Marylebone Journal issue 94

MARYLEBONE JOURNAL

P.2 SUPPER CLUBS, FOOD TOURS AND SPECIAL MENUS: FOOD FESTIVAL HIGHLIGHTS P.14 LAUNCH DINNER HOST JAY RAYNER ON THE STATE OF BRITAIN’S RESTAURANTS AND THE ART OF REVIEWING P.34 BEN TISH OF CUBITT HOUSE ON THE FOOD OF SPAIN AND SOUTHERN ITALY AND THE MYSTERIES OF HIS GRANDMA’S COOKING

ISSUE NO.94 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE AND THE PORTMAN ESTATE

MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL EDITION

HOPE MONTESSORI SCHOOL Admin@HopeMontessoriSchool.com +44 (0) 7919 84 48 53 HopeMontessoriSchool.com

MARYLEBONE JOURNAL ISSUE NO.94 BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE HOWARD DE WALDEN ESTATE AND THE PORTMAN ESTATE Cover: Jay Rayner, by Joe Magowan

Marylebone Village marylebonevillage.com Instagram: @marylebonevillage Twitter: @MaryleboneVllge

MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL

Highlights

2 A CLOSER LOOK

Portman Marylebone portmanmarylebone.com Instagram: @portmanmarylebone

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

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Marylebone Journal marylebonejournal.com

Publisher LSC Publishing lscpublishing.com Editor Mark Riddaway mark@lscpublishing.com Advertising sales Donna Earrey 020 7401 2772 donna@lscpublishing.com Contributers Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Ellie Costigan Clare Finney Orlando Gili Christopher L Proctor Viel Richardson Design and art direction Em-Project Limited mike@em-project.com Owned and supported by The Howard de Walden Estate 23 Queen Anne Street, W1G 9DL 020 7580 3163 hdwe.co.uk annette.shiel@hdwe.co.uk The Portman Estate 40 Portman Square, W1H 6LT 020 7563 1400 portmanestate.co.uk kate.jonsson@portmanestate.co.uk

Events, exhibitions, film, music, shopping, talks, theatre and walks

IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

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The festival launch dinner host on the state of Britain’s restaurants and the art of reviewing

FAMILY MATTERS

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Marylebone’s restaurateurs about the pleasures and pressures of working with husbands, wives and siblings

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

Siobhan Lanigan, CEO of The Food Chain charity

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Food, style, home, wellbeing and healthcare

Q&A: BEN TISH

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Q&A: ESHITA KABRA-DAVIES

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ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

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MY PERFECT DAY

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The chef director of Cubitt House on the food of Spain and southern Italy and the importance of being able to go for a pint in a pub

The founder of By Rotation on the rapid rise of her clothes-lending app and the evolution of a community

Jay Patel, founder of The Japanese Home, on an elegant and highly functional piece of cast iron cookware

Food tour guide Celia Brooks describes her perfect Marylebone day

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MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL

26 APRIL-1 MAY MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL

The Marylebone Food Festival makes a welcome return after a two-year hiatus. Organised and funded by The Portman Estate and The Howard de Walden Estate, the festival is raising money for The Food Chain charity, which provides meals, groceries, food education and communal eating opportunities for people in London living with HIV. Over six busy days and nights, dozens of Marylebone’s restaurants, pubs, bars, cafes and food shops will be hosting events or providing special menus, dishes or drinks. Visit the website for up-to-date listings.

26 APRIL LAUNCH DINNER

As is now tradition, the Marylebone Food Festival kicks off with a communal feast for 120 people in the spectacular setting of a Grade I listed church. Each of the seven courses is being prepared by a different Marylebone restaurant or retailer – 28-50, Delamina, Cubitt House, Trishna, Lina Stores, Lurra, Fischer’s and La Fromagerie – and served with a wine match.

Pre-dinner drinks are being provided by The Portman pub. Jay Rayner, one of the country’s top food writers and broadcasters, is on hosting duty. He’s also providing the music: his jazz quartet will be playing a suitable selection of cocktail jazz, with Jay on piano. Every penny spent on tickets for the event is going to The Food Chain charity.

See p.14 for an interview with Jay Rayner, and p.29 for insights into the important work of The Food Chain.

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THESE ARE JUST A FEW HIGHLIGHTS. FOR FULL LINEUPS, VISIT:

27 APRIL, 7pm SHANGHAI SUPPER CLUB The Royal Oak 74-76 York Street, W1H 1QN

marylebonefoodfestival.com Tickets marylebone-food-festival. designmynight.com

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Lillian Luk has been hosting a supper club in her Marylebone home since 2014, sharing the food of her Shanghainese heritage. For the Food Festival, she transposes that communal dining experience to The Royal Oak pub. For £75 per head, expect a generous sequence of flavour-packed dishes, such as pork belly with eggs and sea bream with crispy green onions.

MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL

1. Shanghai Supper Club, The Royal Oak 2. Marylebone Food Festival Launch Dinner 3. Wellbeing & Sustainability Supper Club, Home Marylebone 4. S ea bass ravioli, Caldesi in Marylebone 5. Celia Brooks

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1 MAY, 1.30pm, 2pm, 2.30pm TXAKOLI FESTIVAL Lurra 9 Seymour Place, W1H 5BA As is now traditional, Lurra marks the last day of the Food Festival with a highly enjoyable afternoon of Basque-style partying. For £60 per head, enjoy three delicious courses of sharing plates, including hake pil-pil with clams and Basque cheesecake. The food is accompanied by flowing txakoli wine and soundtracked by live music.

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30 APRIL, 7pm PAINTING & PIZZA WITH THE ITALIAN GREYHOUND The Italian Greyhound 62 Seymour Street, W1H 5BN After releasing the creative juices with a bellini, this entertaining evening starts with a two-hour step-by-step painting workshop from the Brush & Bubbles art school, followed by either a pizza or a pasta dish to refuel from the artmaking exertions. Tickets cost £60 – and you get to take your canvas home afterwards.

27 APRIL, 6pm & 8.30pm JUNSEI SUPPER CLUB OMAKASE Junsei 132 Seymour Place, W1H 1NS For this communal nine-course meal, chef Aman Lakhiani serves up chicken and vegetable yakitori skewers, followed by seasonal dishes of sliced hamachi crudo and tempura sea bream with rice, and a dessert to finish. Tickets cost £50 – for £20 supplement, attendees can add a Japanese Wagyu skewer course.

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26 APRIL – 1 MAY PASTA & WINE Caldesi in Marylebone 118 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2QF For the duration of the festival, Caldesi in Marylebone, which this year celebrates its 20th birthday, is offering three of its best-loved pasta dishes (seabass-stuffed ravioli in lemon butter, Tuscan lasagne, and linguine Caldesi with burrata or prawns), each matched with a glass of wine from its region of origin, all for just £20.

28 APRIL, 3pm & 1 MAY, 10.30am CELIA BROOKS: TASTING TOURS For these two tours, Celia Brooks leads guests around some of her favourite haunts.

The Thursday tour takes in hidden delis and cafés, as well as a knife shop, cheese room, chocolate emporium and champagne cellar. On the Sunday, the tour includes the farmer’s market and culminates in a picnic. All food and drink consumed along the way is included in the £40 price.

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1 MAY, 7pm WELLBEING & SUSTAINABILITY SUPPER CLUB Home Marylebone 79 Marylebone High Street, W1U 5JZ Food that’s good for the body, good for the soul and good for the planet is the theme of this Sunday evening supper club.

For £50 per head, three healthy, sustainably produced courses will be paired with organic wines supplied by Bibendum. Home Marylebone’s resident DJ will play guests into the night.

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE EVENTS EXHIBITIONS FILM MUSIC SHOPPING TALKS THEATRE WALKS

THEATRE 23 – 24 APRIL CHRISTIE DONE IT The Cockpit Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH thecockpit.org.uk

ONLINE TALK 28 APRIL, 12pm IMPROVE: MASTER YOUR TIME Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk

Toby Ingram’s musical explores the murder in 1949 of Beryl Evans and her baby Geraldine.

Her violent, deceitful husband Timothy is executed for the killings, yet just three years later, John Christie is convicted of murdering several women in the same building. Where does the truth lie?

Having a better relationship with time means less stress, reduced anxiety and increased productivity. This online talk, organised by the Baker Street Quarter Partnership, will address how to make extra time in your day, improve your relationship with tech and devices, and feel more in control.

TALK 25 APRIL, 7pm BEN RAWLENCE & JOANNA POCOCK Daunt Books 83 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW dauntbooks.co.uk Ben Rawlence’s The Treeline explores how for the past 50 years trees have been creeping towards the North Pole, a symptom of climate change that carries vast significance. He talks with Joanna Pocock, whose book Surrender also depicts climate disruption.

TALK

Tessa Hadley and Meg Mason are two of Britain’s finest contemporary authors. With wit, warmth and compassion, they both lay bare their characters’ inner worlds; their fears, frustrations and desires. They come together at Daunt to talk about their new books, Free Love and Sorrow and Bliss.

3 MAY, 7pm TESSA HADLEY & MEG MASON Daunt Books 83 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4QW dauntbooks.co.uk 1.

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

MUSIC 2 MAY, 2pm JULIAN BLISS SEPTET: CELEBRATING GERSHWIN Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Celebrating Gershwin tells the story of the life and times of the 20th century’s master songwriter, featuring original arrangements of his iconic tunes, from Summertime to Fascinating Rhythm, interspersed with works by some of his contemporaries.

FILM 5 MAY, 7.30pm WAKE UP PUNK Regent Street Cinema 307 Regent Street, W1B 2HW regentstreetcinema.com

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Join Dame Vivienne Westwood and special guests for a gala showing of Nigel Askew’s suitably brash and inventive new documentary film, Wake Up Punk, which captures the iconic fashion designer’s thoughts on the punk movement of the late 1970s and subsequent waves of youthful activism.

1. Christie Done It, The Cockpit 2. Tessa Hadley, Daunt Books 3. Ayanna WitterJohnson, Wigmore Hall 4. Wake Up Punk, Regent Street Cinema

MUSIC 5 MAY, 7.30pm AYANNA WITTER-JOHNSON Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Multi-talented singer, cellist, pianist and composer Ayanna Witter-Johnson presents a programme of her classical works, which seamlessly incorporate influences from jazz, reggae, soul and R&B, performed by a variety of friends and guests including Andrea Baker and Nitin Sawhney.

P.48→

Leonora Swanepoel, cofounder of Evoke London, on the appeal of handmade objects, the importance of telling stories, and the pleasures and complexities of meeting makers in Africa and India

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

WALK 25 MAY, 6pm GUIDED WALKING TOUR: THE BEATLES IN MARYLEBONE Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk Starting at 55 Baker Street, Mark Conroy leads a gentle stroll that highlights the importance of Marylebone to the history of The Beatles, including the flat where three of the fab four lived and were inspired to write some of their best-known songs.

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EXHIBITION

A dual exhibition merging the worlds of painter Ben Lowe and sculptor Gus Farnes, featuring Lowe’s emotive, ethereal paintings and Farnes’ complex bronze figures.

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MUSIC 11 MAY, 7.30pm DANISH STRING QUARTET Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk Danish String Quartet, an ensemble that wears its musical integrity and seriousness lightly, presents a new work by the contemporary Finnish composer born Lotta Wennäkoski, sandwiched between – and responding to – two versions of Schubert’s famous Death and the Maiden.

WELLBEING 18 MAY, 12.30pm REFLECT: 30-MINUTE MINDFUL MEDITATION Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk

4 – 21 MAY BEN LOWE & GUS FARNES Thompson’s Gallery 3 Seymour Place, W1H 5AZ thompsonsgallery.co.uk

Squeeze a slice of calm into your day with an online lunchtime session of purely practical guided meditations designed to rejuvenate the body and refocus the mind, organised

by The Baker Street Quarter Partnership and led by The Wellbeing People.

EXHIBITION UNTIL 16 MAY ASAKO SHIROKI: THE WIND BLOWS IN Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation 13-14 Cornwall Terrace, NW1 4QP dajf.org.uk Working mainly in wood, Japanese artist Asako Shiroki displays an acute sensibility for materials and an awareness of the constant tension between nature and human dwelling.

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

1. Danish String Quartet, Wigmore Hall 2. Your Window is My Mirror by Asako Shiroki, Daiwa AngloJapanese Foundation 3. Don’t Know When

by Ben Lowe, Thompson’s Gallery 4. Royal Connections in Marylebone, Baker Street Quarter Partnership

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WALK 2 JUNE, 1pm GUIDED WALKING TOUR: ROYAL CONNECTIONS IN MARYLEBONE Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk To celebrate the Queen’s platinum jubilee, Mark Conroy leads an hour-long tour that explores the rich history of Marylebone and its deep, centuries-old connections with the British royal family. The walk begins at 55 Baker Street.

MUSIC 2 JUNE, 7.30pm JESS GILLAM ENSEMBLE Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk

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Saxophonist Jess Gillam is joined by a small ensemble of musicians from a wide range of musical backgrounds to present a blend of new pieces written for the group and established works, including music by Will Gregory, Piazzolla, Meredith Monk, Kurt Weill, Björk, Luke Howard and Joby Talbot.

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

MUSIC 6 JUNE, 7.30pm SOLOMON’S KNOT Wigmore Hall 36 Wigmore Street, W1U 2BP wigmore-hall.org.uk

1. Solomon’s Knot, Wigmore Hall 2. Food Market at 55 Baker Street 3. Divers, Swimwear

by AJ Izod (1930) by George HoyningenHuene, Atlas Gallery

EXHIBITION

An all-Bach programme from the Solomon’s Knot collective – though not all by Johann Sebastian. A group of motets from the most famous member of the ludicrously gifted Bach family is interspersed with others from the small surviving body of work by his distant cousin, Johann Christoph Bach.

THEATRE 9 – 10 JUNE BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS The Cockpit Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH thecockpit.org.uk

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FOOD

The Baker Street Quarter’s fortnightly food market in the covered atrium of 55 Baker Street gathers together a small but diverse range of independent street-food stalls, offering a mouthwatering alternative to the usual workday lunch.

28 April, 12pm 12 May, 12pm 26 May, 12pm FOOD MARKET AT 55 BAKER STREET Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk

Blood on Your Hands, written

by Grace Joy Howarth and directed by Anastasia Bunce, explores themes of toxic masculinity, mental health, animal cruelty, xenophobia and classism through the lives of two slaughterhouse workers: Ukrainian vet Kazimir, and prospectless English lad Dan. MUSIC 10 JUNE, 7pm CELEBRATING THEODORAKIS The Hellenic Centre 16-18 Paddington Street, W1U 5AS helleniccentre.org Plastikes Karekles and friends pay tribute to Mikis Theodorakis, one of Greece’s greatest modern composers, who died last year. The programme includes a performance of his Epitaphios song cycle and an English recitation of the Yiannis Ritsos poem that inspired it.

THEATRE 11 – 12 JUNE “I’M JUST A LITTLE BIT OCD” The Cockpit Gateforth Street, NW8 8EH thecockpit.org.uk

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This new play presents the perspectives of two sisters, Tilly and Grace, as they come to terms with Tilly’s OCD and the disturbing, intrusive thoughts that accompany it. Their story is punctuated with comedic but brutally truthful monologues performed by Matilda, a podcaster and OCD advocate.

Born in Russia but forced to flee by the 1917 revolution, George HoyningenHuene went on to become one of the leading fashion and celebrity photographers of the 1920s and thirties, first at French Vogue, then at Harper’s Bazaar in New York. His elegant, pareddown style, which included elements of modernism, neoclassicism and surrealism, proved hugely influential.

This exhibition, the first UK solo show of his work in more than 40 years, includes some photgraphs that are being shown in public for the very first time.

28 April – 18 June ALLURE: PLATINUM PRINTS BY GEORGE HOYNINGEN-HUENE Atlas Gallery 49 Dorset Street, W1U 7NF atlasgallery.com

HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

FESTIVAL

The Marylebone Summer Festival is back. Funded and organised by The Howard de Walden Estate, this longestablished highlight of the local calendar follows a familiar pattern: an al fresco film performance in Paddington Street Gardens on Saturday 18th June, followed by a street party on the Sunday, complete with food and craft stalls, a farmers’ market, live music, dance, a festival bar and children’s entertainments.

One notable new addition is a community dog show, hosted by Mr & Mrs Smalls.

There are special offers and events to be found at many of the local retailers and restaurants throughout the weekend. All money raised from the festival goes to the Greenhouse Sports charity.

18 – 19 JUNE MARYLEBONE SUMMER FESTIVAL marylebonevillage.com

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HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

1. Marylebone Summer Festival 2. Nas quebradas

by Hélio Oiticica, Lisson Gallery 3. Portman Square Garden

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TALK 16 JUNE, 7pm JOHN CRAXTON: A GREEK SOUL The Hellenic Centre 16-18 Paddington Street, W1U 5AS helleniccentre.org Ian Collins talks about the remarkable life of the 20th century English painter John Craxton, who spent much of his career living and working in Greece. The talk includes a virtual tour of an exhibition at the Benaki Museum in Athens, marking the centenary his birth.

EXHIBITION 27 APRIL – 25 JUNE HÉLIO OITICICA Lisson Gallery 27 Bell Street, NW1 5BY lissongallery.com Curated by Ann Gallagher, this exhibition of works by Hélio Oiticica, one of the most innovative Brazilian artists of the 20th century, includes early painted compositions, threedimensional pieces, film and an intense, multi-sensorial, interactive installation, Nas quebradas (1979).

EXHIBITION 27 April – 25 June RODNEY GRAHAM Lisson Gallery 67 Lisson Street, NW1 5DA lissongallery.com For his 13th show at the Lisson Gallery, Rodney Graham, best known for his conceptual practice as a photographer and installation artist, turns to a self-reflexive mode of painting, re-incorporating or stitching together motifs from his past works to create a harmonic, graphic outcome.

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EVENT

Throughout the summer, Portman Square Garden is being opened up for a series of events that offer the opportunity to spend time in one of the area’s most beautiful settings, enjoy a drink from an outdoor bar, pick up a picnic or a hot lunch from a collection of street food vendors and book a workshop or wellbeing activity.

22 June, 12-8pm 5 – 10 July, 12-8pm 17 August, 12-8pm 6 September, 12-8pm SUMMER IN THE SQUARE Baker Street Quarter Partnership bakerstreetq.co.uk

THE COMMITMENTS HAPPENINGS IN MARYLEBONE

1. Lizzie Ball, Marylebone Music Festival 2. T ower vase with cover, Sevres Manufactory (c.1762), The Wallace Collection

FESTIVAL 23 – 26 JUNE MARYLEBONE MUSIC FESTIVAL marylebonemusicfestival.com The Marylebone Music Festival returns with a four-day programme of performances in Manchester Square Gardens.

Highlights include an outing for violinist and vocalist Lizzie Ball’s Classical Kicks; Sue Perkins conducting Peter and the Wolf; and singers from the Royal Opera House and English National Opera sending their exceptional voices out into the Marylebone air.

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EXHIBITION UNTIL 12 AUGUST MEDICINE AND LITERATURE Royal Society of Medicine Library 1 Wimpole Street, W1G 0AE rsm.ac.uk

EXHIBITION

This new exhibition at the RSM library explores medical themes in the works of writers such as Shakespeare and Shelley, and tells the stories of those who swapped the world of medicine for literature, including Sir Henry Thompson, Michael Crichton and Anton Chekhov.

UNTIL 16 OCTOBER INSPIRING WALT DISNEY: THE ANIMATION OF FRENCH DECORATIVE ARTS The Wallace Collection Manchester Square, W1U 3BN wallacecollection.org

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The Wallace Collection’s latest blockbuster exhibition explores Walt Disney’s personal fascination with France, and how his studio’s illustrators have continued to look to 18th-century French artworks for their source material.

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IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

IN PROFILE

JAY RAYNER The critic, broadcaster and host of this year’s Marylebone Food Festival launch dinner on the state of Britain’s restaurants, the art of reviewing, and why he doesn’t set out to give anyone a kicking Words: Mark Riddaway Portraits: Joe Magowan Jay Rayner Quartet image: Pal Hansen

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IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

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IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

“The responsibility does weigh on me. If I write a negative review, I have to be absolutely certain that it’s proportionate, that the recipient deserves it, and that I’m not piling in on a small business that’s already failing.”

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IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

Things, as the past couple of years have tried their hardest to remind us, change.

Back in early 2020, as Jay Rayner prepared to host that year’s Marylebone Food Festival gala launch dinner, he joined me for an upbeat interview, the main themes of which were the thrust and vibrancy of British restaurants and the joys of working as a critic in such a buoyant sector. The festival didn’t happen, for reasons that hardly need parsing.

Lots of other things didn’t happen either. Today, when we meet again to discuss the festival’s belated and very welcome return, the tenor of the conversation is a little different.

“Before the pandemic hit, I think it’s fair to say that the restaurant sector was booming,” says Jay. “There were new openings happening all the time – at the top end and the middle and at the bottom – and there seemed to be a customer base for them all.” Covid quickly deadened that boom. Many restaurants, including some that were meant to feature at that 2020 dinner, have sunk without trace. Others are struggling. “What we hadn’t quite clocked was just how precarious a business model the restaurant industry is,” he reflects. “Most of them are not cash rich; they have no real reserves. They’re conveyor belts. They need money in at one end from the customer so they can pay their suppliers at the other. The moment Covid hit, they were in serious trouble.”

That trouble was intensified by the multi-course menu of horrors served up by Britain’s departure from the EU. Covid shocked the sector, “but the underlying systemic issue is Brexit,” says Jay. “Food prices are rising because of Brexit, there’s a labour shortage because of Brexit. It’s as simple as that. As an act of self-sabotage, it takes some beating.”

So, here we are, two years into a crisis, planning for a festival that, while still celebratory in tone, is also a welcome opportunity to offer our support, both moral and monetary, to a sector whose vulnerabilities have been horribly exposed. After taking them for granted for so long, we know now that restaurants and their talented, masochistically dedicated workers need us as much as we need them. If they fail to prosper, we all lose.

Jay is an impassioned advocate for those who spend their days and nights making our dinner. His public image is that of a critic who relishes being critical, who loves nothing more than the dispensing of a good, hard shoeing, but for Jay reviewing restaurants is an act of love, not sport. It was in that spirit that, in July 2020, as restaurants limped back after lockdown, he decided to turn his Observer column into a beacon of positivity. “My thought was, read the room.

I quickly reached the conclusion that our readers didn’t want to read shit-baggings. They didn’t want to see very negative reviews of restaurants because, god knows, even the terrible places were on their knees. A moratorium on those really negative reviews seemed like a reasonable approach, at

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least for the time being.” For over a year, if his experience at a restaurant wasn’t good, he paid the bill himself (“The paper reimburses my expenses for a restaurant I review, not for ones I don’t, which seems fair enough”) and went looking for something sunnier to write about.

This long ceasefire (which was eventually broken by an excoriation of the “gross insult to good taste, manners and commercial decency” presented by the Polo Lounge at the Dorchester) was no empty gesture: while national newspapers battle to maintain readers and relevance, the restaurant critics they employ are – thanks to the reach of social media and the recent explosion of interest in food – as significant today as they’ve ever been, able to influence with a turn of the imperial thumb whether a restaurant, and the career of its chef, might thrive or die.

Jay’s embrace of positivity wasn’t, though, as much of a u-turn as some might presume. While on occasion his reviews do end up with blood on their knuckles, his fearsome reputation is probably less a reflection of his written output than of his willingness to ham it up on telly (plus his possession of what Charles Dickens called a “speaking countenance” and the internet might call “resting bitch face”: “Sometimes I look grumpy, but I’m actually just thinking,” he says, mournfully. “I can’t do anything about that.”) In person and in his writing – which is warm, funny and beautifully crafted – he is nothing like as grumpy as that scowling visage would suggest.

“In a normal year, fewer than a fifth of my reviews in any one year are negative,” Jay confirms. He knows full well the transformative effect that a few hundred words of positive prose can have – “I remember one restaurateur sent me the bookings log from the day my review came out, and they had received 980 bookings. Christ, if only I was corrupt!” – and he understands that a negative review can have a profound impact on people’s lives and jobs.

“The responsibility does weigh on me,” he says. “If I write a negative review, I have to be absolutely certain that it’s proportionate, that the recipient deserves it, and that I’m not piling in on a small business that’s already failing.”

Being a mere hatchet man would be all too easy: the negative reviews get more hits, more comments, more shares. But despite Jay’s understanding of his function (“My job is not to sell restaurants, it’s to sell newspapers”), he refuses to feed that bloodlust by deliberately searching out awful restaurants. “If I stumble across a bad experience, I know the readers will enjoy it, but I don’t ever go looking to have a terrible meal,” he insists. “I’ve done two collections of my most negative reviews and a live show based on them, so I’m absolutely aware of the marketability of being brutal, but I’m still committed to the idea that you have to be very careful not to go seeking it out.” He wants to eat great food and have a lovely old time, but if the greed >

IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

or complacency of his hosts forces him to throw some red meat to the ravening hordes, so be it.

To ensure that the restaurant he’s reviewing knows nothing of his intentions until he’s standing in front of a stunned-looking maitre d’, Jay books under a pseudonym. “I used to use the name of a fictional restaurant critic I created for a novel, because I liked the idea of him emerging into the real world, but now I tend to book under the name of whoever my companion is.”

Once he passes through a restaurant’s doors, Jay’s complete inability to be inconspicuous – big man, big hair, big presence – is not, he insists, a threat to the authenticity of his experience. “All restaurants are about prep,” he explains.

“They can’t change their recipes, they can’t change their ingredients, they can’t change their staff. What can they do to make my experience spectacularly different and better than anyone else’s? They can avoid pouring the soup down my back, but that’s about it.”

If a panicked manager, upon spotting that unmistakable mien, tries to usher him away from his original table to one that isn’t too small or right outside the loo, he refuses to move. He keeps a close eye on other patrons, too. “I’ve had experiences – in really crap restaurants, it has to be said – where the table next to me is sitting before I arrive, is ordering before I’ve sat down, and then I get served before them. That really doesn’t help.”

Likewise, unsolicited freebies are sent back to the kitchen, and the bill is scrutinised for any chicanery. “The classic

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The three members of the Jay Rayner Quartet who aren’t Jay Rayner: Dave Lewis, Pat GordonSmith and Robert Rickenberg

one is where they leave things off the bill to make it look smaller. Most people send the bill back because things have been wrongly added; my problem is the opposite.”

These things matter: Jay is not just a food critic, he’s an everything critic, the pleasure and pain of eating out being about so much more than the texture of the celeriac mash.

His roots are in journalism, not in food (“I was an oldschool reporter, I would cover murders and all sorts. I just happened to be greedy”), so if the food isn’t interesting, he’ll

IN PROFILE: JAY RAYNER

try to sniff out something that is. It’s for that reason that he doesn’t give star ratings. “The vast majority would be three out of five, and people would look at that and think, I can’t be bothered to read it. They’d only read the ones and the fives. I want you to read my essay on what that restaurant is, not just stop at the star rating.” Places that aren’t either entertainingly brilliant or entertainingly bad – which is most restaurants – demand a bit of thought to keep the reader engaged. “I have moments where I worry what I’m going to write 1,100 words on, but like any journalism you just have to look for the story, and there’s always one there.”

Hard though it may be to think of new angles after writing more than 1,000 reviews, he’s not even close to giving up. Jay’s mother, Claire Rayner, was a famous newspaper journalist too – an agony aunt at the Sun, the Sunday Mirror and the short-lived Today – and her writing opened up other opportunities as a broadcaster and speaker, just as Jay’s has done. “Ma knew that if she ever gave up on the problem page, everything else that surrounded it would fall away,” he says. “And it did. When she’d finally had enough of Rupert Murdoch and David Montgomery at Today, and stopped, everything else she did drifted away.” He won’t let that happen to him. “It’s a very lovely job, and although it isn’t a massive part of my income now, it’s a very important part of my working life. They’ll have to prise my cold dead fingers off the table.” Following his mother’s advice, he even tries to avoid having anyone deputise in his slot – you’ll rarely see a guest column in the Observer that states: “Jay Rayner is away.” Instead, he just stacks up enough copy to cover his absences.

Continuing until his dying breath won’t be a chore, though. “I’m still engaged, I still love restaurants, I still love pushing through that door at the start of the evening,” he says, and all around the country (which he explores more widely than most critics, thanks in part to the roving itinerary of Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet, which he hosts) there is inspiring food to be found: “Generally, in every town you can find somewhere good and interesting.”

There are even some positive new developments to cling to in the wake of Covid, despite the carnage.

Foremost among these are the conversations now taking place between owners and their staff. “During the lockdowns, a lot of people re-evaluated their life choices and decided that working in a restaurant industry for lousy wages, while they enjoyed being part of it, maybe wasn’t the best way for them to spend their lives. That has forced an acknowledgement that pay matters, worklife balance matters and how staff are treated matters,” Jay explains. “In a market with a labour shortage, employers can’t be monsters. There has been an upsurge in people throughout the industry saying: ‘We’re not going to take

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abusive workplaces anymore.’ I think that is absolutely a positive. It’s only our tea. Nobody should have to put up with a terrible work experience just to make dinner for me.”

The nation’s sudden immersion in the pleasures of outdoor eating is another welcome change. “I think it should happen all the time,” says Jay. “The idea of streets being shut off and becoming a place where you sit and eat is fantastic.” So too is the increased availability of affordable commercial units, which offer a foot in the door for accomplished, ambitious, youthful chefs who want to strike out on their own instead of navigating the oppressive hierarchies of the high-end restaurant world.

For the most part, it is in London’s outer areas that these seeds of renewal have been planted, while central locations have been hollowed out. Marylebone though – as this issue of the Journal makes clear – has avoided any ghost-town vibes, partly due to its unusually large and settled residential community. “It’s a really intriguing part of London, because it functions as a neighbourhood,” says Jay. “It’s a wealthy neighbourhood, for sure, but its restaurants have to be both destinations and real neighbourhood restaurants if they’re going to succeed.

Understanding that is why Ravinder has done so well.”

The Ravinder in question is Ravinder Bhogal, owner of Jikoni and a “very good mate” of Jay’s. “Ravinder and I have known each other for about 12 years. She was a presenter on a terrible Channel 4 food show I was working on, which had the awful title Food: What Goes In Your Basket? It did have a colon, mercifully, but it still sounds like a grammatical error when spoken aloud. She always said back then that she wanted to get into restaurants. I said to her: ‘If you want to get into restaurants, you have to do it properly.’ And she did. It was amazing – she put up with utter shit, working her way round some tough kitchens before opening Jikoni.”

It was through Jay’s friendship with Ravinder and their shared patronage of The Food Chain charity that he was convinced to appear as the Food Festival dinner’s host.

He’s also doing the music: noodling away on the piano with his impressive jazz band, The Jay Rayner Quartet. “It’ll be cocktail jazz, which I don’t get to do enough of. You don’t have a set list, you keep calling tunes, you muck about with each other, and ideas come out.”

“Let’s be clear,” he concludes: “this is a brilliantly bourgeois event in a brilliantly bourgeois corner of London, supporting restaurants and raising a fair wedge of cash for a charity that really needs it.” Great food, live music, enthusiastic chefs, a charismatic host, and a good cause. Things change, as we all now know, but the appeal of that particular combination isn’t one of them.

MARYLEBONE FOOD FESTIVAL marylebonefoodfestival.com

FAMILY MATTERS

“When my father died, I would bring food home to my brother and mother, and cook for them – and while we ate, they’d be happy amid all the sadness they felt.”

Santiago Lastra, KOL

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THE GLAD HATTER

FAMILY MATTERS FAMILY MATTERS

The restaurant sector is one part of the economy where the concept of the family business continues to thrive, creating a welcome sense of warmth and intimacy.

The Journal talks to four prominent restaurateurs about the pleasures and pressures of working with husbands, wives and siblings Interviews: Clare Finney Images: HDG Photography, Nyla Sammons, Orlando Gili

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FAMILY MATTERS

LIMOR CHEN Limor is co-owner of the Tel Aviv-inspired restaurant Delamina, together with her husband Amir Amir and I discuss everything related to the business, and although we divide our day-to-day roles we make all important decisions together. My main area of responsibility is the food, while Amir focuses on operational matters, HR and finance. He always says the food is the most important part; no matter how brilliant the service and atmosphere are, if the food isn’t great, guests won’t come back.

I designed the menu at Delamina to reflect the way I cook at home. It celebrates the core ingredients of my heritage, with a focus on good nutrition. I use very little butter or cream in my cooking and rarely fry. I try to remain as true as possible to the cooking methods I was brought up with.

Growing up in Tel Aviv was a culinary inspiration in itself. Israel is a young country made up of immigrants from across the world, with each community bringing its own cooking methods, dishes and ingredients. My parents came from completely different culinary backgrounds.

My mum, originally from eastern Europe, was born in a kibbutz, a socialist commune where all meals were taken in the communal dining hall. These were uncomplicated meals comprising of local produce: dairy, poultry and lots of vegetables and fruit. There is a richness to home-grown produce. I still have fond memories of gathering pecans in the kibbutz, cracking them all afternoon with my sisters and enjoying their delicious flavour.

My father, who emigrated from Iran as a child, introduced another dimension to my mother’s cooking by introducing her to the spices and herbs of his childhood.

He loved cooking and had a real flare for it, and I think that’s what filtered through to me. His dishes were so fragrant, with lots of herbs – coriander, parsley, dill and mint – and more exotic ingredients such as barberries and dried lime. In fact, one of the dishes at Delamina, the beef koftas, was inspired by my dad’s famous barbecues. He never followed a recipe, so I had to remake it several times before it was ready for the chefs to prepare.

I learnt from my dad how to combine sweet with sour, use dried fruit, work with lots of herbs and spices, and not be afraid to experiment and use my intuition.

Amir’s maternal grandmother was a great cook. She emigrated to Israel from Bulgaria and made amazing Balkan and Mediterranean dishes.

Limor Chen (right), with her husband Amir

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I particularly loved her stuffed peppers; she used to make a whole tray of these, freeze them and then Amir would take them in his suitcase back to London when he was at university, it was that good! I wanted to make her dish at the restaurant but it’s far too labour intensive.

Our children are an integral part of our food journey and have a lot of input into the dishes I make at home and in the restaurants. Our son is a big foodie – a natural in the kitchen. Our daughter has more of a sweet tooth; she bakes a lot and we have so much fun experimenting with desserts. The family is usually my first port of call when I’m thinking about new dishes for the restaurant.

We’ll have a big dinner where I’ll lay out the food I’m trialling, and the whole family will give me feedback.

It’s a great sanity check before talking to the chefs.

Working together as a married couple has its challenges. Amir can be relentless; he could talk about the business 24/7. We have to make a conscious effort to disconnect from the restaurants, but somehow there’s always something relevant to discuss. We’re also available to the chefs and managers at all times, including holidays, so it can get quite intense. It’s very important not to project relationship issues into the business and I do think we’re quite good at that.

There are also many positives. It’s comforting to know that your partner’s business objectives are exactly aligned with yours. We have different personality strengths and can connect with each member of our team in a different way, or deal with personal situations more holistically. And since working in hospitality is so all-consuming, we’re probably better off doing it in partnership than being in separate businesses!

DELAMINA 56-58 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2NX delaminakitchen.co.uk

FAMILY MATTERS

“I learnt from my dad how to combine sweet with sour, work with dried fruit, herbs and spices, and not be afraid to experiment and use my intuition.”

Limor Chen

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FAMILY MATTERS

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FAMILY MATTERS

“As a family, because we know we’ll be seeing each other tomorrow, this weekend, or at Christmas, we can’t let disagreements linger.”

Karan Gokani, Hoppers

Karan Gokani (right) and his wife Sunaina

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FAMILY MATTERS

“There are ups and downs, as there will be with anyone – but we’ve managed to balance business and family.”

Melody Adams, Lurra

SANTIAGO LASTRA Santiago is chef-patron of Marylebone’s newly Michelinstarred restaurant KOL. His brother Eduardo, an industrial engineer, moved from Mexico to help him manage the restaurant I always knew I wanted to do something great. I always knew I wanted to be successful. But I didn’t really know what I wanted to do until my dad, grandfather and grandmother passed away within a few months of each other, when I was 15 years old. I was working in an Italian restaurant at the time, and I enjoyed it: cooking, transforming ingredients, sharing them with people I liked. When they died, I would bring food home to my brother and mother, and cook for them – and while we ate, they’d be happy amid all the sadness they felt. It wasn’t a cheque with money. It wasn’t a movie. It was food that was making them happy, and I decided I wanted to do that for everyone.

That feeling I had with my family is key to our success. It is a big part of it, even though the menu isn’t inspired by the food we ate.

The city I’m from isn’t really traditional, in terms of cuisine, so the menu doesn’t have much of a connection to there. It comes more from my travel and research trips. But my brother has been involved in KOL since the beginning and, when I told him what I wanted to do, he came here to help me build the concept from scratch. He’s an industrial engineer, and he had a really good job, but he left it two years ago to help me create the concept.

He’s made sure that everything – from the layout to the orientation, to the logistics, to the overall management of the project – is set up and runs smoothly. He helps me with kitchen management to reduce waste and ensure the restaurant is working as sustainably as possible. He makes sure that my ideas are focused and run in the right direction – for KOL and for my other projects. He is a very, very good person to have around.

KOL 9 Seymour Street, W1H 7BA kolrestaurant.com

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FAMILY MATTERS

KARAN GOKANI Karan is director of the Hoppers restaurants. He is married to Sunaina Sethi, who together with her brothers Karam and Jyotin founded JKS Restaurants, the group that includes Hoppers and Trishna

MELODY ADAMS Together with her partner Nemanja Borjanovic, Melody is the co-owner of Lurra and Donostia. Her brother Charlie has worked with her for almost 10 years and is now the head chef of Lurra

The downsides of working with family are obvious: work never really ends, there is nowhere to hide. We’re talking about it all the time, both inside and outside the office.

The upsides are far, far greater: yes, you’re talking about it all the time, but you’re thinking about it all the time too. You care about it constantly, and because the hours are antisocial your friends end up being people who are in the industry with you; people who you either work with or meet through work.

As a family, because we know we’ll be seeing each other tomorrow, this weekend, or at Christmas, we can’t let disagreements linger – and we’re professional, when it comes to work. One minute we’ll be talking about the kids’ parties, schools, home; the next minute we’re working in a very professional manner. If we’re visiting each other’s restaurants with our own friends, we don’t play the JKS card. We visit as guests.

That said, because we’re family, that culture extends to our restaurants. We treat the staff we work with as family, whether they’re family or not. We’re interested, and we always talk about them and think about them and how they’re doing. I think that makes for a good culture in the kitchen, and in the restaurant too. Hoppers is very much influenced by the best meals I’ve had with my family and friends, where the sharing, the experience and the people are more important than the food. The food is important – that it should be great is a given – but what you remember more, years on, is everything around it: the warmth, the camaraderie, the atmosphere. That’s what we want to bring to the table. That’s how we grew up eating.

At the same time that my partner Nemanja and I were looking to open a restaurant in Marylebone, my younger brother Charlie was training to be a chef, up in the Orkney Isles where my mum lives. Of course, he was drawn to the bright lights of London, and he’s worked with us ever since Donostia first opened, which will be a decade in June. From there, he worked his way up to being head chef at Lurra, which he became when he was just 25 years old. Charlie and I are 10 years apart, and part of a family of 10 – but he is my closest sibling, through working together and always having a shared passion for food. That’s the thread that runs through our working relationship and our personal relationship. There are ups and downs, as there will be with anyone – but we’ve managed to balance business and family. Charlie and I just get each other, and I know he wants the same things out of the restaurant that I do.

Like Nemanja and I, Charlie has a real vested interest in the family business; in fact, we have that with our wine buyer and general manager as well, even though they’re not family, as they have both worked here with us since the beginning. They feel like family now too, so there’s never been a sense of hierarchy. We don’t have a head office, and we’re really open with all our staff. Nemanja, Charlie and I are here all the time. Above all, that creates a personal touch, and a different kind of loyalty: we don’t have key people leaving every two years, so there’s always been a strong sense of continuity.

Over the years, my relationship with Charlie has changed as well as deepened. It used to involve going out a lot, but now we both have children, we spend time together with our families and our kids. My daughter Isle is six now and comes into the restaurant a lot to potter around. Hopefully when she’s old enough, Charlie’s daughter will come in as well, and they can hang out together – and polish cutlery!

HOPPERS 77 Wigmore Street, W1U 1QE hopperslondon.com

LURRA 9 Seymour Place, W1H 5BA lurra.co.uk DONOSTIA 10 Seymour Place, W1H 7ND donostia.co.uk

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FOR BEAUTIFUL LIVING

8 8 M A R Y L E B O N E H I G H S T R E E T, L O N D O N W 1 W W W. C O L O G N E A N D C OT TO N . C O M

C&C_Marylebone_Ad(3.22).indd 1

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THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS Introducing the people behind Marylebone’s vital charities and community organisations: Siobhan Lanigan, CEO of The Food Chain charity Interview: Jean-Paul Aubin-Parvu Portraits: Orlando Gili

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I’ve been involved with voluntary sector organisations all my working life. I started in a support and training role in the Spitalfields area, helping local people to access employment in the City and the then-developing Canary Wharf. A few years later, I became head of fundraising at London Lighthouse, a centre for people living with HIV and AIDS. It was the 1980s, at the beginning of the HIV pandemic, when we still didn’t really know quite what we were dealing with.

After working for lots of different voluntary sector organisations over the years, I returned to the HIV sector in 2013 as chief executive of The Food Chain. It felt like I’d completed a circle: a return to the sector where I’d had the most meaningful impact, supporting people with a condition that is close to my heart. I’ve known so many people who are living with HIV and many who died as a result of it.

The Food Chain provides access to food, nutrition support and nutrition education for people living with HIV in London at a time of crisis in their lives. Most people living with HIV can lead a long and healthy life, but for the people we support that’s not the case. They have fallen through the net in terms of living well. By the time they get referred to us, our service users don’t really have access to food, they’re hungry and have empty cupboards at home – if they’ve got a home. We step in at that point of crisis to help get them back on their feet, put them in touch with other support services and give them

THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

Siobhan Lanigan, CEO of The Food Chain (right) and service user Peter Bodnar

“People who have been very isolated are suddenly sitting around a table making connections with others in a similar situation.”

Siobhan Lanigan

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THE DIFFERENCE MAKERS

THE SERVICE USER’S STORY even have a cooker – I only had a microwave – the skills and confidence they need Peter Bodnar but the charity very kindly gave me a pressure to get better and stay better. cooker, an electric ring hob and even some Following a conversation with I was diagnosed with HIV back in 1994. Just cooking utensils. They’re very generous. one of our two specialist HIV after that diagnosis my T-cell count dropped I also started coming to the twice-weekly below 200, which meant I had full-blown communal meals. It’s not just a case of dieticians, each service user gets a AIDS. My entire family disowned me and have turn up, stuff your face and go. It’s not that personalised nutrition care plan, never spoken to me since. I remember my kind of place. Before each meal there’s an taking into account their medical sister telling me that I’d never see or hear educational talk on a different aspect related needs, cultural needs and home from my nephews and nieces again – and she to nutrition. These meals also helped to has kept her word.

I’ve never had a Christmas improve my mental health, giving me the setting. We assess their situation and or birthday card from my own family. That left chance to mix with other service users. It work out how we can best get food to me really isolated. It took me two decades to made me happier. Today I can actually talk them. That often means delivering get out of that rut of depression. about my HIV – I’m not ashamed of it anymore groceries. We can usually do up to My health really suffered. Medication – but for 20 years I wouldn’t talk to anyone back then wasn’t very good. It was very because of the stigma. With no family to three deliveries over a period of a few harsh, which meant that I lost a lot of support me, I was basically on my own. weeks, providing them with storeweight and my muscles deteriorated. I was My food regime has completely changed. cupboard items that are going to very gaunt. My weight was extremely low I will not eat processed food at all now. I will last them a while, along with fresh and I wasn’t really eating – I didn’t really only eat what I cook and I love cooking for have a diet.

My medication kept chopping myself. My body’s my temple these days. I food – anything that will help them and changing, and the side effects had have to look after it, because otherwise I’ll have a well-balanced diet. We also repercussions on my health. get back in the same old rut again, and I’m not offer a meal delivery service to those I was in and out of part-time work. I was doing that. I’ve been there, got the t-shirt. who are unable to prepare food for also living in very poor housing, which three Where would I be without The Food Chain? I’d probably be dead. I had themselves, and we run nutrition and years ago put me in hospital with pneumonia from the damp and mould. And that’s what pneumonia and was very thin, so it was a cookery classes that our service users brought me to The Food Chain. The hospital case of either changing that and wanting to can attend to help develop their referred me because I weighed just over 50 live or staying that way and exiting the world. knowledge and skills. kilos. I had to change my diet drastically. The I can’t really thank The Food Chain enough Food Chain taught me how to prepare and for what they’ve done for me. Siobhan and Eating together is another key cook healthy fresh food. For 20 years I had the whole team, they just give. They are the service. For three months, our existed entirely on processed food. I didn’t kindest people I’ve ever met. service users are invited to our kitchen in King’s Cross twice a week for a freshly prepared meal served to them by our Cross. Over time, it will become a community cafe that fabulous volunteers. Bringing people together over will be open to the public, which will help us to generate food is such a socially bonding experience. People who some income to support our charitable work. have been very isolated are suddenly sitting around The reason that The Food Chain still exists after all a table making connections with others in a similar these years, and why it remains so important, is that there situation. It’s as much about the social contact as it is are still many people living with HIV who for complex about the nutrition. reasons don’t have the money to buy food for themselves That was obviously the service most affected by the or their families. And, of course, that has increased Covid pandemic. We had to close the kitchen during the greatly over the last couple of years. The number of first lockdown, then reopened during last summer only referrals is now more than double what it was prior to have to close it down again in December. Somebody to the pandemic, partly because the pandemic threw living with HIV has a compromised immune system a lot of people who were just about managing into a which makes them vulnerable to severe illness, so we had crisis situation. to hold back on reopening that service.

I can plainly see the difference our work can make We have people who’ve been more or less isolating to somebody’s life. I have met people who haven’t eaten in their homes for almost two years. Because we couldn’t anything for several days because they’ve been giving all invite them in for meals, we started doing telephone calls their food to their children. When you’re able to make an just to keep the contact going and prevent them from immediate difference, that same day, that’s what does it feeling completely isolated. More recently, we’ve had for me. And then, of course, everything goes from there. people go and meet them for a cup of tea outdoors near There’s that immediate meeting of the crisis moment and to where they live, so that they don’t have to travel too far. then there’s everything we can do for them thereafter.

It has been a really tough time for the people we support, People’s lives change as a result of that support. That’s and still is. Our whole operation is made possible by what gets me out of bed. There’s no greater reward around 160 really active volunteers who support the work than that. of our small staff team. Some have been involved for THE FOOD CHAIN 20 years or more – longer than me.

Acorn House, 314-320 Gray’s Inn Road, We are very excited to have just moved to a lovely new WC1X 8DP kitchen and cafe, which is next door to our base in King’s foodchain.org.uk 31 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

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A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD » 34 STYLE » 42 HOME » 48 WELLBEING » 52 HEALTHCARE » 54

FOOD » 37

FOOD PHILOSOPHY

Patricia Michelson of La Fromagerie on telling stories and the importance of cheese tasting notes STYLE » 42

Q&A

Eshita Kabra-Davies, founder of By Rotation, on the rapid rise of her clothes-lending app and the evolution of a community HOME » 50

ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

Jay Patel, founder of The Japanese Home, on an elegant, functional piece of cast iron cookware

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A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

Q&A: BEN TISH

The chef director of Cubitt House on the food of Spain and southern Italy, the importance of being able to go for a pint in a pub, and the mysteries of his grandmother’s cooking Interview: Clare Finney

You started your career in Michelinstarred restaurants, spent 11 years working in Salt Yard Group, opened the high-end Sicilian restaurant Norma and oversaw the opening of The Gamebird at The Stafford.

How did this winding path lead you to Cubitt House, the pub group that runs The Grazing Goat and The Coach Makers Arms?

It was the people involved. The executive team are Seb Fogg, Laura Montana and Sam and Georgie Pearman. Sam and Georgie own amazing pubs in the Cotswolds; Seb Fogg, formerly of Caprice Holdings, is an old friend. I have always eaten in his restaurants and he has always eaten in mine. Last year, shortly after taking the director post at Cubitt House, he got in touch to see if I would be interested. I’ll be honest: I wasn’t looking to go into food-led pubs. It wasn’t on my radar at all. But when they explained the scope of the project – that they wanted to open great restaurants in pubs – I thought the transformation sounded really interesting. My only reservation was whether I would still have somewhere to express my own distinctive food style – and that transpired in The Orange in Victoria, and in The Princess Royal, which we have just opened in Notting Hill.

How would you describe that style?

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southern Italy, a bit of Spain. That’s what I refer to in my cookbooks, that’s my natural style. I love how complex and multicultural both cultures are – particularly the Arabic influences. I’ve spent a lot of time in both countries. They are different cuisines, but they have plenty in common. What I do is not fusion – definitely not fusion. It’s having a menu in which both can sit cohesively together. That said, I very much enjoy working with other chefs and restaurateurs who are experts in their particular field, as I’m doing now at Cubitt House. I think I’m quite good at working with a concept, whether it’s southern Italian, fine dining or British pub food.

Why the very studious avoidance of the term fusion?

I could be wrong, but for me a fusion dish is a bit of Spanish or Italian in one dish, and I would never do that.

I might have a menu that was a mix of Spanish and Italian dishes, but if the dish is Spanish, it’s Spanish. I’m not fusing things together.

What can we expect from the two Marylebone pubs?

With every pub, it is about identifying what works in those environments: the demographics, the location, the style. The Coach Makers was quietly refurbished and relaunched late last year, with a menu that reflects the fact it’s very popular with men: steaks, pies and so on.

In the basement there’s a cocktail bar, now called the Club House, with a snack menu, and upstairs it has one of the most beautiful dining rooms I’ve ever been in. The Grazing Goat is always hugely busy – it’s quite a destination pub, and very popular with shoppers – and a modern European menu works well there.

For Marylebone Food Festival, we’ll be doing an oyster stand outside The Grazing Goat, and a special menu for The Coach Makers, serving old east London pub food in collaboration with East London > Liquor Company.

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

Why do you think gastropubs, which were so ground-breaking for a while, ended up with such a bad reputation? How do the pubs in the Cubitt House coterie differ?

It’s like any term which gets bandied around too much: it loses its value.

First gastropubs became any pub that had food on the menu, then it became pubs serving bad food, or pubs where you could no longer just go in and have a pint. The pubs at Cubitt House are very much pubs. You can come in on your own and have a pint, at any time of day, and you don’t have to order food with it. We have kept that pub ethos and provided a

menu you can order from anywhere in the pub, as well as a dining room area where there is an elevated service.

And of course, we’re doing really good food.

What ‘pubs with great restaurants in them’ stand out for you?

The Drapers Arms in Islington does great food, but it’s a boozer at heart, and I think that’s where gastropubs went wrong. They became restaurants with a pub frontage. Another favourite is the Italian Greyhound, also in Marylebone – I think they’ve done a great job there with the menu and the feel.

Your early career takes in some of the most notoriously tough kitchens in London. How did you endure that culture, and how have you ensured you don’t take it into your own kitchens?

You have to be a particular type of person, I think. I remember thinking at the time that it was a ridiculously brutal environment, but back then the only good places to work had kitchens like that. Once I got to the stage where I could make my own decisions, I made a conscious decision not to shout. I say that, but there was probably a year or two, after I first became head chef, when I was a bit shouty, but that was whittled away pretty soon and we have a very calm and collected kitchen now. It’s not always possible, because of the staffing crisis, but ideally everyone would work around 45 hours a week.

As well as obvious causes like Brexit and the pandemic, do you think the staffing crisis has in part been caused by the reputation of kitchens like the ones you used to work in?

Particularly with the pandemic, a lot of people are saying, why should I go into hospitality when the hours are long, you get treated badly, and paid very little? While a lot of that doesn’t exist anymore, the public perception of the industry still does, and it’s really important we reset it and address the PR. Otherwise we’ll never get rocking and rolling.

How has the growing interest in sustainability and seasonality shaped your approach to menus and sourcing?

It’s a no-brainer. We want to do it, and we have to do it, and fortunately my food – and that of Cubitt House as a whole – naturally leans that way.

A key part is working with suppliers with the right ethos: Natoora for a lot of fresh produce, Wright Brothers for fish, Walter Rose and Hannan Meats for meat. They have real sustainability credentials. I remember in the Michelin-starred restaurants I started in, no one talked about seasonality.

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A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

We’d serve asparagus and strawberries at Christmas. It was just not a topic for discussion. Then I went to the first Italian restaurant I worked in, De Luca, and went from 10 things on a plate to a few ingredients cooked simply – and it was all about seasonality.

You grew up in Skegness. How did your family shape your culinary career?

Both my parents were terrible cooks – they worked full time and were rarely around – but they really enjoyed their food, and we’d eat out a fair bit.

The biggest influence was my gran, who lived in a flat in the back of our

house. She was of Jewish heritage and ran a seaside cafe until her eighties.

She was a real feeder, and everything she made, from sandwiches to fish and chips to latkes, was amazing: just cooked to perfection. I think I got a good sense of taste from that, though I still don’t know what made her food taste so brilliant: whether it was seasoning, or experience, or love.

THE GRAZING GOAT 6 New Quebec Street, W1H 7RQ cubitthouse.co.uk/the-grazing-goat THE COACH MAKERS ARMS 88 Marylebone Lane, W1U 2PZ cubitthouse.co.uk/the-coach-makers-arms

FOOD PHILOSOPHY

LA FROMAGERIE

Patricia Michelson, owner of La Fromagerie, on telling stories, the importance of tasting notes and her pride when staff go on to do their own thing Interview: Ellie Costigan Image: Nyla Sammons

La Fromagerie started after I fell in love with a cheese: a Beaufort in Savoie. I started the business from my garden shed and it grew from there. We’re still here and we’ve still got the same ethos: it’s still a familyrun business and it’s still about championing small producers, telling their stories. I’ve been telling those stories for 30 years.

Everything that we sell here has a reason to be here. It’s not just put on the shelf. Yet the shop has still got this very organic feel to it, it’s not overly stylised.

It’s all about the product.

I love seeing people who worked for me go on to become cheesemakers or open up their own businesses. One member of staff left me after 10 years

and relocated to Anglesey to set up a cheese shop and it’s going beautifully. It’s a continuation, a ripple effect that will endure.

That means I’m doing a good job. People appreciate what I’m doing.

I’m still the head of the business and I think people here like to know that I am still around, even though I might not always be on the shop floor.

They do get angry at me, though, because I don’t know how to use the till!

I’m very big on tasting notes.

I want to give you so much information, you’ll come out of here feeling like you’ve learned something. You can see people walking around, looking. They’re interested, they’re not just walking down an aisle, picking things up and putting them in a basket. That’s what I like.

Nothing is impossible. I tell these young cheesemongers and makers: “If I can do it, you can do it.” When anybody comes in, I say: “Come and sit down, let’s have a cup of tea. Let’s talk about what you do and if it’s good, let’s see how we can work together.”

If I started La Fromagerie now, with the internet and everything else, it would be much quicker – all I had back then was the Yellow Pages.

I used to go on little trips to visit cheesemakers. I’d go to

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the local market and see the farmers to get the ball rolling.

I started by asking a friend to bring things over from France in a truck.

There’s no server counter here, no barrier, no us and them, no “Yes madam, no madam”.

All the staff are on the floor, ready to talk to you. They all love food and they all love cooking – it’s infectious.

I lived in Marylebone when I was young and I’d always walk through Moxon Street on my way to the West End. I always loved this building. It was a disused builders’ yard, but I said you know what, I’m going to turn Moxon Street into a food hub.

When Ginger Pig came, it was job done.

What is so lovely about this shop is the people who walk in here. There was one German guy called Norbert who had read about the shop and came in to see me. He had all these really good German cheeses but didn’t know how to get them out there.

I arranged to go over to Bavaria and visited all these farms. I was absolutely gobsmacked. I said, “I’ve got to get these cheeses.”

He was delighted. Through that, he started bringing them to the UK and now into America.

He’s spread his wings.

LA FROMAGERIE 2-6 Moxon Street, W1U 4EW lafromagerie.co.uk

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A GLASS APART

ANATOMY OF A DISH

TEBASAKI CHICKEN WING WITH LEMON

Aman Lakhiani, chef-patron of Junsei, on a dish built for yakitori

Francesco Limongi, manager of The Italians, on Papà Celso Dolcetto, a lesser-known wine from a famous region Interview: Viel Richardson

Papà Celso Dolcetto is made in Piedmont, northern Italy, a region known around the world for producing some wonderfully rich red wines like Barolo and Barbaresco. The name Dolcetto actually means sweet, but while it has a rich ruby colour, this is not a sweet wine. The aroma carries hints of raspberry and plums, but also some grassy notes and a minerality that you might not expect. In fact, Papà Celso Dolcetto is very different from those famous Piedmont wines – it is a light, fresh wine perfect for those spring days when the world around you is returning to life after winter.

It is made in a part of Piedmont called Dogliani by a small winery called Abbona who we have worked with for years.

Abbona is not a huge producer, and the vineyard only produces about 25,000 bottles of this wine a year.

It is all about quality – they really focus on the quality of the grapes and a lot of the processes are still done by hand.

The wine is 100 per cent dolcetto grapes, so the variety’s characteristics are really allowed to shine.

The reason it is so different from wines like Barolo is the way it is made. The family wanted to create something lighter, a wine that was ready to be drunk while young.

The wine is usually 38 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

aged for about 10 months in steel tanks, not wooden barrels.

This really allows the flavours within the grape to come to the fore in the finished wine.

It also enhances the fruit in the aroma and a crispness in the finished wine. It is then aged for at least two months in the bottle.

Papà Celso Dolcetto is lovely on its own or as an aperitif, but it also pairs wonderfully with food. It goes very well with good-quality cheese and ham.

It also pairs well with pasta, a risotto with mushrooms, or some grilled meats. In fact, with many foods where it is traditional to have a white wine, it is possible to reach for Papà Celso Dolcetto knowing that the combination will work well.

We try to visit all our suppliers. It is important that we do. I have sat in the vineyard with Marziano Abbona drinking this wine, which is named after his father, Celso. When you talk to him and see the care with which everyone there approaches their work, you can feel their deep emotional connection to what they do. It is not just about doing a good job, it is about continuing a legacy, and you can taste that in this light, beautifully balanced wine.

THE ITALIANS 27B Devonshire Street, W1G 6PW theitalians.co.uk

In a nutshell Chicken wings are built for yakitori (meaning ‘grilled bird’).

Butterflying them open allows for easy eating, and keeping them on the bone retains all the flavour of the chicken plus the aroma from the binchotan charcoal. A white variety made from Japanese oak, binchotan is considered the purest charcoal in the world.

The technique Once the wing has been taken off the chicken, we make an incision in between the two bones to give it a butterfly shape. Then we skewer it, weaving the wooden skewer between the meat and the bone, being careful never to pierce the

skin. The skewer is seasoned with salt, then brushed with soy on the skin for a nice caramel colour and with some sake on the meat side for moistness.

The purpose The fact that this skewer still has the bone attached is what makes it unique. It has to be carefully savoured, loved and eaten with all your senses. You can hear the skin crack when it shatters between your teeth, and the fat emulsifying with the salt when the meat sizzles on the grill. I love gnawing on the bone and eating the end bits of cartilage.

The secret The secret of this dish is the binchotan. This fiery charcoal burns at over 400C, adding smoke and aroma to a simply prepared chicken wing.

That, to me, is the soul of yakitori.

JUNSEI 132 Seymour Place, W1H 1NS junsei.co.uk

City Harvest's mission is to reduce food insecurity and protect the planet by diverting quality, nutritious, edible surplus food from waste and redistributing it to those facing food poverty.

Imagine a city where all people have access to fresh, nourishing food and no good food is wasted from within the food supply chain.

1 in 4 people face food poverty.

Whether you are a food company with surplus to donate, would like to become a regular donor or want to volunteer at our depot – we would love to hear from you.

City Harvest puts surplus food to good use in a sustainable way by delivering free food for over 1 million meals a month to 350+ charities, including; children’s programmes, food banks, refuges for women fleeing domestic violence and families fleeing war-torn countries, and local groups across London welcoming the elderly and isolated.

Thank you for your support.

City Harvest is the current corporate charity partner of The Portman Estate www.cityharvest.org.uk/donate

@cityharvestlondon

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

THE SHOCK OF THE NEW

In the three hectic years that have passed since the last Marylebone Food Festival, something quite dramatic has happened to the area’s food scene. The sad part of it is that several old favourites have departed, some of them without really having the chance to say goodbye. Much more positively, though, a surprising number of new restaurants, cafes and food retailers have opened since the start of the pandemic, or are on their way very soon. Between them, they bring incredible variety, offering food from all over the world in formats that vary from casual takeaways to Michelin-starred tasting menus.

KOL KOL’s arrival on Seymour Street was delayed by the first lockdown, then when it eventually opened it shut down within weeks as another lockdown kicked in.

Having finally been given the chance to serve a few dinners without interruption, it rapidly became one of the most critically acclaimed openings in recent memory. Its young, charismatic chef-patron Santiago Lastra uses seasonal British ingredients to recreate the complex flavours of his native Mexico. kolrestaurant.com NOBU Nobu, one of the most successful names in global hospitality, endured a similarly painful gestation for its stylish Portman Square hotel and restaurant, but again it was worth the wait.

Almost three decades after the first Nobu opened in the US, Nobu Matsuhisa’s biggest hits – baby tiger shrimp tempura, miso black cod, yellowtail sashimi with thinly sliced jalapeño peppers – are like the songs at a Rolling Stones concert: slickly done, pleasingly familiar, never disappointing. noburestaurants.com 40 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

CAVITA Not content with hosting one of the country’s best and most inventive Mexican restaurants, Marylebone is now hosting two of the country’s best and most inventive Mexican restaurants.

Depending on when you’re reading this, Cavita – named after head chef Adriana Cavita, a native of Mexico City who honed her craft at culinary cathedrals such as El Bulli and Pujol – has either just opened on Wigmore Street or is just about to open. cavitarestaurant.com ROKETSU This much-vaunted arrival on New Quebec Street offers a rare British showing for the Japanese art of kaiseki – a highly traditional multi-course approach to dining, which explores seasonal flavours with a ceremonial sense of order.

Roketsu, whose hinoki-wood interior was made in Kyoto and re-assembled in London, is overseen by Daisuke Hayashi, who spent two decades learning his craft under the tutelage of the legendary Yoshihiro Murata at the three-Michelin-starred Kikunoi Honten. roketsu.co.uk

CHOURANGI Opened on Old Quebec Street

by Indian restaurateur Anjan Chatterjee and his friend Aditya Ghosh, with culinary direction offered by Surjan Singh Jolly (a regular presence on Indian TV as Chef Jolly), Chourangi explores the distinctive cuisine of Kolkata, the historic West Bengal port city. The food draws influences from Europe, China and the Mughal Empire, reflecting the open, multicultural character of this vibrant hub of international trade and commerce. chourangi.co.uk OTTOLENGHI From Yotam Ottolenghi, the unassailable king of sunny, healthy, flavour-packed cooking, comes this latest branch of his small chain of eponymous eateries. Serving breakfasts and lunches, mainly for takeaway purposes but with a large communal table for anyone needing to take a load off, this new arrival on Marylebone Lane offers the familiar calming aesthetic of smooth white counters and blond wood, enlivened by colourful displays of vibrant salads and cakes. ottolenghi.co.uk SO FRENCH So French on Seymour Place is, as the name clearly signposts, so French – in the source of the food it sells and in the seriousness with which it takes the quality of that food. The épicerie sells traditional products sourced from French artisans, many of them unavailable anywhere else in the UK, while the cafe serves up a range of authentic viennoiseries, soups, croquemonsieurs, quiches and Parisien sandwiches. sofrench.co.uk

1.

THE ITALIANS Another shop with a helpfully expository name, The Italians on Devonshire Street functions mainly as a wine bar, offering a wide selection of wines – all Italian, naturally, and many of them hard to find elsewhere – by either the glass or the bottle.

Accompany your drinks with snacks, small plates and cheese and salumi boards from the deli, made using ingredients sourced from small, specialist producers around Italy. theitalians.co.uk SEYMOUR STORE This charming little food store on Seymour Place is something of a cook’s paradise, offering vibrant displays of high-quality fruit and vegetables, all organic, as well as carefully sourced store cupboard ingredients from small producers. For those too hungry to wait to cook, some of those seasonal ingredients are also put to good use in a daily selection of very tasty lunches to eat in or take away, together with freshly baked pastries and very good coffee.

LINA STORES The Lina Stores deli on Soho’s Brewer Street began selling imported Italian produce in 1944. Its first restaurant opened nearby in 2018 and played a major role in sparking London’s seemingly insatiable appetite for good pasta.

Lina Stores’ latest venture opens soon on the corner of Wigmore Street and Marylebone Lane. The restaurant will serve simple, seasonal Italian dishes, alongside an open-plan delicatessen, which by night will be transformed into a wine bar. linastores.co.uk GRANGER & CO Bill Granger, one of Australia’s greatest culinary exports, is due to open his latest restaurant on Marylebone High Street in the summer.

Granger & Co, which started in Sydney in 1993, now brings its characteristically sunny, relaxed Aussie-ness to Seoul, Tokyo and London. Expect great breakfasts, excellent coffee, high-quality ingredients and an open-minded approach to global flavours. grangerandco.com

A CLOSER LOOK FOOD

1. Chourangi 2. Cavita 3. Seymour Store 4. Nobu 5. Lina Stores 6. The Italian 7. So French 8. Ottolenghi

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Q&A: ESHITA KABRADAVIES

The founder of By Rotation on the rapid rise of her clothes-lending app, the benefits of a less-overstuffed wardrobe, and the evolution of a community of users Interview: Ellie Costigan

Q: How did By Rotation come about?

A: It came from a first-world problem! For our honeymoon, I took my husband to Rajasthan in India, to show him where I’m from and connect with my roots. I turned to Instagram for inspiration on where to stay, where to eat, what to visit. Then I started looking at all these women wearing beautiful clothing, and I realised that a lot of them would never repeat that outfit. I thought how nice it would be if I could just pay these women to borrow their clothes for our holiday.

I started looking at the fashion rental landscape and I noticed how focused it was on eventwear, ball gowns and elaborate outfits.

There was nothing for renting a holiday wardrobe. That’s when the idea for a fashion-sharing platform came to mind. I also realised that all the existing solutions, like Rent the Runway, Ycloset in China, Style Theory in Singapore, were buying and managing stock and fulfilling orders on behalf of customers, whereas for me it was about reaching out to an individual woman and saying, can I pay to borrow your dress?

Q: Is your background in fashion?

A: No, I worked in finance for the first six-and-a-half years of my career.

When I founded By Rotation, I was still working full time at a hedge fund and doing this as a side hustle in the evenings and on the weekends. I was doing a lot of surveying and, at the same time, building the platform. We had a really ugly web-based platform to begin with, but we launched the app in October 2019. That was also the day I left my full-time job.

Q: How does By Rotation work?

Is there any curation on your part?

A: Anyone can list on the app, but everything on there is contemporary or designer. It just makes sense, because of the price point: you wouldn’t really rent a high street label; usually it’s so cheap you can buy it yourself anyway.

It’s also a way for us to get our audience – which is now 200,000 women in

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the UK and growing exponentially – to start consuming higher-quality fashion. Some of our top lenders have told us that they now steer away from shopping at fast-fashion brands.

They’d rather save up and invest in a designer piece, then recoup the money they spent by sharing it with other women.

Our lender activity dashboard provides lenders with analytics insights. You can see how much money you’ve made since you joined, there’s a breakdown of the brands that have made you the most money, which colour, which category. The next time you go shopping, you can be very strategic about what you’re buying.

Essentially, contemporary fashion has become an asset class. I guess that’s where the investment analyst in me comes back into it!

Q: It must be nerve wracking handing over such high-value items to a stranger. How do you assure people their stuff is safe?

A: We check everyone’s identity when they’re onboarded. You also need to have a minimum of five reviews to rent any item with a retail value of £1,000, so you need to rent other things of lower value to build your rating. Anything over £2,000 needs 10 reviews, so you couldn’t just rent a Chanel bag on day one.

The other thing is, you can be invoiced during or after a rental period. For example, I hired out a Chanel bag of mine to a lady today: if there’s a scratch on it when it comes back, she will be invoiced for repairs.

For a bag like that, I wouldn’t mail it, either. For a Chanel bag I want to meet the woman in person and ask her what she’s doing with my bag tonight!

Q: What are the most popular items people rent?

A: People love to rent dresses – that’s the most rented category – then it’s handbags. Very interestingly, it’s contemporary brands, too. People are looking for Jacquesmus, Self Portrait, Rixo – the latter two of which are British brands, which also >

A CLOSER LOOK STYLE

Q: What’s driving people to rent, rather than buy?

A: The predominant reason is affordability. If you can rent a £500 dress for £50, it’s attractive. But I think people are also becoming more conscious of the fact that it’s saving space in their wardrobes. I think that’s something all of us realised when we were stuck at home for 19 months during lockdown, wearing the same PJs over and over again: why do I have eight pairs of jeans? Is it necessary?

You don’t need so much stuff if you can just borrow it off someone else.

makes sense. A lot of people are renting for things like birthdays, date nights, weddings. There are meant to be more weddings this year than in any year since 1960, which makes this the perfect time to rent a dress.

You might have the same circle of friends, everyone’s getting married, and you don’t want to wear the same dress each time, so it’s great to rent it instead. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with the social season.

In the UK, people dress up for the races and events like that, but there haven’t been many seasons since we were founded, so we’ll see. Holidays as well: summer was very busy for us last year.

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Q: What inspired your pop-up store on Marylebone Lane?

A: I live in Marylebone; I’ve lived here for the past seven years. Our office is here and we were founded in Marylebone. We actually did the Summer Festival in 2019, when this was still a side hustle. For me, it’s a very special place for By Rotation. Our entire team loves the neighbourhood, so when the opportunity came up, we jumped at it. And Marylebone Lane is such a beautiful lane.

Commercially speaking, it was such a great thing for us. It raised brand awareness and got the community together. We’re a tech company, but we’re also a social network, so it’s really nice to have a physical space to bring these women together. We also hosted lots of events: a beading and boozing night, a tablescaping workshop, all kinds of things. They were never explicitly about fashion, but adjacent to the fashion industry. It’s been a great place for activation and engagement.

It was also great because it meant you could try things on before you rented them – and for cross-selling.

Someone will come in and try something on and we’ll say, do you want to rent a pair of shoes to go with your outfit? Do you want a handbag?

Q: What’s next for By Rotation?

A: The ambition is really to be global; the Depop of fashion rental or the Vestiaire Collective or Vinted.

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STYLE PHILOSOPHY

WILLIAM CRABTREE & SONS

James Priestley, director of William Crabtree & Sons and great-greatgreat-grandson of its founder, on history, family and the theatre of retail Interview: Clare Finney

My first love has always been tailoring. My father worked in a mill in a place called Dewsbury in Yorkshire, and I used to go with him often as a child. Even then I was intrigued as to where the cloth was going, and who was buying it.

I was, and still am, fascinated by the mentality of buying things. After university, I worked in a couple of different mills in Yorkshire before moving to London and embarking on a tailoring course in a shop on Jermyn Street. It was there that I fell in love with retail: the theatre of it, the branding, the emotional interaction and atmosphere.

I couldn’t have the shop we have anywhere but London.

This is a place where there is such a nuanced appreciation of clothing; where people

appreciate that there is a long history to our business.

My family has always been involved in textiles; it is something I was brought up with. We are not a made-up family brand. I have company books dating back to 1856, with details of who was working at William Crabtree then, and in what role. There is a real story here, and it’s a great story.

Fast fashion is like fast food: you never feel satisfied after eating a rubbish burger. You always want something else; sometimes you even feel emptier, emotionally. It’s very different to cooking or being cooked for by someone who cares, or buying produce from people who want to make quality food. It’s exactly the same with a jumper. If you come to William Crabtree and leave with something you love, you really remember that experience. You remember the humans involved in it, and you treasure the product more.

Our clothes are expensive – but they’re expensive because they are well made.

You don’t have to buy one of our jumpers every two months because it’s pilling or falling apart. Our jumpers are 100 per cent cashmere, not a blend. I really feel strongly about making sure everyone in our supply chain gets a fair amount of money; that we use natural fibres that are made as sustainably and as close to home as possible;

and that we get the best we possibly can.

People keep bemoaning the death of the high street – but Marylebone shows that, with the right support and infrastructure, the high street can thrive. From the very beginning of its transformation in recent decades, it has been a place for small shops and small brands which believe in what they are doing, care about what they’re doing and care about the customer. As bleak as the future of ‘the high street’ might look, people are waking up more to how things are made and sold, and that makes it a really exciting time.

WILLIAM CRABTREE & SONS 15 New Quebec Street, W1H 7RT williamcrabtree.co.uk

We try to make as much as possible in the UK, but we don’t buy from places that aren’t making the best.

Quite a few things made in the UK aren’t necessarily that great, so we look abroad instead, and we don’t twist the truth to say things are made here when they aren’t. For

We’ll always do in-person events for the community and potentially even pop-ups, but I think the brand mix will be determined by the community.

We’re currently UK only, but we’re expanding into France later this year. As I say, the brand mix will be dependent on who’s on the platform, but what we’re pre-empting is that the style will be quite different: more high-end brand orientated, so in Paris that likely means Sézane, Chloé, Yves Saint Laurent.

I have quite a few French friends and they’ve told me that people don’t really dress up to go for dinner or to go to a house party, whereas in the UK people dress up for both of those 45 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

example, we have some cotton jackets made in Lancashire, the buttons of which are made in the Cotswolds by a company that started up again only recently. It’s a lovely story.

But equally, our tailoring is made in Italy, because the quality is so high and we prefer the slightly softer, less structured style.

things, so it might be that accessories are more popular. We’ll have to see.

I think every market will have its quirks – and that’s where the data and analytics are super exciting.

Q: The vision for By Rotation was for it to be a social network – a community, as well as a rental platform. Has that transpired?

A: We do have really loyal rotators: some of our top lenders are making more than £2,000 a month. They’re not necessarily fashion influencers or people in the industry; it could just be a maths teacher who lives in Essex and has a love for clothes. If you’ve got nice clothes and another woman wants

them, you’re a tastemaker and you can make money on the app. Some of our top lenders are also top renters. Those are the real rotators. I’m obviously one of those! All the money I make I use to then try something else. I was wearing lots of rented items for a while, but I’m so busy I often don’t have time to plan my outfit – I’ll choose things an hour before I leave. But that’s also good because I’m using what I have.

For us it’s not about getting people to over-rotate, it’s getting people to be mindful of what they already own and to share it.

BY ROTATION byrotation.com

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THREE OF THE BEST

FLORAL PIECES

“Florals? For spring?

Groundbreaking,” says Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, with an expression so withering the moment has become a meme.

But this is the Marylebone Journal, not Runway magazine or its real-life iteration, Vogue. We don’t need to push the envelope.

We’re just showing you some nice, spring-like styles you can find in Marylebone right now.

Groundbreaking? No. Useful? Hopefully.

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THE LOOK

1. ISABELLA WILD POPPIES JUMPSUIT SUZANNAH, £1,490 suzannah.com Effortlessly proving that floral doesn’t have to mean boring, this tencal fabric jumpsuit from designer Isabella is both stylish and sustainable, with a fitted knotted bodice, flared soft sleeves and a scattering of wild poppies contrastingly pleasingly with the rich, verdant green.

2. ELLA TROUSERS

BY KIKA VARGAS KOIBIRD, £310 koibird.com Though an alumnus of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Milan’s Instituto Marangoni and Missoni, the Colombian-born designer Kika Vargas says she takes most of her inspiration from her childhood, watching her mother getting dressed up. These trousers walk the line between both her highfashion background and her more humble beginnings, with delicate florals, a soft, ballooning leg and a nipped-in waist.

3. SUNFLOWER SOCKS PAUL SMITH, £20 paulsmith.com Needless to say, a designer as long serving and legendary as Paul Smith doesn’t have anything to prove either. With these bright, blazing sunflower socks – made in Italy with a soft cotton blend and finished with delicate ribbed cuffs – he’s loudly embracing spring, sunshine and flowers, and we’re here for it.

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IN FLIGHT

Orlagh McCloskey of Rixo on a collection inspired by the exciting possibility of travel Image: Carina Lammers

This shot was taken at our London Fashion Week presentation last September. When designing the collection, my co-founder Henrietta and I were inspired by our desire to get travelling again. To create a collection that encapsulates all things ‘holiday’, we sourced vintage postcards and souvenirs and referenced things like deckchairs and parasols, with a hope that we’d all be able to travel come spring 2022. We created our signature handpainted prints, which this time included tiny women dancing as well as large scale swirls and holiday

motifs, while using a bold and colourful palette that is fun and joyful.

This image is so gorgeous and has three of my favourite dresses from that Bon Voyage collection: the Sabrina, Cannes and Marilyn. We always use vintage accessories in our shows and our shoots.

The flower the model on the right is wearing has been handmade by our in-house design team.

The real standout piece for me is the Cannes dress in the middle. We called the colourway ‘Santorini’, as it’s what we immediately thought of when looking at that beautiful combination of blue and white. What you can’t see in this shot is the gorgeous tie-up back – it’s so flattering and adds an additional feminine element to the dress. The amazing thing about this piece – and most of our collections – is that you can wear them whenever you like, irrespective of time, day and occasion.

Our pieces have been created to dress up and dress down, so you can easily transition from day to night, and so on. In the daytime, I’ll be pairing it with my favourite pair of Nikes and our denim Rhae jacket. Come the evening, I’ll change into a pair of strappy sandals. Abroad, I’ll be wearing this dress on the beach, to explore new places, and while sipping an Aperol spritz at a cocktail bar.

RIXO 27 Marylebone High Street, W1U 4AD rixo.co.uk

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

THE HANDMAKERS’ TALE S

Leonora Swanepoel, cofounder of Evoke London, on the appeal of handmade objects, the importance of telling stories, and the pleasures and complexities of meeting makers in Africa and India Interview: Ellie Costigan 1.

How were you introduced to the world of African art and craft?

I studied interior design and then worked as an interior designer for about two or three years. I’m from South Africa and used to work in Johannesburg. I started working for a businessman who was also a collector of African art. He was buying a couple of buildings and he employed me to help him renovate them. He’s a big traveller – he’s travelled the whole of Africa – and I did a lot of travelling with him. He taught me everything I know about African art, artefacts, cultures. That’s when I fell in love with craft, handmade things – and with Africa. It opened up a whole 48 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

new world. I moved to London about five years ago and started doing clean interior design again, on restaurants and hotels and a little bit of residential.

How did you end up partnering with Sridhar and Vandana Poddar?

Sridhar and Vandana are from Bangalore in India. Vandana is Sridhar’s mum. She has got an incredible eye. She’s worked on numerous architectural projects, and she’s developed a lot of things with craftspeople in India for her own home – it’s her love. Sridhar was in Johannesburg when he happened to meet the collector I had worked with,

and he was taken aback by all these beautiful African things.

He said: “My mum has such a talent and she’s always wanted to open her own business in a city like London, but we don’t know how to go about it.” I’d just moved to London, so the collector said: “Phone her up, you guys should talk, she’s got very similar interests.”

Vandana and I got on so well from the first time we met. She was actually born in South Africa, so there are a lot of cultural similarities, and we felt so at ease with each other. We love the same things, we have the same style, we have the same eye. Then I went and met Sridhar in Paris for a weekend

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

and we had an incredible time. We started to plan: okay, how can we do this? I just jumped in. It was like a dream come true for me, because it’s everything I love.

2.

3.

1. Bidri silver inlay bowl from Bidar, India 2. K antha throw from West Bengal, India 3. Moba figures from north west Togo / north east Ghana

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While Evoke London focuses on Africa and India, there are pieces from all over the world. What unites them?

They’re handmade. They’re usually made using a long-standing method that’s connected to a particular culture. Our aesthetic is very organic, so a lot of natural materials and raw forms. We like natural colours. Our bed linen uses natural dyes from India. We’re drawn to things that you can see come from the earth. And yes, African and Indian art is very prone to that, but we’re adamant that we are not an African and Indian shop. We’re a design shop, an art shop. If we see something we love from Japan, we buy it. We’ve got pieces from Indonesia.

We recently collaborated with an amazing wood carver from the Isle of Man. Any artist or maker we come across who makes beautiful things, we’ll showcase. It’s just because I’m from Africa and Sridhar is from India, it’s where our passions lie. But we are ever evolving.

How do you go about finding them?

People always think we have the most amazing job, but it can be really hard travelling in Africa and India. It’s expensive and you need to be well connected; you need to make friends with the locals, who then introduce you to people. You walk through villages and little towns and speak to people, who then introduce you to family members and invite you into their homes, because that’s the African and the Indian way. You sit and have a cup of tea and a little bite to eat and you learn from them. They teach you about their culture, their craft, where they learned it and why they do it, what materials they use.

Sometimes it’s literally just an artist who makes something beautiful that we come across on the side of the road. That’s how you find things.

Tell us about some of the makers.

For the bidri artists of West Bengal, the kinta stitching is a very important social thing for them. It’s a way for women to come together and speak to each other, help each other. One thing that upsets me is when people see crafts from Africa or India and they associate it with struggling. That is not true – not everyone struggles in Africa and India. Often, they’ve got beautiful lives. Their way of living is incredible, and they have so much knowledge and talent. We can learn from them.

That’s why I don’t sell online.

I want someone to come in so I can tell them the story of where these things come from, who made it, and its cultural significance. There’s a story behind everything. Everyone thinks these beaded things are lamps – they’re not; they’re Yoruba crowns.

They’re now made to be sold as a craft, but they originate from shields that the Cameroonians used. Some of the things we sell are extremely meaningful. But you have to know that – otherwise it’s just an object.

What advice would you give someone who wants to incorporate one of these pieces into a home that has a very different aesthetic?

Don’t be so stuck on your home needing to look Scandinavian, or super modern, or African. There is no such thing – your home just needs to reflect what you like. You can have a minimal, modern home and you can still have a beautifully crafted, organic object. Just give it space to breathe.

Maximalism is big now, there’s a move towards mixing whatever you want with whatever you want. Just keep it balanced. There’s nothing more beautiful than going into someone’s home and them telling you about an object of interest, an object that has a story. Just surround yourself with beautiful things. You don’t have to stick with a theme.

EVOKE LONDON 27A Devonshire Street, W1G 6PN evokelondon.com

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

ANATOMY OF A DESIGN

UNILLOY CAST IRON POT

Jay Patel, founder of The Japanese Home, on an elegant and highly functional piece of cast iron cookware

The genesis I love cooking and having lived in Japan for several years I came to really appreciate the beauty and utility of their cookware. I started selling Japanese knives 25 years ago. Back then, getting Japanese makers to use their skill to create knives for customers in the West was difficult. Now the landscape is very different. In the UK, the Japanese knife has become a byword for quality. I thought the time had come to look at another range of products to help the cook in the kitchen, and I chose cast iron cookware.

I approached the Japan External Trade Organisation and asked to be introduced to small ironworks in Japan. They put me in contact with a company called Unilloy, which been in the same family for about eight generations and is run by a young, innovative and forward-looking son. We arranged a meeting and we spoke about my ideas.

The challenge The main problem with cast iron pots is weight – cast iron is heavy. It works fantastically

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well on induction, is wonderful at retaining and distributing heat but it’s just too heavy, especially when full of food. I also saw other issues with most cast iron pots. You always need oven mitts to move them, because the handles stay so hot, but the space in the handles is never large enough to fit the mitt securely, so they always feel a bit unsteady when full. Another problem comes when you have to take the lid off to stir – there is invariably nowhere to put it down and the condensation on the inside drips everywhere.

The process These are Unilloy products – my role was that of a consultant, but the final decisions were theirs. They approached Komin Yamada, one of the best industrial designers in the world, who commands the same level of respect in Japan as Philippe Starck does in the West. Having him agree to design the piece is a huge honour. The design was strongly informed by the manufacturing process. Instead of casting

the pots in sand, as is usual, these pots are cast in stone.

This allows you to cast thinner layers, while retaining all the qualities of cast iron. You can also cast with greater precision because stone moulds don’t distort with heat or humidity.

The resulting pot is half the weight of a traditional cast iron pot of the same size.

The design Each handle has a downward curve. Not too much but enough to give it the feel of a hook, which means there’s less chance of your hand slipping. Yamada also made the holes in the handles large.

The combination of the narrow width of the band and the size of the hole means the handles dissipate heat very quickly, while the body of the pot stays hot, and it also makes it easier to get a secure grip when carrying the pot. The handle on the lid is designed to fits neatly into the hole in the side handles in such a way that you have somewhere to put the lid while stirring your food, and any

A CLOSER LOOK HOME

BROWN LEATHER ICE BUCKET LEWIS & CO, £165 lewisandcompany.co.uk

condensation falls back into the pot. It is little details like this that mark out great design.

The philosophy Exceptional functionality does not have to be obvious. The best design can be so subtle, you don’t even realise that it’s there; you just know you enjoy the results. There is something wonderful about using well designed objects for everyday tasks like cooking – it helps create a sense of ease, and you can lose yourself in the task at hand. Komin Yamada has created a design that addresses all my concerns about functionality. The pot is light, has great heat retention and distribution, it’s easy to move safely around the kitchen.

He’s addressed all those things, and yet made something that looks absolutely stunning.

This is an example of truly elegant design.

THE EDIT

DECANTER WITH WOOD STOPPER PHILGLAS & SWIGGOT, £27.95 philglas-swiggot.com

BIRD AND BRANCH OAK TRAY ANOTHER COUNTRY, £320 anothercountry.com

SIX DRINKS CABINET ESSENTIALS

THE JAPANESE HOME 10 New Quebec Street, W1H 7RN thejapanesehome.com OUTLINE COCKTAIL SHAKER IN MATT GOLD THE CONRAN SHOP, £45 conranshop.co.uk

51 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

MICROPLANE ULTIMATE BAR TOOL THE JAPANESE HOME, £15 thejapanesehome.com

EMBASSY COCKTAIL GLASS DAVID MELLOR, £17 davidmellordesign.com

A CLOSER LOOK WELLBEING

HOME SPA PRODUCTS

ROSE DEEP HYDRATION PETAL-SOFT LIP BALM FRESH, £19.50 fresh.com

THE EDIT NEW BODY SCRUB LE LABO, £37 lelabofragrances.com

HEI POA PURE TAHITI MONOI OIL, TIARA THE FRENCH PHARMACY, £9.99 thefrenchpharmacy.co

NEW ARRIVAL

Perfumer H Not a new arrival in Marylebone (the first branch of Perfumer H has been carving its niche on Crawford Street for a while now) but a new arrival on Chiltern Street. From the eponymous perfumer Lyn Harris, this beautiful little store sells fragrances, laboratory candles, pillar candles, incense and soap, as well as olive oil, preserves, honey and tea.

PERFUMER H 19 Chiltern Street, W1U 7PQ perfumerh.com

SOL DE JANEIRO BRAZILIAN BUM BUM CREAM SPACE NK, £44 spacenk.com

FICO D’INDIA BATH SALTS ORTIGIA, £28 ortigiasicilia.com

52 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

PRIMROSE FACIAL CLEANSING MASQUE AESOP, £29 aesop.com

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53 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

54 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

ACID TEST

Dr Vinay Sehgal, consultant gastroenterologist at The London Clinic, on a nonsurgical procedure for curing acid reflux, and the exciting possibilities it holds Interview: Viel Richardson Portrait: Christopher L Proctor

55 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

Q: What is transoral incisionless fundoplication (TIF) and what is it used to treat?

A: TIF is a procedure for patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). It’s performed using an endoscope fed down the throat, which means there is no external incision. GERD is usually caused by a hiatus hernia, when part of the stomach pushes through into the chest, allowing stomach acid to flow up into the oesophagus. This can cause indigestion-type symptoms, but more seriously it can also lead to the development of precancerous cells or even cancer of the oesophagus. The aim of TIF is to stop the acid from continuing to get into the oesophagus.

begin to develop precancerous cells in the lower oesophagus, a condition called Barrett’s oesophagus. I do a lot of work in Barrett’s and it is potentially preventable if we can reverse the injury caused by reflux.

Q: What symptoms will the patients usually be suffering from?

A: Symptoms of reflux disease classically include heartburn, which is typically worse after eating. Also, regurgitation – so repeating yourself more than is usual. Sometimes people suffer from pain in the upper abdomen or even the chest. Less typical symptoms are a chronic cough, a lot of clearing your throat, which can be worse at night when you lie flat.

Patients may also report waking up in the morning with a very bitter taste in the back of the mouth, caused by exposure to acid in the throat, and taking a while to clear the throat in the morning.

Q: How does the TIF procedure work?

A: It is done under general anaesthetic. First, I perform an endoscopy to confirm the diagnosis and ensure we’re in a position to proceed. The specially designed TIF device will have been mounted onto another endoscope, which we guide down the throat to the location of the hernia. It’s actually a twoperson procedure, with one person operating the endoscope and the other operating the TIF device.

The first step is to take the area of the stomach that has come up into the chest and draw it back down into the abdomen. After that, we wrap the top of the stomach around the bottom of the gullet to form a barrier that stops the acid getting through. The TIF device itself has a grasper with which we manipulate the local tissue – we’re not introducing any surgical material to make the wrap. Once the wrap is in place, we secure it with fasteners.

Finally, we reconstruct what’s called the ‘flap valve’, which prevents reflux when closed. The nature of the operation means the vast majority of patients will go home the next day.

Q: Apart from the pain, none of those seem particularly serious. Do people ignore them?

A: They do, and that’s a real issue.

People, particularly middle-aged men, tend to simply take over-thecounter antacid medication to relieve their symptoms. The oesophagus is essentially a food pipe to transport food from the mouth to the stomach, and it’s not designed to deal with stomach acid, which is extremely corrosive. So, over time, acid reflux can cause real damage, leading to a change in the environment within the gullet. About 10 to 15 per cent of patients with chronic acid reflux may

Q: What happens after the procedure?

A: The patient will need to follow a strict dietary regime for up to six weeks. The first two weeks will consist of a liquid-only diet. Weeks three and four will be a transition to a soft diet.

From around week six onward, they can start to rebuild a more normal diet. As well as the diet, most of the patients I see are on medications like proton pump inhibitors, and they will initially stay on them. Continuing to neutralise the stomach acid is necessary to accelerate the healing process and help the reconstructed valve to strengthen. We gradually

A CLOSER LOOK HEALTHCARE

taper patients off their medication over an eight-to-12-week period.

The patient is monitored closely during recovery – we want to see a slow but steady improvement in their symptoms until everything is healed and the patient can resume a normal, healthy diet.

Q: Is TIF now the gold-standard treatment?

A: Surgical fundoplication was always thought of as the gold standard.

Typically, fundoplication is a keyhole procedure in which a surgeon will draw the stomach back down into the abdomen and perform the wrap. At the same time, they will perform a diaphragmatic hernia repair, which fixes the defect that caused the hernia to occur. However, surgical fundoplication comes with possible complications. It is possible to overdo the wrap and make it too tight. This can cause difficulties with swallowing and burping, and the patient can get trapped wind, which can be very painful. There is also the possibility of damage. The vagus nerve runs very close to the oesophagus, and if that is damaged inadvertently it can cause symptoms like nausea, or a condition called gastroparesis, where food passes through the stomach much more slowly than it should. It can also cause problems with blood-pressure and heart-rate control. So suddenly, you’re potentially faced with so many complications.

One of the real benefits of the TIF procedure is that the device sits inside the gullet, making it much less likely that the wrap will be made too tight. Several studies have shown that patients have better quality of life scores using TIF than they do with surgical fundoplication. One of the real benefits of this procedure is that it most closely replicates surgical fundoplication without some of the associated risks.

Q: Are there patients for whom TIF is not suitable?

A: The main reason for someone not being suitable is if the hiatus 56 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

hernia that has caused the problem has grown too big. It has to be under 2cm for this procedure to work. If it’s larger, the patient will be referred to a surgeon for a surgical fundoplication.

We would also avoid doing the TIF procedure in someone who has very florid reflux – that is, if long-term exposure to the acid has caused a lot of rawness and inflammation to the tissue. We would treat that first with medications. Before proceeding, we want to make sure any damage is healed and the tissue is healthy.

Q: All procedures involve some risk. What are the risks and side effects of TIF? A: Patients will initially suffer some pain or discomfort, which is normal and should subside over seven to 10 days. It’s uncomfortable but it can be managed with normal painkillers.

The TIF device is quite a large device and at the start of the procedure we dilate the back of the throat with a balloon to make space for it to go down. There is a risk of causing a tear at that point, but it happens in less than 1 per cent of cases, and if we identify it early, we can treat it successfully at the time. That’s the primary risk. During the procedure there’s also a risk of causing some bleeding when you’re manipulating tissue internally, but that can also be dealt with easily at the time.

Q: Where does TIF sit in the GERD treatment pathway?

A: As a physical intervention, TIF is towards the end of the treatments we consider, and it is key that we only offer it to the appropriate patients.

The first approach is adjustments in diet and lifestyle. Cutting out certain food and drink, increasing exercise and losing some weight can be surprisingly effective by themselves.

After that, there are medications.

Proton pump inhibitors, which work by neutralising stomach acid, are very effective. The issue with these medications is that they don’t actually reverse the problem of the acid getting into the wrong place.

Also, I see patients in their twenties and thirties with reflux disease, who understandably don’t want to take medications every day for the rest of their life. TIF may be suitable for them.

Q: Are the repairs done with TIF as robust as those done with surgical fundoplication?

A: The device was developed in 2006 and we are on the third generation.

In the grand scheme of things, this means it’s not been around as long as the surgical procedure, but there have been a lot of studies looking at the procedure’s efficacy. So far, the data is suggesting that it is just as durable as surgical fundoplication. An important possible reason for this is that the TIF procedure involves performing the same steps over and over again for every patient, it is a very reproducible, it’s a very uniform procedure. This leads to more reproducible and consistent outcomes.

Q: How do you see the procedure evolving?

A: With a TIF procedure, we are not repairing the damage to the diaphragm that caused the stomach to slip up in the first place. Surgeons do that at the same time as doing their surgical fundoplication. There’s a really exciting new technique called ‘combined TIF’ or cTIF. This involves adding a surgeon to the team, who, before we carry out the TIF procedure, performs a diaphragmatic hernia repair using keyhole techniques.

In that way, the patient is getting a diaphragmatic hernia repair and a reconstructed flap valve without the same side effects and risks as a full surgical fundoplication. I see this as a hugely exciting treatment option for patients at The London Clinic.

You get to address the actual cause of the problem as well as alleviating the symptoms. This is a very exciting time to be working in the field of endoscopy.

THE LONDON CLINIC 20 Devonshire Place, W1G 6BW thelondonclinic.co.uk

THE WAITING IS OVER If you experience heartburn, acid reflux, pains or anything else that doesn’t quite feel right – you don’t have to wait for the care you need.

The London Clinic provides an accessible, affordable and personal service, from the moment you get in touch. You don’t even need a GP’s referral to see a specialist.

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The London Clinic.

CONTACT US TODAY

020 8108 9622 thelondonclinic.co.uk

MY PERFECT DAY

MY PERFECT DAY

Celia Brooks, who runs food tours, including two special ones for the Marylebone Food Festival, describes her perfect Marylebone day Interview: Clare Finney Images: Nyla Sammons

Breakfast I am not much of a breakfast person – I don’t have a big appetite early in the day – but if I find myself peckish in Marylebone in the morning, I will drop into Paul Rothe & Son on Marylebone Lane. It’s so fun in there; stacked to the ceiling with jams, jellies and chutneys, almost like wallpaper. My favourite sandwich of theirs, and something I would definitely fancy mid-morning, would be a granary baguette with their amazing mixture of stilton, cream cheese and caraway seeds. I have that with sliced pickled gherkins, lettuce and a nice cup of builder’s tea.

A breath of fresh air I just love Paddington Street Gardens. It’s the heart and soul of Marylebone, and will be a big part of the Sunday tour I’ll be leading for the Marylebone Food Festival. We’re going to visit a few of the local eateries, then the farmer’s market, and I am going to pick up a few goodies along the way – then it will culminate in a picnic in the gardens (with a contingency plan in place in case it rains!).

Coffee It is hard to beat the Italians when it comes to coffee, and they do a great coffee at Caldesi. I love the atmosphere in there too; it’s so classic, and the staff are warm and friendly. I like a latte with sugar, and a chat with Katie and Giancarlo Caldesi, the owners, if they happen to be there.

Outfit The charity shops in Marylebone are some of the best in London, as the local clientele have very good taste and an abundance of extra clothing.

They also tend to donate locally, so you can find some real treasures.

Oxfam and Cancer Research are both excellent.

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Shopping The Japanese Home is the absolute best. They’ve evolved from just selling knives to becoming a cookware and kitchen gadget emporium, with the most unbelievable selection of topquality gadgets and cooking utensils – things like indoor charcoal grills and wonderful pepper grinders and pestle and mortars. I could have one of everything in that shop.

Culture I have a friend whose wife is a pianist, and whenever she is at Wigmore Hall, I go to see her perform there. It’s such a beautiful place.

MY PERFECT DAY

Pre-dinner drinks I always try to feature Le Vieux Comptoir on my Marylebone tours, and hope to include it in the one I am offering for the Food Festival.

I call it the secret subterranean champagne bar: it’s so easy to miss, tucked away as it is on Moxon Street, but the owner Laurent is the host with the most, and he has wonderful taste in champagne. He has a delicious house champagne, and house rosé champagne as well as lesser-known brands that are just as good as any of the top players in the champagne world. His wife is responsible for the interior design, The Conran Shop Opposite top: La Brasseria Opposite bottom: Paddington Street Gardens

59 — MARYLEBONE JOURNAL / ISSUE NO. 94

and each room has its own character and a lovely feel. You feel you’ve been invited into their home.

Eating out The best restaurant I have been to for a long time anywhere, not just in Marylebone, is Jikoni. I think Ravinder is an absolute superstar – and when people ask me what my favourite restaurant is, that’s the one I name first. Ravinder was born in Kenya to Indian parents but raised in London, so the food reflects that immigrant and local culture: Asian, African and British, wrapped into a unique cuisine that is all it’s own.

Eating in One of my favourite London shops has to be Greenfields on Crawford Street. It’s run by an Egyptian family, and it sells the most wonderful selection of north African and Middle Eastern ingredients – I particularly love their flatbreads, and they do this amazing ‘spicy yoghurt’: a thick Lebanese-style yoghurt with garlic, nigella seeds and fenugreek that is totally addictive.

I always grab a pot of that when I am down there. Then there’s Totally Swedish, a few doors down, which has some unique Scandinavian ingredients.

020 7486 6711

A unique personal service in interior design The largest stockists of Flamant furniture in the UK Bespoke rental packages for staging homes for sale or rental We offer free local home visits by our design team Visit our showroom at 108-111 Crawford Street, Marylebone, W1H 2JA Monday to Saturday 10am-6pm www.mcglashansinteriors.co.uk follow us on Instagram @mcglashansinteriors 108 Crawford Street, London W1H 2JA

www.mcglashansinteriors.co.uk

Executive Property Specialists 020 7486 6711

sales@mcglashans.co.uk / lettings@mcglashans.co.uk

Montagu Square, Marylebone W1H £1,395pw / £6,045 pcm A beautiful recently refurbished apartment. Living room with dining area, eat-in kitchen, 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms (1 en suite), use of private garden square (fees apply), lift, EPC - D, Council Tax Band - G, Security Deposit £9,000

Bryanston Square, Marylebone W1H £1,500pw / £9,000pcm A rarely available flat on the first floor of a prestigious purpose-built block. Living/dining room, 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, guest cloakroom, use of private garden square (fees apply), underground parking, EPC - C, Council Tax Band - H, Security Deposit £9,000

Chiltern Street, Marylebone W1U £1,725pw / £7,475pcm A stunning 1st floor flat refurbished in an amazing contemporary style.

Open plan living/dining/kitchen room, 3 bedrooms all en suite, guest cloakroom, 24hr porters, lift, residents gym (fees apply), EPC – C, Council Tax Band - G, Security Deposit £10,350

107 Crawford Street, London W1H 2JA

www.mcglashans.co.uk For Tenancy Info please refer to the website

Marylebone’s finest collection of prestigious homes for let, superbly located on Blandford Street W1

In the epicentre of Marylebone Village, The Marlo is designed by award-winning studio Barbara Weiss Architects.

Comprising of 31 carefully curated apartments, The Marlo is a boutique oasis in the heart of Marylebone Village.

With its elegant reception, quiet seating area and private landscaped garden, The Marlo offers all the home comforts with hotel-style service and concierge reception. The rent includes high speed wifi, Bluetooth sound in the garden, and safe and secure bike storage.

020 7935 6535 w1lettings@druce.com

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Apartments are available furnished and unfurnished and are ready for immediate long-term let.

J J & Co

Jeremy James and Company

40 Years’ Experience in Marylebone Village

Jeremy James and Company

MARYLEBONE STREET, LONDON W1 This three bedroom apartment is for sale in the heart of Marylebone Village.

The apartment extends to approximately 804 sq ft (75 sq m) and comprises of entrance hall, reception room, three bedrooms, two bathrooms (one en suite), and kitchen. The building benefits from a delightful communal garden, onsite caretaker and recently refurbished passenger lift.

The apartment is situated moments from Marylebone High Street with its superb range of prestigious boutiques, bars, cafes and restaurants. Regent’s Park and Baker Street stations are in close proximity, and the green open spaces of Regent’s Park are also nearby.

LEASEHOLD; £825,000

DEVONSHIRE PLACE, LONDON W1 Recently refurbished spacious three double-bedroom maisonette, set over the third and fourth floors of this attractive converted Georgian Townhouse and situated in the heart of Marylebone Village.

The apartment extends to approximately 1,954 sq ft (181.53 sq m). Benefitting from wood floors throughout, a spacious master bedroom with a walk-in wardrobe and en-suite bathroom, two further double bedrooms and two shower rooms, an impressive open plan kitchen and reception room offering a fabulous entertaining space.

£1,650 PER WEEK

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U O ND FF E ER R

carterjonas.co.uk

WINSLEY COURT Marylebone W1B

Recently redecorated, this furnished apartment is located within a sought-after portered building on the prestigious Portland Place in Marylebone.

2 bedrooms • Reception room • 2 bathrooms • Ground floor apartment • Concierge • Approximately 908 sq ft

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Join us for

Sat

18 JUNE Sun

19 JUNE

FILM NIGHT Outdoor cinema – Bohemian Rhapsody Live music, food stalls and festival bar hosted by 108 Brasserie.

Tickets on sale now!

Street party Live tennis screening, entertainment & music, food, drink & shopping stalls, sports & wellness activities, children’s zone, ferris wheel & rides, farmers’ market and community dog show. Special guest appearance!

Visit MaryleboneVillage.com for more information MaryleboneVillage

MaryleboneVillage

MaryleboneVllge

This is a charitable event organised and funded by The Howard de Walden Estate in aid of Greenhouse Sports