a lot of special attention if you eat on your own, I think restaurants like a solo diner, it means you’re serious about going to their place. It always makes me feel a bit like Mrs Robinson.

It’s not really primarily about the food though,

it’s sort of more about immersing oneself in another world, with time to think and relax, no need for conversation, just peace and quiet for oneself. Most of us don’t get much of that in a normal day. The world we work in means that we always go to restaurants with other people, so it’s such a change to experience them quietly and slowly. And even in the busiest place there’s always room for one.

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Each season, publisher Adam Hyman and editor Lisa Markwell make it their business to check out new restaurants and old favourites. These are the places that fuelled this edition of CODE Quarterly

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

The inbetweeners Whatever the reason, breaking your work routine can make a huge difference to your life.

Victoria Stewart talks to five women about what happened when they stepped away from the stove Imagine you’ve left a highly demanding job in a kitchen, bar or restaurant with a view to finding a site in which to open your own place, having a baby, or taking a breather while you work out what to do next.

This in-between period has the potential to be both liberating and disarming - the conundrum of knowing you need to keep an eye on the industry and to continue making use of your skills whilst not taking on a full time job.

It’s not as if there’s an industry blueprint for advice on this.

Technically you could easily find cover positions, but do you want to follow someone else’s rules again?

Thankfully because the industry has changed a lot, opportunities have widened. Pop-ups, residencies or collaborations play a huge role now. It’s almost considered a right of passage for talented chefs to trial ideas at venues and spaces, such as at Carousel in Marylebone, that offer rotating cooking opportunities.

Meanwhile, there are chances to do private cooking jobs, and to consult or do recipe development for brands.

But how to balance it all?

Here are five voices from the industry who describe how they’ve made it work.

ELIZABETH HAIGH Then: Head chef, Pidgin The plan: Left at the end of 2016 to set up consultancy business Kaizen House and plan her first restaurant, Shibui.

After a few intermediary jobs, she took time off to get married, and also had a son, Riley in November. “I’ve been looking for sites since then.

It’s difficult – naively I thought that finding one would be easy but I know now it takes time.”

In-between time: Haigh says that having built up a profile and having great agents enabled her to find private work. She did a summer barbecue campaign with Tabasco, and a pop-up at Carousel, then whilst pregnant and looking for sites she cooked at festivals, travelled, did a fire dinner with Neil Rankin in Estonia, and a pop-up in Singapore. “I did those both for the profile and also to keep my sanity.

I need to keep cooking. Those jobs enabled me to underline the time I was looking for sites, but I didn’t want to exert myself too much whilst pregnant.”

Enjoyment: “The delay in opening is nice in the sense that it will give me more time with Riley but I’m also dying to get back into the kitchen.”

Next: Shibui opens this spring.

Advice to others: “Map out how you plan your year to go. If you want to do your own thing, plot it out before you jump. The last thing you want to do is be stuck without work. That said, the exciting thing is that in London there are so many places where you can do pop-ups and collaborations, which is great.” @kaizenldn NIEVES BARRAGÁN MOHACHO Then: Executive head chef, Barrafina restaurants What happened: Left in April 2017 with a view to setting up her own restaurant, Sabor. She expected to open in autumn last year but following unforseen structural issues with the building she ended up opening in February 2018. “These things happen when you’re opening somewhere

though,” she explains. “My plan was to develop exactly what we wanted to do at Sabor – to think about the details and fine tune things. I wanted to have to time to travel and research for the restaurant.”

In-between time: “I didn’t have time to do anything else in between because there was so much work to do in planning Sabor. It’s a big operation – we have three separate spaces with completely different menus and teams so there was a lot to do.”

Enjoyment: “I enjoyed having some time to myself, but also having time to talk to my suppliers properly and to be able to do some thorough research before we opened.”

Next: Sabor is now open.

Advice to others: “Don’t over-think things; take your time and don’t rush things too much - you only get one chance to do things properly and you want all the details to be right.” @sabor_ldn GINA HOPKINS Then: Head chef, The Drapers Arms What happened: Left in autumn 2017 to set up her own restaurant Nonya in Glasgow. “There were problems that occurred from recruiting to recipe development to building work delays. In the end we decided to take Christmas off to relax and enjoy, and to accept that we wouldn’t open on time,” says Hopkins.

In-between time: Other than occasional cover work, Hopkins represented Nonya at the Glandstonbury offal popup held at The Drapers Arms.

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

“I wanted to have time to travel and research for the restaurant – to think about the details and fine-tune things”

She also featured at this year’s Scotch Egg Challenge. “Those things are fun but also about profile building. I’ve also been building our new website, predominantly to have a place to share my recipes or ingredients. I’ve now got a nice stack of things to put on there.”

Enjoyment: “It’s been nice to be available for things that usually you can’t do, and it’s been great recipe testing for Nonya.

There have been times that I’ve felt frustrated about not being open yet, but by and large it’s given me time to work things out.”

Next: Aims to open Nonya by the end of March.

Advice to others: “Try to enjoy it. It’s nice and so unusual as a chef to have this time off. Use it, and get involved in every little thing that you can. I’m lucky enough to have some savings but don’t panic if things don’t work out – as a chef, your skills are in demand so there are opportunities out there.” @nonyaglasgow PIP LACEY Then: Head chef, Murano

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

What happened: Left in July 2017 to set up her restaurant, Hicce.

“It’s a daunting decision to go alone, especially in London where competition is high. First I planned my security and what to save to see me through everything I’d have to pay, and then I realised that finding investment and a site doesn’t happen immediately.

Another big reason for leaving to start my own thing is that I’m 36 and I’d like to have a baby before I’m 40 – I felt I would be able to manage both work and family planning better if I’m not a head chef for someone else, even though I also know Angela (Hartnett) would have been supportive.”

In-between time: Briefly worked part-time at Murano and at The Lighterman.

She did some consutancy for a friend, pop-ups at Charlotte’s W5 and Native, and has an upcoming pop-up with Selin Kiazim. “I’m trying not to say no to anything, as my whole chef career I’ve pretty much had to say no to every social engagement.”

Enjoyment: “Yes, but it’s been a scary enjoyment - like a guilty pleasure type thing. If I’m at home having a cup of tea I feel like I should be doing something as I’ve been used to hardcore work.”

Next: Plans to open Hicce before summer.

Advice to others: “Go for stuff if you want to do it. You’ve only got one life and yes there are lows but I think the highs are much better and outweigh them.

And plan it.” @hiccelondon MISSY FLYNN Then: Co-owner, Rita’s Bar and Dining What happened: She and her business partners closed Rita’s at the end of summer 2016, when “for financial reasons we had to make a decision to either close or keep going.” Before closing they ran a month-long Rita’s pop-up, and then travelled around Italy for two weeks before started Quilombero, a four-month Italian Argentinian pop-up in Canary Wharf.

In-between time: After the pop-ups, Flynn and her partner Gabriel Pryce spent three months travelling around Mexico before Flynn took on small consulting roles, and did a four-month stage in the kitchen at Portland. Her main focus since then has been working on a campaign with Baileys, and taking time

off to “pause and cook and be creative.

Just taking a job in another restaurant didn’t feel right. I felt very guilty but I’ve also spent the time working with a career coach looking into what I want and what matters. It’s been healing, because I still miss that restaurant every day. And I’ve only been able to do all this because I’ve been doing well-paid commercial work, and my boyfriend and I live in a house that we own.

We’re lucky to have that asset.”

Enjoyment: “Personally, being able to be introspective and work out who I am has been really good. Professionally I haven’t enjoyed it as I have struggled with a lack of purpose. The first feeling was shame and I see so many people close and disappear. But people need support to come back – there’s so much talent around.”

Next: She will return to Mexico to do a food residency and then get involved in a new bakery project. “My long-term plan, I think, is actually to study then work in food waste and food policy and charity.”

Advice to others: “I think you have to look into what it is that you want.

Temporary work can enable you to take time for that. But also there are loads of people with money and no ideas. So if you have ideas, you’re worth some money to somebody.” @missyflynn

“Go for stuff if you want to do it.

You’ve only got one life and yes there are lows, but I think the highs are much better and outweight them” -34-

Tools of the trade In this regular feature, we take a closer look at the workspace of people who inspire us. Here, Vanessa Hurndall, cloakroom maestro of Annabel’s, shows us the luxe new space Harriet Raper

From top left: Vanessa Hurndall; details of basins, velvet vanity chairs, taps and mirrors at the new, top-floor Ladies’ room at the new Annabel’s home with the right person. The old Annabel’s had only two loo cubicles when I started. Oh the queues sometimes! And the cloakroom place was so little, it’s amazing I got it all in. Heavy fur coats take up so much space, let me tell you.

The new Annabel’s is completely different. We’ve gone from one floor to four, and it’s taken two years to create. There is a ladies’ loo in the basement by the nightclub, and one on the top floor too, but I’ll be based downstairs, where the cloakroom is just across the hall from the ladies’.

I’ve got my fan heater and my book for when it’s quiet, but the time flies best when we’re busy.

People start arriving from 10pm and midnight is when they all come. I always get the mints out - Waitrose mint imperials, to be exact. If I haven’t got them, the ladies ask where are they.

Then there’s a hairbrush, of course, deodorant, hand cream, hairspray (classic Elnett) and in my cupboard I keep an iron and a hairdryer (handy if someone’s spilt a drink on their clothes). I’ve got quite a collection of cosmetics and it’s been known for ladies to arrive with a -35-

naked face and use the whole drawer to do their make-up.

Now, it can ruin someone’s night if they are wearing something that’s not allowed in Annabel’s, so I keep skirts for lending if they are in ripped jeans; sometimes my own, sometimes Primark. I have shoes in sizes 5 to 7, for if they’re in trainers and if, heaven forbid, they rip their clothes while in the club, I have a sewing kit and can literally sew them back into their dress for the night!

I could wear a uniform, but luckily Annabel’s gives me a clothing allowance – I know what suits me and is comfortable. Today I’m wearing a skirt from And Other Stories, a vintage Moschino jacket, a Zara shirt, a piece of lace from Wolford, and an expensive but invaluable jewelled hairclip - because everyone sees it when I turn around with the coats!”

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

“Back in June 2012, I rang Annabel’s out the blue one night and spoke to David Wetton, the reception manager and asked, “have you got any jobs?”. Luckily someone was leaving so I started working in the ladies’ cloakroom.

I loved it and I still do, dealing with people is something I like to do. You get to know their lives and they know your life. The job is called ‘cloakroom attendant’, but it opens up to so much more. It’s a matter of pride to me to remember guests’ names, so they don’t need a ticket when they check their coat (I have all sorts of tricks for remembering them!)

I arrive at the club at 7pm and work until 3am - I drive in from Surrey every day, luckily I can leave my car on a single yellow line in Berkeley Square. I can’t imagine having a day-time job now, I’m used to the hours and it’s so much better than having to get up early in the morning…

The guests trust you – I am looking after some seriously expensive jackets, bags, computers.

There’s never lost property, I make sure everything that arrives goes

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Primary purpose Chef Nicole Pisani has transformed the food at a Hackney school. Now she’s joining forces with Thomasina Miers and Joanna Weinberg to get chefs in schools all around Britain. Lisa Markwell reports As a chef, how do you measure success? A Michelin star, a good review, a hefty tip? All of these are significant, of course, but what about 450 children asking for seconds? Or a headteacher remarking that exam results have improved since you started cooking the school dinners?

It’s certainly different, and astonishingly rewarding, as Nicole Pisani has found out. She was the head chef at the Ottolenghi restaurant Nopi until four years ago, when burn-out was imminent. Now she runs the kitchen at a primary school in Hackney and is one of the driving forces behind the idea of

Thomasina, Nicole and Joanna

her and the team create lunch for their tough-to-please but easy-to-love audience of 5-11 year olds.

Nicole, tell me why you made the change.

I actually didn’t decide to put myself in a school, but I was getting tired of hours at Nopi. I resigned, was told that a school in Hackney wanted a chef, and jumped in. When I look back it’s like a blur of events, but somehow it was the perfect thing to do after restaurant work, it kept me in the business – I needed a way to still be in love with food.

pasta!” And I learnt that a great way to make children eat something they think they don’t like is to serve it with something they really hate!

I always find the criticisms humorous, I remember at Nopi if a customer complained I wanted the ground to open up and for me to fall in, but with kids it’s different, it’s genuine and from the heart. That’s what makes it rewarding.

What do the parents think?

Some are supportive. Some struggle because it’s not what they cook at home - and the kids say ‘it’s not like what we get at school’. Some are not enthusiastic but feel that it’s a relief

“I had 450 children crying because of mushrooms! A great way to make children eat something they think they don’t like is to serve it with something they really hate!”

So has what you serve changed over the years?

We had to start by producing food that was similar to what they were used to… So most of it was breadcrumbed fish, a version of chicken nuggets, and the vegetables were really plain. Now they get caramelised cabbage, or a whole roast cauliflower on the table with mini knives so they can cut it themselves!

I bet it wasn’t all plain sailing.

I no longer cook there every day, and went in recently to find 450 children crying in front of me. The chefs had made mushroom tagliatelle - we had done this three years ago and it had been a disaster, but that had been forgotten. The upside was that the accompaniment was Italian lentils, which they hate as well! But given the option they were like “give us the lentils, we don’t want the mushroom -37-

for them because they know that the children are getting a good meal at school and so they don’t need to feed them massively at dinner Tommi: this is a real issue at the moment, kids too hungry to learn.

Jo: and pressure on working parents too. Even if you cook. I mean, I struggle to think of something nutritious and balanced…

It’s also about teaching, isn’t it?

The cooking curriculum is vital. It’s about chefs going into the classroom with all the different veg, to show the children what it is, for it then to be OK to be put on the table at lunch and not be something that is totally foreign to them. For the older children, the cooking lessons were like, right, we’ll get a firepit, we’ll chuck on octopus - try to make things exciting for them so it’s less about dining and more about part of life.

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

putting chefs into schools – she’s an evangelist for how a change of scene can reignite your love of cooking.

Thomasina Miers’ Wahaca empire just keeps growing. But Miers, the mother of three small children, knows how vital it is to nourish the bodies and minds of the young, and is acting as both a fundraiser and ambassador for the planned not-forprofit enterprise. Wahaca has raised £10,000 through kids’ meals which is earmarked as seed capital.

The third person involved in making the idea a reality is acclaimed food writer and author Joanna Weinberg, who has worked tirelessly to get things started.

For CODE, the trio came to the office to share the story of this gamechanging idea. And later, Pisani allowed the cameras into the kitchen at Gayhurst Primary School to watch

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Harriet Raper

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Nicole was doing and had just started getting involved with a local primary school that had a big outdoor space and I’ve helped them develop it so they could grow their own vegetables.

I spoke to the head at a school that had turned itself around by changing their dinners and I remember really clearly what she said: the key to this is that you have to put a chef in the kitchen, because they think in a different way. They are coming at it in a completely different way from just putting stuff on plates. They think ‘what’s this food going to taste

an alliance, not just of our schools but all chefs in schools. A proper community with meet-ups, recipe sharing and ideas and a real hub.

And we’re going to create an awards ceremony…

So if chefs want to learn more…

Jo: it isn’t something for chefs who just want to give a bit of their time to feel better. The schools need committed chefs, it’s a career choice.

You give it two years as a full-time job, and during that time you’re also training up another chef below you who can take over, for instance.

jackets. If a kid is talking, they must say please and thank you. But on the other side, they need to be doing a really good job. The kitchen is organised like a restaurant kitchen, everyone has a section. I make them say “yes chef ” because it’s what I’m used to – they’ve come round to the idea…

So you’ve gone from burnt out to super-enthused, and presumably learned new skills?

Well, if I go in and I know I have to chop 40kg of carrots or use a machine, I’ll opt for chopping, just in case I ever need to work in a restaurant again! And the teaching is so rewarding. Also, having spent so many years pushing - to push, push, push for 11 hours - it’s really nice to wind down, to be actually teaching.

And the long school holidays are never not amazing!

Tommi, your interest is both professional and personal.

I’ve always been quite fascinated about how our nation eats. I learnt to cook simple, nutritious, inexpensive food when I was growing up, so I think I intrinsically understand that good food is not about money, which is where I think we’ve gone wrong in this country.

I saw with great interest what

like, what’s it going to look like, what’s the pleasure?’

The government spends millions of pounds on research into how people have bad dietary habits and they then think that the pleasure of eating good food with good ingredients that’s not expensive is somehow fluffy… In fact, it costs the NHS a third of its budget, on eatingrelated issues.

If you establish a healthy relationship with food in children you are imbuing a lot of children with an openly happy relationship with food, that will lead to good health, and good mental health - and well, I think there’s an obvious correlation between healthy eating and good results, because your mind is being nourished.

Jo, you’re based outside London. What have you noticed?

There is energy moving into school kitchens in some rural schools (and some in London). Chefs have taken them over independently or parents have gone into the kitchens, it feels like there’s a surge in this whole sector - of putting pride back in, of energy surging out, to kids, all over the place. This exciting belief that good food through school can change kids’ lives. We want to create

Nicole: Some chefs might be like me and think after two years ‘right what’s the next thing?’ but then you get another friend of mine who’s had a daughter and who is a school chef and she’ll stay there for 10 years.

Jo: three great reasons to get make the switch might be to get out of a stressful kitchen and avoid burn out, to re-enter the world of work after a career break, or to give something back after, for instance, having children yourself.

Nicole: I had a sous chef at Nopi who said, ‘Nicole, this idea that women get more tired than men, it’s rubbish, cut it out, it’s just that men are more egocentric. We’re not going to admit it, but my legs hurt just as much as yours’. So, I’m here to say, come over the bridge, it’s OK on this side!

For more information, please visit chefsinschools.org.uk

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

The head teacher says ‘Nicole, the world does not rotate around food’ and I’m like ‘actually for a chef, it does!’

The staff at the beginning were not on board. They were used to getting ready-chopped vegetables, for instance, and set in their ways, but those who have stayed on have really become a team. The kids now know them by name – it’s no longer the idea of just a dinner lady slopping out food. It’s important, for instance, that the chefs come in through the main door; that they wear chef ’s

From plant to plate The stories of how food reaches us are not always told, but they add a richness all of their own. Writer Anna Sulan Masing and Emma Underwood, general manager of restaurant Where The Light Gets In, recount two very different aspects of the journey

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Pepper, people and farms

By Anna Sulan Masing A simple crack of pepper is loaded with others’ stories.

Sarawak, a strip of land up the north side of the Borneo island, takes great pride in its pepper - a smoky, woody scent and near black that I can recognize almost anywhere. Not many people have heard of Sarawak, where the population is mainly made up of Ibans (which is what I am), a Dayak (indigenous) tribe that was nicknamed by the West in colonial times as ‘headhunters of Borneo’.

It is a land of jungle, rivers, mosquitos and wonderful food, but its pepper has found its way on to the menus of The Clove Club and sketch, and into Christmas markets in Lyon, France.

The elevation of this pepper to Michelin-starred menus reminds me how mundane pepper is generally thought of. It is often paired on tables with salt, to applied by the guest to suit their palate, it is in recipes “to taste”, it such a personal ingredient and so common. Yet, it is not talked about in the hallow voices of provenance in the same way as heritage tomatoes or racks of lamb.

There is a small pepper farm by the town Lubok Antu, in Sarawak, 280km from the capital of Kuching, on the border of Kalamantan (Indonesia). Lubok means river pool, Antu means ghost, and so this town has a spiritual guardian looking over the pooled bend in the river by the main bazaar.

The farm is run by Idah Lagn, 32, and her mother, 58. It is their second

farm, three years old with 100 trees.

The first farm was planted five years ago when Idah’s father died and is still going, but is less productive. On both farms they also grow a number of other crops – corn, rambutan, longbean, yam, rice – for family consumption. Idah’s husband works in the oil and gas industry, offshore in Brunei.

The Lagn family live in a longhouse, which is a typical Iban

village. It is not unlike Britain’s terraced houses with each family’s ‘flat’ sharing a wall with the other, creating a long ‘house’ with a communal verandah across the front.

This longhouse is made up of 35 doors (families).

They chose to plant pepper because it is physically less taxing than other crops and it was selling at a good price of $30 (Malaysian Ringgt) per kilo. This price fluctuates a lot depending on demand and is currently at $11 per kilo (Nov 2017); in June it was at $19. It is hard to plan life like this.

Pepper is a delicate plant and needs constant attention. With Idah looking after her four children and the family home, responsibility for the farm, 10 minutes’ drive away, falls to -40-

Idah’s mother. She works seven days a week, starting at 5.30am - breakfast, feed the chickens, farm, lunch break, then farm till 5pm. Currently she is planting padi, both wet and hill rice - this is particularly hard, physical work, but it means the family can be self sufficient, important when pepper prices fluctuate so much.

Pepper can be ready to harvest every six months and the family harvest two or three times a year.

The trees are planted at different times of the year, to give the ability for a continuous harvest.

Once harvested, the berries are then dried on the verandah for three to four days, until almost black.

Wholesalers come to longhouse to pick up the pepper and won’t buy any less than 10 kilos at a time, so Idah usually waits until they have at least 30 kilos to sell.

After being shown the farm, I sit and talk with Idah, her mother and a few of the other people in the longhouse over sweet black tea and freshly picked, cooked corn. We talk about the current government, how much the area has changed and whether I look more Iban or western.

Same conversations as in London.

As I leave, Idah’s mother tells me she is looking forward to a holiday in two months, her first in a long time.

She’s going to the capital, Kuching, to do some shopping, see friends and eat good food. She also tells me that “Dayak women, are superwomen”.

She’s not wrong.

Ingredients, the small things, have always travelled – cinnamon sticks on the silk road, Scottish langoustines to French restaurants, and coffee from Ethiopia now grown across the equatorial belt. Each has their own tale, their set of many hands lovingly nurturing the produce. Taking time

to know and appriate the complex lives of food will help us think of bigger issue around sourcing and sustainability.

Barrels, bowls and ales

By Emma Underwood Sitting in the pub late one Sunday afternoon a series of texts come through from my boss (Sam Buckley, owner of Where The Light Gets In).

He is a rare texter, always preferring face-to-face communication, so my initial reaction is one of concern.

A stream of photographs fill my screen, all of one dish of river trout, Jerusalem artichoke and Dale End cheese with the most minute differences in their plating.

‘D’yer like these?’ he asks. A conversation enfolds between us, analysing the plates in our usual obsessively thorough detail: how does it represent the restaurant? Does it truly reflect our style? How will our guests eat it? And, most importantly, does it tell the story?

At Where The Light Gets In we serve our dishes without menus.

This is hardly something radical, restaurants all over the world serve their tasting menus blind, but our decision is guided by our desire to properly fulfil our role as conduits of the wonderful produce we use.

Rather than words on a piece of paper, our plates of food are served by the chef that created it. They accompany each dish with a story: explaining where the produce is from and how it has been reared, farmed,

grown, foraged or fished. As the food we serve has taken so much effort to be produced, it is vital to us that we represent this to our guests.

A restaurant doesn’t just have to be a business, just somewhere to have a bite to eat, or something to drink. It can be a community in its own right, a micro-society of people that have occupied themselves with creation and production, in order to make the few hours the guest spends within its walls as special as possible.

At Where The Light Gets In we are surrounded by a constellation of farmers, architects, foragers, carpenters, ceramicists, photographers, butchers, wine makers and many more, all of whom play a vital role in our guests’ plates of food. The community that we have created is represented in every dish we serve and is carefully considered from the development stage onwards.

For example, a forthcoming pork dish is to feature an accompaniment of warm cider. The cider has been chosen to represent Sam’s partner’s upbringing in the South of France, evoking fond memories for the both of them that can be transmitted to the guests. It will be served in a bowl especially made by the ceramicist Joe Hartley, who recently visited South Korea with Sam on a cultural exchange with a Master ceramicist.

This piece has been created in response to their visit.

As our learning comes from our wider community, it is then transmitted within our own smaller community. When each new dish goes on a menu we all discuss every

aspect of it together at the start of service, thus creating and interpreting our own story to pass further on to our community of diners.

Perhaps all of the stories behind a dish will be relayed to the guest, but maybe they won’t. We are always careful to adapt to each guest’s specific level of interest and tailor our stories accordingly - maybe table 1 was particularly interested in how our wild mussels were caught, so the chef taking the river trout dish will know to talk about the fishing methods behind it. Several series of narratives will always run behind our menu - for example the hay that the mutton we served was fed on, was used to make a smoked oil to season a scallop dish, and to make a sweet syrup for a juice accompanying a dessert - meaning that there are myriad of tales and stories to tell.

Our restaurant is therefore not just concerned with the business of consumption, but of the transferral of knowledge, the sharing of ideas and hopefully a raising of consciousness. At Where The Light Gets In we are nothing but vessels for the incredible produce that comes through our doors, we are committed to thoroughly telling their stories.

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Adventures in space What turns an empty shell into a well-loved hangout? Caravan’s co-founder and design expert Laura Harper-Hinton explains

Laura’s inspirations Sightglass Coffee, San Francisco We visited San Francisco before we opened our King’s Cross restaurant – such a wonderful city of big industrial spaces, beautifully fitted out and inspiring food and coffee concepts. It was the perfect place to get inspiration for our spacious restaurant and coffee roastery in King’s Cross -

Restaurant design is about so much more than the layout, design concept, fittings and furniture. To me it is as broad as everything you touch and feel when you walk into a space and, crucially, how the space makes you feel and how you interact with it. Everything from the branding, menu design and paper it’s printed on, the food and drink presentation, the plateware, the staff uniform (or lack of it at Caravan!), the music, the colour tones, the lighting all add up to creating a space you want to spend time in, enjoy food and drink in and have fun in. My role as Creative Director of Caravan Restaurants and Coffee Roasters encompasses all these things and more, and I love collaborating with our talented and creative teams to do this. I also couldn’t write a piece on restaurant design without mentioning my long-standing design partner, Rebecca Richwhite.

We have worked together for over 12 years and on all the Caravan projects and she is nothing short of brilliant.

In designing an uplifting, warm and buzzing restaurant, I always start with the concept. In writing this, I looked back at our first business plan for Caravan from 2008. Our original concept, to create a relaxed, welcoming all-day dining restaurant and coffee roastery with an emphasis on bold and global flavours and quality specialty coffee remains unchanged. I had the pleasure then as I still do today of delving into how to translate the concept into a tangible space that reflects our emphasis on global, well-travelled food and a welcoming space that can be enjoyed at any time of the day, in many different forms – a morning espresso with the paper, buggy lunch with the little one,

business meeting, cocktail swilling, small plate session and pretty much everything in between! The beauty and, at times, the challenge has been to develop and evolve our vision, keeping things fresh and exciting, whilst staying true to our beginnings and the original concept.

To translate our concept there are a number of critical elements, some more subtle than others, that we have developed, tweaked, reiterated and laboured over with our restaurant design.

Lighting plays a key role in creating a room that transitions harmoniously from morning to night and delivers a truly all-day dining experience.

We were early adopters of the filament bulb revival, kick started by our dear friends AvroKO in New York and brilliantly executed in their Public Restaurant which opened in 2003. Using warm, tungsten lighting creates a soft enhancer to natural light during the day and a deeply pleasing, warm and soothing place to dine in the evenings.

We have played around with many different fittings, bulb types and vintage fluorescent pieces over the years, but for restaurant lighting there is no substitute for filament, tungsten lighting to create the atmosphere we are looking for. Thankfully, there have been great advances in LED filament technology, so our environmental credentials need not suffer as a result.

Layout is another critical component to delivering a convivial space that allows people to interact with it in many ways.

Our desire was always to create spaces where people felt comfortable to come in and grab a takeout coffee, eat and drink in throughout the day, work on their -43-

Olympic Provisions, Portland, Oregon A couple of years ago, Chris, Miles and I threw the kids on a plane and took both our families for a road trip from Portland to Los Angeles, feasting on the most amazing food, wine, coffee and produce and immersing ourselves in the aesthetics of the stunning west coast of America. Olympic Provisions was one of the highlights – vast industrial space in the middle of nowhere where they cure, smoke, ferment all manner of delicacies Clignancourt Flea Market, Paris I absolutely love this place and have sourced a number of reclaimed pieces here for our restaurants over the years. It have all genres represented and is a most inspiring place to spend a day. The French brocantes have a charm about them, that I haven’t encountered anywhere else.

Oyster Inn, Waiheke Island, New Zealand This place sums up New Zealand perfectly for me. Located on the stunning Waiheke Island, not only surrounded by beautiful beaches, sea and native forest, but also produces some of the best wine NZ has to offer. The Inn has three small, but perfectly formed guest rooms and a gorgeous, beautifully styled, but rustic restaurant and bar. Simple, ingredient led cooking and killer wine list.

Public Restaurant, New York Our great friends, AvroKO designed and operated this pioneering restaurant for 14 years before having to close due to rising rents and street closures. They headed up the filament bulb revival and created a buzzing, hip, beautifully designed industrial space that was timeless, warm and ground-breaking.

Omotesando Koffee, Tokyo I love this incredible simple, clean, precisely designed miniature coffee shop. It blends the perfect mix of Japanese minimalism and functionality with a gorgeous lush Japanese garden courtyard where you can sit and enjoy your expertly made espresso.

Embla, Melbourne The charcoal coloured kitchen and wood fired oven, simple rustic furniture and exceptional food – perfect neighbourhood restaurant in a city that inspires on every level of food, design and architecture.

Verandah, Kensal Rise, London My local ‘novelty shop’. Great place to pick up last minute kids presents, but also beautiful objects and furniture from all over the world.

They change their stock regularly - any excuse to go and I’m there.

laptops and generally feel relaxed enough to use the spaces as they want to on a given day. Energy is a word we use a lot when thinking about layout of the restaurants. We want the rooms to always have energy and buzz to them and this can be achieved though carefully considered layouts. It is the element we spend the most amount of time on when planning a restaurant, from the zoning of spaces and creating subtle tempo changes in a large footprint to the use of table and bar heights to encourage different customer usage.

As a general rule of thumb, I have a real aversion to the ‘island table’ – the tables that sit as a sea of islands in the middle of the room, especially as two-tops. As a result, we tend to utilize a lot of banquette seating and booths and try to minimize our

‘island tables’ in our layouts. They are fine for bigger groups, but not, in my view for twos.

Furniture design – I am obsessed with dimensions and always carry a tape measure with me. Banquette seating and the relationship between chair and table height is a critical dimension that if not right, can really affect a comfortable dining experience. The banquette seats at both our City and Bankside restaurants went through many iterations before we landed on what we felt were the perfect dimensions to deliver great support and comfort whilst eating, but then optimum lounging for martini drinking too!

A more subtle, but to me crucially important component to a restaurant experience is the music. I curate all our playlists and consciously -44-

steer away from new releases and A sides. I also try to weave in as much globally produced music as possible as well – a nod to our food concept.

I feel music in a restaurant shouldn’t compete with your conversation and we spend, probably too much, on our music systems. The music is there to subliminally uplift you and enhance your dining experience, not (hopefully) for your dining companion to be singing all the words to you. It’s also a great way to transition a space from morning through to night, with a change of tempo and music style.

Context in restaurant design is also key – what is inside the doors, should in some way be reflective of what is outside. Thinking about how the local community will want to use the space and incorporating

try to see this as a good challenge.

Spending lots of money is easy, but finding great cost-effective fittings and furniture, creatively repurposing items and pushing your money harder is much more rewarding.

Hours have been spent scouring markets, local and international shops and of course on the internet in search of the right furniture and fittings to fit the brief for each restaurant, especially Exmouth Market, where we had no money (!!) and wanted an immediately worn, rustic and welcoming interior.

The evolution and journey of the brand and our design has also been crucial. We consciously ensure that each restaurant has its own look and feel, whilst maintaining that Caravan vibe and ethos. Not only is this creatively rewarding for me -45-

and the teams, but hopefully for our customers too, who can enjoy evolved and creatively fresh spaces and menus at different locations. For me, steering the creative implementation of our brand and concept through restaurant design and beyond is my dream job and I get to do it with people I love and creatively respect.

Can’t ask for more than that in one’s working life!

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

that thought to the design. I also feel that design shouldn’t be imposed on a space, it shouldn’t be bossy and overpowering and the original bones and history of the building are an important place to start here. Design can be subtle, nuanced but still have a big impact on how a space makes you feel.

Another joyful part of designing restaurants is the budget. I have an aversion to spending too much on restaurant fit outs. Anyone who has created a restaurant will know that (annoyingly) the vast majority of money gets spent on the critical but less exciting stuff – mechanical and electrical, HVAC and kitchen equipment. It often leaves you with much less than you would like for the items that contribute to the mood and feel of a place. But I

The women behind the wine

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

In an industry that has been dominated by men for centuries – from those making it to those selling it – it’s more important than ever to recognise and applaud the many inspiring women involved in wine. Bibendum Wine’s Elona Hesseling sought out five of them.

Alessandra Tessari and her two sisters are a female-only team at their family winery at Suavia, in Soave.

“The wine industry is definitely still dominated by men,” says Ale. “It is quite unusual to find a winery like Suavia where young women are the owners, winemakers, decision makers and leaders.

“When our sister Valentina was studying viticulture in the mid-1990s she was the only female in a class of 30. But if you see the classrooms now, I'm sure you will find many more women. This is partly because wine and the wine industry in general has become very attractive in recent years, but also because mindsets are changing.”

Organic Marlborough producer Huia Vineyards is owned by winemakers Claire and Mike Allen, with daughters Tui and Sophie keenly involved. Claire says, “There are more female winemakers and viticulturists than 15 years ago. In my experience, a diverse team can be creative and constructive when holding an open attitude towards each other.”

Rianie Strydom is a driving force in the South African wine industry.

She’s a full-time winemaker at Haskell Vineyards, Cape Winemakers Guild member, and in 2012 started her own winery, Strydom Vineyards, in Stellenbosch. Rianie says, “Women are more career-orientated than when my parents were young. Wine is not seen as the old man’s drink anymore – it is hip and happening, and young women are finding it more approachable as a career. The physical work has not become less over the years, but there’s more respect for women in the workplace.”

Bodegas Bhilar is a boutique winery in Rioja Alavesa, run by husband and wife team, David Sampedro and Melanie Hickman.

“Women’s consumption of wine has been growing since the 1950s, and now female millennials are starting to dominate the wine market,” Melanie says. “It’s a natural evolution for them to want to expand their knowledge

in a subject that they enjoy. It could be something as simple as self-study, or even turning a passion into a career. We need to keep evolving and pursuing roles that fit our needs and desires, regardless of perceived obstacles.”

Maria Alvear, export and marketing director at Bodegas Alvear in Montilla-Moriles believes that women now think more about their professional development. “A lot has been done already, and I think we are on the right path, but companies need to realise that women are as capable as men for any position of responsibility. And, similarly, women should know that they are capable of doing so.”

For Ale, the main aim is to beat gender prejudice and be taken seriously. “The competence of a man, even a young man, is normally taken for granted. For women it’s different.

A young woman in the wine business is more likely to be mistaken for a pretty assistant who knows nothing about wine.”

Rianie, also a mother of three, tells of another challenge facing women: “The demands that come with raising a family take a lot of managing, as well as support from people around you. It can be quite challenging growing your career as well as trying to be a perfect mother.”

With all these obstacles, why did they decide to join the wine industry?

For both Ale and Maria, who were born into wine families, it was a natural decision. For Melanie, it was about pursuing a hobby. “I worked in another industry but filled my spare time with taking classes, doing wine tastings or volunteering to pour wine at events. That passion was the initial attraction between my husband and me. I changed the course of my life and moved to Spain. I have since purchased a vineyard in our village with my retirement savings and have just released my first vintage under my own name.”

So do these inspirational women have any advice? “Train properly in whichever field you are in,” says

For more on these wines and producers, visit the Bibendum Wine website or get in touch below bibendum-wine.co.uk 0845 263 6924 -46-

Claire. “Keep your focus and share your passion for wine through your work behaviour.”

For Ale, it’s about being proud to be a woman. “Be knowledgeable and brave. We are complex, we have great sensibility, and we have a very keen sense of smell! Put your femininity in your job – it is your strong point; don't see it as a weakness and don’t try to cover it up.”

Melanie says, “Do something that scares you! I wouldn’t be who I am today had I not pushed my own limits. Learn from your mistakes along the way; don’t beat yourself up over them, treat them as lessons. As women, I think we are often really hard on ourselves. We need to learn to be more supportive of each other, and more importantly, be kind to ourselves.”

Bodegas Alvear | MontillaMoriles, Spain Top pick: 3 Miradas Vino de Pueblo Bodegas Bhilar | Rioja Alavesa, Spain Top pick: Phinca Lali Huia Vineyards | Marlborough, New Zealand Top pick: Chardonnay Strydom Vineyards | Stellenbosch, South Africa Top pick: Rock Star Syrah Suavia | Soave, Italy Top pick: Massifitti

in collaboration with CODE Hospitality

“Do something that scares you! Learn from your mistakes along the way; don´t beat yourself up over them...”

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Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Clockwise: Rianie Strydom, Maria Alvear, Melanie Hickman, Claire Allen and the Tessari sisters (from left: Alessandra, Valentina and Meri)

On the shelf Whether you want challenging recipes or a relaxing read, there’s a book for you this spring, says Lisa Markwell

Jenny Linford took years to research and write this book, and it shows. It’s a wonderful celebration of the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks and years that make all the difference to what we eat – from the seconds between caramel success and failure to the months a good cheese needs to mature.

Linford also talks to some of our most interesting producers; this is a book to, er, spend time with.

The Missing Ingredient: The Curious Role of Time in Food and Flavour, by Jenny Linford, £18.99, Particular Books

Vegan is everywhere (see feature on page 24).

Now the Tredwells chef Chantelle Nicholson is bringing out her book of vegan dishes – created with a professional eye and her knowledge of plant-based food (Nicholson grew up in verdant New Zealand). Sage and shallot tart, and Raspberry, Rose & Cream Cheese Muffins. (Wait, what? Although billed as vegan, this book has some diversions, but is a good starting place for those wanting to reduce their meat and dairy intake.)Planted, by Chantelle Nicholson, £25, Kyle Books

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Bossy, prescriptive advice on ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food has done much to harm both the hospitality business and our individual sanity (I’ve lost track of coconut oil’s current status, for instance). A terrific reposte to some clean-eating nonsense comes from Ruby Tandoh – yes she found fame as a Great British Bake Off contestant but she uses her platform to talk sense.

Food should be fun, she says in this optimistic, inclusive book. We agree.

Eat up!, by Ruby Tandoh, £12.99, Serpents Tail Mazi, in Notting Hill, is one of London’s funnest Greek restaurants and this first cookbook by founders Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré is packed with suitably vibrant recipes. As the weather starts to improve, it provides a blast of inspiration for lighter dishes made for sharing.

Mazi, by Christina Mouratoglou and Adrien Carré, £25, Mitchell Beazley

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Lancashire-born Nisha Katona became Liverpool’s first female barrister before forging a 20-year career at the Bar. But her love of Indian home cooking brought her back to the kitchen and she went on to open the hugely popular Mowgli restaurants. Her third cookbook details her desert island dishes that appear on her menus. This is proper Indian home cooking – a spiced chocolate cake caught our eye.

Mowgli Street Food, by Nisha Katona, £25, Nourish Books

Planning the catering of an event is a real skill, and the Tart London team do it well. Now they’re sharing their ideas, strategies and recipes in a book and it’s as breezy and pretty as you’d expect, if you know Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones from the pages of ES magazine (although the pair holding improbably large chicken burgers raises an eyebrow!)

A Love of Eating: Recipes from Tart London, by Lucy Carr-Ellison and Jemima Jones, £25, Square Peg

Interest in cooking Japanese food is growing hugely, so this informed, calm book is very timely. Hachisu is well-known as a food writer and for this sumptuous title she has compiled 400 recipes – from the most famous regional dishes to simple homestyle cooking. And if you’re in London, the recently reopened Japan Centre is where to find all the kit and ingredients.

Japan, by Nancy Singleton Hachisu, £29.95, Phaidon

The content of this book is being kept under wraps till publication, but it has the best-possible pedigree.

Diana Henry is one of our best food writers – warm and authoritative in equal measure. Her book on chicken is chapter and verse, and ‘A Change of Appetite’ makes eating healthily a breeze. This book promises ‘menus, stories and places’ and I can’t wait to read it.

Diana Henry, How to Eat a Peach, £25, Mitchell Beazley

She’s lived in Venice almost all her life, and become such an expert on its food scene that top chefs seek out her restaurant recommendations – but Skye McAlpine makes clear in her first book that she’s a cook, not chef.

This warm, elegant book runs through classic (and lesser known) Venetian dishes – from breakfast pastries to rich seafood pastas.

A Table in Venice, by Skye McAlpine, £26, Bloomsbury

Solo is not just a recipe book; it’s a gentle guide on how to live and be good to yourself – no surprise coming from the author of How to Hygge. Signe Johansen’s recipes don’t adhere to any specific cuisine and she doesn’t pretend to be a professional cook. You can tell she genuinely enjoys spending time in the kitchen, cooking for herself with love and she encourages you to set the table for one and savour your meal.

Solo, Signe Johansen, £16.99, Bluebird

A refreshingly honest and deliciously accessible tumble of recipes, this book is packed full of handy tips and with almost as many photos of fishing boats as there are of beautiful dishes.

It exudes a cosy warmth not normally associated with fish dishes, and restaurant founders Katie and Rick Toogood acknowledge the importance of sourcing responsibly too.

Prawn on the Lawn: Fish and Seafood to Share, by Rick and Kate Toogood, £18.99, Pavilion -49-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Ever served up a horrible meal to your partner as a form of revenge?

Eleanor Roosevelt certainly did to her philandering husband. Portraits of Eleanor and five other notable women are painted through the prism of food and their relationships with it in Laura Shapiro’s warm and often amusing collection of essays.

Heartburn by Nora Ephron remains our favourite memoir with food, but this is a good read.

What She Ate, by Laura Shapiro, £14.99, Fourth Estate

24 hours in... Hanoi

12am Walk around the Old Quarter

Walking through the densely packed streets of the Old Quarter is the best way to get to know Hanoi. This atmospheric district is jam-packed full of shops, cafés, restaurants, street food and people at all times of day.

You’ll soon become an expert in weaving through the streams of mopeds that clog the streets but there’s also plenty of quieter backstreets and alleyways to explore so it’s all about getting lost and soaking up the atmosphere.

Silk Path Boutique Hanoi

On the edge of the Old Quarter and looking out on to Hoan Kiem Lake, the location of the Silk Path Boutique Hotel is hard to beat, placing you right in the middle of the action. As with almost everywhere in Hanoi, space is hard to come by, but the rooms are very comfortable, decorated in a classic style with wooden parquet flooring, marble bathrooms, and even freestanding baths in the suites. There’s also a great rooftop bar with views out of the lake and city and rooms start at around £50 a night so it’s excellent value. hangkhay.silkpathhotel.com

11am Café Lam Vietnamese Coffee

7am

Café Lam is one of the oldest cafés in Hanoi and is the perfect place to try Vietnamese-style coffee which is made with sweet condensed milk. Be warned though, this stuff is rocket fuel, drink it past noon and even without jetlag you’ll be crawling the walls at 3am! The café itself is a charming spot, chock-full of antiques, art, and rare books from the owners’ own collection. cafelam.com

3pm Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Breakfast Bun Rieu Cua

To eat well in Hanoi you’ll have to get used to having meals sat on tiny plastic stools on the pavement. Jump in at the deep end and get up early for breakfast at this no-name spot that serves one of the city’s finest dishes, Bun Rieu Ca, a spicy crab and tomato soup with rice vermicelli noodles and beef. Take note of the address and look for the lady with the big pot of red bubbling soup with a queue of locals and you’ll know you’re in the right place.

Served between 7am and 9:30am 40 P Hang Tre, Hanoi, Vietnam

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Bun Cha 34

Bun Cha is one of the best Vietnamese dishes out there and even though this spit-and-sawdust joint doesn’t look like much, it’s got the goods for the perfect lunch.

You get a tray featuring a small bowl of chargrilled pork, a huge pile of vermicelli noodles, fresh herbs and a dipping sauce made from fish sauce, vinegar, sugar and lime. Sounds simple but it’s a perfect storm of salty meat, fresh herbs and soft noodles that you won’t forget in a long time 34 Hang Than, Ba Dinh, Hanoi, Vietnam Tel. +84 94 836 19 71

DAY

10am

She’s the woman behind London On The Inside, but Jules Pearson has made a brilliant insider’s study of the food and drink scene in Vietnam’s capital

With some of the world’s best and most famous street food available on almost every corner, and influences of East and West converging in one beautiful clamour, there’s no wrong way to explore Vietnam’s second largest city

5pm

9pm

Beer Corner

Kem Krang Tien

After the hectic streets of the Old Quarter it’s nice to take a walk through the more relaxed French Quarter and around Hoan Kiem Lake. The streets are wider, there’s some interesting colonial architecture, and the traffic is less hectic. But most importantly you can visit Kem Krang Tien, an ice cream shop where you can get fresh soft serve and popsicles in a huge range of flavours.

Before you imagine relaxing in a pretty parlour however, be warned that this is anything but, more closely resembling a motorbike mechanics as customers ride straight in the building on mopeds and up to the counter to get their ice cream fix. Gives a whole new meaning to “I’d die for an ice-cream”.

35 Tràng Tiền, Hoàn Kiếm, Hà Nội, Vietnam kemtrangtien.vn

7pm

11pm

Street Food Crawl

There are plenty of companies that run street food tours in Hanoi, which could be good if you were really short on time but it’s really much more fun to go it alone. It’s a good idea to research particular dishes in advance so you know your Banh Bot Loc from your Banh Cuon but then it’s really just a case of seeing what takes your fancy and where the locals are eating. The Old Quarter street of Ta Hien is a good place to start but there’s food absolutely everywhere so don’t put all your noodles in one bowl, eat at as many places as you can in one night.

Nightcap at Sofitel

The Sofitel Legend Metropole is one of the oldest hotels in Hanoi, dating to 1901, and has hosted many a famous figure including Graham Greene who wrote The Quiet American here. At the heart of The French Quarter, this grand colonial building could have been plucked straight from a Parisian boulevard and it makes the perfect place for a nightcap on the outdoor terrace. sofitel.com/Hotel/Hanoi -51-

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

NIGHT

The Vietnamese love their beer and in Hanoi they have a microbrewery scene that would put east London to shame. We’re not talking about hoppy IPAs though, the speciality here is bia hoi, a light fresh lager that is brewed in small batches across the city every day. You can find it almost anywhere but at ‘Beer Corner’ in the Old Quarter there’s a few clustered together where locals gather for a few refreshing glasses before carrying on the night. It’s fresh, tasty and about 20p a glass – really can’t say fairer than that.

Clockwise from top left: a bedroom at Mandarin Oriental; Joyce Wang; a suite at The Principal London

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Check out the check-ins Taking comfort and chic to the next level are four new hotels - two in London, one in the English countryside and one in New Jersey.

Adam Hyman sees what’s in store The best hotels are, of course, much more than somewhere to just stay the night. Whether it’s a crisp city-centre space or a luxe countryside sprawl, there’s something delicious about hotels that have been really thought about – from the positioning of the power sockets to the lighting in the bar.

Some of the most successful new spaces have been designed by four women – Joyce Wang’s do-over of the Knightsbridge Mandarin Oriental has been years in the making, while Tara Bernerd is putting the very last finishing touches to Bloomsbury’s The Principal. Judy Hutson is well-versed in making the Pig hotels the fun and cosy space by now – onto her sixth, seventh and eighth sites. Making a big department from make-up to mattreses is the fabled Bobbi Brown. We can’t wait to see The George Inn in much more detail…

ceremonies hosted by the hotel in the past. Her work was also inspired by the glamour of the early 20th century’s golden age of travel.

“Working on the redesign of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park has been an incredible and at times, surreal experience. It had been a dream of mine to work on a building of significant heritage in a city I hold very dear”.

Joyce Wang Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, London

Tara Bernerd The Principal London

Bobbi Brown The George Inn, New Jersey New York born Bobbi Brown is most famed for her cosmetics range the world over. After running the business for over 20 years, she hung up her makeup brushes in late 2016 and went straight onto her next project; opening The George Inn hotel with her husband Steven Plofker, a real estate -53-

Bernerd’s interiors can be seen across the globe from hotels in Hong Kong, via chalets in Switzerland to restaurants in London.

Headquartered in London, Tara Bernerd & Partners’ past projects include the Thompson hotel in Chicago and SIXTY SoHo in New York; she and her team are currently working on the Hari in Hong Kong and the Four Seasons Lauderdale.

One of Bernerd’s latest projects was to be the lead creative for the interior architecture and design of The Principal London. Formerly the Hotel Russell, which was originally built in 1898 and set in the heart of

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

“I design spaces that make people feel great. I want people to feel confident, to lose themselves and have fun”, says Joyce Wang.

This might be less easy to apply to Wang’s latest project in London, the latest branch of elite gym Equinox, that has opened on St James’s but it can definitely be more applicable to her hospitality projects.

As well as working on restaurants such as Mott 32 and Spiga in Hong Kong, where Wang lives with her family and has a design studio, she has been involved in the redesign of the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park in London.

Wang, who also has a studio in London, took inspiration from Hyde Park, which the hotel overlooks. The fallen acorns scattered across the Royal Park served as inspiration - the aesthetic of the acorn was inspired by crown jewels used during royal

developer and attorney, that opens in spring this year.

The boutique hotel is located in the town of Montclair, New Jersey – a place that is special to the married couple and have called it home since the 80s. The property was originally built as the private residence for Charles Van Vleck – a Montclair resident and architect for the Rockefeller family – in 1902 and was later turned into a hotel in 1940s.

The 32-bedroom property has been fully renovated and developed by Brown and her husband’s firm, Willow Street Partners. Only 12 miles from New York City, Brown has modernised the interiors of the classic Georgian building with black and white photos of people like George Clooney and Steve Jobs throughout.

Classic chic is the theme throughout with linens by Flaneur and a custom-made scent – patchouli and grapefruit – that scents the entire space, created in Brooklyn.

Brown has partnered with brands like Smeg, as seen by the fireengine-red mini fridges in the rooms and linens

by Flaneur.

Lesley Unruh for One Kings Lane

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Clockwise from top: the Georgian Kitchen at The Pig at Combe; an interior at The George; Bobbi Brown Bloomsbury in Russell Square, the Renaissance-revival terracotta facade will be familiar to many a Londoner.

Bernerd and her team worked on the Palm Court, all the guest rooms, suites and public areas with Russell Sage Studio designing the restaurants and bars. The £85m restoration and refurbishment will see the hotel open in April with 334 rooms and suites, Neptune restaurant, a cocktail bar, coffee house and the Palm Court with a winter garden and outdoor terrace.

Bernerd says, “It is an honour to be involved with The Principal London as the lead designer… our role on the project has been very much one of a custodian, marrying the old with the demands of what is appropriate for the years ahead in order to restore one of London’s iconic landmarks to its former glory.

The jewel in the crown is without doubt the Palm Court which now

forms the very heart of the property and will undoubtedly become one of the city’s new social hubs.”

Judy Hutson The Pig hotels Despite the rural location of the five Pig hotels, don’t expect to see any floral chintz at these country hotels. These design-conscious spaces have redefined the usual country house establishments which people used to expect when venturing outside of London. This is all thanks to Judy Hutson, who along with her husband Robin, founded this successful group of hotels in 2011. She carefully designs each property.

The interiors of the Pig hotels have gone onto inspire a number of hotels throughout the UK. Hutson says that she prefers to use textures in their furnishings and will always -54-

choose rusty over shiny. She sources her sofas from George Smith in Chelsea and Core One for one-off items of furniture, along with The Old Cinema in Chiswick and Lassco in south London. She’s also a fan of British fabric designers such as Sarah Hardaker and Emily Bond.

Hutson will oversee the interiors of the next three Pig hotels that are opening in Canterbury, Kent in the autumn along with properties in West Sussex and Cornwall.

Tomorrow’s menu Calling all chefs! Be part of something that makes sustainability an easy sell – and showcases your creative credentials.

Lisa Markwell finds out more...

The ban on plastic straws, executive chefs insisting that their kitchens minimise food waste, nose-totail eating and awareness of the provenance of ingredients… All of these are important elements in the fight to protect food for the future.

But how does that message get across to restaurant diners? The Sustainable Restaurant Association is calling on Britain’s chefs to spread the message with a simple initiative.

Launching on 24 March, the idea of One Planet Plate is for chefs and restaurateurs to create one dish for their menu that shows they’re serious about using food wisely.

When diners choose the One Planet Plate, it shows sustainability in an appealing, appetising way, rather than a strident message or lengthy mission statement.

It can be a brand-new dish to showcase the kitchen’s thoughtfulness, or an existing crowdpleaser that happens to be local, frugal, highquality meat or fish, ingredients with a low-carbon footprint, for instance.

And some of our most influential chefs are already involved: Thomasina Miers and Skye Gyngell, Chantelle Nicholson and Anna Hansen have created One Planet Plates.

Chantelle Nicholson, chef/patron of Tredwell’s, says: “I am delighted to be involved in the One Planet Plate campaign as I believe there are many things we can all easily do, both as chefs and as members of society, to create a positive way forward to improve both personal health and the health of the planet. By being conscious of what we are using, and how we use it, we can all take steps to

minimise further disruption in both of these areas.”

Below we show the One Planet Plate that Spring’s Skye Gyngell has created. It’s a clever, hearty use of scrap ingredients. As she explains: “We take great pleasure in cooking for the Scratch menu - it’s inspiring and challenging to try and create something beautiful out of something that others would consider waste. It aligns perfectly with the principle of One Planet Plate – helping us as chefs be more innovative and our customers enjoy quality food while gaining an understanding of the good it’s doing.”

To find out more about how you can be part of a better food future by getting involved in One Planet Plate and submitting your recipe, contact Juliane Caillouette Noble via juliane@thesra.org

This is a wonderful way for us to use up yesterday’s bread. Stalks and hearts of green vegetables have a wonderful flavour – it’s a shame to discard them

Serves 4 Ingredients 1 dried red chilli 3 bay leaves 2 cloves of garlic 4 slices of stale bread 5 cups of water ( if you have a carcass to hand, make a simple stock)

The stalks of any green vegetables (we use cauliflowwer outer leaves, broccoli stems, cavolo stalks, hearts of cabbage) The rind of any cheese ( Parmesan works really well)

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Method Wash and chop all the stalks finely.

Place a little oil in a saucepan large enough to comfortably hold everything.

Once the oil is warm, add the vegetables, chilli and garlic and a little salt – sweat over a very low heat, stirring frequently, for 10 minutes. Then add the water, turn up the heat slightly and cook until almost all the water is absorbed. Tear the bread and add to the soup. Turn off the heat, drizzle over plenty of oil and grate over the rinds. Serve in warm bowls.

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

Bread soup with vegetable trimmings

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If you want to go far, go together.”

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Instagrab With a new opening or a menu change comes the inevitable flurry of social-media snaps. So what’s feeding the news feed this season? The pleasing colour and crispness of rhubarb, undeniably delicious-looking pastries from Pophams and the almost-ubiquitous octopus

Staff meal What do you eat when you get home after service? For this issue, Nieves Barragán Mohacho of Sabor suggests a warming stew

Chicken and lentil stew

Ingredients 1kg lentils 2 chickens, joined 1 broccoli, cut into pieces 1 cauliflower, cut into pieces 1 red pepper, cubed 1 onion, cubed 2 medium potatoes, cubed 2 carrots, cubed 1 head of garlic, crushed 2 bay leaves 5 plum tomatoes, cubed 1 tbsp smoked paprika

Large pinch of thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Method In a hot large pot, caramelise the chicken pieces with a drizzle of olive oil until golden brown (you should do this in batches). Remove and add the vegetables, and pan fry them for 3-4 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and sweat them for 5 minutes. Add the lentils, the browned chicken and water.

When making a stew you should always be generous with the water and make sure that you cover all the ingredients in 10cm of water. Simmer for 1½ hours.

This dish is great to eat as soon as it’s ready but is also perfect for warming through at a later time, making a great make-ahead supper.

Nieves Barragán Mohacho is co-founder and head chef of Sabor, 35 Heddon Street, London W1

Issue 14 | Spring 2018 | codehospitality.co.uk

This is a lovely dish to cook for yourself, but it’s also great for actual staff food - it’s really easy because you cook everything in one pot, and it’s warm, hearty and comforting. It’s a great dish for staff food ingredients-wise - you've got protein form the chicken and vitamins from the broccoli (and they taste good together of course).

We often make it for the team at Sabor.This makes a large amount, so after cooking, portion it up and keep in the freezer for after long days.

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Gymkhana

Australasia, Manchester

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