CODE Quarterly CODE Quarterly | Issue 6

Transcription

Issue 6
Spring 2016
Q u a r t e r l y
The eyes & ears of the hospitality industry
Alan Yau | Global round-up | On the rocks | Coffee culture | Last orders | Destination CODE: Amsterdam
Distributed by hand to the best restaurants, hotels, bars and private members’ clubs | codehospitality.co.uk
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Enquiries: joel.defries@ourvodka.com / ourvodka.com/ourlondon
Please enjoy our/london responsibly
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Exporting excellence
W
hat brands do you think of when it comes
to exceptional quality, design and customer
service? Is it the high street retailers from Japan
- such as Uniqlo and Muji - with their practical
products and polite, attentive staff? Or is it a favourite
airline, a certain brand of handwash, a preferred hotel
operator or the choice of gin that you would rather make
your martini with?
I ask this because it’s unlikely that anyone would mention a
restaurant when propositioned with this question. But what
about Soho House, for example? Nick Jones sent out an
email to Soho House members recently outlining the future
openings for his global private clubs. The group will open
eight Houses across three continents - including their first
House in Asia, with the launch of Soho House Mumbai over the next 24 months. Surely Jones’s ever growing global
empire should get a look-in? Or how about Hawksmoor?
It’s no mean feat taking a steak restaurant to Manhattan but
Will Beckett, Huw Gott and Richard Turner are well placed
to give it a go. These are two examples of British hospitality
at its best and some of the finest in the world. We should be
championing the fact that many of our home-grown talents are
now ‘exporting’ their great brands to other parts of the world.
2016 has already seen us visit New York, Bangkok, Hong
Kong, Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Madrid and Stockholm to
check out what’s happening around the world when it comes
to food and drink. We now live in a far more connected,
and in a way, smaller world. A restaurant opening in a far
and distant land is more accessible than it used to be - both
in terms of physically going to eat there but also the sort of
media attention it gets - as well as exposure on social media.
Following certain chefs from different parts of the globe on
Instagram immediately draws you into their own culinary
world for a few seconds, whether it’s in Lima or Lausanne.
We’re always looking to report on the latest industry news
from around the globe, as well as connect the industry
with the leading global restaurant cities. You’ll find a new
feature in this issue of the Quarterly, where we’ve asked
some of our well-travelled friends at CODE to tell us what’s
happening in some of the most exciting international
restaurant cities including Los Angeles, Bangkok and
Sydney (p.10).
With my consultancy hat on, we regularly speak to
international operators who are looking to open in London
- and regardless of their concept, brand and product - one
of the first things we discuss is their commitment to opening
in a foreign city. There’s been some great examples of
restaurants coming to London and thinking the streets are
paved with gold. Different cultures, clientele and the lack of
familiar faces can be a recipe for disaster if you haven’t done
your homework. This is why Greg Marchand of Frenchie
deserves a special mention. The chef has upped sticks leaving his family back in the French capital - to open the
London outpost of his Paris restaurant. His commitment
to the Covent Garden restaurant is not only admirable but
also the reason why he won’t follow in the footsteps of other
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international chefs who made one appearance in the kitchen,
to only then return to give the keys back to the landlord.
2016 may be the year when the industry starts to correct itself
with some of the weaker offerings and operators dropping by
the wayside. But in the West End - despite the recent news
that certain Michelin restaurants are shutting up shop to
relocate to more affordable areas - the market is still hot. At
the end of last year, Alan Yau opened his newest restaurant
Park Chinois on Berkeley Street, Mayfair. I sat down to
interview him on his career in restaurants, his latest projects
and what he next has his eye on in the food world (p 7).
Recently appointed editor Callum Edge has taken a dive
into the world of caviar and how its perception as a luxury
food is slowly changing (p. 13). He also takes a dip into the
drinks arena, taking a look at what bars are doing when
it comes to the tricky act of balancing hospitality and
sustainability (p. 14). Staying in the world of drinks, I discuss
coffee culture with Paul Kelly of La Marzocco, David
Abrahamovitch of Grind & Co. and Dan Thompson of
Soho House (p. 21).
Our essay section is growing with every issue and we have
articles from James Lewis, Anna Sulan Masing and Zeren
Wilson. Lewis looks at the issue of no-shows in restaurants
and how to deal with them (p. 25), while Masing discusses the
importance of matching front of house careers with those
of chefs when it comes to perception and status (p. 26). Our
good friend and wine aficionado Zeren Wilson has penned a
wonderful piece on wine epiphany - a must read (p. 27).
As we grow The CODE app in the UK, we’re focusing
a lot more of our time in great restaurant cities such as
Manchester, Bristol and Brighton, which now all have a
presence on the app. CODE’s Daniel Reynolds has done a
round up of the best places to eat in Bristol (p. 28), and also
ventured to Amsterdam for the latest Destination CODE.
The king of sandwiches Max Halley has done a great postshift recipe for us (p. 31) and we have the usual fun features
from The Dumbwaiter.
Finally, we’re still on the hunt for a reliable pair of hands to
help us out with CODE New York.
As ever, questions and comments can be sent to me at:
adam@codehospitality.co.uk
Adam Hyman
Founder, CODE
@AdamMHyman
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Contents
07
10
13
14
16
17
18
21
25
26
27
28
29
29
31
32
33
34
CODE in conversation with... Alan Yau
The global round-up
Surge in sturgeon
On the rocks
Basque Culinary World Prize
CODE in conversation with... Charlotte Edgecombe
Menu art
The ‘no-show‘ must go on
The waiting game
The wine epiphany
Brizzle kicks
The Kitchen Shrink
What’s hot. What’s not
Last orders
Are you being served?
Guess the cruets
Destination CODE: Amsterdam
Front cover: Gastro 1/6, Bangkok, Thailand
Editor-in-chief
Adam Hyman
Editor
Callum Edge
Creative director
Aleksandar Taralezhkov
Contributors
Kate Atkins
Stefanie Crockford
Charlie Hall
Max Halley
James Lewis
Sally Lewis
Anna Sulan Masing
Nathania Messer
Kay Plunkett-Hogge
Daniel Reynolds
Catherine Taylor
Marcel Thoma
Zeren Wilson
CODE
6th Floor
Greener House
66-68 Haymarket
London SW1Y 4RF
Tel: +44 207 104 2007
contact@codehospitality.co.uk
@CODEhospitality
@codehospitality
CODE Quarterly is published four times a year by Nexus CODE Limited, 6th Floor, Greener House, 66-68 Haymarket, London SW1Y 4RF.
Registered no. 07950029 England and Wales. Printed by Buxton Press, Palace Road, Buxton, Derbyshire, SK17 6AE.
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A NEW SERIES BY JOURNEE
Our industry is built upon innovation. Every day, new
products and new produce enter the back doors of
our restaurants, and the kitchen must learn to work
with their unique qualities. Every day, new people
enter the front doors of our restaurants, and the dining room must find special ways to connect with their
unique personalities. All of us—by the very nature of
what we wake up and do each day—are innovators.
WORST. DECISION. EVER.
How did you overcome
the worst decision you’ve ever
made?
—
April 11th & 25th
11 AM EST / 4 PM GMT
Whether you work in fine dining or quick service,
the pass is an essential point of contact. The pass
is where kitchen and dining room, cook and server,
collaborate to make their ideas a reality. The final
juncture before the rest of the world gets to experience what we’ve created.
TRANSITIONS
What is essential if you
want to shift paths without
getting lost?
—
May 9th & 23rd
The pass is that distinct place where we meet.
Journee is a community with a mission to empower
restaurant professionals to take control of their
careers and change the way the industry evolves. Each month, Journee will provide the stage for our
diverse community to present different perspectives
on an important topic. Over the course of
1 hour, we’ll curate 15-minute talks by a number of
different speakers focused on finding solutions for a
single theme.
FAMILY
How can family and career
coexist?
—
June 13th & 27th
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Watch live at
yourjournee.com
Join the NYC Colab to
attend in person:
yourjournee.com/apply
CODE in conversation with...
Alan Yau
Adam Hyman talks to Alan Yau about
his life in restaurants and his plans to
move into food technology.
“I want to do
an “IBM“
- to migrate
from hardware
to software to move from
restaurants to a
food platform.”
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A
lan Yau’s CV reads like a timeline
of some of the most successful
restaurants to have opened in
London: Wagamama in 1992, the
opening of Busaba Eathai in 1999, the launch
of Hakkasan in 2001, followed by Yauatcha in
2004. Not to mention his three latest projects:
Babaji Pide on Shaftesbury Avenue, Duck
& Rice on Berwick Street and Park Chinois
on Mayfair’s Berkeley Street, as well as a
smattering of creative consultancy roles across
the globe in places like Moscow and Monaco.
Yet you scroll all the way back to the first entry
on his CV in 1990 and it reads: McDonald’s
Franchisee training programme. The fast food
chain is arguably the most successful example
of consistency within the food industry across
the globe. Whether you love it or loathe it, a
Big Mac in Geneva will taste the same as a Big
Mac in Adelaide.
The Golden Arches notch on his impressive
career journey reminded me of what Yau said
at the end of our interview when I asked what
his future held. “I want to do an “IBM” - to
migrate from hardware to software: to move
from restaurants to a food platform.”
In a recent FT interview, Yau said that he
is,“tantalised and troubled by the unfinished
business of fast food. I want to move out of
this industry because I can’t really expand.
The amazing thing about digital technology
is that it can hit 50 million people overnight
but change through restaurants is 10 years
minimum.” As he goes on to say, “I want to
disrupt taste from the current, almost analogue
age of critical mass adoption to the millennial
age of credible mass. For the TripAdvisor
generation, it is all about what they ‘like’ rather
than what is ‘good’, even if it is not to their
taste.”
Issue 6 | Spring 2016 | codehospitality.co.uk
Yet this vision seems a long way off from his
latest project, Park Chinois in Mayfair. The
15,200 sq ft, 300-cover site on Berkeley Street
- a couple of doors up from Richard Caring’s
Sexy Fish - has reportedly cost over £20m to
get it off the ground and during my visits - once
for lunch, once for afternoon tea and once for
dinner - it’s clear this project is a labour of love
for the Wagamama founder. Park Chinois is
something that cannot be easily replicated.
Inspired by the French rococo period, Park Chinois
was originally planned to open in the Gramercy
Park hotel in New York a number of years ago. I
ask Yau if the London version had changed from
what was planned for Manhattan. “That’s very
observant of you, you’ve done your research well.
The concept has changed in its totality except
for the design anchor of ‘chinoiserie’. The ‘old
school’ brand philosophy, which the concept sits
under, now drives everything else. The ‘dinner and
dance’ component is also a recent development”,
says Yau.
I mention to him that I’ve always thought there
was a gap in the market for more dinner and
dancing venues in London that are not private
members’ clubs. I suggest something along the
lines of a public Annabel’s or LouLou’s. He
replies by saying, “I think Club Chinois will
be more ‘old school’ compared to Annabel’s, I
hope. Both musically and the feel of the place
will hark back to the glory days of the Cotton
Club in Brooklyn, Buena Vista Social Club in
Havana and the Peace Hotel in Shanghai”.
A few days before interviewing Yau, a wellknown chef with restaurants in Mayfair and
Soho told me that there were plans to open
a more informal restaurant and bar in the
former Automat part of the site on Dover
Street. “You know the space very well”, replies
Yau. “We are looking to turn the old Automat
space into a whisky bar with food coming from
the same kitchen as Salon de Chine.”
Despite creating some of the most famous
restaurant brands in the world, Yau has always
remained low-key when it comes to his public
profile. Show someone in the industry a picture
of him and they would be unlikely to recognise
him. Going back in time, I bring up the topic
of Wagamama. As a restaurant it was so ahead
of its time - communal dining on long tables
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and cuisine that was unknown to Brits. At the
end of last year - the group now owned by
Duke Street Capital - announced they were to
open their first site in the States in New York.
I ask Yau what it was like to open the first
Wagamama.
“I really enjoyed the work in those days”, he
notes. “Apart from being young and naive,
being an owner-operator allows you to sweat
out the problems as well as the successes.
Looking back, those days represent romance
and nostalgia.”
Nine years afters launching Busaba Eathai on
Soho’s Wardour Street in 1999, he sold it to
Phoenix Equity Partners for £21.5m. The sleek
interiors had been created by Christian Liaigre
and David Thompson - for whom Yau has the
utmost respect for his “absolute dedication to
authentic Thai cooking” - created the menu.
In a sense, Yau brought good Thai food to the
masses. I ask him if this is his same mission
for Babaji. He says “it’s not so much about
Alan Yau
trying to bring Turkish cuisine to the masses. I hope
the Babaji proposition is more focused, and my
ambition is to push Pide as a mono-product, with
a similar roll-out model to what Pizza Express did
with pizza.”
“Going forward, both the menu and the spatial
template will be tighter, the unit economics better
defined, and there’ll be a system architecture to
facilitate the roll-out strategy. Lastly, Babaji will
appoint a CEO, to lead the expansion plan”, notes
Yau.
We discuss the future for Duck & Rice and Babaji
and if there’s any plans to open internationally.
“We’re looking to restrict the roll-out ambitions
of Duck & Rice to UK shores. For Babaji, Dubai
is an easy fit in terms of cultural compatibility. It
would create a shop window platform for the GCC
countries. We are also partnering with SSP to place
Babajis into airports globally”, replies Yau.
With both Babaji and Duck & Rice, we’ve seen Yau
take a new direction in design and collaborating
with design studio, Autoban. Set up by Seyhan
Özdemir and Sefer Çaglar in 2003 in Istanbul, the
studio has worked with the likes of Hermès, as well
as local restaurants in the Turkish capital including
Karaköy Lokantasi. The decor, most notably the
tiling, is similar to that of Babaji and Duck Rice.
I ask Yau his reason for choosing to work with this
specific company.
“For me, the two best designer / architects are
Christian Liaigre and John Motford”, says Yau.
French designer Liaigre’s clients include Karl
Lagerfeld, Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein and Rupert
Murdoch. And Motford has created some of
the most iconic hotel interiors in Asia - from the
Grand Hyatt Hong Kong to the Park Hyatt Tokyo,
made famous in the Sofia Coppola film “Lost in
Translation”.
“I like design and I enjoy design. I have a list of
designers and architects whom I like to work
with, but at the same time the way I work is about
choosing and matching the concept to the designer,
as I don’t really believe designers can change their
internal design traits. With Autoban, I really like the
way they can take the design brief to a semantic
level, affecting the FF&E components of the design.
I really admire this level of design coherence”,
notes Yau.
Our topic of conversation turns more generic and
we start to discuss the London restaurant scene. At
the time of writing, there had been a lot of press
about Mayfair restaurants relocating due to high
operational costs - especially rent - and the impact
this will have on the sort of operators opening in
the West End. I ask Yau if he thinks that London is
currently the best restaurant city in the world.
“I’m not sure London is the best restaurant city in
the world in terms of food quality - but certainly in
terms of dynamism of trade, yes. London will always
fall short in terms of the quality of produce, and
an appreciation for a produce-driven culture is still
lacking, compared to say Tokyo or San Sebastián”,
suggests Yau. We touch upon recruitment in the
industry. “It’s very challenging, especially with the
ever-increasing tightening up of working visas for
non-EU nationals. I believe the situation will force
a trend towards Euro-centric cuisines in order to
compensate the cost / quality trade-off”.
For any restaurateur or chef, travelling to discover
new cuisines is so integral to their restaurants
for not only just food but design, concept and
hospitality. For Yau, Japan - bar none - is the most
inspirational place he has visited in terms of food
and hospitality. “Not just for the cooking or specific
type of cuisine, but for their cultural appreciation
of quality: quality of produce, quality of cooking,
in line with the seasons (shun), and the aspirational
attitude towards learning that chefs have - absolute
post materialism”, says Yau.
Taking in everything Yau has spoken about,
especially the sort of language he uses, it’s clear
that he’s not just your ordinary restaurateur who
is content with opening a restaurant. It strikes me
that he is constantly searching to improve what he
does - always tweaking things - that not only benefit
his restaurant but hopefully the industry as a whole.
When you think of the Danny Meyers and Jeremy
Kings of the world - they are the best at what they
do because they constantly strive for perfection and
flip an idea on its head. You ask ten people the same
question and you’ll get nine identical answers apart
from Meyer and King who will look at a situation in
a different way. I sense Yau is the same.
But something doesn’t sit right with me and I can’t
quite place my finger on it. I’m not saying that
Yau doesn’t enjoy what he does now but he seems
to remember the Wagamama and Hakkasan days
with such fondness and nostalgia, as though his
current projects are like a second marriage but he’s
still in love with his first wife. The wedding, the
honeymoon, the anniversaries are not the same the
second time around.
I only later discover that after falling ill in early
2009, Yau flew to Thailand and trained to become
a monk for eight months. I’m told this takes time,
commitment and forgoing many of life’s pleasures.
Much like being a restaurateur.
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Adam Hyman
@AdamMHyman
The global round-up
New York
London
At CODE we’ll always have a special place in our hearts for New York.
However, the city that never sleeps is finding itself having to compete
more and more now with the restaurant scenes in the likes of LA and
some of the secondary US cities such as Charleston and Birmingham.
Despite rents continuing to rise and skilled staff becoming yet
harder to find, the scene in London is as exciting as it has been for
some time. The lack of affordable space in the centre of town has
meant that restaurateurs have had to eye-up sites further out than
originally intended.
But the scene is still buzzy and there’s no shortage of new openings.
The trend towards healthy fast casual is still leading the charge with
the likes of By Chloe and Superiority Burger. Even Will Guidara and
Daniel Humm of three Michelin star restaurant Eleven Madison Park
are opening their own healthy fast casual place in NoMad.
The latest new openings that are worth mentioning over the past few
months include Le Turtle on the Lower East Side – Taavo Somer and
Carlos Quirarte’s small French bistro with a menu by Greg Proechel.
David Chang is continuing his New York dominance and opened
Momofuku Nishi at the beginning of the year in Chelsea. Chang is
putting his spin on Italian food with his usual funky flavours and
combinations.
Luckily we still have April Bloomfiled and Ken Friedman — the chef
and restaurateur behind the Spotted Pig, the Breslin, and the John Dory
— to kick the healthy fad to the kerb. The unstoppable duo have just
opened Salvation Burger in Midtown’s East Pod 51 hotel. The muchloved Charlie Bird in Soho has opened a sister restaurant on Kenmare
Street. Robert Bohr, Ryan Hardy and Grant Reynolds’s Pasquale Jones
serves pizzas, pastas and Italian wines.
The owners of Estela – currently one of our favourite places in
Manhattan – have opened their second restaurant. Thomas Carter
and Ignacio Mattos’s Café Altro Paradiso has a traditional Italian menu
and although it’s only been open a matter of days at the time of writing
– things are looking positive.
Long-term marketing strategies have, to an extent, been replaced
by short-term social media surges: Instagramers have become the
judge, jury and executioner of the industry, hashtags fuelling the
consumer’s voracious appetite for instant, on-trend data. Whether
this is effective after an initial launch period is yet to be seen.
Wine continues to dominate the drink offering, as seen in
Bloomsbury’s Noble Rot, burgers and fine wine at Lucky Chip
in Dalston, and the ubiquity of Coravin as well as increasingly
affordable mark-ups across the capital. Moreover, wine-led Gallic
imports Les 110 de Taillevent and Frenchie showed previous
operators how to successfully launch in London.
The onslaught of Japanese openings hasn’t failed to cease –
Sosharu, Jidori, Tokimeite, Ichiryu to name just a few of the latest.
And we’re also seeing our fair share of high profile pop-ups, with
Albert Adrià’s residency at Hotel Café Royal presumably starting
a trend for big names to cash in on the rise of gastro-tourism.
Conversations are peppered with rumours of numerous closures
and relocations over the coming months, already witnessed in
the increase of fast casual and regional dining operations, which
makes this a very interesting, if unnerving time.
Callum Edge
CODE
Adam Hyman
CODE
Paris
Los Angeles
For as long as we can remember, New York has always been the
number one city when it comes to dining in North America. However,
Los Angeles seems to have stolen the Big Apple’s limelight recently. In
between his constant travelling across the States in search of the best
restaurants, we spoke to Bill Addison, Eater’s restaurant editor, to get
his thoughts on the city of angel’s restaurant scene.
“Having traveled to 45 American cities in 2015, I feel confident in
saying that Los Angeles is the most exciting place to eat in the U.S.
right now. California has for decades been a cultural hub for ingredient
worship and free expression, in cooking and beyond. It’s truer than
ever in L.A. Many chefs who have worked in fine dining or learned in
tradition-minded kitchens have struck out on their own, often in tiny
spaces, taking the idea of the culinary atelier to the extreme.”
And here are some of Addison’s highlights after his latest visit to LA.
“Baroo inhabits a tiny space in a rundown Hollywood shopping
center, but South Korean native Kwang Uh is turning out some of
the city’s most fascinating food. He riffs off his heritage with dishes
like pineapple kimchi fried rice with egg but also rolls out gorgeous
pastas. At Ricebar downtown, Charles Olalia similarly looks to his
Filipino background, serving tangy, garlicky homemade sausages and
grain bowls built upon sun-dried red rice grown in the Philippines.
For a modern French bistro experience in Southern California, head
to 21-seat Petit Trois behind a petrol station for Ludo Lefebvre’s
perfect rolled omelet and over-the-top croque madame. (His double
cheeseburger with garlic aioli, caramelized onions, and sauce
bordelaise is also my favorite burger in the country at the moment.)”
“Looking instead for a sweeping, dramatic, quintessentially American
dining experience? Head to Santa Monica, then, for Cassia, a
whopper of a space sleek with tiles, concrete, and clean lines. Brian
Ng’s tour of Asian flavors — Vietnamese pot au feu, silky beef
rendang, and lamb breast crusted with Sichuan peppercorns and
cumin — tastes exactly of the moment.”
Adam Hyman
CODE
-10-
A food scene organised around Paris’s twenty
arrondissements; each area is expanding based on the
culture its history has dictated. With the eleventh taking
responsibility for the growth of Parisian bistronomie and
the tenth laying claim to the original mixologists, it is the
city as a whole who will hope to gain from this golden age.
Those already established institutions such as Le Comptoir
du Relais are expanding sideways and following the likes
of Greg Marchand’s Frenchie and Bertrand Grébaut
of Septime by opening a sister bar au vin in a way only
French architecture allows.
Retaining the beauty and history of a city steeped in
nostalgia these bistros house themselves down cobbled
streets producing a wildly expansive cuisine. Marketed
almost entirely by bloggers and Instagramers alike you’ll
find little more than a homepage on Google for many
of the highly sought-after tables. However, it has become
‘LeFooding’s’ online phone app that dictates a diner’s next
move, serving as a food bible to all who subscribe.
With restaurants such as Bones re-opening its door under
the new witty guise as “Jones”, and Simone Tondo of
what once was Roseval opening his next venture this
summer, Paris seems to have met with a new generation
of young, tattooed, well-travelled chefs intent on seizing
the opportunity to innovate.
A city still in the shadow of the November 2015 attacks,
a proud food nation has turned to the values that always
defined it, offering an increasingly diverse restaurant
scene. I might even go as far as to say I don’t think Paris
has ever eaten better.
Stephanie Crockford
Restaurant Manager, Salt, Paris
Copenhagen
Hong Kong
The birthplace of New Nordic Cuisine, Copenhagen
remains the “it” city for the Scandinavian restaurant
scene. Noma, the city’s spiritual leader, is temporarily
closed while the team immerse themselves in warmer
climes. In its place has sprung up another achingly
cool, sustainable restaurant, “108”. This is Redzepi’s
latest project that opens permanently in the summer.
At the end of the 2016, Noma takes another step
forward moving its premises to develop an “urban
farm” within its restaurant complex.
The JIA Group, who run some of the
best restaurants in Hong Kong including
Duddell’s, CHACHAWAN and partner with
Jason Atherton, have opened a new seafood
restaurant. Yenn Wong and chef David Lai’s
Fish School gives local seafood a twist. The
co-founders of Black Sheep Restaurants,
Christopher Mark and Syed Asim Hussain,
have collaborated with Vietnamese-Australian
chef Bao La to open Le Garçon Saigon in the
Wan Chai neighbourhood. The restaurant
focuses on southern Vietnamese cuisine
– which is much fresher and sweeter with
French influences passed down from their
colonial heritage. And Bisque Lobster and
Champagne – a new American/Canadian
seafood restaurant that specialises in East Coast
Canadian lobster and grower champagne in
Lan Kwai Fong.
For so compact a city, new openings abound as legions
of international chefs graduate from Copenhagen’s
globally renowned institutions. Despite deep
Scandinavian roots, many kitchens have an unusually
international feel, young chefs migrating to this
culinary hotspot. Restaurant Taller provides a new
Venezuelan twist and Hija de Sanchez roll out tortillas
from their Mexican shack in the Torvehallerne
market.
Sustainability is firmly embedded as the norm
throughout eating establishments and wine lists stock
almost exclusively organic and biodynamic wines.
Recently Christian Puglesi’s Relae was awarded
Sustainable Restaurant of the Year with 90% of his
ingredients certified organic, and MAD informs the
rest of the world through its sustainability symposia
held annually in the city.
If it’s a cool bar you’re after, then the 1950’s
style Fox Glove on Duddell Street is excellent.
The old classics are still as good as ever such as
China Club, SEVVA, Mandarin Grill and, of
course, Café Gray Deluxe.
Marcel Thoma
General Manager, The Upper House, Hong Kong
Michelin returned this year, notably granting
Geranium its third star, the first restaurant in the
Nordic region (along with Maaemo in Oslo) to receive
such an accolade – both deservedly so. Copenhagen
gained four starred restaurants, bringing its total to
twenty stars over sixteen establishments. The city
continues its track record as a trendsetter: expect more
great things.
Sydney &
Melbourne
It is now a Dane-free zone in
Australia and while the Noma
affect will filter through menus for
a while to come (think indigenous
ingredients) there is a lot going on
that doesn’t require a degustation or
all-natural wine list. Or fried chicken,
burgers or soft serve ice cream…
Sydney’s CBD continues to boom
with old school operators like Mike
McInerney and Guillaume Brahimi
opening eponymous venues midyear, plus new restaurateurs like the
Swillhouse Group doing French
sharing plates at Restaurant Hubert.
The fringe ‘burbs of Paddington
and Surry Hills are also gearing
up for more with Danielle Alvarez
opening Fred’s on Oxford Street and
later in the year Melbourne import
Chin Chin making its big debut
in the Griffith Tea building. Of
course, there’s plenty still to open at
the Barangaroo precinct, including
the Bentley boys doing seafood in
Noma’s old digs.
In Melbourne they are doing what
they always do well – smashing
bars and bistros – French Saloon,
Miriam, Ember and Bar Liberty the
latest to open, with Oter soon to join
them. All have serious food and wine
pedigree.
Charlie Hall
CODE
Stokehouse (version 3.0) will land
later in the year on the beach in St
Kilda giving the southern suburbs
something to talk about. In the
meantime, ex- Attica alumni Peter
Gunn is opening IDES and hoping
to breathe some life into Smith
Street, Collingwood.
Sally Lewis
Sometime PR and @fourpillarsgin
Bangkok
Bangkok has long been an international city. Even in the 60s and 70s, when I grew up, there was a
plethora of French, Italian, German, Thai (of course) and American-style restaurants. After all, it is a
port city and it has always welcomed weary travellers to its bosom.
In recent years the city has taken on an even richer culinary mantle. There is always the street food
— Bangkok’s beating heart — but now, alongside it, there is a dazzling array of high-end restaurants
redefining Thai food, such as the Issaya Siamese Club, where chef Ian Kittichai fuses French
technique with traditional Thai ingredients.
Never Ending Summer, David Thompson’s Nahm, and Dylan Jones and Bo Songvisava’s bo.lan
reach back into Thailand’s rich culinary heritage for authentic and traditional recipes, the latter two
having won Asia’s 50 Best in the past few years, an honour now bestowed (for the second year running)
upon Gaggan, the Indian molecular gastronomy restaurant that has taken Bangkok by storm.
Bangkok has also as of this year become the host city to Asia’s 50 Best, establishing it as South East
Asia’s culinary capital.
Every day sees new restaurants, bars and hotels opening, confident that the market is sustainable, and
they sit comfortably alongside old favourites like Soi Polo Fried Chicken, Khaotom Chiaocha, Pa Or
and Ruen Urai. For Bangkok is a city where innovation and tradition complement each other, the
ancient and modern yin and yang as apparent in its architecture as its menus.
Kay Plunkett-Hogge
Food & drink writer born and raised in Thailand –
her latest book HEAT: Cooking with Chillies (Quercus) is out in May
Illustrations by Nathania Messer
-11-
what does your table
say about you?
your personal Steelite supplier
01264 33 44 75
-12-
From Huso Huso to Huso Daruricus. Caviar’s
enjoying a recent surge in popularity in
restaurants, reports Callum Edge.
O
nce regarded as cheap peasant
food – served with porridge
and eaten by the bowlful – from
the sixteenth century onwards
caviar came to be the centrepiece to the
Russian Tsars’ table. Nowadays, the status of
sturgeon roe as the ultimate delicacy arguably
surpasses even lobster, foie gras, and oysters, as
suggested by its other name: black gold. After
a decline in popularity that coincided with
worldwide economic difficulties, caviar is now
once again back on the menu.
During the nineties, stocks nearly ran out.
Widespread overfishing and unsustainable
production methods resulted in a ban on
catching sturgeon and the fish was labelled
as endangered. The World Wildlife Fund
estimated that around ten times more
sturgeon was caught illegally according to
quotas set to protect the fish. As such, in the
black market that arose many thousands
of tins of questionably produced roe were
exchanged for vast sums of cash. With
criminal gangs trying to get in on the action,
the already dwindling population was just
steps from extinction. This has resulted
in most of the world’s caviar now being
produced from farmed sturgeon.
The last twenty years has seen an increased
focus on sustainability and localism in food
circles. The British public have finally woken
up to the fact that the potential to grow
high quality, seasonal produce in the UK is
huge, and the “farm to fork” movement has
encouraged enterprising individuals to set up
all manner of business here.
at Fortnum & Mason’s new 45 Jermyn
Street with baked potato and scrambled
egg. In addition, chefs including Simon
Rogan (L’Enclume), Claude Bosi (Hibiscus),
and Brett Graham (The Ledbury) have
experimented with ways to introduce locally
produced caviar into dishes whilst being
affordable for the diner.
Caviar is traditionally eaten for an occasion.
Old school glamour has had a recent
resurgence in London’s restaurant scene,
with punters opting to spend their wares
on the theatricalities of eating out, rather
than the theatricalities of, well, the theatre.
Champagne, truffles, and – of course
– caviar are now the hot tickets in town:
classically served (that is, with blinis and sour
cream) at the likes of Bob Bob Ricard and
Wiltons; as a seven course tasting menu at M
Restaurants; or prepared via trolley tableside
This newfound appetite has crept into the
supermarket as well. Sales of caviar
have risen by 50 per cent at Waitrose
in the last year because shoppers are
dolloping it on burgers and pizza,
the retailer claims. Gourmet House
Caviar is trying to make caviar a ‘less
exclusive’ food and more accessible
to customers who buy it from them.
“Certain farmed caviars are really
excellent value. Consumers should not
be scared of caviar, on our website we
-13-
But with such increase in popularity, there
has been a rise in unorthodox production
methods and illegal farming, so it’s worth
to buy only from licensed suppliers. A
common way to sell fake black caviar, for
instance, is to use dyed eggs from Japanese
fish, which look similar, but have a very
different aroma and taste.
When it comes to serving, consumers should
be aware that eggs often vary in colour, from
grey to inky black, but should be uniform
in size. When upturning the tin (which
should have all seals intact and identification
numbers present), the caviar should not
move, nor should the roe seem soupy or
gritty. Standard practice sees the tin served
on ice, dipped into only with a mother of
pearl spoon, so as not to introduce a metallic
taste that comes from silverware. Whilst
champagne is a popular pairing, a chaser of
vodka opens up the flavour and prepares the
palate for the next bite – a process very easily
repeated ad infinitum…
Callum Edge
@EdgeAndSpoon
Exmoor Caviar, the only caviar farm in
the UK, is a Devon-based operation that
started in 2009 with an aim to producing
the highest quality, sustainable English
caviar. Founder Ken Benning began by
importing sturgeon, which live on freshwater
direct from the River Mole. Roe is ethically
extracted once the fish reach maturity from
around six years and upwards, before being
salted with Cornish sea salt and packed
for transportation to London. The process
follows a strict traceability protocol: each tin
has a unique number that provides details of
the exact fish the caviar came from and the
farm at which it was raised.
Over recent years there has been an increase
in hybrid caviar from China twinned
with dwindling supplies from traditional
markets. China’s caviar exports to the
European Union have risen from $1.2
million in 2007 to $5.3 million in 2010.
Pricing is also another reason why Chinese
caviar is finding favour with European
chefs, as it’s around three times cheaper
than Beluga. Matt Du Cann of Gourmet
House Caviar says, “some of the leading
chefs in the world are now using Chinese
caviar due to the excellent and ever
rising quality and the very reasonable
comparative prices. If quality maintains or
even builds then China could be the next
big purveyor of caviar in the future.”
have Royal Baeri for sale at £27 for 30
grams”, notes Du Cann.
On the rocks
CODE’s Callum Edge discusses sustainability in the drinks
industry and takes a closer look at those helping to raise the bar.
Whilst most people are happy to do their
bit for Mother Earth, it would be hard
to argue that planet-friendly living is
fun. Sustainability is not sexy. The Devil
wears Prada, not hemp. Furthermore, the
environmental position sits uncomfortably
with the main tenets of hospitality:
generosity, comfort, and kindness.
A bar provides differing ideals of what
people want when they come in for a
drink: an office party, a first date, some
Dutch courage, a quiet chat, and so on.
But rarely in these circumstances does
one think about being green – instead,
it is speed and quality that are arguably
the most important considerations for
both sides of the bar. Finding ways to
balance bacchanalia with a long-term
environmental outlook is the modern
challenge for our industry.
It’s long been an area in which restaurants
have been way ahead. Fergus Henderson’s
nose-to-tail philosophy has now been
in full swing for some time: offal is in;
prudishness is out. Everything from bread
to butchery is done in house. Lesser-known
cuts are favoured because, in Henderson’s
words, “it would be rude not to use the
whole animal”. Things are grown in pots
on site. Seasonal and sustainable cooking
has become a mantra that has made the
inedible edible, and when done well (such
as at St JOHN, Lyle’s, and The Dairy) it
has not detracted from the purpose of a
restaurant: being a restorative.
The typical bar, on the other hand, is not
the greatest advert for sustainability. Glass
bottles spew out of a groaning bin bag.
Another paper napkin, sir? A few more
plastic straws in your daiquiri, madam?
Who needs a breathalyser when the
discarded lemon peel tells police all they
need to know. The Beverage Industry
Environmental Roundtable (BIER)
estimates that the average 750ml bottle
of spirit has a 3kg carbon footprint,
which is the same as six large exercise
balls full of carbon dioxide floating up
into the atmosphere. And that’s before
the product even gets into the hands of
the bartender: BIER estimates that a
cocktail, on average, consumes up to two
litres of water. So what’s being done to
counter this?
Ryan Chetiyawardana is the name on
everyone’s lips for sustainable bartending:
his revolutionary approach to cocktail
making (no perishables, no fruit, and no
ice) saw him open White Lyan in 2013
and Dandelyan at the Mondrian a year
later. With a focus on “closed-loop” recipes
(using ingredients that are traditionally
binned) he, almost by accident, created
a “low waste” bar. Remarkably, the only
outgoing is 24 recyclable glass bottles per
week. But Chetiyawardana has clearly not
sacrificed the bar experience – which is,
let’s face it, to enjoy getting buzzed – for
principles, as he was recently crowned
Best International Bartender of the Year.
Undeniably, both White Lyan and
Dandelyan work in an unusual and
radical manner, led by some of the most
creative and committed people in the
industry. However, an increasing number
of bars have started to employ similar
methods in a drive towards sustainability
and environmentalism.
On the other side of the pond, Eater has
looked into the resurgence of drinks being
made without ice. It harkens back to the
popularity of the scaffa (a mixed drink
stirred in the absence of ice to cool and
-14-
dilute it) during the middle of the 19th
century. This was a time in which ice was
harvested from frozen lakes in giant blocks
and then transported at considerable
expense. The resulting “boozy, bitter,
and spirit-forward” drinks (served at The
Happiest Hour in NYC, for instance) are
great at showing-off nuanced flavours
and aromas of a single spirit. The skill in
making a scaffa lies in that there is little but
the well-chosen products to hide behind –
bartenders, after all, love a challenge.
As challenging is the issue of open
wine bottles, which need to be stored
appropriately overnight. Anything
that has become oxidised cannot be
poured to the customer and, whilst the
kitchen is able to use some, much is
recorded as waste product and poured
down the drain.
Bar offers on The CODE app include:
The Worship Street
Whistling Shop
Mon - Sat
20% off total bill (T&C’s apply)
The Shrub & Shutter
Sun, Tues & Wed
25% off drinks (T&C’s apply)
1. The Happiest Hour,
New York
2. Dandelyan at the
Mondrian, London
3. Ryan Chetiyawardana
4.Cocktail at Sager + Wilde
5.White Lyan, Hoxton
Nathan O’Neill, a former colleague of
Chetiyawardana, is creator of Un-usable
Re-usable, a project through which he
researches how best to utilise waste for the
bar industry. After much trial and error
(the full extent of which can be read on
René Redzepi’s MadFeed), he concluded
that the best period of time for using
oxidised wines is around five days at room
temperature when it starts to become
acidic and the aroma begins to sour. He
ended up pairing a soft and fruity red with
Knob Creek Bourbon and the juice of a
whole, skinned lemon.
When preparing the cocktail, he shows the
oxidised wine to the guest as it is poured
from the bottle. He walks the guest through
each step, letting them taste the liquid at
different stages in order to understand
the process. The most important element,
however, is that the finished product is
precisely the way it has been described.
The end result is surprisingly complex: the
structure of the wine still comes through in
the drink, as it takes on an almost dessert
wine feel in the mouth. For O’Neill, the
project proved conclusively the endless
possibility of waste.
The equipment and techniques that have
crept into modern kitchens somewhat handin-hand with the drive to be sustainable
– centrifuges, sous-vide machines, liquid
nitrogen, pickling, brining, and infusing –
are being seen increasingly in bars due to
their ability to develop or preserve intense
flavour combinations. For example, lemon
peel can be candied for future garnishes
and spirits can be infused with leftover odds
and ends. However, there are, of course,
difficulties in producing a seasonal cocktail
menu in the UK.
The use of blackberries that take over
hedgerows come late summer is limited
to the time when they are ripened
locally and at their finest, and the menu
would have to be swiftly changed when
production returns to South America –
which is the case for the majority of our
fruit. And much of the produce we grow
(e.g. root vegetables, alliums, legumes,
brassicas) doesn’t naturally lend itself to a
bar program. Even though there is much
to be said about limiting oneself to inspire
creativity, a leek martini might require
some serious convincing.
Finally, it is the spirits themselves that
impact the environment in one of the
most devastating ways, both through the
harvest of agricultural crops and the waste
products generated during distillation.
Slash-and-burn farming techniques;
Mark’s Bar at the Old Vic
Mon - Sat
30% off cocktails (T&C’s apply)
the rise of genetic modification; and
widespread over-farming have all done
irreversible damage. Investing in practices
that better balance agricultural cycles
with production will improve things in
the long run, as opposed to decimating
current stocks. And as Bobby Heugel
(PunchDrink) has written, an industry
that prides itself on hospitality should be
at least conscious of the millions of lives
that are touched by brands a bar carries.
Clearly something needs to be addressed
with regards to bar waste. The true
difficulty is bridging the gap between
ethical responsibilities and providing
the best hospitality. However, it is
encouraging to see it is an area that has
been touched upon increasingly by a
brave few. Whilst sustainability isn’t an
all-or-nothing proposition, it can, in
many instances, make long-term sense.
As well as encouraging a more globally
conscious approach to drinking, the
benefits of speed, control of portion sizes,
and the ability to drive additional sales –
not to mention reducing costs related to
water, energy, and raw ingredients – are
surely a big draw financially. The likes of
Chetiyawardana are sowing the seeds of
preservation, for both the progression and
protection of the industry.
Callum Edge
@EdgeAndSpoon
-15-
Basque Culinary World Prize
The Basque Culinary Centre has created a new world prize - for the
industry, by the industry - that champions chefs who make a positive
impact to society at large. We explore why the award has been created
and how you can get involved.
“Outside of the restaurant, what hobbies
do you have?”
how a chef makes a positive impact on
society.
“Well, I eat. I visit other chefs. I cook
for my family. I talk about food with my
friends. I go to the market. I try new
wines. I walk in the forest and by the sea.
Everything is connected. The restaurant is
not work. It is my hobby.”
In response to this, the Basque Culinary
Centre (BCC) – a leading academic
institution in San Sebastián that aims to
develop the worldwide culinary sector – is
behind the Basque Culinary World Prize,
which will recognise one exceptional chef
who surpasses their peers in achieving
this positive impact. The scope is vast:
it could be through innovation, social
responsibility, sustainability, health
campaigns, or a project that benefits the
food industry as a whole.
Sound familiar?
I’m sure many of us can relate to this
response given by Elena Arzak to a
somewhat naive journalist – sometimes
our entire lives feel encapsulated by
restaurants. Where will we eat next? Who
will we take? What will we have? The
difference between our professional and
personal lives has become blurred; and
even though some days take their toll, it is
never really work.
As such, it is difficult at times for those
outside of the industry to see the bigger
picture. Indeed, even ‘insiders’ can forget
that the art and science of gastronomy
can be a force for change beyond the
realms of the kitchen and the dining
room. The reach we have is far greater
than we often give ourselves credit for.
After lunch at her London restaurant
Ametsa, Arzak tells me “it’s a shame that
such talent is wasted – there are many
ways to be a professional chef and I want
to promote this reality”.
I also agree with her that there is a need
for a new international award: the many
prominent guides and rankings that
exist do so primarily for the whim of
the consumer. Even a well-known critic
has called them a “grand act of selfdelusional”. Whilst the likes of Michelin
and the World’s 50 Best provide a certain
benchmark for restaurants to aspire to,
they rarely consider the wider question of
The director general of the BCC, Joxe
Mari Aizega, suggests that “although
there will be one overall winner, the
prize is about telling the stories of both
known and unknown chefs from across
the world, and how they contribute.”
Indeed, he believes that “we are doing
this to ‘make allies’ and inspire the next
generation of chefs”.
To be considered for the award, chefs
will have to be nominated by another
professional who is working in the world
of gastronomy. Nominees can be from
anywhere – be it France or Fiji – as long as
they are active in the culinary profession.
Whether someone is nominated once
or a hundred times, their nomination
will be given equal consideration by the
committee. It is an award for the industry,
by the industry.
On top of this, the usual suspects are out.
The world’s most celebrated chefs – and
perhaps the most widely-considered
natural contenders for the award – Ferran
Adrià, Alex Atala, Dan Barber, Heston
Blumenthal, Massimo Bottura, Michel
Bras, Yoshihiro Narisawa, Enrique
Olvera, Réne Redzepi, Joan Roca, among
many others, are on the panel to decide
which of their peers has gone above and
beyond, and cannot win themselves. The
winner will receive €100,000 to devote to
a social project of their choice in line with
criteria set down by the BCC.
This award celebrates what many readers
will call both their industry and their
hobby. It achieves twofold: the drive of
competition that chefs innately seek,
but also the ability to provide access to
real change in the world. It will provoke
educational, societal, and environmental
reform far beyond that which we
experience from the pass.
Yes, we are experiencing a skills shortage.
Yes, we need to think more about kitchen
waste.
Yes, rents are an issue.
But this award has the power to improve
people’s lives and change the outlook on
the whole sector. And it will yield tangible
evidence for ‘outsiders’ that a career in
hospitality is entirely worthwhile.
Who will you vote for?
Nominations close on 30 April and the
result will be announced on 11 July 2016.
basqueculinaryworldprize.com
Callum Edge
@EdgeAndSpoon
Charlotte Edgecombe
CODE’s Callum Edge met up with Bonhams’ head
sommelier Charlotte Edgecombe to discuss how she got
hooked on hospitality and what skills a sommelier needs to
cut it in today’s industry.
Although becoming less common,
we agree that the days of the old
school, somewhat sinister sommelier is
numbered. “If customers feel a wine
is corked, you do not make a point of
it – you just change it for something else.
You shouldn’t overcorrect.” At CODE
we have discussed the recent increase in
women as sommeliers, but it is something
I’m told that actually applies across the
wine trade in general, from writers to
buyers and producers.
On a similar topic, we touch on the
looming recruitment difficulties that are
currently daring to ruin the industry,
although Edgecombe does not seem to
feel that it’s a big problem or, indeed, that
staff turnover is ever going to change. “So
many people come here on a temporary
basis – the best thing employers can do is
offer as much training as possible.”
It seems fitting that Bonhams Restaurant
should be housed in an auctioneers, a
place that solely exists for those in the
know to find hidden gems. The venue
makes sense: the airy, understated room,
which overlooks the evocatively named
“Haunch of Venison Yard”, is the ideal
location for prospective clients to be
lunched by auction staff before, after, or
even instead of a bidding.
The restaurant, under head chef
Tom Kemble, gained a Michelin star
six months after quietly opening in
February 2015. Kemble’s History of Art
degree and experience at ingredientled restaurants Hedone and Fäviken
seemed to make him the best man
for the job with a menu that does not
betray itself to modish whims. There
is little, if anything by way of smoke
and mirrors here; instead the kitchen
delivers clean, quality cooking – some
even say the finest in the capital.
After working in wine retail at Waitrose
for around four years, Edgecombe
We briefly discuss the increase of tea
appreciation in the UK; after Bibendum,
Edgecombe worked for the next year or
so as a tea buyer for Newby in order to
“use [her] palate in a different way”. She
tells me that there is now more consumer
interest other than in English breakfast
and Earl Grey, with the subtleties of
white and green teas being “more elegant
and refined”. I’m also reminded that tea
and food pairings are finding their way
into the industry at the likes of London’s
Gauthier Soho and Eleven Madison Park
in New York, suggesting this is a field in
which there is enormous potential.
Bonhams’s wine list has garnered much
acclaim from critics and oenophiles,
including Andy Hayler, Will Lyons, and
Tim Atkin. Two Enomatic machines
allow for a good selection by the glass
and an average bottle mark up of
almost two and a half times the retail
price (getting yet fairer moving up the
list) allows a guest’s spend to go further
and for more interesting pairings to be
had. As such, the most important skill a
sommelier needs, Edgecombe suggests, is
being able to read your customer; finding
out what they tend to like and suggesting
something new.
Bonhams has recently only been open
at lunchtimes during the week, although
it now runs a “supper club” (in effect, a
set menu) on Wednesday and Thursday
evenings. I ask Edgecombe if these
relatively sociable hours for the industry
permit her to try wine offerings from
colleagues in neighbouring restaurants.
“Definitely. There are some interesting
things available at 28-50 in Marylebone,
as well as Andrew Edmunds and Covent
Garden’s 10 Cases.”
Edgecombe and Kemble, not to mention
the restaurant itself, are clearly of that
hackneyed phrase “ones to watch”. At
just over a year open, Bonhams has done
what few restaurants set out to achieve in
over a much longer period – the menu
and list evolving each season. But like any
hidden gem, it will not be around forever.
Best to get your bid in early.
Bonhams Restaurant
7 Haunch of Venison Yard
London
W1K 5ES
bonhams.com
Callum Edge
@EdgeAndSpoon
Understandably, there is a degree
of synergy between the auctioneers’
wine department, led by Richard
Harvey MW, and the restaurant’s head
sommelier, Charlotte Edgecombe. The
Vintners’ Cup winner (awarded for the
highest mark in the WSET Diploma),
like Kemble, did not have sights set on
the industry (she studied media arts)
until she “got absorbed in learning
about and tasting wine analytically on
holiday in Bordeaux”.
joined the team at Bibendum as a junior
sommelier where she “got her first taste
of hospitality”, working her way up to
the position of head sommelier before
leaving in 2013. This experience, she
says, “got [her] hooked: to see the first
reactions from customers trying a wine
was amazing”.
-18-
-19-
If the success of your pop-up has
given you a contract headache,
we are good people to have in
your corner.
“They understand hospitality and our need for
quick, pragmatic decisions that suit the business”
- Zuleika Fennell, COO Corbin & King,
November 2015
“We have used Simons Muirhead & Burton for
many years now and rely on their speed, commerciality and impressive understanding of
our industry”
- Sam & Eddie Hart,
Hart Bros Restaurants, February 2016
To speak without obligation to one of our
lawyers specialising in the Hospitality & Leisure sector, contact:
Jo Martin / Simon Goldberg
020 3206 2700
joanna.martin@smab.co.uk
simon.goldberg@smab.co.uk
Simons Muirhead & Burton
8-9 Frith Street, London W1D 3JB
www.smab.co.uk
@smablaw
-20-
Coffee culture
It’s a part of the industry that has
seen massive growth over the past five
years but is so often overlooked. Editor
in chief Adam Hyman sits down with
three coffee experts to discuss coffee
culture and the rise of the flat white.
“...the humble 8oz flat
white cup is the new
fashion accessory and
statement piece.”
-21-
Coffee culture
“A cup of coffee - Nescafé, with lots of milk and
even more sugar. After years of po-faced hipster
coffee, the sweet, thick Nescafé comes like a
mouthful of remembrance. It is the taste of the
south, of the Third, left-behind World.”
This sentence is from AA Gill’s recent review
in the Sunday Times magazine of the refugee
camp café in the Jungle at Calais. I read this
while penning this article and I thought how
well it summed up the journey of coffee over the
past decade. I remember first hearing someone
order a flat white in a coffee shop in Soho,
London. I think I ended up Googling it while I
was in the queue - as I had no idea what had just
been ordered from the barista. I think the most
adventurous I – and your average Londoner
- had got before the flat white was possibly an
espresso macchiato.
Yet now you cannot walk through the streets
of central London without seeing every other
person carrying a takeaway coffee on their way
to the office. And I’m not talking about a giant
Starbucks cup that has their name incorrectly
squiggled on it. Forget the latest clutch or tote
from Net-a-Porter or Mr Porter, the humble 8oz
flat white cup is the new fashion accessory and
statement piece.
We live in world where we prefer to pay more
for a specialist product - be it wine, meat or
coffee. The high street is changing. Although the
likes of Amazon have cannibalised a number
of the shops that used to be the hallmark of
every high street up and down the country,
they’re being replaced by retailers that offer a
bespoke experience, as well as specialist advice:
something that cannot be easily replaced online.
Whether it’s discussing the latest menswear
trends from Tokyo with the exquisitely dressed
team at Trunk Clothiers on Chiltern Street,
restocking your almond hand wash at Dr.
Harris in St James’s or browsing the latest global
magazine titles at Kioskafé in Paddington.
Over the past five years, coffee culture
has taken its grip on London. The lobbies
of boutique hotels across the capital are
no longer just full of travellers with their
Rimowas waiting for a car to take them back
to Heathrow. Locals are cosied up in front of
their MacBooks typing away while sipping
on a coffee. I first encountered this at the Ace
Hotel in New York. I’d never been into a hotel
lobby that reminded me of a media agency the place populated with freelancers wearing
a sharp pair of Moscots and equipped with a
Wordpress blog aiming to take over the world.
They’d all vacate their tiny Manhattan
apartments in the morning for a breath of
fresh air and some inspiration - as well as some
interaction with the baristas at Stumptown
coffee. This is now a common sight in hotel
lobbies across North America, Europe and the
UK. A shift in lifestyle, twinned with a new
appreciation for speciality coffee, has helped
create the coffee culture we now experience.
The lobby of the Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch is
one such example. On a crisp February evening
- the majority of MacBooks had been closed
and slid inside a Porter tote - and the coffees
had been replaced with negronis. I surveyed
this scene as I made my way across the lobby to
meet with three men who are at the leading end
of the speciality coffee scene in London; Paul
Kelly of La Marzocco, David Abrahamovitch
of Grind & Co and Dan Thompson from the
Soho House Group.
As we settle into one of the private rooms –
aptly named the Playroom – at the Hoxton,
Thompson, head of coffee development at
the global group of private members’ clubs,
pulls out his grey iPhone 6 and shows us a clip
from Australia’s 9 News. The presenters are
discussing and ridiculing a café in Melbourne
that has banned customers from speaking on
their phones whilst ordering a coffee. Merrick
Watts from 9 News leads the attack against
the barista. “You’re charging me $3.50 for
something that costs $0.50 to make, so just give
it to me. You’re not doing real work.”
It sadly seems that the perception of being a
barista is no different to that of a waiter in the
restaurant world. But what’s driven this spurt
in the coffee industry over the past five years?
“Coffee is a really nice, cheap and accessible
way to have a luxury experience. For a couple
of quid you can drink something that a lot of
work has gone into”, says Abrahamovitch.
Along with his business partner Kaz James,
Abrahamovitch started Grind & Co five years
ago in a former mobile phone shop on Old
Street roundabout. “We didn’t have a burning
desire to improve coffee”, he says. “We’d
actually even discussed doing something with
Illy back in the day - which shows you how far
coffee has come on in London. I’d inherited
a failing mobile phone shop and Kaz and I
decided to open a coffee shop there.” The duo
now operate six Grind sites around London and
John Ayton, the founder of Links of London, is
a non-executive director.
“We’d experienced great coffee in places like
New York and LA - and with Kaz being from
Melbourne - we wanted to offer the same here in
London, but with less of the attitude associated
with it; such as cutting out the crap with having
a minimum spend on card and being asked a
load of questions by a barista when ordering
your coffee. We wanted to serve good coffee,
quickly, in a friendly environment.”
-22-
Image credit:
Soho House & Co
The likes of Grind & Co and Caravan opening
in the capital have not only given Londoner’s
better access to coffee but has made other
operators - especially restaurants - really focus
on the quality of the coffee they were serving
as customer expectations and knowledge has
greatly improved. A good example of this is
Thompson’s role at Soho House. As head of
coffee development, his role probably wouldn’t
have existed five years ago.
Thompson, a New Zealander, says, “coffee
in the UK has been taken to another level
over the past few years. With the Nordic and
Antipodean influences - I’d almost say we
now have an edge over the coffee market in
Australia and New Zealand.”
Operators are expected to serve a decent cup
of coffee now – it’s what members’ and guests
expect. However, as Thompson goes on to say,
“it’s still very much the case that you get the odd
person who wants the traditional, non-descript
coffee. You can’t win them all.”
As general manager of La Marzocco UK,
Paul Kelly has an important role in the coffee
ecosystem in the UK. The Italian coffee
machine manufacturer has become a stamp
of quality in the growing coffee scene. As
a customer - although it’s not guaranteed
- if you see a shiny looking La Marzocco in
a coffee shop, there’s a perception that the
baristas making your flat white have an idea
of what they’re doing. “We like to establish
a relationship with the coffee shops and
businesses that we work with”, says Kelly.
“People think that a coffee shop is an easy
business but it’s in fact a very difficult one to
run. Good machinery is expensive, as is staff
training. That’s why we’re starting to see growth
opportunities for places like Grind & Co, who
have started to offer food and turn their spaces
into bars in the evening”, notes Kelly.
As someone who spends his week working
closely and travelling to meet with roasters,
baristas and coffee shop owners, Kelly makes
an interesting comparison to coffee culture
and the general public’s attitude to wine in
the 1970’s. “People are starting to get far
more knowledgeable and interested in their
coffee - like they’ve done with their wine. They
want to be able to talk knowledgeably about
it. However, the UK public don’t like being
talked at - they like being spoken to. The coffee
world had started to preach a little and we had
to rein that in.”
front bar - whereby the barista is facing you and
promotes interaction.
We pause for a few minutes as some sharing
plates arrive to help keep our conversation
fuelled. It seemed like an appropriate time to
channel the discussion towards the difficulty
of getting restaurants to take coffee seriously.
Thompson nods and says, “coffee is often looked
at as a secondary or third sale in a restaurant
and is often not deemed important as a wine list
or cocktail list. But a coffee is just as important
as a glass of wine.”
As the evening draws to a close and we finish
off our glasses of Californian zinfandel - I ask
everyone for their views on the future of the
coffee industry.
“It’s harder to get restaurants to take coffee
seriously. It’s still such a small part of their
overall takings - especially if they’re not doing
breakfast. Ultimately restaurants aren’t willing
to investment in equipment and training for
such small turnover.” Kelly interjects. “Staff
move around so much in restaurants, and unless
you have a dedicated head barista to run the
coffee, the product is not consistent and it ends
up costing too much to keep training other
members of staff.”
The Fat Duck - the three Michelin star
restaurant in Berkshire - used to serve Nespresso
coffee because Blumenthal wanted consistency.
Like in all aspects of his restaurant, he was
adamant that the coffee must taste exactly the
same for every customer, which the Nespresso
pods offered. However, since it reopened, the
restaurant now serves different coffee to its
customers. “La Marzocco looks at tools to make
coffee as consistent as possible”, says Kelly.
“Lyle’s is the best example of a restaurant
that takes its food extremely seriously and its
coffee just as seriously, with its international
pour over menu”, adds Thompson. But as
Abrahamovitch notes, “you can give someone
the best coffee ninety-nine times in a row. You
then give them a coffee once that isn’t quite as
good and you’ll hear them complain no-end,
even though it’s a £2.50 product.”
Like any business, especially hospitality, it
seems the coffee world is very much focused
on the consistency of their product. Nobody
wants to go the same coffee shop every day
to get their morning pick-me-up and have a
differing experience throughout the week, be
it the product or hospitality. This is where the
barista seems to play an important part. Not
only is their role about producing an excellent
cup of coffee, they’re there to converse with
the customer.
And it seems retaining baristas is something that
troubles the coffee industry. “It’s so important
to keep your baristas engaged. I employ fifty
baristas and it’s fair to say keeping them at
Grind & Co is challenging - keeping them
happy and constantly learning. When you have
a high barista turnover you lose consistency”,
says Abrahamovitch.
“For me, the best coffee I have is when there’s
interaction with the barista”, notes Kelly. All
three chime up at the same time about front bar
versus back bar serving. It’s something that had
not really clicked with me until they explain. The
high-street coffee shops have their machines on
the back bar - meaning the baristas make your
coffee with their back to you. The independent,
specialist coffee bars put their machines on the
-23-
He goes on to note that, “customers will
very rarely expect to eat chicken that is not
free-range today and customers will expect
the same about coffee that is ethically and
sustainably sourced. We used 35 tonnes of
coffee at Soho House in the UK last year that
was sourced and bought ethically. The effect
it has on the producers is huge. We want to
create a better product for the end user and if
Soho House takes it seriously, then hopefully
other hospitality businesses will too.”
Abrahamovitch narrows in on two areas with
regard to the future of the coffee world. The
Grind & Co co-founder believes that there is still
a huge amount of growth for the coffee market
in the UK, especially in the speciality market.
However, he worries for the small single site
speciality coffee shops that just sell coffee and
only do so during the day. “These are the ones
that are really going to struggle.”
As someone who has built an independent
chain over the past five years, Abrahamovitch
notes that, ”the City is now recognising the
industry as investment potentials. Coffee
shops are on the radar for VC firms and
private equity firms. But they still need to
be run by people with passion and who
understand hospitality.”
Kelly notes that if we were to map out good
coffee in London, we’d see a wider offering across
Zones 2 and 3, as well as the regions due to the
cost of setting up in London. “At La Marzocco,
we notice that the tech side of the industry
is undervalued. There are lots of dedicated
engineers but no new blood coming through.
People have fallen into a dream of being a roaster
as a lifestyle choice, as opposed to wanting to
maybe go into the tech side of things.”
As I jump in my Uber to head back into
the West End for dinner, I’m left with two
resonating thoughts after the chat. The coffee
world is no different to the restaurant world.
The future of it, at least in London, really
comes down to two things: the difficulty
and cost of acquiring sites in London and
the ever-challenging situation of finding and
training baristas.
Adam Hyman
@AdamMHyman
Dan Thompson, Soho House & Co
“If someone told you they were a barista ten
years ago, you’d have thought they worked in
the legal world”, jokes Kelly. As Thompson
believes, “the barista is an important part
of the hospitality industry. They like to be
charismatic. People will go to that coffee shop
because of the barista.”
Thompson notes the rise of the specialist
coffee pods - a new wave of better Nespresso but notes that we’re getting to the stage where
coffee farmers are not getting paid enough
for their product. “There’s not enough reinvestment in these coffee growing regions.
Farmers are starting to give up their businesses
that have been in the family for generations
and instead move to the city to work. I worry
that we’re heading towards a shortage of
decent coffee and there’s no doubt that coffee
is currently too cheap.”
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-24-
The ‘no-show‘ must go on
Gauthier Soho’s James Lewis takes
a closer look at one of the industry’s
biggest bugbears: no-shows.
W
e’ve all heard it many
times before, the little
independent
local
restaurant, surviving on
wafer-thin margins and 18 hour days,
fully booked on a Saturday night only
to find the room half empty with
guests who haven’t turned up.
‘No-shows’ are the scourge of the
industry and singlehandedly power the
most divisive debate in the restaurant
trade in years. But has anyone really
thought about what to do about it?
Let’s look at that dreaded situation.
We’ve all been there, staring at a nicely
set table when the clock ticks fifteen
minutes after the guest is due to arrive.
The horror begins to set in; they’re
not turning up. It hits like a personal
insult, as if your friend hasn’t bothered
to come to your party.
a little deeper and say to themselves,
“Hmm, what on earth led to this?
What safety measures could be put in
place, to prevent this from happening,
or limiting the damage if it did? Why
does this seem to happen a lot at this
place?”
And the grim truth:
‘This restaurant must be someone’s
second or third choice. What kind of
place would people no-show?’
Congratulations, you’ve just presented
yourself as a second choice restaurant.
Even though it might not be true all
of the time, the message you are
broadcasting is clear: yours is the kind
of place people tend to not show up at.
Think about it. From a reputation
marketing point of view, the goal is for
“ No-shows are the scourge of
the industry and singlehandedly
power the most divisive debate in
the restaurant trade in years.”
You feel hurt and a little angry. But
what is the first thing you feel like
doing? Turn to social media to name
and shame, hopefully getting some
supportive retweets and maybe even
filling some of the empty tables in the
process?
Those thoughtless bastards, right?
You give in to temptation: you fire
out an angry tweet bemoaning the
situation and casting your absent
guests as the terrible rotters they are.
Everyone will surely agree.
The immediate response from your
followers will of course be supportive,
people will howl in empathy and
retweet, hoping for a little easing in
the form of subsequent bookings. It
seems harmless, and satisfying.
But consider this. How many times
does it take until people start to think
The simple fact is that for 150 years
or more, catering schools have
been teaching students about guest
management, and staff have been
trained to deal with it. Restaurants
protect themselves in various ways.
They take a small deposit for parties
over six people. They take as much
information as possible when taking
bookings, including email address
and telephone numbers. They
confirm and reconfirm the booking
on the day. They overbook by ten to
fifteen percent. They allow for error.
If they double book, they offer an
apology, then immediately offer a
solution. People don’t mind waiting,
if they are treated courteously, with
generosity and respect. The price of
offering someone an aperitif with
your compliments while they wait for
their table is a tiny investment, and
often works in your favour, as they
are already in a good mood feeling
treated and looked after before they
even take their seats.
I think above all, the most important
thing to remember is which side our
bread is buttered. Customers, with all
their awful habits and peculiarities,
are the only reason a restaurant
can survive at all. The moment we
start treating them as anything but
extended friends trying to enjoy
themselves, we are in trouble.
Sure, there will be occasions where
people infuriate us with rude
behaviour or don’t show, but it is a
vital job of the restaurateur to accept
this as part of the business we are in.
And what about this: we all make
mistakes. Can you not remember a
time when you forget an arrangement
with a friend, a meeting, even a table
booked at a restaurant? It’s certainly
happened to me. It’s difficult, but try
to imagine your guests might have
really good reason for their absence.
Or they might just be forgetful.
No-shows are nothing new. Restaurants
have always had to deal with the
problem, all of them, even the most
established and successful. So why
the recent debate? Is it the increased
visibility and transparency afforded
by social media? One reason might
be the result of the current surge of
-25-
James Lewis
@JLewisland
Well, sort of.
people to consider your restaurant as
somewhere they would never dream
of not showing up at, even if in reality,
of course, it is only true most of the
time. Tweeting and moaning about it
publicly portrays you as a complainer.
Bitter. The self-pitying negativity is
unattractive – nobody likes a whiner.
openings from people not always from
a traditionally trained background,
which is helping to fuel it.
The waiting game
Anna Sulan Masing believes that in
order to counter the effects of current
staff shortages that the industry faces,
front of house needs a rebrand.
W
e’ve heard about the
chef crisis, which really
is symptomatic of the
fact that the restaurant
industry is booming. But it’s not just
about chefs – it’s a staff shortage; a
shortage of talent.
One of the great things about
hospitality is that it has always
attracted misfits, the gems of society
who break the rules to create beautiful
things. It will always seduce people
who work better on their feet, in
teams, and outside society’s civilised
hours, but there is a need to attract
not just those destined for this life.
The “chef brand” has developed
around books, TV appearances,
and competitions and also – as
George Pell, managing director of
L’Escargot in Soho, articulated – a
whole lifestyle of “foraging, hunting,
fire, and creating a craft”. It might
not be reality, but the chef persona
has become aspirational. What about
front of house? Semantics are always
important: you just don’t hear “when
I grow up I want to be a waiter”.
Where are the heroes? ‘Waiter’ and
‘server’ are subservient words in
nature – so does front of house need
a re-brand?
What is our brand? Some work has
already been done. We now have
‘mixologists’ who are ascending
the heights of cool, and the same
goes for the highly trained experts
in wine, ‘somms’. But a waiter
appears to just ferret products from
A to B.
“Brand is your business story, your
core purpose and your customer
promise”, writes Maria Ross, wine
writer and marketing consultant. As
such, front of house is intrinsic; they
are ‘brand ambassadors’. Through
their work they build on the story of
the food and the environment. They
sell the idea that the guest is exactly
where they need to be. Brand is
also reputation, philosophy, and
the cause and reason for business;
and the business of a waiter is to
facilitate space to provide a service
within which people can relax.
So, although ‘waiting’ isn’t an allencompassing description of the
position, it is hard to think of a
better noun for the job title. What
makes the job worthwhile is being
able to curate that wonderful time.
Perhaps it’s the way we sell the
profession to the hesitant youth that
needs a rebrand. To complicate
matters, being a waiter at one
establishment is not the same as
another. One terrible restaurant,
with bad staff/management/training
ruins the “brand” across the industry.
Floor staff are having a brand identity
crisis – who are we as a front of house
industry? We aren’t New York where
the concept of service as a profession
has become ingrained, nor are we
Europe where hospitality feels seeped
in family ties. What is the story we’re
trying to tell the next generation?
What are we selling? Romance. I
don’t mean the sullen two tops on
Valentine’s Day. I mean the love of
the job, the love of the industry, the
desire to be on the pass time and again
– a sense of joyful purpose. Anett, a
bartender at Picture restaurant on
Great Portland Street, told me how
she fell into the job, then in love with
the industry. The constant learning
and developing, the fact that “making
someone happy makes me happy”.
And Yasmin, a waitress at Picture,
talked about job satisfaction she feels
daily, but they both spoke about the
different people they worked with, the
bonding and the special relationships
gained.
James Ramsden, co-founder of
Pidgin in Hackney, further explains
the idea of learning: it “doesn’t pay
well to begin with, but the scope
for progression, development and
most of all variety is huge”. Tracey
Matthews of Gaucho echoed this
with “you can’t be Jason Atherton in
two years, but you can – if you work
hard – be managing a restaurant”.
Dan Pink, economics and business
author,
explains
how
money,
surprisingly, isn’t a motivator. “You
need to pay people enough so that
they stop thinking about money and
start thinking about work, but what
gets better performance and personal
satisfaction is mastery, autonomy,
and purpose.” These three words
describe a career in hospitality; these
are core values you can get out of this
profession.
The industry sits on an antiquated
work structure. With ‘flexible working’
being the phrase du jour and the rise
of working remotely, it is easy to
see how the hospitality set-up seems
out-of-step with the ever-connected
-26-26-
world of business. But these are the
reasons that the industry is booming
– the public’s need for real moments,
personal connection and physical
interaction over a meal. How does
that translate to the millennial looking
for a peg to hang their career on?
Matthews talked about trying to
think more widely about different
paths within the industry – not just
in a linear fashion (“a ‘career tree’
not ‘career path’”) – and also about
adjusting to different learning styles
so that more people could succeed.
Pell feels that the industry is moving
towards developing brands, which
might appeal to a younger generation.
A generation who instinctively know
how to film bite-sized media to
market themselves and a business;
a generation that will want to be
involved in running and developing
restaurant ideas; that’s how they’ll
start off as ‘a waiter’.
We all know how exciting and how
rewarding it can be on the front line
– serving people beautiful food and
ensuring a wonderful time. That’s
easier said than done when battling
the daily pressures of running a
precarious business, and the rewards
just aren’t as Instagram-able for Front
of House, but we don’t seem to be
good at blowing our own trumpets.
For me, I think I want to see more
of the faces that make up front of
house. I want to have more heroes.
Let’s talk more about what we do:
the good, the bad, and the ugly. To
quote Pell, “my life has been amazing.
Sure I’ve missed out on a lot, but the
things I’ve seen and done – I’ve had
a wealth of experience that you can’t
get elsewhere – I wouldn’t change it
for the world”.
Let’s shout about that story, let’s blow
that trumpet, lets make that our brand.
Anna Sulan Masing
@AnnaSulan
The wine epiphany
Once you’ve had a taste of the good
stuff, Zeren Wilson says, “it’s hard to
go back”. Here he explores the vinous
Holy Grail. Corkscrews at the ready.
F
or many of us who work
within and around the world
of wine, there is usually a
story of the ‘moment’, the
unforgettable time when the heavens
opened and the angels sang. We
realised for the first time that this
wine lark was more than a bit of
‘alright’, it was ‘fan-bloody-tastic’.
Calling on the spirit of an immortal
line from Sir Alex Ferguson after his
team had scored twice in injury time
to win the Champions League final,
this is the moment when we stare at
the liquid in our glass and say: ‘Wine,
bloody hell!’
At the time Fergie substituted the
word ‘football’ for wine, but I’m sure
he’d appreciate the comparison, as he
does indeed love a drop of the good
stuff (the very best stuff, in fact, with a
penchant for First Growth Bordeaux
wading into a lot more wine, with
the kindly help of many great BYOB
restaurants in Australia.
Chasing to recapture something
approaching the feeling of that
moment, by chancing upon a new
producer, or an unfamiliar grape
variety, becomes some kind of vinous
Holy Grail hunt. Hopes will be
dashed, tedious wines will be opened.
Yet the chase will go on…
It’s always gratifying plucking an
unknown wine from a wine shop or
supermarket shelf and finding out
that it’s a corker, but the feeling of
achieving wine choice nirvana always
feels more euphoric in a restaurant,
when the first sip tells you everything
you needed (and hoped) to know;
that you done good, you didn’t screw
up, your friends at the table don’t hate
“ It’s likely that the thunderbolt
wine revelation usually comes
courtesy of a restaurant, via
a well chosen list, a savvy
sommelier, a beautiful plate of
food, and the perfect alchemy of
a night out.”
It’s likely that the thunderbolt wine
revelation usually comes courtesy of
a restaurant, via a well chosen list,
a savvy sommelier, a beautiful plate
of food, and the perfect alchemy of
a night out. I remember my moment
clearly: Barossa Valley Shiraz and
venison medallions. That was it.
Something pinged into place that
evening, and I was ready to start
Perhaps a good substitute for these
rare exalted moments is the cosseting
comfort of getting to know a
producer’s wines, bowling into your
choice of wine with utter confidence.
Not nearly as exciting, but the frisson
of pleasure from re-acquaintance is
like meeting an old friend.
Alex Ferguson sold a chunk of his
fine wine collection at Christie’s at a
Hong Kong auction in 2014, £2.3m
-27-
Always playing catch-up seems to
be a wine drinker’s lot, even if you
are regularly supping some of the
greatest wines ever made. You can’t
go backwards, you can’t go back to
being really chuffed with a bottle of
simply ‘ok’ wine. There will be the
nagging harpies in your memory,
reminding you of all those better
wines and moments that came before.
The drama and tragedy of drinking
wine. Who’d have thought it?
Jose ‘The Special One’ Mourinho
regularly shared a bottle of wine
with Ferguson, always taking a top
bottle of Portuguese wine. Louis Van
Gaal loves a bit of it, taking pleasure
in drinking “a nice bottle of wine,
probably the most expensive wine.”
White wine spritzers necked with
abandon by some 1970s footballers
after a game (sometimes even before)
seem light years away.
Football managers drinking great
wine – bloody hell!
Zeren Wilson
@bittenwritten
bittenandwritten.com
Zeren Wilson is a food and wine writer,
consultant and runs bittenandwritten.com
and Super Tuscan Sassicaia), and it’s
a certainty he would have celebrated
that victory with a bottle (or case) of
the finest wine in his cellar.
you. It’s not quite the same as that
very first epiphany, but it will do. It
will have to do.
worth of some of the greatest wines
on the planet. The humdinger was a
Methuselah (6 litres) of Domaine de
la Romanée-Conti 1997 for £94,815.
Why flog off some of his starry
bottles? Because now he “has time
to search for more wines.” Even Sir
Alex is on the chase for that elusive
euphoric grape juice ‘high’.
Brizzle kicks
The CODE app has recently launched
in Bristol. Here’s a handy guide to
planning a day around the city’s best
hospitality offerings.
9am
Bakers & Co
Hart’s Bakery 11am
Nestled in an arch underneath the approach road to Temple
Meads station sits Hart’s - a bustling bakery and cafe that is
easy to miss if you’re new in town. If you can find a seat, sate
your mid-morning hunger with a sausage roll or pastry whilst
watching the bakers at work in the background. Sourdough
is Hart’s signature so grab a warm loaf off the shelf to take
home (they supply many of Bristol’s restaurants).
The CODE app offer:
Tue – Thu (brunch)
20% off food (T&C’s apply)
1pm
The Ox
Source
Food Hall & Cafe 3pm
Situated in the iconic St Nicholas Market in the very heart
of the city, Source is a food hall with adjoining restaurant.
Take some time to peruse the shelves, as there’s a serious
selection of charcuterie on offer and the cakes and pastries
are all made in house. To combat the declining UK bee
population, Source installed a few urban beehives atop the
Corn Exchange so be sure to purchase a jar of honey.
The CODE app offer:
Mon – Wed (lunch)
50% off food (T&C’s apply)
Start your day with breakfast
at Bakers & Co on the busy
Gloucester Road. Inspired
by the cafes of San Francisco
(the head chef spent a short
time at Bar Tartine) this is the
second venture from Kieran
and Imogen Waite, who also
operate the popular tapas
restaurant Bravas on Cotham
Hill. Go for the beetroot cured
trout, courgette fritter and
poached eggs or the custard
toast, maple sausage slice with
yoghurt and berries.
Nathan Lee and Jason
Mead have been setting the
standards high since they
opened their first bar, Hyde
& Co back in 2010. The
flagship restaurant of their
mini empire is basement
steak and cocktail restaurant
The Ox on Corn Street, a
much needed respite from
the chains amassed around
them. There’s a scaleddown lunch menu but fear
not, there is still plenty of
meat to be had from the
Josper grill.
Lido Restaurant
The Beer 4pm and Poolside Bar
Emporium 6pm
Being at the heart of the cider and scrumpy producing region,
it’s no surprise Bristol has a thriving craft beer scene with Wiper
and True just one of many top brewers to have sprung up in the
city in recent times. Head to the Beer Emporium on your way
back into town and descend into the brick walled cavern for a
few brews pre-dinner. With hundreds of bottles from around the
globe and 24 on tap, these guys know what they’re doing.
Hyde&Co
8pm
11pm
The CODE app offer:
Sunday
30% off total bill
(T&C’s apply)
-28-
Casamia
Sad news emanated from Bristol recently with the passing
of Jonray Sánchez-Iglesias at a young age. For some time
the brothers were planning to relocate their Michelinstarred restaurant from Westbury-on-Trym to a more
convenient harbour side city centre location and the move
is now complete. Peter Sánchez-Iglesias is now in sole
charge of the kitchen, overseeing a modern British tasting
menu (first awarded a star in 2009) changing every season
along with the restaurant’s décor.
If you’re looking for
a nightcap or simply
somewhere to continue the
party, look no further than
Hyde & Co or sister venue
the Milk Thistle. Bristol’s
vibrant bar scene is evident
in the fact that the city hosts
its own cocktail week in
October and this prohibition
themed bar serves some of
the best drinks in town.
Bristol can seem fairly spread out, a blessing or a curse
depending on your disposition to walking (never fear Uber
is here). The best place to take some time out and watch the
world go by is at the restaurant and poolside bar situated
in the viewing gallery overlooking the Lido. An impressive,
modern refurbishment of the building, one can enjoy a
drink and head chef Freddy Bird’s dishes while the locals do
lengths in the pool.
The Kitchen Shrink
Our resident agony aunt, The Kitchen
Shrink, is here to answer all of your
hospitality woes and worries.
Q
As the maitre d’ at a popular
restaurant, our recent refurbishment
has proved hugely popular. However,
it’s come to my close attention that
our ‘shabby chic’ stripped-back design
and wooden table are causing a painful
issue for some guests – in the form
of splinters to the legs. I take great
care of my regulars and feel a sense
of responsibility. I am in favour of
bringing back the tablecloths but I fear
management will not agree. Please
advise.
Ignacio, 33, West Hampstead
The Kitchen Shrink: I feel you and your
guests’ pain. Aside from keeping a stack of
sandpaper at the host’s station and regularly
checking the tables in between service, I
think returning to tablecloths is the most
obvious answer. You do not specify where
exactly your restaurant is or the sort it is,
but I for one am a big fan of tablecloths
in a dining room (and not to mention
proper napkins too). Sometimes it’s good
to be different – ignore what every other
restaurant in London is doing – and bring
back those starched white tablecloths.
Q
I need some advice, please. I
recently moved to London to work
at a West End restaurant as a chef.
I’m originally from the West Country,
where I’ve worked in the kitchen for
the past couple of years. I’m loving
my time in London, and despite the
incredibly long hours, I’m really
enjoying my stage at this restaurant.
As well as learning a lot, it’s great to
experience the buzz and thrill of a busy
central London restaurant. However,
I’m living out in Zone 4 as I can only
afford to rent here. This means I need
to take the night bus home when I’m
working the dinner shift. I’m really
thinking twice about going to work in
a restaurant near where I am currently
living. What would you suggest?
Q
Dear Kitchen Shrink, please
can you kindly explain to me why so
many customers at my restaurant – of
all ages – come for a meal but spend
the entire time on their phones? I
always thought part of the enjoyment
of breaking bread with other people
was an opportunity to not have to look
at emails and social media for a few
hours and instead indulge in the dying
art of conversation.
Siobhan, 57, Kilburn
The Kitchen Shrink: I guess I shouldn’t
ask you for your Wifi password when I next
come to dine at your restaurant then?
Jason, 29, Barking
The Kitchen Shrink: Sir, I feel your pain.
We’ve all been there and I’m hearing this
issue more and more often. An acquaintance
of mine actually gave up a great job
managing a popular Soho restaurant to
move to a restaurant in south London as it
was in walking distance of where he lived.
There’s nothing more demoralising than
finishing a long shift and having to sit on
public transport for ages, knowing that you
have to be up and back and work in a matter
of hours. Stick it out and maybe look at
trying to move a bit closer to work. Ask some
of your colleagues if they know of any spare
rooms going. Good luck.
Have a work place dilemma?
Send an email to The Kitchen Shrink:
contact@codehospitality.co.uk
What’s hot. What’s not.
Half puddings
We only want a mouthful. As seen
at Mark Hix and Damien Hirst’s
Pharmacy 2. Size isn’t everything.
Bone broth
Now available on every street corner
in London. Also known as stock.
Crowdfunding
Ping! “We are seeking £5m for a 1%
stake in our business.” Deletes.
Toto Washlets
Warming, functional and slightly
arousing. And ladies, the loo seats are
automatic too – for your pleasure. Found
at Sosharu, The Connaught, Hutong
and the Monocle Café. Arigatō.
Wine on tap
The new eco-friendly wine trend.
Poured from a ‘Key Keg’ system at
Galvin, Shotgun, Shuang Shuang,
Trinity and Vico.
Menu supplements
The tasting menu is £230, but the
foie and caviar courses cost an extra
£30? Let’s call Pete Wells.
Homemade ketchup
We just don’t get it. The one thing
we’re happy to have out of the
bottle. Stick to Heinz.
Indivisible portions
There are four of us but only three
croquettes? If you want us to share
then make it fair.
BYOB
Plonk or vintage collectable – bring your own to
Hawksmoor, Picture, HIX, and The Dairy’s new pintxo
place. Offer staff a sip though...
-29-
Sunday roasts
We love you Mum but there’s
competition in town. Sunday
Funday at Blacklock, Drapers Arms,
Hawksmoor and Café Murano.
Restaurant property has never
been a better investment.
Looking for that perfect space?
Allow us to serve you.
Leisure Property Specialists
020 7100 5520 - www.cdgleisure.com
-30-
Last orders
In a new feature for the Quarterly, we bring you a recipe for a post-shift pick-me-up from our friends in
the industry. The winner of Observer Food Monthly’s “Best Cheap Eats” Award 2015, Max Halley of
Max’s Sandwich Shop, gives us his take on Ham, Egg ‘n’ Chips and a Hanky Panky.
At the end of the night, once the restaurant
is empty, Francesca - our manager - and I
head for the kitchen to begin the food-inreturn-for-booze negotiations. They want
beers and glasses of wine and we fancy ham,
egg ‘n’ chips.
Working in a kitchen, especially one as busy
and small as ours, is hot, thirsty work, so
Francesca always gives the guys two drinks –
one for immediate smashing and another for
slightly slower, immediate smashing.
At the sarnie shop there are no rules on how
much booze or food the staff are allowed, so
it’s not unusual to find Francesca or Honza,
the head chef, behind the bar mixing a
post-prandial bucket of Hanky Panky for
everyone to share.
Ham, Egg ‘n’ Chips
Hanky Panky
2 slices of focaccia
25ml red vermouth (Dolin)
80g ham hock - 25% smoked, 75% unsmoked
25ml gin (Beefeater)
Malt vinegar mayo
Couple of dashes of Fernet Branca
Piccalilli
Ice
(Serves 1)
(Serves 1)
1 egg
Ready salted crisps
Method Slice a big slab of focaccia in half
horizontally. Cover one slice in warm braised
ham hock and the other in malt vinegar
mayo. Cover the ham in piccalilli and place
a runny-yolked fried egg on top. Pile on a
generous handful of ready salted crisps and
squish the mayo-ed lid on top and slice in
half.
-31-
Method Stir with ice and strain into a
chilled glass. Garnish with orange zest.
Are you being served?
In association with The Dumbwaiter
Sara Khiabani,
Waitress, J Sheekey Oyster Bar
What inspired you to join the
industry?
Like most people I came to it
by accident. I originally visited
London to learn the language
and spend the summer here.
When I got bored, I took parttime work at a brasserie down
my road. Ironically, this turned
out the best way to learn the
language and express myself. I’ve
never looked back.
If you weren’t in the industry,
what would you be?
I studied economics at home
in Italy, so doing accountancy
I suppose! I haven’t finished
my course yet, but I can’t say
I’d complete it. I have been at J
Sheekey for four years and what
I’m doing now is much more
enjoyable.
What makes a good waitress?
Being presentable, passionate,
and pre-emptive, with a great
personality.
Restaurant pet-hate?
Clumsiness. I don’t mind the
noise or the buzz in a vibrant
restaurant, but I don’t like being
pushed around and bumped
into. Restaurant staff seem to
spill drinks on me whenever I go
out…
Victor Guyonnet
Sommelier, The 10 Cases
Best place for a post-service
bite to eat?
I do a lot of research. When I go
out I try to compare my service
style with theirs; it’s good to see
what others are doing – it keeps
up your own standard of service.
Barrafina is great.
Why did you go into
hospitality?
I began graduate studies in
literature, but decided to change
to hospitality after a year. At the
same time I worked as a waiter.
I really enjoyed the wine side of
things, so decided to focus on it.
Any thoughts on recruitment
and the industry?
You need a basic level of
training to work in a restaurant.
But the world runs around
communication: when people
have a problem, it’s necessary to
communicate with colleagues to
solve them. A lot of difficulties
could be avoided this way.
If you weren’t in the industry
what would you be?
If I completed the literature
degree, probably a lawyer.
What makes a good
sommelier?
Being knowledgeable about
the subject is as important as
knowing your customer – you
have to be adaptable to different
needs and preferences.
Restaurant pet-hate?
Arrogant sommeliers that think
they know it all. You simply
can’t learn everything about
wine; there are always new
labels, new producers, and new
grapes, so it’s important to be
humble.
J Sheekey Oyster Bar
28-32 St Martin’s Court
Covent Garden
London
WC2N 4AL
jsheekeyoysterbar.co.uk
Best place for a glass of
wine?
I’d recommend two very
different places: The Remedy
and Terroirs.
-32-32-
Trends for wine this year?
I think interest in the New
World, particularly South
America and South Africa is
on the increase. They’re still
pretty undiscovered regions for
the UK. We’re seeing the more
famous vineyards in the Old
World becoming less popular.
Any thoughts on
recruitment?
Young people who want to
join the industry need to have
passion; with this will come hard
work and dedication. You can’t
force interest. There are now
more reasonable wine mark-ups,
which will make wine and the
industry more accessible.
The 10 Cases
16 Endell St
Covent Garden
London
WC2H 9BD
10cases.co.uk
-33Left to right: 45 Jermyn Street | Alain Ducasse at the Dorchester | Bellanger | J Sheekey | Chiltern Firehouse | Flat Iron Henrietta Street | Holborn Dining Room | Hoi Polloi | Theo Randall at the InterContinental
Can you guess the following restaurant
cruets that you may have used to add a
little seasoning to your food.
In association with The Dumbwaiter
Guess the cruets
Destination CODE: Amsterdam
In association with CODE Travel Guides
On a recent weekend break to Amsterdam, Daniel Reynolds finds
a city that easily shrugs off its somewhat seedy reputation.
With it only being an hour flight from London, it’s
no surprise that Amsterdam is a popular destination
for Brits. In fact I struggled to remember a capital
city where there were so many of my compatriots.
However, Amsterdam is beautiful with a lot to
offer, and like anywhere – it’s a case of where to
seek out and where to avoid.
The Hoxton (thehoxton.com) has recently opened
an outpost in the Dutch capital situated on the
Herengracht canal between the old town and
Jordaan district. Rooms start modestly but I
would recommend spending a little more for
the spacious ‘roomy’ with a canal view. Just as in
Shoreditch and Holborn, they’ve perfected the
offering with high levels of service coupled with a
buzzy atmosphere on the ground floor, full from
morning till night with residents and locals alike
using the hotel as a workspace and, later in the
evening, as a place to enjoy some drinks.
We steered clear of the old town in general,
although going to Amsterdam without walking
through the Red Light District is akin to going
to Paris and avoiding the Eiffel Tower. Barring
a few areas, the old town has a Leicester Square
vibe running through it, consisting mainly of
Argentine steak houses and the city’s famous
‘coffee shops’. Hire a bike to visit other areas of
the city, but be wary of the combination of trams,
cars, cyclists and pedestrians, as pavements and
roads can be hard to distinguish.
As in London, Amsterdam’s restaurant scene has
a mainly global influence but if you’re after some
Dutch fare, head to the Indische Buurt district
in the east where you can find Wilde Zwijnen
(wildezwijnen.com) - literal translation - wild boar.
Choose between a three or four course set menu
where - no surprise - boar features, although fish
and vegetarian dishes are still championed. The
interior ticks the boxes with a stripped back décor
and is popular with locals so book ahead (not to
be confused with their tapas bar next door).
In the south-east of the city in Frankendael Park,
you’ll find Restaurant de Kas (restaurantdekas.nl),
set within a greenhouse and adjoining nursery.
An iconic dining room (although lacking the
beauty of Petersham Nurseries), the restaurant
follows the farm-to-table philosophy, sourcing
ingredients on site. As a consequence the
Mediterranean-inspired set menu changes daily
and one has to admire the equal emphasis de Kas
places on vegetables and meat and its approach
to sustainability. It may not be knocking at
Michelin’s door but is certainly worth a visit.
A ten-minute walk away is one of Amsterdam’s
restaurants of the moment, Rijsel (rijsel.com)
located just off the river Amstel. Named after the
French city of Lille, the fare is French inspired
with a nod to Flanders. Although the menu
changes fairly regularly, you can always expect
quality rotisserie and on our visit we opted for
just that along with duck sausage with slices
of smoked duck, green beans, and roasted
hazelnuts. There’s a canteen feel to the dining
room with 60s vintage chairs offset by tablecloths.
Surprisingly, Rijsel is closed on weekends so make
sure you plan your trip with a Friday or Monday
either side to accommodate a visit.
If you’re after something a little more
international, head to The Pijp, the city’s
‘global village’. Formerly a student area, it has
a bohemian vibe and now the area is facing a
hike in rents. Take a stroll through Albert Cuyp
Markt (albertcuyp-markt.amsterdam), the single
largest daily market in the Netherlands – the food
stalls are mainly produce led and many of the
Surinamese, Moroccan and Turkish restaurants
in the surrounding area source from the market.
As a word of warning, the Pijp also contains the
Heineken ‘Experience’… enough said.
When it comes to culture, the museum district
contains the world famous Rijksmuseum
(rijksmuseum.nl) and after a decade long renovation,
boasts a large collection of Rembrandt and
Vermeer. Next door is the Van Gogh Museum
(vangoghmuseum.nl) and if you’re a little jaded after
that, relax with a drink in the brasserie of the
Conservatorium hotel, in the vast, airy brick and
glass atrium.
A little west of the museum district is the
Vondelpark – Amsterdam’s Hampstead Heath
(without the hills). If the sun’s out – start the day
with brunch at Staring at Jacob (staringatjacob.nl)
followed by a day spent cycling round the park.
The Jordaan is a slightly more gentrified version
of the Pijp and although no sights to see, it’s one
of the prettiest areas of Amsterdam so take some
time to walk around and explore the side streets.
A prolonged downpour on Sunday afternoon
forced us to take shelter in De Blaffende Vis
off Westerstraat for a much-needed glass of
local beer, Two Chef ’s Brewing and a smoked
mackerel sandwich. G’s (reallyniceplace.com) in the
north of the Jordaan is another brunch spot,
popular with American university students.
Although in the old town, Wynand Fockink
(wynand-fockink.nl) is a must visit for a pre-dinner
tipple or a dose of Dutch courage and acts as
a timely reminder of the Netherlands’ strong
distilling heritage. Going strong since 1679 as
a Freemasons meeting place, this tasting house
offers up a wide range of liqueurs and jenevers
(the original gin) and the ever-helpful staff will
guide you through the selection process.
Being right on our doorstep, remember there’s so
much more to Amsterdam than first meets the
eye.
Daniel Raynolds
@DanReynolds_
-34-34-
The CODE app
directory
LONDON
100 Wardour St
108 Brasserie
28°-50° Maddox Street
28°-50° Marylebone Lane
All Star Lanes Bayswater
All Star Lanes Brick Lane
All Star Lanes Holborn
Ametsa with Arzak Instruction
Antidote
Aqua Kyoto
Aqua Nueva
Asia de Cuba
Barnyard
Be at One Greek Street
Be at One Russell Street
Beagle
Bernardi’s
Bread Street Kitchen
Brunswick House
Burger and Lobster Mayfair
Café de Paris
Cahoots
Carousel
Cay Tre Hoxton
Cay Tre Soho
CHICKENliquor
Coya Pisco Bar
Craft London
Crosstown Doughnuts
Dabbous
Damson & Co
Dehesa
Dirty Bones Kensington
Dirty Bones Soho
Ducksoup
EAT 17
El Camion
Ember Yard
Evolution Osteopathy
Flat Iron Denmark Street
Forge & Co
FortyFive10
Foxlow Balham
Foxlow Chiswick
Foxlow Clerkenwell
Foxlow Stoke Newington
Frontier Room
Granger & Co. Clerkenwell
Hawksmoor Air Street
Hawksmoor Guildhall
Hawksmoor Knightsbridge
Hawksmoor Seven Dials
Hawksmoor Spitalfields
Heddon Street Kitchen
Hélène Darroze at The
Connaught
Hix Oyster & Chop House
HIX Soho
Hixter Bankside
HO
Holborn Dining Room
Holborn Grind
Il Baretto
Jago
Jar Kitchen
Joe’s Southern Kitchen
José Pizarro
JUBO
Kêu Shoreditch
Kêu Soho
Koya Bar
L’Anima
LAB Bar
LeCoq
Lobos Meat & Tapas
London Grind
London House
Lyle’s
MARCUS
Mark’s Bar at The Old Vic
Market
Maze
Megaro Bar
Melt Room
Merchants Tavern
Morada Brindisa Asador
Opera Tavern
Oskar’s Bar
Outlaw’s at The Capital
Ozone Coffee Roasters
Patty & Bun
Percy & Founders
Petersham Nurseries
Pidgin
Piquet
Pizarro
Pizza Pilgrims Dean St
Pizza Pilgrims Exmouth
Market
Pizza Pilgrims Kingly St
Polpo at Ape & Bird
Polpo Notting Hill
Q-Grill Camden
Quaglino’s
Queenswood
Rabbit
Radio Rooftop Bar
Rawduck
Rivington Grill
ROKA Aldwych
Rotorino
SAGER + WILDE (Paradise Row)
Salt Yard
Shotgun
Shuang Shuang
Shoredtich Grind
Soho Grind
Spuntino
St. JOHN
St. JOHN Bread and Wine
STK London
Tapas Brindisa Soho
Tartufo
The Culpeper
The Drapers Arms
The Gilbert Scott
The Lockhart
The Manor
The Modern Pantry Finsbury Square
The Narrow
The Quality Chop House
The Remedy
The Shed
The Shrub and Shutter
The Truscott Arms
The Worship Street Whistling Shop
TY Soho
The CODE app is available to anyone working in hospitality. Simply prove your employment in the industry* and enjoy unlimited access to exclusive dining offers.
* Restaurant, bar, cafe, hotel, private members’ club, catering contractor, street food vendor,
commercial airlines and F&B leisure outlet.
-35-
Trailer Happiness
Tramontana Brindisa
Tramshed
Tredwell’s
Typing Room
Union Street Bar
Union Street Café
Viet Grill
Vintage Salt Upper Street
Wright Brothers Soho
Wright Brothers Spitalfields
Wringer & Mangle
York & Albany
Zoilo
NORTH
Almost Famous GN
Almost Famous Leeds
Almost Famous Liverpool
Almost Famous NQ
All Star Lanes Manchester
Asha’s Manchester
Bollibar @ Asha’s
Busaba Liverpool
Busaba Manchester
Chapter House
El Capo
Electrik
Evelyn’s
Gaucho Leeds
Hawksmoor Manchester
Home Sweet Home GN
Keko Moku
Manchester235
MEATliquor Leeds
Montpellier’s
Mr Cooper’s House &
Garden
Mr Thomas’s Chop House
Mughli Knutsford
Mughli Rusholme
Polpo Leeds
Sam’s Chop House
Solita Didsbury
Solita NQ
Solita Prestwich
Tariff & Dale
The Albert Square Chop
House
The Alchemist New York
Street
The Bar at Gaucho Manchester
The French
The Railway Café & Gin Bar
The Refectory
Volta
SOUTH
Drake’s (Ripley)
MEATliqour Brighton
Polpo Brighton
The Coal Shed
The Salt Room
The Set
WEST
Bakers & Co
Bravas
Hyde & Co
No. 131 and Crazy Eights
No. 38 The Park
Noche Negra
Pata Negra
Sticks & Broth
The Chequers
The Milk Thistle
The Ox Bristol
The Ox Cheltenham
The Ox Clifton
The Tavern
The Wheatsheaf Inn
*All venues correct at
the time of going to print
Available exclusively in fine wine shops and in the best restaurants. www.champagne-billecart.com
Signe d’exception
-36-

CODE Quarterly CODE Quarterly | Issue 6

Transcription

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