Issue 20 Autumn 2019
Quarterly
The eyes & ears of the hospitality industrys
Industry £4 / Non-industry £7
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Contents 5.
Staff briefing
6.
In season: summer shopping pages
8.
CODE breaking: restaurant news
10.
In conversation with… Victor Lugger
15.
Love story: what’s your favourite belonging?
22.
A day in the life of Jason Atherton
26.
Carousel at five: what we’ve learned
28.
Happiness in Hospitality report preview
30.
What’s fuelling CODE this season
32.
Northern soul: the new Manchester dining scene
36.
Tools of the trade: urban foraging with Native
39.
Get a room! London’s newest hotels
44.
Who was who at CODE’s Power 50 party
46.
Creative force with photographer Harriet Clare
50.
On the shelf: the latest food books reviewed
53.
The drinks report: cider and mead
54.
Where’s hot in Palma, Mallorca
56.
Instagrab: food shots of the season
57.
A classic revisited: La Poule au Pot
58.
Staff meal: what the team eats at Blacklock
Publisher Adam Hyman Editor Lisa Markwell Creative Director Alexander Taralezhkov
Contributors Harriet Clare Max Coltart Minna Gabbertas Loyd Grossman Chloë Hamilton Katie Hammond Gordon Ker Will Lake Tom Pilgrim Harriet Prior Joe Sarah Ed Templeton Jack Williams
Head office CODE Hospitality WeWork 199 Bishopsgate London EC2M 3TY Tel: +44 20 7104 2007 contact@codehospitality.co.uk @CODEhospitality @codehospitality CODE Quarterly (online) ISSN 2398-9726
Front cover illustrated by Rozalina Burkova (@thedrawingdoor) Printed on recycled paper by DataComuniqué
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
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Staff briefing What’s hot What makes you happy? Is it the smell of freshly cut grass on a summer’s day, defluffing the tumble dryer (a favourite of Margaret Thatcher’s apparently), crisp, starched, clean bed sheets (a personal favourite of mine) or getting all hygge with a good book? We’ve always believed the simple mantra at CODE of, “happy staff equals happy customers.” It sounds so simple, doesn’t it; so obvious. But how do you get happy staff in the first place? It’s something we constantly think about at CODE - we’re all too well aware that people work in this amazing industry for more than just the pay cheque that they take home at the end of the day. We’ve published our second annual Happiness in Hospitality report; you’ll find it with this issue of the Quarterly. In it, we look at workplace happiness, mental health and wellbeing in hospitality, to try to understand what motivates us and what the industry wants - be it flexible working hours, better communication with management, more supplier trips or a proper changing room. It makes for a fascinating read and we hope, like last year, it acts as catalyst for operators to continue to look to improve our industry. As always, thanks for your continued support. Adam Hyman Founder, CODE @AdamMHyman
Paris brest The correct ratio of cream to pastry, imho
Chicken fat Crisped on ice cream, melted into noodles… We’re into it
Open returns So many great new restaurants and hotels in Yorkshire, it needs more than a weekend
Game Is this the year it really goes mainstream?
What’s not
Lisa Markwell Editor, CODE @HoldsKnifeLikePen
Seat wars Having to find your own after you’ve ordered and collected your food
Fast vegetables Lewis Hamilton endorses vegan burgers… so what exactly does F1 do to protect the planet?
Recipe repeats Food on TV is too dumbed down. Discuss
Throwing shade Black rectangles on our instagrams is, we finally admit, annoying
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
As Adam says above, happiness is such an important factor in hospitality, for both the provider and the recipient. I was interested to find out what some of our hardest-working professionals own that makes them truly happy – their favourite object. You can find out what they chose on page 15, although is a dog an object? Discuss. Happiness also figures big in the business model of Big Mamma’s restaurants – diners in a queue for more than a few minutes want to know that good times await inside, and there are queues at Gloria and Circolo Popolare. You can read more about founder Victor Lugger’s motivation and strategy on page 10. Also in this edition of CODE Quarterly you’ll find a thorough examination of developments in Manchester’s dining scene. It’s not so long ago that the city’s lack of a Michelin-starred restaurant was all anyone talked about but, as Chloë Hamilton reports, that’s all changing. Plus, although I haven’t stayed in any of London’s newest hotels, I can show you what the bedrooms look like, on page 39. As ever, please let me know what’s on your mind or what you’d like to see in the next Quarterly: lisa@codehospitality.co.uk
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In season From pots to pop, this autumn we’ve rounded up all the stuff you never even knew you needed
The daily grind
It’s small and perfectly formed, and perfect for pounding small amounts of nubbly stuff. We love the granite spice crusher from the Honey & Spice online shop. £20, shop.honeyandco.co.uk
Sow and sow
This box of goodies from Petersham Nurseries contains a collection of edible flower seeds, including borage, cowslip, heartsease, pot marigold, nasturtium and cornflower – ideal for if you can’t forage. £18, petershamnurseries.com
That’s the spirit
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
A collaboration between St.JOHN legend Fergus Henderson and Campari UK has led to the invention of the Fergroni, a ready-todrink concoction made to the chef ’s exact taste. We like. Available from 1 October. £38, stjohnrestaurant.com/collections/shop
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It comes to the crunch
You might have come across the Drinks Bakery when the company was on Dragon’s Den (we didn’t), but however these Drinks Biscuits were created, we don’t care because they are simply delicious and very moreish. From £14.95, amazon.co.uk
In the top set
To celebrate 50 years in business, the quintessentially elegant kitchenware brand David Mellor has made a special limited edition of its ‘Provençal’ cutlery design. Be quick, there are only 300 sets. £125, davidmellordesign.com
Pot luck
Staub is the dream brand for ovento-tableware and now they have introduced a new colour, white truffle, just in time for those autumnal mushroom risottos and suchlike. 20cm La Cocotte, £199, staub-online.com
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Such a teas
At last, a supersmart efferverscent drink that contains no alcohol. Trust Fortnum & Mason to create sparkling tea that’s made from a blend of black, white and green leaves. £16.95, fortnumandmason.com
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CODE breaking
London
Charlie’s
Brown’s in Mayfair will open Charlie’s, the newest incarnation of its in-hotel restaurant, this month. Adam Byatt, the chef behind Clapham’s Trinity, Bistro Union and Upstairs, will direct the menu, with Matt Sterling as head chef. Named after Lord Charles Forte, the food will be suitably luxurious, with seasonal, classic dishes using ingredients from around the world.
Silo
The eyes and ears of the industry
Silo, Brighton’s famed zero-waste restaurant headed up by chef Douglas McMaster, is coming to Hackney’s White Building in October after a successful crowd-funding campaign from craft brewers Crate Brewery. Set to occupy the space above the brewery, the restaurant and bar will, of course, serve sustainability focused dishes and drinks; Silo even recycles its glassware back to sand with the aim of making crockery.
Loyal Tavern
A new addition to Bermondsey’s ever-growing food scene will arrive this September. Loyal Tavern, creation of restaurateur Adam White (the mastermind behind the Riding House Café) and former Duck & Waffle executive chef Tom Cenci, will open in the former Village East site, and aims to make the most of British produce, both in its restaurant and bar menus.
Great Scotland Yard Hotel
Rest of the UK
In addition to our weekly digital Bulletin, here we round up this quarter’s biggest news in the global restaurant and hotel scene. By Minna Gabbertas
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Located in the historical location of the former home of the Metropolitan Police Service, the new hotel will have 152 rooms that reflect the history of the site. Robin Gill, the chef restaurateur behind The Dairy and Darby’s, will oversee all of the hotel’s food and beverage offering, and will bring a focus on in-house production, with homemade gins and an in-house butchery and bakery.
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South African billionaire Koos Bekker has been renovating Hadspen House, the Grade II-listed Georgian mansion in Bruton, Somerset, for the last six years. The hotel finally re-opened its doors at the end of August, complete with a restaurant that uses ingredients grown on the estate, a Cyder Press & Cellar, on-site spa and tours of the vast gardens.
Merlin Labron Johnson in Somerset
He was the Michelin-starred head chef at Portland, then Clipstone and The Conduit. Now Merlin Labron-Johnson has decided to move to Somerset for his new restaurant. The farm-to-table restaurant will use produce grown on site and from the local villages and is attached to a small new hotel.
Tom Kerridge in Manchester
Fans of the chef will be pleased to hear of his first Northern-based restaurant. Though not many details have been released yet, Tom Kerridge’s new project is set to open in Manchester’s Stock Exchange Hotel, which will open this November. The restaurant will occupy the former trading floor, and will be overseen by Kerridge, along with the wider food and drink offering at the boutique hotel.
Hope Cove House, South Devon
The Experimental Group has recently opened its newest hotel in Venice, a first foray into Italy. Housed in a 17th century palazzo, designer Dorothée Meilizchon has transformed the property into a 32-room hotel which overlooks the Giudecca Canal, with a restaurant that exclusively uses local produce, and a wine bar that focuses on regional wine producers..
Soho House, Milan
Milan is the next location for Nick Jones’ everexpanding portfolio of members’ clubs, and is set to open in 2020. The location is the Brera district – an elegant area of the Centro Storico – and will feature a rooftop pool, bar and garden, along with a screening room, gym and bedrooms, perfect for the city’s fashionindustry crowd.
Llama-San, New York Erik Ramirez, chef-owner of the acclaimed Llama Inn, will open his third restaurant in New York in September. Located in the West Village, the restaurant will showcase the Peruvian cuisine variant Nikkei; the gastronomical love child of Japanese immigration to Peru. This combination will be reflected in the drinks offering, too, with Japanese craft beers and spirits.
67 Pall Mall, Singapore
67 Pall Mall, the London-based private members’ club for wine enthusiasts has announced its first overseas location in Singapore, due to open in autumn next year on Orchard Road, the city’s famed upmarket shopping street. Guests will have access to an unmatched list of world-class wines, as well as a fine-dining restaurant.
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Six Portland Road’s Oli Barker opened Hope Cove House this summer, in the tiny and less touristy village of Inner Hope in Devon. The hotel has just ten rooms, and the restaurant concentrates on seasonal, upscale seafood with Mediterranean influences, with a wine list that, much like its London counterpart, has a good proportion of natural wines and London beers.
Il Palazzo Experimental, Venice
Rest of the world
Rest of the UK
The Newt, Somerset
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In conversation with... His London restaurants, Gloria and Circolo Popolare, have caused a sensation in the hospitality industry. That’s in addition to seven trattorias in France and a 50,000 sq ft food market, La Felicità, in Paris. Victor Lugger, with his partner Tigrane Seydoux, is one of the most successful operators on the current restaurant scene. What’s his secret? He tells Lisa Markwell about the significance of everything from lowered floors to heightened expectations In just six years, the French business partners Lugger and Seydoux have created the highly successful portfolio of ‘Big Mamma’ Italian-themed restaurants and show no signs of resting on their laurels. Lugger in particular, who is just 35, moves through the newest opening, Circolo Popolare in Fitrovia, with a sense of urgency – noticing everything from the customer questioning the waiter about his dish to a candelabra that needs adjusting. He has relocated from Paris to London with his wife and two small children – not just to keep an eye on Big Mamma’s newest openings, but because he loves the capital, from its Indian restaurants to swimming in Hampstead ponds. He shares a love of puns and knockabout humour with the
restaurant? You had a successful career already. Actually, the start point was my partner Tigrane Seydoux and I wanting to do something together. We hadn’t worked together before, but we thought we’d try to do something that I like and he likes. We’d look at thousands of ideas and around us there are all these guys, our generation, creating tech companies, creating a new need, giving a new answer to that need… and making shit-loads of money with great success. We couldn’t get that, and by the way we didn’t have a lot of money behind us. We couldn’t find something where we were excited about. In the end we ended up in restaurants because that’s what we were both passionate about. We said, “Let’s make restaurants.
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“If you cook good, cheap food, serve it with a smile, in a nice location, it will work all the time, everywhere” Brits, as witnessed on the menu of the restaurants, and cocktail cups based on women’s breasts (jugs, geddit?!). Lugger employs an almostexclusively Italian staff, the better to transport diners to a trattoria atmosphere, but isn’t overly concerned about the impact of the Brexit situation. We sit talking in the courtyard at the back of Circolo Popolare with coffee for an hour, occasionally joined by his adorable young daughter, who is eating inside with the rest of the family. He’ll occasionally talk to a passing waiter, in flawless Italian, of course. As I leave, he asks me to taste a new dish that head chef Salvatore Moscatto is working on, a wedge of fried macaroni cheese. It is indulgent, rich and quite delicious plus, like so much in the Big Mamma universe, a bit over the top. Let’s go back to the beginning, you started Big Mamma in 2013. What made you want to open a
Great. Let’s make restaurants. At least now we know what we’re going to do.” Has your success been built on being the hot new thing? I’ve never bought into that idea about it’s a tough industry or that one minute you’re fashionable and then you’re not. It’s absolute bullshit, I would say. If you cook good, cheap food, serve it with a smile, in a nice location, it works all the time everywhere - whatever food you’re serving, whatever bracket of price you’re in. Like the River Café – it’s been there 20 years. Look at Trullo - it’s consistently good and they could open a second one and a third one next to that, if they were consistent in quality, served with a smile at a proper price in a nice place, it would work. Period. So you decided to open a restaurant. Then what? We said, “Okay. What are we going to cook?” We looked at thousands of ideas and lots of kitchens. We needed experience. We didn’t know
shit about operating a restaurant. I could cook for a dinner at home. I’m actually passionate about it, but I’m not a chef. When I say I’m not a chef, it means ... I can create any of these [Circolo’s] dishes. I participate a lot in many things here, but a chef is about how you do it at this volume with consistency and … not how you do it, but how you empower people around you to do it with volume, consistency, energy, and passion over time. I don’t give a shit about food and the older I get, always less. It’s about the people. It’s about the conviviality. Food fuels a discussion and it’s a way to say I love you. And thank you. To express gratitude. That’s food. I think a lot of people feel this way about restaurants: if the food is okay and the service is great, they’ll go back to that place time and time again. If the food is amazing, but the service and the atmosphere is ... neutral to bad, they’ll never go back because it’s about much more. I couldn’t agree more. You’re young, this is your second career. Do you think you’ll always want to be in restaurants? It’s a tough job. We realised this is really hard – it’s like tackling Everest from the north face. A friend of mine told me, “Being an entrepreneur is taking 100 decisions a day and you have no fucking clue about it.” And that’s where values, I think, are important because I don’t have the time to think it through. Anything you do, you have to be able to do it for 100 years. And so we said, “Okay. What can we do that is sustainable?” Not something that is a good business or it’s a market opportunity. We have to be passionate about it. If not, it’s going to be too hard. That fuelled a second principle which is - everything we do, we try and do as much as possible out of passion. When I say it like that, it sounds like bullshit. Practically, I can give you a few examples that are not bullshit, and they’re proven to be drivers of great success – on the business side and the human side. For instance, internalizing the design studio. You’re a restaurateur and you’re saying, “Now I’m going to do my own design.” It’s the toughest thing I’ve done in two years. It’s a nightmare. It’s really hard. It’s complicated. It’s a totally different
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Victor
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job. Here, we literally lowered the floor to make more of the space! Looking at the future, our job is about creating experiences for people. That starts with food, but it goes beyond that, so it was the best decision we’ve ever done. OK, let’s talk about the subject exercising the hospitality industry right now, Brexit The other day I was with Tigrane and said, “Do you realize that when we decided we would go to England, Brexit had been voted already?” People are talking about it and everyone’s asking me if I’m shitting my pants which I’m not, but maybe I should. Did I discuss that with my partner a year ago when we decided and I moved my family? No. We came here because we were excited to do that and I think it’s a good choice. Even if there
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is a bad Brexit at the end of the year, it’s going to be fine. I have two restaurants in the UK. They’re good and cheap and serve with a smile. Brexit or not, it’s going to be fine for them. Brexit might kill me a few points of profitability. Okay, that’s fine. We’re going to swallow it and we’re going to survive this. What do you think is the secret of your appeal? We do things very much organically and we try to be aware of what we like and what we’re going to like tomorrow and that’s what we offer to people. So far we’ve been lucky because we are, I think, connecting with the people in what we offer. It’s a 360 experience
that starts with food, but the playlist is important, the soap is important, the design, of course, is important, the smile is important, the way people are dressed is important, et cetera, et cetera. And we try to do that in a price range that is affordable to most people. By most people, I mean 90% of the people. In my restaurants I see everyone from workers that are on the building site next door and I see billionaires. I see single mothers with five kids and I see grandparents and grand, grandparents with their youngest. I see people on Instagram and I see people who don’t have a phone on the table. In a way, we haven’t invented anything. A traditional restaurant is a 360 experience: the table is great, the service is great, the menu is great, the soap is great. It’s just that it costs you 500 euros per person or 400 euros
and I say, “Oh, I didn’t know we did this dish. Oh, it’s because it’s not my restaurant. It’s just exactly the same light, the same angle, the cutlery, the same thing.” Well, it’s the game. It’s fine. And actually, even though I’m saying the plate thing drives me crazy, actually, truly, it doesn’t. If I’m honest, it fuels and boosts my ego. It definitely boosts the chef ’s. And it also fuels a will that we had that before. Which is ... I get bored very, very easily. We always try to do new things. There is very, very few things that you will find here and at Gloria, not to mention in Paris. Always innovating has always been an attitude for us. That’s why every restaurant is different. That’s why every menu is different. That’s why every team is different. That’s why every artwork is different. The fact that some people are being inspired by us, it’s fine and
per person. How can we do that for 30 euros per person or 25, actually? Doing that at this price, this is what we’re interested in.
I’ll be frank, we’re inspired by so many people. But one of the words which is attached so much to your restaurants is ‘extra’. The lemon meringue pie is super tall and the lasagne has vast layers and so on. Was that something that you set out to do? No, no. This is deep rooted in my partner and I - in my childhood, in my education. It’s “If it’s not too big, it’s not big enough. If it’s not too much, it’s not enough”. When I was a child and I came home with an 18 out of 20, my father would say, “Why not 20?” Well, yes, he’s German. I try to be ‘less in more’ in many
Okay. Let me turn it around. In the time since you opened, have you seen people imitating you? Oh, I’ve seen many people doing similar things as we do. Are they imitating us or are we imitating them? I wouldn’t be that arrogant. But I do see people doing more grand design and stronger décor. We see a lot of them of course. Or people giving more care to the cutlery. I often see people turning plates over to look at base. This makes me crazy. Now sometimes I look at Instagram
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aspects of my life, but not in food! More is more feels good sometimes, like in a dessert. In our social media age, when everyone wants to go to ‘the new place’, photograph it and move on, do you worry that people are going to move on from you? We are in a city which is saturated for restaurants. Of course I worry. It’s my first worry. It’s my very first worry. I think we can succeed. The first reason why is because we’ve been in business for more than five years in Paris and I’ve got more clients today than at any other time and my first restaurant, East Mamma, is more packed than ever before. So I know we can do it. It’s a very legitimate question that I ask myself every morning with my partner and the team. Every time I go to Paris, which is every week, I visit my restaurants and I say, “I don’t want to get bored with these restaurants.” As I said, I get bored very fast. Faster than anyone I know and I just make sure I don’t get bored with my restaurants. If I don’t get bored with my restaurants, probably no one’s going to get bored with them. For instance, we’re removing the carbonara … which by the way is the best-selling dish. I thought, “Okay. Let’s change it.” That’s ballsy. Changing the subject, who do you rate in London? I used to go to Trullo very often before I opened a restaurant. Now I spend my life in Italian restaurants so I’m afraid I don’t go that much. A place where I like to take people is Spring; that’s where I go with my wife. When we have friends over for the weekend, we take them to Trishna. One of the reasons why I moved to London is because I wanted to eat Indian food. Actually, it’s the real reason why we moved to London.
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Do comments such as restaurant reviews or posts on Instagram – good or bad - affect you? Of course I do react. My work is to listen to ... in French we would say, “Weak signals.” Text messages giving me praise, messages just saying they came in. Every time I say, “Oh, what can we improve?” And of course I read the reviews. We follow every review on the internet too, very closely, and look at the average rates on website. There
are 1,000 people who say shit on TripAdvisor, of course, but there are so many comments I’ve aggregated across the board and it’s very, very, useful information. I would say the difference between the English customers and the French customers is probably ... the guy complaining here, making a point about not being happy, raises a stronger voice. I get two emails a week saying, “Oh, I paid the bill but I didn’t see that there was a pound for charity. Can you reimburse me for a pound.” I have people saying “the pasta for two, it’s £16 per person, but you charged me twice.” Yes, it’s a dish for two and you were two. “But I didn’t get that. Can you reimburse me?” People will not do that in France. They just don’t send emails. The collapse of the mid-market restaurant is well documented. For instance, the downfall of Jamie Oliver. He’s recently said the reason why Jamie’s Italians failed was because it wasn’t at the right level. It would have been easier to open posh restaurants. The middle market is difficult. People don’t appreciate or understand it. What do you feel about that? To be honest, I don’t know. I’m a small restaurateur. I have two restaurants. What the fuck do I know? Honestly, I don’t know. He had 14 or 16. Some people have 400. I have two restaurants and I’m not going to do 14 in four years, I can tell you that. Because I wouldn’t know how to do it. At least not in a way that I’m going to be happy with in 20 or 100 years. The question I ask myself is, How do I use my time? Am I focusing on something and taking the time to do it right? Having time to do charity. Having time to do team building. Having time to do events. Having time to do fun things. Having time for my family. Am I working 80 hours a day to just copycat things because I need to do more restaurants? No.
people’s lives and I’m talking about the people in the team, because I’m not changing my clients’ life. If they don’t eat here, they’re not going to starve. The only lives we change are those in the team and the baseline of our company is: change people’s life with pizza. Actually, you can reinterpret with peperoni, with coffee, with whatever, but the reason why we do that is because we want to change our lives. The talent grows organically like this, which is actually exponential. Growth comes as the talent grows. I try and open restaurants at this pace. If I go faster, I’m going to open shitty restaurants because I’m not going to have enough talent. So you’re not planning on moving on to a third career? The reason why you go to work every morning probably changes by the time you’re 20 or 30 or 40 or 50 or 60 or 70 and changes depending on the success you have. When you reach a certain level of financial and professional (or ego and media) success, you realise how vain that is. Well… some people never realise and want always more. If you realise how vain that is, at first you’re facing some emptiness. Okay, so why am I getting up again tomorrow? And then you realise that you’re doing it because the first thing that got you excited is the people you’re doing it with and that, actually, it’s as good as it gets. And it’s great. I hope I would be proud to tell my grandchildren about these people in 20 years. I will definitely not be telling my grandchildren that I did a restaurant in London that some paper, I can’t even recall which, said it was the hottest place in town and that there were 30,000 bottles. Yeah, okay. Who cares? I have a fucking great team and I give people pleasure every day. How fulfilling is that job? I don’t want to do anything else.
One of the biggest challenges must be hiring and keeping a good team. You seem very proud of yours. It’s really easy. When you come and work in a restaurant every day, you get better at it. This is my team’s talent. Every day ... my talent grows. This is the reason why we exist. The reason for this company to exist is to change
“I hope I’ll be proud to tell my grandchildren about my team in 2O years. I will definitely not be telling them that some paper said we were the hottest place in town” -14-
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Love story What’s your favourite belonging, something that makes you truly happy? Lisa Markwell asked five hospitality figures to name theirs. Photographs by Harriet Clare and Sabrina Dallot-Seguro
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Tom Brown Tom Brown, chef/proprietor of Cornerstone in Hackney Wick
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It’s only been open just over a year, but Tom Brown’s Cornerstone has quickly become a classic restaurant “My grandad was a massive Arsenal fan and me and my brother used to watch the games around at his house, so I’ve always been a big Arsenal fan. Obviously when I moved from Cornwall to London it made it a lot easier. I wanted a season ticket, but there’s always been a notoriously big waiting list. There was a receptionist at the Capital whose son had one. She said, “I can put you in touch with someone who often gets tickets”. So I met up with these guys and became very good friends. Now I do it as a half-share system with one of them. It works pretty well, especially well for me because
Saturday afternoon kick-off is the worst time, so I’m always thinking of the Sunday games. The amount of times I’ve come away saying, “I fucking hate football.” But I do really love it. It’s like when you go to a really good restaurant, it doesn’t matter what you order, it’s just an amazing atmosphere and experience. It’s almost like a religion in a secular society. I think that the actual 90 minutes is almost like the least important part of it. It’s meeting up, brunch at Black Axe Mangal, then get a few pints, and off to the game. Aaron Ramsey came in for dinner and offered to let me watch a game in his box. I was like, “Err, fucking yeah.” It was mind blowing. But you’re removed from one of the things that is so good about football. You go to sing, you go to shout, “the referee’s a wanker.” Know what I mean?”
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Terri Mercieca
Terri Mercieca, owner of Happy Endings in various locations
Terri Mercieca runs the wildly popular ice-cream company Happy Endings, which as well as supplying restaurants, also sells at events and festivals. At this summer’s Lost Village, they sold more than 2,000 of their distinctive ice-cream sandwiches
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
“This is my nana’s cutlery. She’s passed away now but she was Italian and used to make the most wonderful food – as soon as we’d walk into her house in Sydney, we could smell the pasta with Napoli sauce and we knew we were in for a treat. She would have a big bowl of pasta with loads of cheese and you would walk straight in the door and eat the pasta with this cutlery! When she died my siblings and I took a set of cutlery each to remember her by. The other day I was unpacking
my stuff and was ‘Marie Kondo-ing’ my house. I came across this set of cutlery and thought ‘they’re still so nice. Yes, they do spark joy!’ Then I made her sauce and sat with my girlfriend eating pasta with these. I think she was my favourite person in the world, so compassionate and loving. She loved cooking and I think she’s probably responsible for us all comfort eating, because she was such a soothing person, very loving, through her food. You would always know that if you were going to her house you would be fed well, totally laugh your head off, have cuddles and play bingo. She was a proper Italian! I only have one of each piece, but I’m pretty sure my sisters and brother have the same sentimental feeling about them as I do, so I can’t take theirs…”
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Max Halley
Max Halley, owner of Max’s Sandwich Shop in Stroud Green
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Max Halley is the owner of Max’s Sandwich Shop in Stroud Green, which has a cult following for its vast, quirky gourmet sandwiches. Last year he published Max’s Sandwich Book, which is on sale in the restaurant, with non-signed editions at a discount
I have different sized notebooks, from the desk-sized one down to a pocket size that gets tucked into the trenchcoat, which is part of my default outfit – black polo shirt and shorts. I’ll sit on my own on a Sunday night and go back through my week’s notes and sometimes I might re-write them! So, I’ve got my desk pad and the spares and then I’ve got these little thin ones. Sometimes they get so bashed that I gaffer tape them to try and stop them from falling apart so much! It’s not all just work stuff I write down, it’s everything I ever think about! The wonderful thing about the notebook, which my Dad was always keen to hammer home to me is that it’s not about the notebook, it’s about the act of writing something down. It’s almost like editing and keeping on top of oneself somehow. The really good ones I rip out and I put them on my wall. The core stuff is always in the middle, like ‘don’t forget mum’s birthday!’ or ‘get front door replaced at sandwich shop!’”
“Everything good that has ever happened to me, that I have made happen myself, has happened as a result of notebooks. I never go out of the house without one. My dad’s a journalist and I was taught that you never ever leave the house without a notebook and pen. I’ve got a short-term memory like a squid and I will forget otherwise… I’ve got notebooks going back to when I was at school! I like pens too, especially Sharpies. I’m not into Moleskine, it’s a rip off! I’m a utilitarian notepad guy, apart from my posh desk one, which my mum gave me years ago. -18-
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Mark Wogan
Mark Wogan, owner of Homeslice Pizza, various locations
Mark Wogan is the proprietor of the hugely successful mini-chain Homeslice. The pizza restaurants have been a London fixture for more than six years now, recently celebrated with special editions for each of the seven branches “I first got introduced to green Tabasco by Richard Corrigan, about ten years ago. He recommended it to go with a fish pie, like a posh ketchup. I really think Richard is, pound for pound, the best cook I’ve ever met. Then discovered subsequently that it goes with almost everything, and has been my goto condiment ever since. And I have it with everything. When you’re working you get home late, you can’t really be bothered to cook anything significant, so how do you make it interesting?
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
You put green Tabasco on it. It is honestly one of the best things you can have – also, in the morning, a fried egg on toast… green Tabasco! It’s phenomenal, one of the greatest inventions since the wheel. It’s a lot milder than red Tabasco which, when you put it on, that’s all you taste. This enhances food. A splash of that on a cheeseburger, and it just lifts the whole thing up. So it can bring joy to almost every single food stuff. It’s almost impossible to get hold of the big bottles, so I order them in bulk on Amazon. I give it to lots of people as presents to change their lives. And I start to get slightly anxious if I’m down to one bottle.
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James Cochran James Cochran, chef/owner of Restaurant 1251 in Islington
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
The winner of this year’s Great British Menu, chef James Cochran has had a chequered few years, losing control of his own name at one point. However he is now running the highly successful 12:51 restaurant in Islington and a new project, GOAT, at Boxpark Croydon “So, I’ve always been wanting to get a dog for ages and then my girlfriend decided to say “Let’s get a dog, let’s get a dog” but at the time it wasn’t practical. They take up a lot of your time and I had a lot going on with work and the struggle to gain control of my own name. Finally back in 2017, we managed to find a flat that had a garden with it and then I was like, “I don’t really find Schnauzers as really proper dogs. I just want a proper dog, I want a big massive fuck-off dog. I did loads of research online, and then I knew
exactly what type of breed of boxer I wanted to go for. It’s either a brindle or this cheeky little number. Then when I first saw her, she literally came to me and started licking my face and it was like, ‘this is the one’. We called her Bella because my best mate’s dog was called Bella, who passed away. It’s like having a nanny for a child: we pay something like £500 a month for dog-walking. Luckily the restaurant is doing well, it’s really established now and I have a great team. We’re selling merchandise and I’ve been able to do a few festivals. Plus Jess is freelance, so that enables us to have Bella with us a lot. The joy she’s brought us has been unbelievable, and I’ll never change her for the world. Me and Jess, we love our dog more than we actually love each other. We won’t split up, but if we did… well, Bella has my surname!”
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Gender pay gap in hospitality: what does yours look like? Howard Kennedy is a London based, full-service law firm, specialising in providing straightforward advice to entrepreneurial businesses and individuals on domestic and international matters. Its staff have a deep understanding of the retail and leisure sector, helping operators seize the opportunities generated through changing consumer tastes. Lydia Christie looks at gender pay gaps
Since compulsory gender pay gap reporting began in 2017, the issue of pay equality has rarely been out of the public eye. From BBC presenters to supermarket checkout workers, every sector has skeletons in its closet. And hospitality is no exception. Whilst CODE’s survey data suggests that the gender pay gap among respondents is slightly lower than the overall national average, there is certainly no room for complacency, with the gender pay gap for front and back of house jobs widening in the past year. So what can hospitality businesses do to address this?
Retention and progression Across all sectors, including hospitality, a major cause of the gender pay gap is that female staff don’t return after maternity leave (often because of a lack of flexible working opportunities) or see their careers (and their pay) stagnate after they have children. Whilst the demands of hospitality don’t always mesh easily with flexible working arrangements, it makes good business sense to try to reduce maternity attrition rates. High staff turnover has substantial knock-on effects, including the management time lost to recruitment, the costs of using agency staff or recruiters, and the need to train up staff to replace experienced leavers. And with Brexit set to make recruitment even tougher, we are seeing more hospitality businesses making real efforts to hang on to the staff they have. Some examples include: • ensuring that staff on maternity leave are given access to training, having discussions about career progression before they go on maternity leave and having open discussions about working arrangements when they are due to return. • ensuring that part-time staff don’t face unnecessary barriers to promotion and career progression, as this is also likely to result in women being under-represented in higherpaid roles.
• putting in place defined policies on flexible working and career progression may help to embed a new mindset among managers. It’s also important to consider other issues which could impact the careers of female staff. With long hours, intimate and challenging working environments – the industry has seen more than its fair share of harassment allegations in the wake of the #MeToo campaign. There should be no business dilemma here: a zero-tolerance approach to harassment and inappropriate behaviour will not only reduce the risk of expensive (and embarrassing) litigation, but may have a positive impact on retention and career progression of female staff (and hence on the business’ gender pay gap). There are no easy fixes – but taking practical steps such as these will go a long way to addressing the root causes of the gender pay gap in kitchens and dining rooms across the country. Lydia Christie is a legal director advising on the full range of employment law issues, both contentious and non-contentious, from recruitment through to termination of employment
in collaboration with CODE Hospitality
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Equal pay audits It’s often said that having a wide gender pay gap doesn’t mean that a business is breaking equal pay law. That’s true – a gender pay gap is often the result of women being underrepresented in senior roles, while equal pay is mostly about paying men and women the same pay for the same work - but it comes with a health warning. One requirement of equal pay law is that men and women are paid the same for work of ‘equal value’, i.e. work which is equivalent in terms of effort, skill and decision-making. It’s worth reviewing your pay structure to assess whether male-dominated roles are paid more than female-dominated roles and whether there are legitimate and non-discriminatory reasons for any differences. Removing such discrepancies could significantly narrow some businesses’ gender pay gaps, as well as reduce the risks of legal claims. Although equal pay litigation has historically been more common in the public sector (often funded by trade unions), private sector employers are increasingly being targeted, with ASDA
and Tesco both facing costly multiclaimant claims. In our experience, it’s better to assess and tackle such risks proactively, with specialist legal advice where necessary, rather than wait for claims to be brought.
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A day in the life of... Jason Atherton He’s just graced our screens with his TV show The Chef ’s Brigade and is about the launch his biggest project to date - overseeing all the food and drink at Mayfair’s Biltmore hotel. Adam Hyman joins Jason Atherton for a day to see what the chef gets up to when he’s not at the pass of one of his many restaurants
I’ve been told to meet Jason Atherton at his gym. I’m waiting for the chef in BXR – the glossy gym up the road from Chiltern Firehouse which you see people splashing over Instagram. The pre-work gym rush hour has just finished and the place is scattered with lean and tanned people who clearly don’t need to be in an office by 9am. It’s a Monday in early August and we’re here to box.
Atherton arrives dressed in Thom Sweeney trousers, his chef ’s whites and a tailored khaki jacket, with a Louis Vuitton weekend bag. A quick change into his gym gear and we make our way to the members’ area of the Marylebone fitness studio and into the boxing ring. Atherton’s coach is the former professional boxer Kevin Mitchell. Skipping ropes are
handed around and we go straight into a warm up. This is a regular routine for Atherton – he trains here three to four times a week when he’s not travelling. Not only does it keep him trim but, as Mitchell says to me when we shadow box in the ring, he works with a lot of professionals at the top of their game, like Atherton and they use this hour in their diary to destress. To focus on something that isn’t work-related. It’s a distraction. While Mitchell has me doing situps, Atherton is in the ring boxing. The chef is competitive. When he messes up a move, you can see his disappointment. He’s constantly striving for perfection, both in the kitchen and in the ring. The day we meet, the second episode of The Chef ’s Brigade is airing the next night. I watched the first episode the night before meeting Atherton. The programme – in which Atherton and two of his chefs train up a brigade to compete against some of the best restaurants in the world – is not only good TV but it brings to light Atherton’s demeanour. Firm but fair. He’s running a business and it’s very much a team game. Expectations are high from customers, especially at his flagship Pollen Street Social, and the team need to perform. This is what you sign up to when you enter the world of Michelin cooking. It strikes me that the programme is a little like
boxing – you play by the rules, but if you let your guard down, then you’ll be knocked out. Our session ends with some sprints before we shower, change and grab a protein shake. Atherton’s driver meets us to take us to our next stop – his newest and biggest project to date - in Grosvenor Square in Mayfair. We hop out of the black S-Class Mercedes that takes our bags onto Pollen Street Social and walk around to the entrance to the soonto-open Biltmore Hotel, just off South Audley Street. The hotel, which was formerly the Millennium, has been fully refurbished and Atherton has been brought in to run all the food and drink.
As we walk past builders finishing off the final touches, Atherton shows me the Betterment – his restaurant at the hotel. As well as this, he will
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
“The chef is competitive. When he messes up a move at boxing, you can see his disappointment. He’s constantly striving for perfection, both in the kitchen and the ring“
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
be running the hotel bar, afternoon tea and the ballroom. It’s the chef ’s largest project to date. He admits to me there’s a lot riding on it. It’s why he’s currently here in London and not on holiday with his wife Irha and their two daughters. After a quick debrief with some of his team, including a final check on lighting, he shows me around the kitchens. Atherton was brought into this project late in the game. He explains how a lot of the backof-house was already finished; they had to change so much as it hadn’t been designed to deal with all the different elements of running a 24/7 operation. As we weave behind the scenes and into the customer-facing spaces of the hotel – there’s a theme that Atherton is keen to make clear. He wants everything to be affordable. He cites the Wolseley and their approach to breakfast. Guests can go in for a slice of toast and coffee and spend a fiver. He doesn’t want the usual Mayfair hotel approach
to breakfast – where it will set you back £40. The same applies to his bar. Cocktails will be more around the £15 mark as opposed to £25. He wants Mayfair locals to use it as a regular place to pop in for a mid-morning flat white, lunch or a pre-dinner martini, and for a younger crowd - who are coming west for the night as a special occasion – to have something that does not intimidate or put too big a dent in the wallet.
Throughout the day, affordability keeps cropping up with Atherton; it’s something that’s clearly at the forefront of the chef-restaurateur’s mind. It gets mentioned in meetings with the GM at City Social about their cocktail lists and making sure they remain on the affordable. Before dinner service when we sit down with the sommelier team at Pollen Street Social, we run through the prices for wines by the glass. Despite operating dining rooms in the most expensive parts of London and being used to feeding the rich and famous throughout his restaurants around the globe, Atherton is taking a refreshing view on pricing. It’s that fine balance between quality products and value. After looking around the two private dining rooms at the Betterment, we take a short stroll through the sun-dappled streets of Mayfair, crossing Berkeley Square to swing by Atherton’s favourite tailor Thom Sweeney. The tailors – who
“Throughout the day, affordability keeps cropping up with Atherton; it’s something that’s clearly at the forefront of the chef-restaurateur’s mind“ -24-
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signing off everything and working out when they actually get into the restaurant to start practising, before the friends and family dates. Atherton and West run through the crockery, the stemware, the reservation systems. It’s a reminder of the huge task of opening a restaurant.
Over a chilled bottle of San Pellegrino, Atherton browses some of autumn/winter jackets, as well as the latest season’s CQP sneakers, before paying for his latest purchaes and checking dates of when his next suits will be ready to be picked up. While I take a look at some of their knitwear, Atherton signals it’s time to go. We walk the short distance to Pollen Street Social – Atherton’s flagship Michelin-starred restaurant. As we arrive, he’s greeted by the receptionist and his trusty lieutenant Mike West, who has worked with Atherton since the Gordon Ramsay days, waiting for us to hold a meeting. We run through the timings for the Betterment – checking diaries for
As the clocks strikes midday, the first of the Pollen Street Social customers arrive into the restaurant. Despite it being a Monday in August, the restaurant is nearly full for lunch. The room is a nice mix of suits and tourists. Atherton changes into a pair of designer sneakers – his brogues were pinching - and works the pass for a couple of hours until the final table has been served. He checks everything that leaves the kitchen, from the bread to the desserts. Once the pass has been cleared, we grab a table outside No.5 Social for quick lunch of steamed fish and green vegetables in the sun. As we eat, restaurant regulars passing by stop to say hello and congratulate
him on the new TV show. Despite it being Mayfair, there feels like an element of community down Pollen Street, with Atherton at the heart of it - when it comes to feeding them, at least. We discuss the Mayfair dining scene and the current state of the market before we head back over to the flagship. An afternoon of back-to-back meetings, including one with a well-known champagne house for a collaboration, reminds me that Atherton is more than just a chef. He’s that rare breed of a businessman who can also cook. It’s clear that he has a strong grasp of the financials of his business and I get reminders throughout our day that as well as making his customers happy, he’s running a large business. As the restaurant team start their briefing for the evening and they gear up for another busy shift, I say goodbye to Atherton. He’s staying at his flagship restaurant – he’s got some regulars in tonight that he wants to say hello to, including the CEO of Cartier. And tomorrow? He tells me that he’ll work the pass for dinner at City Social – that’s not before a day of boxing and meetings all over again. Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
dress Dermot O’Leary and David Gandy among others – have a store on Bruton Place, just up from the Guinea Grill and Umu. Thom Sweeney is designing the uniforms for all the male employees at the Betterment (it’s Stella McCartney for the women).
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Carousel at five: five things we’ve learned
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
It’s the London restaurant unlike any other. At Carousel, as the name suggests, there is an endless rotation of guest chefs – much to the delight of curious diners. After five years and 150 different names in the kitchen, co-founder Ed Templeton describes the secret of its success
London really is open. That’s something we’re reminded of every day when we speak to different chefs from around the world and hear them talk excitedly about the prospect of cooking in this city. When we print out the bookings before service and realise the number of different countries our guests are representing; or when the guest chef that week forgets to order a niche South East Asian herb, so we send one of our team out to buy it, and they return on their bicycle, 40 minutes later, with three different varieties and change from a tenner. We may be tucked away on a quiet Marylebone side street, where traffic wardens come for a sit down and a smoke, but like everyone else in this industry, we’re confronted with London’s gloriously cosmopolitan reality every single day, and in our own small way we’re contributing to it too. There can’t be many other cities in the world where a place like ours would still be going strong, five years and 150 guest chefs later. We didn’t make life easy for ourselves. One sitting, with shared tables, no-choice set menus paid for in advance... It shouldn’t work, but somehow it does, and that’s almost certainly down to the magic of shared experiences. Nothing brings people together like food and drink, and when you add in pre-show levels of anticipation for a guest chef who’s flown in from Mexico City, or Kuala Lumpur, the morning before, we’ve seen that you end up with something even more intoxicating than a regular meal out. Before the first plates go down, the chef steps out of the kitchen to tell you all about the menu that you’ll be enjoying at the same time as your neighbours. You don’t have to talk to the people next to you, but you might make new friends if you do. All that stuff you read about Millennials ditching materialistic things for experiences? There’s
some truth in it. Beyond the restaurant, where dinner is a kind of theatre, we’ve had people biting our hands off for tickets to all sorts of workshops, from food photography masterclasses with David Loftus, to miso-making with Nancy Singleton Hachisu. There are plenty of people who’ve never eaten at Carousel; instead they come to whittle spoons, plant terrariums, or learn how to draw real life barn owls. The only common thread, is the desire to ‘do’. The end product (a plate of food) is no longer enough; increasingly we’re seeing that it’s the opportunity to learn how to cook it, or craft it, that people are after. The same goes for the events that we put on for brands. Thankfully the era of purple-tinged uplighters, Brakes Bros mini burgers and parsimoniously poured room temperature chardonnay is very nearly over. It will come as bad news to manufacturers of transparent electric violins, but it turns out people want to do something authentic with their evenings, even when they’re at work. We’re used to hearing people wax lyrical about the sweetness of San Marzano tomatoes, or the marbling on a slab of dry-aged Galician dairy cow, but one thing that really stands out from over the years is just how impressed the visiting chefs always are about the quality of British produce, particularly the Americans, who’ve presumably had their fill of chlorinated chicken. It’s our job to get hold of the very best these isles have to offer, and this is where local knowledge comes into play; the result is this wonderful mash-up of imported ideas with rigorously sourced UK ingredients. That’s how you end up with memorable oneoffs like the smoked Cornish sea trout ‘warayaki’ with soy-cured egg yolk, that Carl Ishizaki from
Stockholm’s Sushi Sho served on his menu. Dishes like that are part approximation (flavour-wise, there’s probably little to choose between sea trout and the Arctic char he’d use back home), part inspiration. Like many chefs we’ve cooked with, Carl based his menu on what the day boats were bringing in each day. We just told him where to look. Carl is actually a great example of another Carousel phenomenon: the Japanese effect. Fish guts, gruel, foot jelly... Put the word ‘Japanese’ in front of pretty much anything and it’s not hard to imagine Londoners queuing around the block for it. Or so it would seem. Fortunately for our diners we’ve never put that to the test – the most ‘out there’ thing we’ve ever served in the name of all that is good and Japanese is monkfish liver, which is utterly delicious – yet the Japanese and Japanese-inspired chefs we’ve had over the years have always guaranteed full houses and clean plates, which is surprising given the sheer volume of Japanese restaurants that London already has to offer. The same goes for sake. You can find it in Aldi these days and yet our guests take to it like it’s this elixir of eternal youth. That’s partly because it’s true, sake really is a wonderful thing, but Londoners’ appetite for all things Japanese shows no sign of abating, no matter how many Wasabis they open over the road. So why not just open a Japanese restaurant? The answer to that is easy – it would get boring. Ed runs Carousel with his younger brother Ollie and their two cousins, Anna and Will.
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Happiness in Hospitality 2O19
The second annual report, taking in the views of more than 700 hospitality staff, is now published. It has been a turbulent year for the industry – with Brexit, rising costs, the difficulties in the casual-dining sector among the factors. To say nothing of the impact of food halls on structured restaurants, and the perennial problem of attracting and retaining staff.
So what do the community think about these – and more personal issues such as bad treatment at work or the desire for more or different perks? The results – from number-crunching to detailed commentary – are all in the report. For a full analysis of the results, see the enclosed booklet or download a digital version via our website, codehospitality.co.uk
CODE AWARDS 2O19 As voted for by the industry BEST EMPLOYER Hawksmoor BEST STAFF FOOD St.JOHN FAVOURITE CRITIC Jay Rayner, The Observer FAVOURITE CHEF Tom Kerridge
FAVOURITE RESTAURANT TO DINE IN Kiln BEST KITCHEN PORTER Diogo Siebert, Brigade
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Harriet Clare
FAVOURITE BAR TO DRINK IN Satan’s Whiskers BEST KP Diogo Siebert
Siebert has worked at Brigade, a social-enterprise restaurant and bar in London Bridge, for two and a half years. Originally from Brazil, Siebert was voted as the best KP by recipients of the CODE survey and is a terrific example of someone who is an integral part of our industry.
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A large factor for many working in hospitality is the difficulty in combining a career and raising a family. Here the celebrated chef Romy Gill MBE shares her experiences
When I opened my restaurant – Romy’s Kitchen in Thornbury, near Bristol – in September 2013, it wasn’t an easy process. I’d spent a huge amount of time applying for (and being refused) business loans, equipping the restaurant, creating the menus, spreading the word… And that was before I’d even welcomed my first customer. At the time, the decision to open – and to open in Thornbury – was met with mixed reactions. There were those who were amazed that I’d even consider such a career with two young girls at home and a husband who works full time. There were those who didn’t understand why I opened in Thornbury rather than in buzzing Bristol, just a half hour’s drive away. The answer to the first is that I wanted to do something both for myself and to show my girls that, as a woman, it is possible to have both a family and a career. The answer to the second is that I wanted to be within running distance of both the children and home – as reassurance for both them and me. I’m not going to deny that the years of running a restaurant were exhausting. From Tuesday to Saturday, I was at the restaurant from 9am until around 1am or 2am the next morning. I’d then be up at 6am the following
morning to make their packed lunches, iron their clothes and everything else that was needed to get them ready for the day ahead. Last year we did three days a week at the restaurant, until I decided to close recently. Most afternoons, when it’s quieter at the restaurant, I’d make something to take home for their evening meal, and I’d pop home to spend an hour or so with them before the evening rush kicked in. Now I have to travel with my work a lot and am on the publicity circuit for my first book, Zaika. “But what about your social life?”, people ask. Once every four to six weeks, on a Saturday night, was when I’d let my hair down and enjoy a little time with friends: they’d come to eat at the restaurant and, after service, I’d sit and catch up over a glass of wine. Over the years, there have been many times when I’ve wondered whether I’m doing the right thing – whether balancing such an intense career path with family really is possible. I’m not afraid to admit that I have, on occasion, thought that my work could
be causing my marriage to fall apart. Because our marriage isn’t perfect – our family isn’t perfect – but we still manage to make it work, despite the flaws. I’m female. I’m an immigrant (although I’ve never played that card to get to where I want to be). I’m not in any industry “cliques”. But despite all this – and despite all the setbacks I’ve faced – I managed to make running both a restaurant and a family work. To other women considering doing the same, I’d say be prepared to need plenty of perseverance, courage and the ability to spot when someone is trying to take advantage. And don’t underestimate the support and understanding your family will need to give when you’re feeling totally exhausted and unsure whether you can carry on. Without it, success – both at work and home – will be a real struggle. Romy Gill’s debut book, Zaika, is out now. She will be appearing on the new season of Ready Steady Cook on BBC1 next year.
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“Over the years I’ve wondered whether I’m doing the right thing – is it possible to balance an intense career path with family life?“ -29-
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publisher Hyman and editor Each season, publisher Adam Hyman andEach editorseason, Lisa Markwell makeAdam it make it their business to check out their business to check out new restaurantsLisa andMarkwell old favourites. These new restaurants and old favourites. These are the are the places that fuelled this edition of CODE Quarterly places that fuelled this edition of CODE Quarterly
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Northern soul
There’s been debate about the Manchester dining scene – from its lack of a Michelin star to its hard-to-please customers – for years. But a flurry of new openings, featuring stellar names like Tom Kerridge, and rave reviews for a new generation of restaurants, suggest that the city is ready to stake its claim as a culinary hotspot. Chloë Hamilton reports
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considers Marques. “But the end of 2018 and start of 2019 were hard. We had a huge number of openings in Manchester last year: 20 Stories with 500 covers, The Ivy with 535 covers, Dishoom with 230 covers.” These volumes are big for London, but much more so for Manchester, where a historic lack of investment in infrastructure has quashed conditions for a cosmopolitan food scene to thrive. Incredibly, as recently as 1987, there were only 300 people recorded to be living in Manchester city centre, with the rest of population residing in the suburbs, isolated by an underdeveloped transport network. Though the tide has since turned and high-rise flats are springing up (there are approximately 14,000 residential units due to be completed in the next 18 months), this transformation of the city’s demographic is very much a work in progress.
restaurants nearby that are really, really good. As the tram network here continues to expand, it will be a lifeblood for the city. People moving into the centre and claiming it as their own will completely change the dynamics.” Positive change effects positive change. And at the north-eastern edges of the city an ecosystem of high-quality businesses is emerging. “You’ve got this layer of young people who are really food aware, starting small businesses and are really passionate about what they produce,” says Flack. “The croissant at Pollen Bakery stands up to any I’ve had in the world. It’s not just good for Manchester, but good for anywhere.” Alongside Pollen Bakery there’s also Sugo Pasta Kitchen, Cloudwater Brew Co, Elnecot, Mana, Jane Eyre, Erst, Seven Brothers Beer House, all considered to be knocking it out the park, with knowledge and passion to
scene. It’s often mentioned in the same breath as Mana – an ambitious Nordic-inspired restaurant in Ancoats - for this same reason. Both are model candidates for catching the eye of the (apparently indifferent) Michelin inspectors, but is there enough of a local appetite? Grace Dent’s review of Mana quickly set the comments section aflame with debate over whether a £105 tasting menu featuring dishes served on a bed of spruce was ridiculous or as reasonable as dropping an equal sum on tickets to the football. The jury is still out. “We have a lot of people that have followed us from previous businesses and our regular trade is big,”
Restaurateur Pablo Flack has spent 20 years running cult East London restaurant Bistrotheque and has returned to Manchester to open Cultureplex, a social and cultural destination of the Ace Hotel ilk. “London is a city of 8.8 million people and Manchester is just 2.7 million,” says Flack. Hailing from Huddersfield and with strong roots in Manchester, he is well qualified to unpick the critical comparisons with London. “It’s just at a different stage in its development. When we first opened Bistrotheque and were fully booked, we really struggled to find somewhere else to recommend to people. Now there are 60-70
rival anywhere else in the UK. Many of these businesses are in Ancoats, an area that has seen painstaking restoration of the industrial Victorian architecture and now a careful curation of new, independent operators by landlords Manchester Life. I speak to Will Sutton, co-owner of Erst, to find out what it’s like to be one of the operators so often namechecked as a frontrunner. He tells me the restaurant was born out of a lack of places the team wanted to go to, in a city that, even now, can feel chain-heavy. The Mediterranean small plates, pared-back aesthetic and emphasis on interesting wines
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
We’re sitting at the ground floor bar at Tast. Fernando Marques, the general manager and industry thoroughbred, recounts a brief history of the business since opening on King Street in the summer of 2018. The restaurant, financed by Pep Guardiola and fronted by chef Paco Perez of two-star Miramar fame, has racked up a fair few column inches in the national press. Nicholas Lander, Giles Coren, Grace Dent and Michael Deacon were all largely positive about the venture - but it hasn’t necessarily translated into mainstream success. “There’s a value misconception about Spanish food,” says Marques. “People come in and say ‘I want patatas bravas and paella’. But what we’re doing is something highly regional. It’s a challenge.” The Catalan offering here is dealt with earnestly and executed at a level that pushes forward the markers of ambition in Manchester’s food
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naturally attracted local talent from the outset, so staffing hasn’t been an issue. The problem comes with suppliers. “What you can get in London you can’t necessarily get hold of here,” he says. “We ask for certain things like monk’s beard and they say ‘we don’t have that but you can have samphire’. It’s getting better but until other places open in Manchester, these big suppliers just won’t get certain stuff in.” Sutton talks about how Manchester has responded to their offering. “There can sometimes be a struggle with cost,” he admits. “People in Manchester are used to a certain price point and are perhaps not willing to spend £9 on a glass of wine.” (Erst’s wines by the glass start at £4, so there’s certainly a range). “And we’ve found that although we pitch ourselves as a causal restaurant, a lot of people come for a special
occasion”. Despite this sense of hesitation, a recent supper club in collaboration with Anna Tobias was a sellout, even with the £40 ticket price. “It’s about shaping a new audience,” says Sutton. “The better places are, the more people expect”. Back over on Ducie Street where Cultureplex has just opened its doors, Katie Popperwell, former journalist and now hotshot cultural programmer, is building what is set to be a cultural community hub, unifying the F&B operation with film, performance, immersive installations, seminars, and collaborations with HOME, the Whitworth and the Lowry. Popperwell is Manchester born and bred and, having grown up with an absence of a city-centre community in the 80s and 90s, she sees the recent strides in progress very clearly. “Manchester has always been a little bit limited in terms
of the range of aesthetics, what passes for aspirational, glamorous, sophisticated. But that has changed. Things have hugely accelerated. There’s more diversity in what people appreciate, more subtlety and a more international view on what constitutes decent restaurants.” A favourite of hers, like the vast majority of industry people I speak to, is Hawksmoor. Gary Usher doesn’t miss a beat when I ask him where he likes to eat in Manchester: “Hawksmoor”. And before Hawksmoor opened? There’s a longer pause. “I love Hawksmoor,” he says again. “The service is so fucking good. They’re such a clever business, they’re such clever people, such nice people. They’re so good to their staff and you can tell. I fucking love it, I can’t say more good stuff about them. They’re setting an example.” Popperwell
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
“There’s now more diversity in what people appreciate, more subtlety and a more international view of what constitutes decent restaurants“
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involved, it’s going to be good. Though Usher has long been an ambassador for northern hospitality, he too is a newcomer to the city centre with the opening of Kala on King Street. He acknowledges that behind the social media hype, the pop-ups and record-breaking crowdfunding, he’s still bedding in. A recent rave review from The Observer’s Jay Rayner should help. “Wreckfish took off straight away. But we’re still new here. I’ve got to do work with local businesses to get them to come in.” He talks animatedly about Tom Kerridge’s imminent opening: “It’s going to be amazing for the city. It’s going to put the limelight on Manchester and make people come from surrounding areas, from Liverpool, from Chester, to eat at Tom’s restaurant. And if they eat at Tom’s restaurant they might see our restaurant and other restaurants in Manchester.” Tom Kerridge is a very interesting catalyst for the city, given his appeal reaches widely across the consumer market as well as being an industry hero. Talking to CODE, it’s clear his plan of action for Manchester is a carefully considered one. “The best restaurants, the ones that stand the test of time, are those that understand the area, the people, the community, the space,” says
Kerridge, who is a United season ticket holder and has family roots in the region. “It’s about recognising the business as a much bigger picture. Opening anywhere you’re cooking for the guests first of all, not a chef ’s ego. So we’re opening in Manchester and looking at produce, foundation, heritage. Whether that’s beer or it’s wine suppliers. We’re embracing ourselves firmly within that city and being part of that community.” The more people I speak to in Manchester, the clearer the story becomes. Yes, there is often frustration at limitations and a sense the city’s food scene ought to be bigger and better than it currently is. But crucially there’s a universal sense of optimism, whether it’s from those that are already key players in the evolution and can see the transformation, or from those who sense the city is just turning a corner.
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
agrees on this: “Hawksmoor is the most reliably brilliant place and the staff are amazing. The food is lovely but that’s not the point. It’s reliable, consistent.” Interestingly Popperwell tells me that despite enjoying Hawksmoor in London, it doesn’t quite match up to the Manchester spirit. “There’s a certain vibe in there. A pride amongst the staff and a knowledge that what they’re doing is at the top of the game.” As far as London imports go, it’s not an easy job to rise to such popularity in a city that has been inundated by multi-site operators. Understandably, Manchester doesn’t respond to a London import saying “this is how it’s done”, but the way in which Hawksmoor has put down their roots has evidently made all the difference. “Success depends on what their approach is,” says Popperwell “Give people a reason to come above and beyond the food; make them feel welcome”. Dishoom has won over the local audience in a similar way and what both launches have in common is the involvement of Lucy NooneBlake a multi-talented industry champion. “Lucy Noone is total gold dust. She spends ages poring over table plans for soft launches, making sure that people that get on sit together. She understands the alchemy of it.” Essentially, if Lucy’s
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Tools of the trade
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
In this regular feature, we take a closer look at the workspace of people who inspire us. Here Imogen Davis and Ivan Tisdall-Downes tell us about how urban foraging informs their menu. Photographs by Harriet Clare
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Together, Imogen Davis and Ivan TisdallDownes run Native, the restaurant in London Bridge which specialises in wild food from the British Isles. They hit the headlines last year when they first put squirrel on the menu but as food waste becomes a bigger and bigger issue, they have been justified in using such ingredients. Many of the dishes that chef TisdallDownes creates use foraged ingredients – that both he and Davis, who runs front of house, source themselves or from trusted suppliers. The pair often use Mondays, when the restaurant is usually closed, to go out looking for new and familiar plant species to work with. They took CODE not to a forest or a coastal meadow, but to Burgess Hill in Camberwell. It didn’t sound very promising … but sure enough, there were plenty of edible ingredients if you knew where to look. Foraging doesn’t require a great deal of special equipment – a keen eye and a breadth of knowledge are, however, essential.
ID: I’ve just found greater plantain, which is brilliant. It’s not related to actual plantain – the leaves have really thick veins - but they are really good leaves to use in a salad, they add moisture. In fact, they use extract of greater plantain in loads of expensive hand creams – if you rub the leaves between your hands, it releases so much ‘juice’; makes them feel really smooth!
Taste ID: This tiny patch is right in the centre of a very busy area and even here you’ve got little rosehips, yarrow, nettles, mustard, there’s the mint, beech leaves, mallow, greater plantain. If you know what to do with them it’s actually really fun – there are so many healing properties too, I think we need to go a little bit more towards eating from the land and relying a little bit more in things like elderberries. They have started selling bottles of elderberry tonic for £13 as a flu preventative. But you can just go and pick them! We’ve now got all these amazing herbs so we can make our own teas – a yarrow tea, yarrow kombucha. We can use cornflowers, loads of different foraged leaf teas and they taste amazing. We’re also making hay kombucha, which is really tasty. IT: we’ve got pine cone kombucha, and we’ve started appleweed as well. Yarrow was originally used to make beer by monks. Let’s pick up these rosehips, they are great for making jelly. They have hairs inside so they’re not great to eat - they don’t do your insides any good. But they’re super high in vitamin C – one of the highest. Once I made a loaf of bread with rosehips and I had to cut them in half and peel them. It took me absolutely ages. There’s loads of Jerusalem artichoke plants here. When I worked at Blue Hill Farm we used to pick the flowers, dust them in pea flour and deep fry them. I used to have to spend the mornings picking sunflower heads when I worked there too. It wasn’t the worst job in the world – September is the season for sunflowers, sunchokes and Jerusalem artichokes. ID: We are firm believers in ‘what grows together goes together’. We try and taste like that. Because we didn’t train in the industry - everything we do is by taste so it’s not that we were taught what goes together, we just try it and see if it works. And that’s where it can be quite liberating, not the same as other people. We can’t do it any other way. Weeds and seeds ID: It’s amazing that seeds have found their way here from all over the world, brought from birds or on people’s shoes and so on; now they’re self-seeding. It’s just amazing that we can now find all this produce, it’s really exciting. There are so many non-native ingredients growing everywhere and they do well here. When we talk about weeds… we need to harvest and eat them, like Japanese knotweed. We’re doing our invasive species dinners, teaming up with different chefs for Monday nights. Olia Hercules, for instance, is doing crayfish, which is an invasive species. On other guest chef menus there’s hogweed, knotweed...
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Sight Imogen Davis: My aim is that one day on my train journey into work [from Wimbledon to London Bridge] I’m going to be able to identify everything I go past! There are still so many different things that pop up and I’m like “I’ve never even seen that before”. Then my next thought is, “is it edible, or not edible”? It’s just exciting because it’s a whole different world. When everything’s so busy it’s really refreshing to be open – you can’t force anything and whatever you find on the day is what you find. So it’s nice that we bring a little bit of that back into the restaurant … Yes we’ve got to serve people dinner, but we let the land dictate, which means we’ve got to be a little bit creative and flexible – and have fun with it, because ultimately that’s what food should be. Ivan Tisdall-Downes: We try and keep a skeleton structure to the menu for a month and then chop and change according to what we find. So, herb garnishes depend on what we find, meat on what the game keeper shoots and so on. Sometimes we are fighting the birds off, sometimes we have something that will be on the menu for one day only and that’s it until next year. We try to let the suppliers dictate what’s going to be on the menu – instead of phoning them up and saying “we want this many courgettes…” we ask them what they’ve got. We work quite closely with Sutton Farm – they email us and tells what they have and we put it on the menu. It’s a nice way to work. In addition, you have to have trust in the chefs but they’ve all been with us for two years, pretty much, which is quite a long time. Jasper my sous chef, and my brother, are in the kitchen today. He’s been with us for two years. Over there is some mallow, which is on the menu at the moment - we make a velouté out of the leaves, a green sauce, and then we garnish with the flowers. It has something in it which makes you salivate and it thickens sauces really well.
Touch ID: When we see something we’re not sure about, we use the known warning sights, the particular identifications – these are often touch. Wild carrot is a lot like hemlock and the way to tell is whether it’s got a smooth or a hairy stem. Hemlock grows to be really tall, over 8ft, but it’s also known as Queen Anne’s Lace and the way that you identify it… I was once told that the way to know it’s safe and wild carrot is that Queen Anne has hairy legs so if you feel the stem and its hairy then you know it’s safe to eat. This is wild carrot because it’s got really spiky hairs. [Ivan looks slightly less confident – hemlock is deadly.] Ivan grew up in the city but I grew up in the country, so I’m often like ‘yeah, you’ll be fine!” IT: I just realised this is a type of mint. The best test is to know if it’s a member of the mint family is if you roll the stem between your fingers and it’s square, then 90 per cent of the time it’s in the family [ID: that doesn’t always mean it’s edible!] and then the leaves grow in pairs opposite each other - same as most mints. You can also smell and taste it.
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IT: Alexanders are an invasive species too, they’re all over Kent – you can eat all parts of them and because they grow everywhere, you can gorge on them! Jars ID: We harvest things when they’re in season and then pickle them and so on. It’s how we survive. If sometimes we only want the young shoots, or the older shoots, or flowers – you have to remember what’s what. IT: it’s nice now because we’re still superyoung as a business [ID and age wise!] but we are getting to the stage where now we can start to use our pickles from the year before. We’ve got the time and with Native at London Bridge, we’ve got the space. We are learning that we have to preserve for January now,
when we have artichokes, beetroot and carrots and not much else; so now we think forward for what we can ferment and preserve. Nice evolution of the menu in ways that we haven’t done in previous years. Extras IT: We couldn’t do foraging without our phones. We use an app (and books) to help identify plants, and also to photograph what we’ve found, in case we’re not sure, or want a reference. What we’re really bad at is remembering where we’ve found things! ID: I’ve brought my little foraging knife which is really useful for digging down to be able to pull up a plant by the root, and it has a brush for cleaning mushrooms too. Useful particularly at this time of year.
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Get a room It’s boom time for London hotels, it seems – but it’s not just the big names in the most traditional neighbourhoods who are opening their doors. From Bethnal Green to Grosvenor Square, Lisa Markwell reports on the biggest launches of 2019, and discovers that although they have much-anticipated restaurant, there are exciting ideas behind closed doors too
The
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Eight hotels in, including two already in the capital, and now The Hoxton has opened right in the centre of things. Just south of Blackfriars Bridge, the new hotel is creating buzz already for its stylish, quirky rooms and rooftop Seabird restaurant, created in partnership with the Maison Premiere team. There are 192 bedrooms, from ‘shoebox’ to ‘biggy’, and guests can buy hand-picked products in the lobby – we love Kana ceramics to Blackhorse Denim. The Hoxton is joining the local community and all sorts of events are planned. The ground-floor all-day restaurant Albie will be open to all, and bustling. As you’d expect from Ennismore, every detail is spot on – from the antique and bespoke furniture to light-flooded bedrooms.
Southwark
Hoxton
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Inhabit
It’s billing itself as London’s first mindfulness boutique hotel, which might sound like marketing jargon, but Inhabit certainly has a peaceful, nourishing feel about it. Situated in Paddington and opened this summer, Inhabit has 89 rooms with bespoke scented candles from Self Care Co, amenities by REN and sizes from ‘sleeper’ to ‘family’. Of interest not only to those travellers transiting through London (it’s very handy for
the mainline station) but also those working in west central London, Inhabit is also home of the Yeotown café, which focuses on plant-based dishes and organic juices and coffee. There’s a library, and infared sauna and peleton training in the gym. A calm atmosphere pervades all areas and the wellbeing goes beyond just that of the guests – food waste is minimised by a ‘Happy Hour’ and inhouse Belu water supports WaterAid. -40-
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Mama
Shelter
Well, it’s not every day you find cartoon masks in your hotel room, but then Mama Shelter is not an everyday hotel group. Now ninestrong, in locations from Paris to Rio, and with many more in the pipeline, Mama London opens this month. The Trigano family, who set up the company in 2008, specialise in lowbudget but high-quality hotels in buzzy cities, and always in a slightly off-centre location – so the London site, with 195 rooms, is between Cambridge Heath and Bethnal Green. The design is by up-and-coming design team Dion & Arles, featuring vintage lamps, chalkboard ceiling and kitsch macramé, but also crisp linen, kingsize beds and custom skincare products (which you can also buy at the in-hotel store. The 100-cover restaurant and downstairs karaoke room and photo/ video booth will draw plenty from the east London surroundings as well as hotel guests.
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
The Biltmore
Grosvenor Square is a commanding location, now it has a new hotel that fits that location. The Biltmore Mayfair, which has just opened (following a yearlong refurb), is one of the biggest London openings for some time and is the first European venture for LXR Hotels & Resorts. Most familiar to many will be The Betterment, the in-hotel restaurant from Jason Atherton, which sees him return to the very same square where he once worked for Gordon Ramsay. The super-chef and his head chef Paul Walsh, who was at City Social, will oversee all the food and drink for the hotel – including the Pine Bar, room service and afternoon tea. Away from the headline-grabbing chef, the 308 rooms and 57 suites at the Biltmore Mayfair will have opulent furnishings and, for some, commanding views over the square. Expect parquet floors, wood panelling, marble bathrooms, fresh flowers and a deep sense of satisfaction if you get to stay here.
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The Standard
retro/futurist duo of dining spaces – Isla and Double Standard, both overseen by chef Adam Rawson. Meanwhile the bedrooms 266 of them, have 42 different styles and some of the larger rooms on the upper floors have terraces with amazing views… and the occasional outdoor bath. There are custom Craig Green robes, ‘overstocked minibars’ and the whole place is pet-friendly.
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Great location, stunning exterior and restaurants with buzz – the newly opened Standard is a big asset for London. Its brutalist carapace (with a small Banksy if you know where to look) is offset by a bright scarlet lift soaring up the outside to Decimo, the destination restaurant of the 10th floor by celebrated chef Peter Sanchez-Iglesias. Inside on the ground floor is a fabulously
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The POW lis 5O
To celebrate the inaugural CODE Power 50 List, we held a party at the swish headquarters of Grosvenor in Mayfair. While we’re all partial to a block party in Dalston with craft beer, there was something extremely elegant about drinking excellent wines – kindly provided by Bibendum – in the west end, with views over the city. The guest list was made up not only of those who appear on the list, but many of CODE friends, collaborators and contributors (in other words, not everyone was over the age of 50!) Nieves Barragan, who showed editor Lisa Markwell how to make the perfect tortilla in the previous issue, chatted with Angela Hartnett. One of our judges, critic and writer Tracey MacLeod came along, as did both Sams of Moro. The CODE team (pictured far right) were there, of course, to catch up with everyone. Robin and Judy Hutson of the Pig hotels raised a glass to their most recent opening with Russell Norman, very dapper in white shorts, while early arrivals Pierre Koffmann, Simon Rogan and Richard Corrigan greeted each other, and many arrivals, as old friends. CODE’s founder Adam Hyman made an impassioned speech about the importance of celebrating those figures in hospitality who have been the inspiration and the teachers for many of today’s rising stars.
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he WER ist Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
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Getting creative
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
In this feature, we take a look behind the scenes and meet the individuals who shoot, style and illustrate the pages of this magazine. For this issue, we meet the photographer Harriet Clare, who has shot everything from boxers to books, as well as many beautiful portraits of hospitality figures. Here she has a chat with CODE’s creative director Alexander Taralezkhov Photographer Joe Sarah captures the action
Harriet Clare -46-
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going to nice places to take picture of their lunch or their breakfast. Which I still find problematic in my own life. AT: We’ve done so many things for CODE together actually. Have you got a favourite one? HC: A favourite one? It’s difficult because we’ve met so many different people. Jason Atherton was smart… That was quite intimidating but it was also quite cool meeting him. My dad LOVES him. And also always been a fan of Thomasina Miers. It was very cool meeting her, in her own home, listening to her talk about what her favourite books are. Also… meeting Ben Chapman. I just love his restaurants [Kiln, Smoking Goat, Brat]. He was such a lovely guy. The list keeps going, but I’m currently reading Felicity Cloake and I am really enjoying it – I shot her for CODE too. AT: The one where she cycles around France eating bread? HC: It’s a really nice book. Called “One More Croissant for the Road” and you can feel how much she likes food. No pretention. AT: It’s really great. She is really fun. Can I tell you which one I really loved… the day when we shot Nicole Pisani at Gayhurst School in London Fields for the article about Chefs In Schools. HC: That was really nice. The whole vibe there was really cool. I spoke about that shoot a lot as I love what they were doing there - bringing amazing chefs to London’s schools. These kids were eating proper tasty food. AT: What about your travel photography? I saw you went to Norway recently. HC: Last year I really wanted to go travelling by myself as I’ve never done it before and I really wanted to go to Scandinavia. I decided it was a good place to maybe go by yourself. You can be a bit of a burden as a photographer, always wondering off, getting lost. And you know people don’t want to get up at sunrise… especially in Norway! So I just thought it was a real nice opportunity to just go and see what’s it’s like without being a burden to anyone. AT: How did that feel? HC: It was a bit weird for the first couple of days. You’re having to make all the decisions and I am not very good at that. But it was so freeing… and sociable. You talk to so many people that you wouldn’t normally do. One of my favourite moments was in Bergen. I was at the top of this hill. In this perfect spot overlooking the whole of the town. I set up my tent and this guy came along and he had a similar idea.
He was local. We had a great evening. He had a tree hammock and set it up a bit further down. We had a bit of a chat. He offered me a drink, a G’n’T, and put some frozen berries in it instead of ice. So just sat there with this guy having a drink, overlooking this amazing view. Then he left… it was a little bit scary at first being by myself, but it couldn’t have been a more perfect opening to camping. I definitely recommend travelling on your own. AT: So what’s next? HC: I just want to do more travel and food, combined!
QUICK-FIRE QUESTIONS RED OR WHITE WINE RED POACHED OR FRIED EGGS POACHED SMALL PLATES OR COURSES SMALL PLATES SET OR A LA CARTE SET BAR OR RESTAURANT RESTO FISH OR MEAT FISH MYSTERY DISH OR MEAT AND TWO VEG MYSTERY EAT OUT OR DINE IN DINE IN SUNDAY BRUNCH OR ROAST SUNDAY BRUNCH SWEET OR SAVOURY SWEET
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
AT: Have you had a hospitality job before? HC: Yes, I worked in a pub between taking media studies at university in Norwich and moving to London. It was called The Swan…it was absolutely awful, although Norwich was a great place to study good pubs, good music. AT: So how did the transition from media to photography happen? HC: Well… I got back home and couldn’t get a job in media… not even work as a runner, so I got the job at the pub. It was pretty bleak. The food was DREADFUL. I felt quite embarrassed serving it. It was also quite expensive. You just felt like you want to apologise when you put the plate down. I had to get out of there. I moved down to London and I didn’t mind what I was going to do. Then me and a couple of friends worked on some photography shoots. AT: what was your role at the time? HC: I was doing production-related roles. A couple of camera assistants who worked at one of the big London studios called Big Sky Studio told me that it was a good place to start. I ended up getting a job there and that was my first gig in London. AT: That’s how you met Katie (Hammond of Mama Studios and frequent CODE contributor) right? HC: That’s how I met a lot of my photography friends/assistants. At this point I was still considering this as a hobby. It took me a full six months to figure out that it is photography that I wanted to do. And weirdly, I never know if this is a good thing or a bad thing, Good, I guess - I got an iPhone 4. Photography has always been hobby but I suddenly had a camera on me the whole time. AT: That is nice. We sometimes forget what a revolution that is. When was your first actual camera? HC: I had my dad’s old SLRs but I knew I really wanted a particular camera. I told myself, “when I leave Big Sky I’m going to get this camera”. A Canon 5D, boring but industry standard. AT: Was it mainly fashion shoots you were working on at Big Sky? HC: Very fashion heavy. Which you probably know now isn’t quite my thing. AT: So how did you move on from fashion to food, lifestyle and landscape, which is what you’re known for now? HC: I just went for what I really like. I guess I always… again with my phone. I was going out and was just that person, like every other millennial,
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Why listing wines by the glass is the way forward for the On Trade From July to September, Bibendum will be promoting by-the-glass listings of their new world premium wines as part of their ‘Best in Glass: Southern Stars,’ campaign. Tori Vickerman explains why we should all be listing premium wines by the glass
Because it makes aspirational wines more accessible Premium wines are usually priced too highly for the vast majority of consumers, listing wines by the glass makes them a lot more accessible. Consumers often won’t commit to a bottle in case they don’t like it. By the glass allows consumers to experiment before committing to a bottle and encourages them to try something different and trade up from entry-level wines. Because it’s better for your bottom line A lot of premium new world wines sit at the top of a wine list and stock doesn’t move. What’s the point of them being there if people aren’t drinking them? Listing wines by the glass is the perfect way to improve your rate of sale and move stock. Wines by the glass can get a bad rap for being poor quality house wines that are often sat open for too long. A more premium by the glass list will engage customers and preservation systems like Coravin and enomatics ensure the perfect serve and some theatre too. Because consumers are drinking ‘less but better’ At a time when consumers are drinking less, offering premium wines is a great way to capitalise on the trend to ‘drink less but better,’ with 28% of consumers now purchasing higher quality products than they used to. More and more consumers are looking for an experience when they dine and 30% of consumers are choosing smaller serves so they can try more things. By giving consumers more options by the glass, you appeal to these consumers looking to experiment. Bring these wines alive by recommending them with certain dishes (which can be noted on both the drinks and food menu) and consumers will be more likely to take a chance on something new.
Sponsored content
John Graves On Trade Channel Director at Bibendum says “Listing more wines by the glass is a fantastic way of making quality wines more accessible. We will be offering incentives to customers so they can offer more premium wines at fairer prices, helping them improve their cash margin and putting more money in the till. This is the way forward for the On Trade and we need to come together on this to bring these amazing wines within reach of as many people and places as possible.”
in collaboration with CODE Hospitality
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
To find out more about Bibendum’s Best in Glass campaign visit www.bibendum-wine.co.uk/best-in-glass -49-
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Whether or not you get the opportunity to have a quiet moment with a good book, there are plenty of new titles that celebrate the best produce, plus stories and experiences to get your teeth into. Photograph by Harriet Clare
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
On the shelf
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1. GLORIOUS GAME: RECIPES FROM 101 CHEFS AND FOOD WRITERS
Could this be the book that really persuades the public that they should be cooking and eating more game? With an all-star cast of chefs supplying recipes, there is plenty of temptation – from Margot Henderson’s rabbit rillettes to Tom Kitchin’s grouse sausage rolls. Compiled by Ben Tish, all proceeds go to the Moorland Communities Trust and the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. £40, Face Publications
2.VIGNETTE: STORIES OF LIFE AND WINE IN 100 BOTTLES
by Jane Lopes A window into the world of the sommelier set, Jane Lopes’ Vignette stitches together a definitive list of 100 wines and spirits to explore, beautiful infographics and a compelling personal story of her journey to Master Sommelier via Eleven Maddison Park and Attica. As is her professional style, Lopes’ brings wines to life by telling the stories behind them, allowing her audience to absorb new knowledge by osmosis. £20, Hardie Grant
3.ZAIKA: VEGAN RECIPES FROM INDIA
4. DISHOOM: FROM BOMBAY WITH LOVE
by Romy Gill She may have closed her Bristol restaurant, but the chef Romy Gill is still creating. For her first book, she makes the most of the fact that a lot of Indian cuisine is naturally vegan and brings together a wealth of snacks, main dishes, sides and desserts that look and sound like the best comfort food, with accessible recipes and with introductions that unfold the story of her life and family.
by Shamil Thakrar, Kavi Thakrar, Naved Nasir I mean, who doesn’t love the black daal and the bacon naan roll? With the first Dishoom cookbook, the goodies can be made at home - but this is more than a recipe book. It is, as the authors and Dishoom co-founder say, “a highly subjective guide to Bombay”. Written with real warmth and wit, the book also includes recipes for the spice mixes and sauces that make you crave those masala beans or that chicken ruby.
£20, Orion
5. THE CONSOLATION OF FOOD by Valentine Warner
In a series of witty, evocative and poignant anecdotes interspersed with recipes that range from the most simple soups to roast rabbit and Burmese egg curry, Warner writes about the solace he has found in food, foraging, and cooking during the most tumultuous periods of his life. Warner’s prose is uplifting and thought-provoking, and will leave you feeling both reflective and inspired to approach food in a new way. £20, Pavilion
£26, Bloomsbury
The books spread was shot at the butchers HG Walter during game season. It is part of our community, as the CODE app offers 20% off the fresh meat and cheese counters
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5. 6. SOUR
by Mark Diacono
With an introduction that aims to convince you that sourness is where so much of food’s magic is, it’s difficult to imagine ever adding sugar to a gooseberry crumble again, or not including amchur in my next daal. Opening with basic souring skills, including sourdough, dairy, vinegar, fermented fruit and vegetables and fermented drinks, Diacono shows the best ways to harness sour flavours in your cooking from beginning to end. £25, Quadrille
7. LET’S DO DINNER: PERFECT DO-AHEAD MEALS FOR FAMILY AND FRIENDS by James Ramsden James Ramsden has come a long way from The Secret Larder supper club set up in 2010. In his latest book Ramsden (founder of London restaurants Pidgin and Sons + Daughters) draws on his early experiences to share the secret of stress-free hosting. Recipes from simple nibbles to centre-piece mains are broken down according to what can be done in advance, and what needs to be finished off before serving. £12.99, Pavilion
8.THE WHOLE FISH COOKBOOK by Josh Niland
Game-changer is a phrase thrown around far too often, but when it comes to Josh Niland there are few words that are more appropriate. His philosophy for sustainable whole fish cookery runs through everything he does and his first publication is no exception. Even the most seasoned of chefs will no doubt discover new preparation methods and uses for parts of fish, previously destined for the stock pot or worse the bin. As London’s King of Fish Nathan Outlaw put it “This is a very, very special book and will change the way we prepare and cook fish forever”.
9. APPLE: RECIPES FROM THE ORCHARD by James Rich
There is comfort in learning from an expert - James Rich grew up surrounded by the apple orchards of the Somerset countryside in a family of cider makers. Apple: recipes from the orchard is a love letter – both educational and inspiring - to this most humble of fruits that grows in abundance on our shores. It’s versatility as an ingredient is clear to see through a series of recipes from savoury to sweet, not forgetting of course cider, where it all began. £20, Hardie Grant
10. HUNGRY EATING, ROAD-TRIPPING AND RISKING IT ALL WITH RENE REDZEPI, THE WORLD’S GREATEST CHEF by Jeff Gordinier
Hungry is a wonderful story about two men – Gordinier and Redzepi, the fabled creator of Noma - chronicling their four-year culinary adventure, taking them from The Yucatan jungle to the streets of Copenhagen. In his in-depth narrative, Gordinier provides a rare glimpse into the relentlessly curious mind of the enigmatic Redzepi.
£16.99, Icon Books
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The drinks report There’s something particular about slaking your thirst with cider, which has so many variants. For this season’s focus, Max Coltart tries two brands of thoughtfully made ciders but also takes a look at the maker of mead, which while very different in its creation, has something of the same satisfying effect on the drinker
GOSNELL’S Tom Gosnell’s obsession was born out of his experience making cider at friend’s orchard in Dorset so it’s fitting we include his finest products alongside our favourite ciders. Gosnell is the first London Meadery for more than 500 years and are now selling to over nine countries worldwide, spearheading a substantial revival. Mead is created by fermenting honey with water, alongside various fruits, spices, grains or hops with ABV ranging from 3.5% all the way through to a slur-inducing 20%.
HAWKES - URBAN ORCHARD From a cidery based in south London, the team at Hawkes are on a mission to champion craft cider. Made from Londonpressed country apples (Braeburn, Bramley, Gala, Pink Lady) this is a classic medium dry cider. It’s smooth bodied and crisply dry, with an almost wine-like finish. Their striking label is bound to stand out wherever it’s stocked. £6 for four; waitrose.com ___
CITRA SEA This refreshing take on mead has tarragon, lemon and hops added to their honey ferment. With a saline and mouth-watering finish, has Gosnell’s found the perfect pairing to a portion of fish and chips? £15 for four; gosnells.co.uk ___
SHEPPYS – ORIGINAL CLOUDY CIDER Sheppy’s Original Cloudy Cider is a light blend of David Sheppy’s traditional Somerset cider and a touch of pure cloudy apple juice to produce a lightly sparkling medium sweet cider with a crisp and fruity flavour. Cloudy cider has connotations of farmyard scrumpy, but producing a bottled cider to this high standard has taken several years of trial and error. £2.90; thebottleclub.com ___
SOUR Made with Spanish orange blossom honey, the light and citrus flavour profile lends itself well to a more complex acidity profile. Described as “puckering”, this could well be an excellent choice when reaching for the hair of the dog. £15 for four; gosnells.co.uk ___
HIBISCUS Pink mead… now there’s a niche drink to wheel out at your next barbecue. Usually made by adding grape juice Gosnell’s has opted for hibiscus flowers, giving a particularly fruity and floral flavour profile. £15 for four; gosnells.co.uk ___
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
SHEPPY’S VINTAGE RESERVE CIDER A fine full-bodied award winning vintage cider with a medium-dry taste and a little added sparkle. This cider is created from a blend of the best varieties of Somerset cider apples gathered in a single harvest at the Sheppy family’s Three Bridges Farm. A family favourite recipe handed down from Master of Cider David Sheppy’s father which has been perfected through the years. £2.90; thebottleclub.com ___
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The travel guide: Palma, Mallorca With daily flights taking only two hours from the UK, over 300 days of sun and a burgeoning food scene – the Mallorcan capital makes for a great weekend break and not just in the summer months. CODE’s Adam Hyman reports back from Palma
WHERE TO STAY Hotel Sant Francesc Situated in the square of Sant Francesc, this is Palma’s smartest hotel. Everything from the neutral tones of the exquisite interiors to the scents in the bathrooms – it’s hard to fault Sant Francesc. General Manager Miguel Garcia Feliz welcomes guests to the 5-star hotel with a relaxed charm. Be sure to take advantage of the petite but perfectly formed rooftop pool with views over Palma. The plunge pool comes in handy to cool off in between sips of Cava. hotelsantfrancesc.com Plaça de Sant Francesc, 5, 07001 Palma Es Princep Es Princep is a relative newcomer to the Palma hotel scene. Situated along the historic walls to the city, the rooftop pool is the real draw to this hotel. With views over Palma Bay (ogle over the size of the cruise ships coming in to dock), it’s a big enough space to relax on a sun lounger without feeling like you’re in a can of Mallorcan sardines. Rooms are modern and functional. We also liked the hotel breakfast buffet. esprincep.com Carrer de Bala Roja, 1, 07001 Palm
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
WHERE TO DINE El Camino An Englishman in…Palma. Famed for founding one of the best Spanish restaurants in London with his brother Sam, Eddie recently relocated to Mallorca and has since opened El Camino in Palma. It’s already been hailed as one of the best restaurants in the capital and although diners familiar with Barrafina might notice similar aesthetics at El Camino the restaurant certainly has its own identity. No reservations means you need to either get there early or late to perch at the counter and feast on pan con tomate with an ice-cold cerveza before tucking into a menu of tortillas, octopus and Iberian pork. elcaminopalma.es Carrer de Can Brondo, 4, 07001 Palma
Quadrat at Sant Francesc Whether or not you’re staying at the Sant Francesc, be sure to have dinner at the hotel’s restaurant. We’re always a little hesitant about dining “in house” but the Quadrat bucks the trend for overly fussy, boring food and focuses on catering for well-travelled clientele. Chef Àlvar Albaladejo embraces the island’s produce to create such dishes as Iberian pork vitello tonnato and his take on a caprese salad with Mallorcan burrata. Regulars from Helene Darozze at the Connaught may also recognise the restaurant’s general manager, Sandrine Bolufer. Be sure to dine in the courtyard in the warmer months. hotelsantfrancesc.com Plaza Sant Francesc, 5, 07001 Palma Tast Club Hidden away with no sign outside – those with a sharp eye will spot a menu outside though – Tast Club opened in 2012 and still remains one of the hottest restaurant tickets in Palma. Despite the restaurant and bar being underground, Tast is always full of locals and tourists enjoying chef Patxi Castellano’s food, who has worked at a number of the group’s restaurants. The interiors are reminiscent of a private members’ club – cosy yet chic – and the menu consists of the usual Spanish delicacies along with a raw bar. As well as a bountiful Spanish wine list, the cocktails are worth exploring too. Reservations are recommended especially in peak season. tast.com Carrer de Sant Jaume, 6, 07012 Palma
vermouth in hand – and has all the classic dishes including a lot of canned options. You can’t book so either go early or wait with locals and enjoy a gin and tonic or too. larosavermuteria.com Carrer de la Rosa, 5, 07003 Palma
WHERE TO DRINK Sky Bar at Hotel Hostal Cuba With far reaching views across Palma Bay and the city’s cathedral, the Sky Bar is an ideal spot for pre or post dinner drink. A mixed crowd of younger locals and tourists wanting some rooftop action gather to drink large bowl-shaped glasses of G&T as the sun goes down for the day. hotelhostalcuba.com Carrer de Sant Magí, 1, 07013 Palma Can Bordoy Grand House & Garden Set in Palma’s Lo Lonja Quarter, this former nunnery is tucked away through an archway and is where we’d chose to start the evening with a quiet glass of something either in the hotel’s bar or in the courtyard. It’s worth having a nose around the residents-only garden too – an actual oasis in the centre of the city. canbordoy.com Carrer del Forn de la Glòria, 14, 07012 Palma
La Rosa Vermuteria We discovered this little gem of a vermuteria (seeminly a trend in both Spain and London at the moment – we’re a big fan of Anthony Demetre’s take of one in Coal Drop Yards) after some shopping at Rialto Living (a must visit lifestyle shop in Palma that stocks the likes of Aspesi). The retro fit-out first gives off the impression that La Rosa might be a little more substance over style but that’s certainly not the case. It’s got everything you want from a tapas restaurant – both in terms of being able to sit down or perch with -54-
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Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
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Instagrab So what’s feeding the news feed this season? The opening of James Lowe and John Ogier’s Flor in Borough Market brought all the cameraphones to the yard, especially those scarlet prawns; Arcade Food Theatre had a similar effect and we all know the world loves an oozy egg, like that on the Oklava pide. Finally, despite the rarefied atmosphere in the Berkeley hotel, no one could help themselves in the new bar
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A classic revisited We work in an industry in thrall to the new, so sometimes old-school restaurants get neglected. Loyd Grossman celebrates a London stalwart – the elegant, quintessentially French La Poule au Pot
candlelit symphony of browns - ceiling, walls and paper tablecloths - and a riot of La France profonde paraphernalia - dried flowers, straw baskets and chicken figurines. The manager still commands the restaurant from a pulpit-like desk, reminiscent of the station occupied by the ferocious bureaulistes who used to oversee Parisian tabacs. The menu is an encylopaedic tribute to what French food was like before it was traduced by foams, gels and dabbling with Japanese ingredients.
Truffaut at the Paris Pullman Cinema or make an even more hardcore visit to the Cine Lumiere at the Institut Francais. There were gastonomic embassies too. Apart from the plutocratic dens of haute cuisine - Le Gavroche set up shop in 1967- there were the epic croissants of Maison Bertaux and the original Patisserie Valerie in Soho and a profusion of bistros which peddled a certain image de vie alongside the soupe a l’oignon, coq au vin and brie de meaux. Le Chef and Chez Victor along with many others are long gone, Mon Plaisir remains and so, triumphantly, does La Poule au Pot, occupant of its corner site on Pimlico Green since the early sixties. I first visited in 1974 and little has changed saved for the lamented absence of the one-time manager Marc, whose black eyebrows could give a Gallic shrug worthy of Charles De Gaulle’s shoulders. The decor is a
You may begin with hot or cold ratatouille or snails or onion quiche or fish soup and then progress to sole meuniere, gigot aux flageolets, rabbit with mustard sauce or boeuf bourguignon. A recent dinner began with excellent salmon mousse - more like rilletes - and then moved on to poule au pot for me and guinea fowl with apples and calvados for my guest. Flavours are assertive, helpings are large and everything is dished up on mismatched china deserving shelf space in the BBC costume drama prop department. The cheese board is excellent and I am told the chocolate mousse still is, although it has been a very long time since I’ve been able to find room for it. Prices are London average: main courses in the mid 20s. It has often been proclaimed ‘the most romantic restaurant in London” and, if you’re with the right person, it is.
La Poule au Pot, 231 Ebury St, Belgravia, London SW1W 8UT
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Before Macron, Gilets Jaunes and Eurostar, there was a beau ideal of France among the residents of our cloudy island. Emerging from the austerity of the post-war years and starved of joie de vivre, Britons looked towards France as a sort of demi paradise where amour, fromage and gitanes reigned supreme. When trips to France were a luxury for most and no more than an occasional treat for the well off, France planted its cultural flags in London. How exciting it was to see a late-night
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Staff meal
White chocolate cheesecake What do you eat when you get home after service? Gordon Ker of Blacklock shares his recipe ___ Gordon Ker founded Blacklock to serve great quality food at accessible prices. It has now grown to three branches and has a loyal following for its ‘all-in’ chops, its fabled Sunday lunch, its £5 cocktails and its cheesecake. The white chocolate pudding is Gordon’s grandma’s recipe and uses all the ingredients you’d get at home. He says “It’s unpretentious and all about substance over style - made it in big serving trays to be dolloped out at the table with a “say when” approach to portion control, just like mum does at home.”
Issue 20 | Autumn 2019 | codehospitality.co.uk
Makes enough for 10 100g 275g 500ml 260g 250g 150g
crème fraiche Philadelphia cream cheese double cream white chocolate buttons McVities digestive biscuits unsalted butter
White chocolate bar, grated into large curls
Method 1. In a mixing bowl, beat the cream cheeses together until soft. In a second mixing bowl, semi whip the double cream and then melt the chocolate over a bain-marie until blood temperature (37*). Fold the chocolate into the cream cheese mix, and then fold in the semi whipped cream. 2. Melt the unsalted butter in a pan. crush the biscuits by bashing them in a bag with a rolling pin, being careful to keep the pieces of biscuit reasonable large and then stir them into the butter until coated all over.
3. Assemble the cheesecake by spreading the biscuit base into the bottom of a serving dish, then add the cheesecake mix topped with white chocolate shavings. 4. Leave to set in the fridge overnight. Blacklock Soho: 24 Great Windmill Street, Soho, London, W1; City: 13 Philpot Lane, London, EC3; Shoreditch: 28-30 Rivington Street, Hackney, London, EC2 theblacklock.com
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Albert’s Schenke
Lyaness
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