We're in our little 26 cover life changing restaurant and the building work is well under way but we wanted to give you an insight into why we're doing it ..... it's simple really, we love all things food and drink and we want to be able to share and enjoy our passion with others.
We each have a long background in hospitality ranging from old school boozers complete with old school pissheads, huge chain brands with strict guidelines and endless area meetings, top quality hotels that over work and under pay, gastro pubs with gastro locals, acclaimed restaurants I could go on and on ........ we've certainly been around the block a few times! Our hope is that the combined knowledge we have and the passion we share will stand us in good stead in our future plans at The Chef's Table.
We've spent far too much time eating and drinking out all in the name of research! Last year we spent some time in London visiting some amazing places.
After a bit of boozy first evening we got up the next morning with breakfast on our minds, so we set of for The Modern Pantry in Clerkenwell, to our absolute dismay we just missed breakfast, served us right really for getting up so late. Luckily for us Bruno Loubet's Bistrot is situated just next door to Modern Pantry so we toddled in there for a fabulous lunch.
Next stop Pollen Street Social for a cocktail and a peep at how the other half live. As much as we would have loved to eat here it probably would have broken the bank and a certain member of the cast from Britains top model was doing his best to make sure everyone knew he was in the building. So a quick (and really strong) cocktail and a sneak through the main restaurant to gaze at the fabulous open dessert kitchen. Wow!
In the evening we nipped into central London for some hotdogs and champagne at BubbleDogs where the staff were kind enough to let us have a look at 'The Kitchen Table'. The kit in this gaff is astounding and still makes us green with envy as we scrimp and scrape to get the best we can for our measly little budget ...... maybe one day!!!
Next onto Oskar's Bar in the award winning Dabbous, where we drank beers and cocktails that were on fire (literally) The nights entertainment was a rather fashionable gentleman playing the double bass and the customers look like the cast of Made In Chelsea. I know this because I'm seriously addicted to MIC and yes I know I should never have admitted that!
We managed to make breakie the next morning and I'm so glad we did as breakfast at Riding House Cafe is a must, their smoothies are amazing and small plates are delish. What an inspirational way to do brunch. They have a large sharing table which encourages people to be sociable and 'shoot the breeze' with the stranger sitting across/next/two seats down from them, flipping great idea!
We all enjoy relaxing in Camden with it's quirky locals, crazy markets and street food ....
While we were there we popped into Chin Chin Labs. This little place is too cool and if your in Camden it's worth a visit just to watch the staff in action. Choose your flavour (Valrhona Chocolate was our fav) and the guys make you ice cream from scratch on the spot using liquid nitrogen, seriously dangerous in the wrong hands but ace to watch! The choice of toppings was mega although maybe give the green tea peanut brittle a miss!
Sketch: This "triple dream" of Art, Food and Music is very well known and to be honest I wasn't sure what to expect. As we walked through the massive front doors feeling a little apprehensive at our off the cuff decision to stop for a cuppa. Should we have booked? Would we be waiting over an hour for a table like we were at a certain London hotspot the previous evening?? We were met by the ultra trendy female maitre d' complete with shaved head. I didn't catch her name but this lass was so welcoming and instantly made us feel like our decision to pop in for afternoon tea was the best idea we'd had all day. We only saw her briefly while she was showing us to The Parlour and she only spoke maybe two sentences to us but her manner and ability to make us feel so at ease and has stuck with me, this chick is seriously good at her job.
Afternoon tea itself was delightful. The selection of teas is fantastic, the crockery is just beautiful and the cakes are out of this world. The lemon meringue pie you see in the bottom right of this picture was my choice and the rest of our party had serious food envy. We've always aimed to open at some point in the future for afternoon tea and this was not only delicious but a great lesson in how its done properly.
After all that tea theres only one place you're headed! Wandering through Sketch in an attempt to find the toilets we came across The Gallery
and as we peeped through curtains and over ropes we were approached by staff who were happy to explain the concepts and art exhibitions that were taking place, it was such a breath of fresh air in a city which is often renowned for being faceless. We did finally find the loo's .....
On our last night in London we ate in Polpo in Soho. I am in love with this venue, the buzz in this place is indescribable. It's the type of place you visit and think God I want to work here. There was a slight wait for a table so we headed down to The Campari Bar, situated in Polpo's basement until our table was ready. This tiny bar was jam packed full of Londons 'cool kids'. The tapas style menu in Polpo encourages sharing foods and sociable dining. They too share the same sociable ethos as Riding House Cafe with a large sharing table. The grub was ace and I have since become slightly obsessed with Russell Norman and his show The Restaurant Man.
As much as eating and drinking is a huge love of ours we also learned so much from our few days in London and gaining fresh insight and new ideas just spurs us on to become even better. So a huge thank you to all the inspirational businesses that we visited they have each added something to our own little venture.
