WORLD FOOD LIFE 6

An eco-friendly approach

Open for business

Hall of fame

TrenD watch

A number of initiatives have launched to help restaurants across the UK focus on sustainability for the longterm. Diners too are being given the chance to make their contribution to sustainability.

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Cover photo courtesy of Kasa and Kin

Open for business

Editor in Chief

Starting a restaurant is a tough challenge at the best of times. WFL talks to two entrepreneurs who developed their food delivery concepts into something bigger, better and a whole lot more challenging

Syed Nahas Pasha info@worldfoodlife.uk Editor

Syed Belal Ahmed info@worldfoodlife.uk News & Features Editor

Kim Benjamin

24 28 34

info@worldfoodlife.uk

Hall of fame

Contributors

Food halls are the hospitality industry’s next big thing, giving people the chance to socialise, dine and be entertained under one roof. WFL explores the new openings in this area and what they offer

Steve Watkins Lee Lixenberg Sam Smith Shamsul Islam Daniel Pasha Samuel Ahmed Shafiur Rahman Amjad Suleman

A taste of the east

Media Sales

Ellen Parr, founder of Chinese eatery Lucky and Joy, shares her passion for Chinese cuisine and big, bold flavours, with recipes drawn from her travels around the country

Advisors

Habibur Rahman Helal M Alam Emdadul Hogue Tipu Consultant Advisors

Dominic Chapman Rupert Rowley Mo Gherras General Manager Taslima Akhter

Trend watch

Photographer Kois Miah

From wanpaku sandwiches to ong ong buns, an Asian influence is making its mark on the food industry. Outdoor dining and takeaways, meanwhile continue to flourish, while dining apps are here to stay

Correspondence Address WORLD FOOD LIFE 23 Keswick Gardens, Ilford, Essex IG4 5NF, UK Tel. 020 8550 4179 Mobile: 07956 588 777 E-mail: info@worldfoodlife.uk Issue 06/2021 Price - £4.95 (UK where sold)

The World Food Life is a Quarterly trade magazine for restaurants, such as Chinese, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Turkish, Middle Eastern and other world cuisines. The World Food Life is part of the Curry Life Media Group and Curry Life Events Limited. Although it is mailed out directly to trade, it can also be obtained by subscription £35 a year (UK) and £50 elsewhere. Postage included. Reproduction of its contents in whole or part without written permission is not permitted. We regard ourselves as an ethical magazine committed to fair, responsible reporting and comment. We cannot be held accountable for editorial or advertising errors, omissions or claims.

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Contents

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An eco-friendly approach

Please contact 020 8550 4179 or email to info@worldfoodlife.uk

Staffing crisis continues

Why sustainability

key

is

The recent COP26 summit in Glasgow ended with a new

global climate deal, but also an acknowledgement that the pledges don’t go far enough to limit temperature rise to 1.5C. It’s a disappointing - but perhaps not unexpected - end to negotiations between the world’s leaders with the overriding impression of the event seeming to be one of lost opportunity, with UN SecretaryGeneral Antonio Guterres saying the planet is “hanging by a thread”.

On a more positive note, the restaurant and hospitality industries

The days of the ‘pingdemic’ may be behind us, but one of the issues it exposed - staff shortages, is still prevalent, and is unlikely to ease in the run-up to the busy Christmas season. A report in MailOnline highlights how pubs, restaurants and hotels across the UK are being forced to limit Christmas bookings due to a nationwide shortage of hospitality staff. Businesses say they are reducing choices on menus and scaling back Christmas offerings or deciding to close altogether on Christmas Day. It will be interesting to see how the newly-formed Hospitality Council, a government initiative aimed at helping the sector recover postpandemic, responds to this.

To China and beyond

are making a substantial effort with regards to sustainability, highlighting ways to reduce food waste. Initiatives in Leeds and Scotland for example are encouraging restaurants to create menus from surplus food, offering diners a zero-waste option. And some of Glasgow’s chefs (perhaps inspired by COP26 being located in the city) are also sharing tips and offering advice on how to reduce food waste, highlighting the different ways restaurants can contribute to a greener planet. Our feature on sustainability is also reflecting this trend, looking at how restaurants are aiming for zero

At World Food Life, we like to feature as many different cuisines and business ideas as possible, and this issue is no exception.

We talk to the founders of east London restaurant Lucky & Joy, which focuses on regional Chinese dishes, street food business Rendang Thank you Ma’am, which champions the Malaysian rendang dish and get to sample Filipino fusion dishes at Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen. And if you are looking for Indian cuisine inspiration, check out our review of Indian Vegan & Vegetarian by Mridula Baljekar. It features 200 traditional plant-based recipes from all corners of India, with step-bystep guides to producing the dishes yourself.

Editorial

waste and where the challenges lie. With consumers increasingly keen to know where their food comes from, and also aware of the importance of reducing waste, sustainability gives the restaurant and hospitality industry an opportunity to take stock of existing practices and make a difference.

NEWS

Government announces new measures to tackle rent debt

New laws and a Code of Practice are being introduced to

resolve the remaining commercial rent debts accrued as a result of the pandemic.

Commercial tenants were previously protected from eviction until 25 March 2022, with the aim of providing time for landlords and tenants to negotiate how to share the cost of commercial rent debts caused by the pandemic.

These negotiations will now be underpinned by a new Code of Practice, providing landlords and tenants with a clear process for www.worldfoodlife.uk

settling outstanding debts before a new arbitration process comes into force.

The Code sets out that, in the first instance, tenants unable to pay in full should negotiate with their landlord in the expectation that the landlord waives some or all rent arrears where they are able to do so.

From 25 March 2022, new laws introduced in the Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill, being introduced in Parliament today, will establish a legally-binding arbitration process for commercial landlords and tenants who have not already reached an agreement, following 4

the principles in the Code of Practice. Subject to Parliamentary passage, this will come into force next year.

The Bill will apply to commercial rent debts related to the mandated closure of certain businesses, such as pubs and restaurants during the pandemic. Debts accrued at other times will not be in scope.

These laws will come into force in England and Wales, and Northern Ireland will have a power in the Bill to introduce similar legislation.

The result of the arbitration process will be a legally-binding agreement the landlord and tenant must

adhere to, resolving rent arrears disputes and helping the market return to normal as quickly as possible.

The government is also protecting commercial tenants from debt claims, including County Court Judgements (CCJs), High Court Judgements (HCJs) and bankruptcy petitions, issued against them in relation to rent arrears accrued during the pandemic. This measure came into force from 10 November.

It will provide further protection to businesses which had to close and which accumulated debts during the pandemic, while protections from forfeiture for business tenancies are in place under the Coronavirus Act 2020.

Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng, who announced the above, said: “Measures provide commercial

landlords and tenants with the clarity and certainty they need to plan ahead and recover from the pandemic.

We encourage landlords and tenants to keep working together to reach their own agreements ahead of the new laws coming into place, and we expect tenants capable of paying rent to do so.”

UK Hospitality CEO Kate Nicholls said: “We welcome the publication of the updated Code of Practice. Vitally important is the emphasis on ongoing negotiation to share the burden of the impact of lockdowns and restrictions that prevented hospitality businesses from trading for so much of the last 18 months. It is in the long-term interests of landlords and tenants to come together and find solutions

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that ensure business survival and that do not undermine the economic recovery.”

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NEWS

The Autumn Budget: rates review announced Chancellor Rishi Sunik unveiled his Budget at the

will be in the detail, though, so we look forward to learning to what extent it will benefit businesses.”

end of October which included a 50 percent business rates discount, effective immediately, for small retail, hospitality and leisure businesses in England, up to a maximum of £110,000 for 2022/23.

The British Takeaway Campaign said that while announcements will present benefits for many of its members, ‘it’s a complicated picture, and frankly, not enough for our sector as a whole.’ The BTC said that while announcements were positive, ‘ultimately, the Chancellor has decided not to reform business rates in its entirety.”

The Chancellor also announced that business rate revaluations will move to every three years from 2023, and the multiplier will be frozen in 2022-23.

Responding to the Budget, UKHospitality’s chief executive, Kate Nicholls, said: “We have been lobbying hard for significant reform of the outdated business rates system and therefore very much

Chancellor Rishi Sunik

welcome the Chancellor’s move to extend the 50% business rates relief for the hospitality and leisure sector for the next financial year. The devil

It added: “the Chancellor has shown creativity in some areas, but by and large this isn’t enough. More needs to be done to support our sector, and we will continue to lobby the government for more over the coming months.”

Rising household bills impact on restaurant spend

Inflation concerns and rising household bills are having an

impact on hospitality, according to data from Barclaycard, which sees nearly half of the nation’s credit and debit card transactions.

Barclaycard’s latest monthly Consumer Spending Index shows that almost nine in 10 (88 per cent) of consumers say they are worried about the impact of rising inflation on their household finances. And three in 10 (29 per cent) of those concerned about rising household www.worldfoodlife.uk

bills are cutting back on social events, including drinks and meals out. Barclaycard says this may explain why spending on bars, pubs & clubs (+37.1 per cent) saw a smaller rise this month than in September (+43.5 per cent), and restaurant spending had a larger decline (-8.3 percent) than last month (-2.1 per cent).

Online takeaway spend has increased however, by 127.1 per cent, as the colder weather led more Brits to order fast food via delivery apps, as has spend on entertainment and travel.

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Jose Carvalho, head of consumer products at Barclaycard said: “The expensive festive period on the horizon, combined with ongoing concerns around the impact of inflation and supply chain shortages, has meant we’ve seen steady yet cautious spending from consumers in October. While the uncertainty around rising household bills appears to be weighing on Brits’ minds, the encouraging growth we’ve seen in entertainment and international travel shows that consumers are still keen to enjoy leisure activities and holidays.”

New openings in London and beyond As we head towards 2022, there are plenty of new restaurant openings spreading Christmas cheer around the UK. Filipino foodies will be spoilt for choice at Kasa and Kin, an all-day concept featuring a restaurant, bar, bakery and patisserie. The 90-cover restaurant’s day choices include pandesal donuts filled with purple yam and coconut, lunchtime salads, sandwiches and createyour-own Imbento boxes. The evening menu features food cooked on a robata grill.

Coppa Club opened its doors in

Atul Kochhar opened Masalchi in October by Olympic Steps, the new entrance to Wembley Stadium.

You’ll find fragrant curries and juicy grills on the street food-themed menu. Kochhar is also opening the first of a series of new restaurants

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Toklas restaurant, bakery and grocery shop opened in October, just off the Strand in London, with a focus on light Mediterranean flavours, with the majority of dishes plant- or fish-based. The head chef is Martyn Lyons, who has previously worked with Ollie Dabbous and at Spring and Moro. Italian, French and Spanish influences and ingredients are reflected across the menu, with dishes such as Kingfish crudo with fennel and caper leaf; Broccoli with farro, goat’s curd and black garlic; and Halibut with girolles and coco beans.

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Putney in November, featuring a bar, restaurant, lounge, terrace and private dining space, with a café vibe and a menu serving breakfast, brunch, intimate dinners and after-work drinks. This is Coppa Club’s second London opening and its ninth outpost.

under the name Riwaz, which means ‘tradition’, in Beaconsfield next year.

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NEWS

Hospitality industry continues to struggle

The hospitality sector is struggling to recover to prepandemic trading levels, according to the latest figures from the UKHospitality and CGA Quarterly Tracker.

Both Q3 2021 sales and full 12-month figures are nearly half what they were over the same period pre-pandemic, with UKHospitality chief executive Kate Nicholls describing the sector as an ‘industry in peril’.

The data shows a 45% drop in sales to £73.1bn for the 12 months to end-September 2021 compared to £133.6bn year to end-September www.worldfoodlife.uk

2019, before Covid-19 struck, and annual sales remain £60bn below 2019’s £132bn annual turnover.

While Q3 sales (for the months of July, August and September), indicate a 73% growth rate compared to the same quarter in 2020, they are still 10 percent down on the same period in 2019.

Nicholls said that hospitality operators were facing mounting staff shortages and supply chain issues, alongside soaring inflationary costs, with recovery post-Covid remaining painfully slow. At the same time, businesses are facing rising VAT costs.

“The Government must look at implementing measures to support 8

the industry,” she said. “The most effective of these would be to rethink the cap on business rates relief and maintain the current lower 12.5% of VAT for the sector after April next year when it is set to return to 20%. If this support isn’t put in place sooner rather than later, then consumers will find themselves paying higher prices, hundreds of hospitality businesses will collapse and thousands of jobs will be lost.”

UKHospitality estimates that the sector has lost almost 700,000 jobs since March 2020 and is currently seeing 10% vacancy rates, representing a shortage of around 200,000 staff across the UK.

Trust in Food index launched The

UK’s first Trust in Food index, a report into UK attitudes to food and drinks and the extent to which people trust British food, has been unveiled.

The main findings, revealed in October, show that 48% of respondents say they trust UK food because of high standards and regulation. However, levels of trust fall depending on how packaged and processed the food is.

as sourced from local butchers or bakers.

The level of trust falls slightly for food prepared in restaurants, although it is still high overall.

Levels of trust fall much lower for food from takeaways and deliveries.

The Index says this may be due to a concern about safety or possibly a concern about the healthiness of these types of food, such as caution over the high amounts of fat, salt and sugar.

Trust in recipe boxes delivered to people’s doors is much lower, partly because 42% of people say they don’t have an opinion one way or another.

Trust in the food people consume is very high across all the places where shoppers buy food to prepare themselves. This is especially the case with specialist and ‘hyperlocal’ shops. The UK public appears to instinctively trust food that it perceives as local, such

The research was conducted by YouGov and commissioned by food assurance quality scheme Red Tractor.

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NEWS

London’s Drummond Streatery initiative launched

The Drummond Streatery, a project aiming to revitalise London’s

menus direct from their table.

The foldable furniture will also be waterproof.

The Streatery, which features widened pathways and decked outdoor seating area, aims to invite customers to enjoy a safe, socially distanced eating area that will also be a benefit in the warmer months.

The Drummond Streatery is a collaborative effort between Euston Town BID, Drummond Street traders, Jan Kattein Architects and Camden Council. The wider ‘Drummond Street Vision’ scheme which The Drummond Streatery is part of, includes refreshed shop frontage redesign, creative lighting schemes, specially commissioned murals and the creation of a shared garden space.

Drummond Street, known for its south Asian food, launched this summer.

The seating is for use by all the restaurants, with Drummond Streatery aiming to use technology to enable customers to view multiple www.worldfoodlife.uk

Georgie Street, a representative 10

from Euston Town working on the project said, “Despite the challenges Drummond Street has faced, this group of traders remain dedicated to their passion. We are thrilled that they are able to serve local communities again, with the added festival-esque street furniture that shows this street is starting a new and very exciting chapter.”

A number of other streateries are set to open in and around London, including a trial one in Broadhurst Gardens, following a consultation earlier this year and one on Winchester Road, both within Camden.

Force for good new ‘sustainable’ restaurants across the UK

Erpingham House, Edinburgh

The Cop26 summit has put sustainability, climate change and

the environment in the spotlight.

WFL looks at efforts from four restaurants featuring a carbon-free policy, reclaimed materials, foraged ingredients and meat-free dishes.

Erpingham House, which describes itself as ‘plant-based food, for Kindle

conscious living,’ has branches in Norwich and Brighton and opened a third establishment earlier this year in Scotland, situated in the Bonnie and Wild Scottish Marketplace Food Hall in Edinburgh. The venue is a certified carbon-free dining restaurant and like the other two branches, it is 100% plant-based, plastic-free and mostly gluten-free, using locally-sourced produce. The founders hope to raise awareness of the power of plants, with dishes including chimichurri black bean and shredded jackfruit tacos, roasted ‘mock’ lamb and potatoes and ginger-battered banana blossom.

In Cardiff, you’ll find Kindle, which combines fire food with natural wine in an informal setting. The restaurant, set up by husband and wife team Phill and Deb Lewis, works closely with local farmers, gamekeepers and gardeners to use ethical produce with an emphasis on provenance and sustainability. The restaurant build has a sustainable focus too, with many of the materials Jumon

The Little Box

used being reclaimed. The build will be completed in two stages; the first focuses on outdoor dining, with a kitchen cooking over fire, while the second stage, to be completed in the next couple of years, will feature an internal dining space.

The Little Box in Plymouth opened this summer, the sister cafe to The Box Bar & Kitchen, showcasing local food and drink suppliers and produce from the South West. Cakes come from the Exploding Bakery in Exeter with vegan offerings from Heyl Bakery based in Plymouth and milk and cream from Trewithen Dairy in Lostwithiel. The Box Bar, situated inside Plymouth’s Box Museum, serves dishes made from locally-sourced fresh produce overseen by head chef Ben Mack. He has a passion for local and foraged ingredients and also runs foraged supper clubs once a month.

Asian fusion restaurant Jumon, which opened in Belfast in 2018, debuted a pop-up in July, this time on Northern Ireland’s north coast in Portstewart, located upstairs in The York Inn. The concept remains the same - vegetarian and vegan dishes served alongside unusual cocktails, with a decor influenced by art and visual design. Dishes include crispy cauliflower, honey, soy and sesame seed, malayoo peanut curry with ramen noodles and Korean-fried broccoli. The pop-up ran until September and aims to re-open in spring.

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NEWS

Restaurants tackle surplus food challenge

Ox Club

A

number of restaurants in Leeds partnered with environmental charity The Real Junk Food Project earlier this year, to highlight how meals can be made from food that would otherwise be thrown away.

As part of the Eat Out Leeds 2021 initiative, restaurants created food specials to sit alongside their main menus. Those taking part included Ox Club, House of Fu, Hyde Park Book Club, Eat Your Greens, Owt, Manjit’s Kitchen and Belgrave Music Hall.

Set up by Adam Smith in 2013, The Real Junk Food Project aims to bring about radical change in the structures of our food supply system, intercepting and redistributing surplus food from a number of areas in the food industry.

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Participating restaurants feature a range of cuisines. Ox Club showcases Yorkshire’s seasonal produce, House of Fu is a newlyopened ramen bar and Hyde Park Book club is a vegetarian café and deli. Eat Your Greens offers vegan dishes, while Manjit’s Kitchen offers Indian street food and Belgrave Music Hall’s food features pizzas and burgers.

Glasgow, which recently hosted the COP26 summit, also launched an initiative, the ‘Plate up for Glasgow’ campaign. It ran for a month from 12 October to 12 November, and was aimed at encouraging Glasgow-based businesses within the food and drink sector to offer diners a zero-waste dining option.

The initiative wants to challenge traditional and often wasteful dining out or take away business models,

with the aim of sending as little food waste as possible to landfill.

Alison McRae, senior director, Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, which fronted the campaign through its Circular Glasgow initiative, said: “During the pandemic, our city’s hospitality industry has found itself having to innovate, adapt and re-evaluate, where possible, in a bid to survive.

Another noticeable shift has been businesses taking the time to look at their supply chains and food resource journey. Most of us don’t realise it, but wasting food is a major contributor to climate change. It isn’t just the leftovers on our plate to consider but the many resources that go into producing our food.”

Some of the city’s chefs also shared tips and offered advice on how to reduce food waste, highlighting the many benefits of buying locally and seasonally.

Jonathan MacDonald, chef patron of Ox and Finch, a Glasgowbased restaurant offering tapasstyle dishes, said: “Plate up for Glasgow offers a real opportunity to showcase our city’s culinary innovations to visitors from all over the world - and moving to more modern and sustainable methods within our cooking, service, manufacturing and supply chains is the next logical step as we look to reduce our carbon footprint.”

The campaign was also run in partnership with Eusebi Restaurant and Deli and Experience Glasgow Food and Drink.

Environmental impact Measures to encourage the hospitality industry to reduce waste were also outlined in the government’s ‘Hospitality Strategy’, unveiled in July, which aims to help the industry recover from

the impact of Covid-19. The government says it will work with the sector to ‘meet, create, and share best practice on environmental guidance to help businesses decarbonise supply chains and achieve net zero by, for example, using seasonal local produce or shortening the food supply chain and linking the producer to the end user.’

It says it will also work with the sector to reduce waste and singleuse plastic consumption and work to ensure any recyclable waste that is produced is collected for recycling.

Other initiatives include ‘Guardians of Grub’, which provides the hospitality sector with tools to develop skills and reduce food waste and ‘Courtauld 2025’, a voluntary agreement that brings together organisations across the food system to make food and drink production and consumption more sustainable.

There is also a ‘Food Waste Reduction Roadmap’, an industrywide roadmap showing how the UK food and drink industry will help achieve UN Sustainable Development Goal 12.3 to halve global food waste by 2030. The roadmap was developed in collaboration with businesses and trade bodies from the hospitality, retail, and food service sector.

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Ox Club

Plate up for Glasgow offers a real opportunity to showcase our city’s culinary innovations to visitors from all over the world - and moving to more modern and sustainable methods within our cooking, service, manufacturing and supply chains is the next logical step as we look to reduce our carbon footprint. www.worldfoodlife.uk

Feature

From delivery

to

Two entrepreneurs describe how they turned their lockdown delivery and takeaway concepts into dine-in restaurants

Listen to your customers The idea for Schnitzel Forever started around four years ago, according to its founder and general manager Mehmet Gerekli and head chef Bulent Metin. The restaurant, based in London’s Stoke Newington, showcases schnitzel with a nod to its traditional Austrian roots, as well as serving the dish in more unusual ways. The menu features variations such as sea bass schnitzel, halloumi schnitzel and ‘El Granjero Schnitzel’, a chicken version served with crushed avocado and jalapeno pickles.

the rest of the world, leading us to close down our service a few days after opening,” says Gerekli. “This was the first difficulty we faced, and we waited one month to reopen our doors. We took extra precautions and followed the government guidelines to reopen workplaces safely, for us and our customers, so we were ready to reopen when it was safe to do so.”

Facing tough days at the beginning of the business gave Gerekli the impetus to keep going - in his words, ‘lockdown gave us a new

“I started this journey together with my wife, to offer Londoners the ‘real schnitzel’, using the original concept whilst adding some innovative touches - this was how the idea for Schnitzel Forever began,” explains Gerekli, a thirdgeneration chef originally from Istanbul.

After refining the concept, researching the menu and finding a suitable service kitchen, the restaurant opened for delivery on 20 March 2020, just before the UK entered its first Covid-19 lockdown.

“Just a few days after we sent our first order for delivery, lockdown was announced - we were quite shocked and scared along with www.worldfoodlife.uk

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mission to offer food to people who weren’t allowed to leave their homes during this difficult period; it also helped spread the word about our business more quickly’.

While the idea for Schnitzel Forever was originally as a takeaway-only business, since opening, Gerekli says there was so much positive feedback from customers, while demand kept growing each day for schnitzels.

“The main factor that pushed us to open up a dine-in restaurant

struggle,” he says. “We are two people from the hospitality sector, one of whom is a chef, while the other has been a manager for many years in different restaurants.

This allows us to have complete control and successfully run our place. Make sure you have a good business plan and look after your staff very well. The staff are key to running a successful business - if you don’t keep your staff happy, your staff will not make you happy.”

was the push we’ve got from our customers,” says Gerekli. “They told us it was a great idea which shouldn’t just stay as a delivery kitchen and people said they would be keen to try the food in a dine-in setting.”

There were a few options for potential sites as existing restaurants had started closing down due to the effects of the pandemic. While it only took a month to find premises, refurbishment was a longer process.

“My wife and I were used to a takeaway concept; a dine-in restaurant was a completely different sector which required extra staff,” explains Gerekli. “Our friend had become a partner and joined us in this journey to start up the dine-in experience.”

Mehmet Gerekli and Bulent Metin

For someone who is looking to open a restaurant on the back of a takeaway business, Gerekli says it is important to have the belief that you can do this in the first place.

“This sector is very difficult and if you don’t have the right team or partner to help you, it will be a real

Take risks to survive

If Gerekli had the chance to do something differently, it would be to get a bigger site. “A restaurant dedicated to schnitzels is a new game in London and each day, the demand is growing,” he says.

for my friends who are all from a diverse background,” says Oladokun. “These memories created the market research for Plantain Kitchen and gave me the confidence to make west African cuisine more accessible for customers in the UK.” Oladokun’s first job was in hospitality and his mother has worked within the food industry all her life. With experience gained in his previous roles, Oladokun says he got to the point in his career where he felt he was ready to take a risk and do something for west African cuisine.

The concept behind Peckhambased Plantain Kitchen, which showcases West African food, was inspired by founder Toby Oladokun’s childhood. Run by Oladokun and his mother, Sika, Plantain Kitchen has operated on Deliveroo since January 2020,

having previously served food at markets and as a pop-up. Dishes on offer include jollof rice, fried plantain, suya prawns and oxtail stew. ”I can remember my mother creating west African dishes 15

“I wanted to appeal to a wider audience, give people a quality offering and a different customer experience,” he says. “We managed to nearly fully establish ourselves before the pandemic hit. One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced was ‘time’ - we had www.worldfoodlife.uk

Plantain Kitchen: showcasing West African cuisine

so much time available as we were no longer at markets. So we put the time into really trying to bring more joy to customers who ordered on Deliveroo. We created an ice lolly freebie and we placed personalised notes on bags to try and give people something to smile about.”

As Oladokun outlines, the goal was always to go on to open a bricks and mortar site, but only when the time was right for Plantain Kitchen. He opened his on-site restaurant in May this year at Peckham Levels, a space that supports a range of businesses, from food and drink start-ups to social enterprises, magazines and jewellery designers.

“I wanted to start the bricks www.worldfoodlife.uk

and mortar journey in an establishment that really focused on the owner of the food brand first and which met the needs of Plantain Kitchen,” he explains. “Industry-wise, with restaurants abandoning leases and occupancy levels low, spaces were available, but getting the right space for your restaurant to really have the best platform to succeed was quite hard to find.”

Against the background of the pandemic, and seeing other business owners invest time, blood, sweat and tears into creating a food experience, only for that to be taken away, made Oladukun question whether this was the right step to take.

“My personal motto ‘You have 16

to take risks in life to succeed’ was the driving force behind establishing Plantain Kitchen’s first bricks and mortar location,” he says. “Lean on people as much as you can - the people who have supported you are your guardian angels, keep them close and remember you are never on the journey alone.”

Oladokun adds that being open to discuss problems with family or your personal network can help to take a lot of weight and stress off your shoulders.

“Keep believing in yourself because no one will have your back like you will, authenticity is on the rise so stay true to yourself,” he says.

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Feature

Step up the to

Plate

The effects of lockdown and Covid-19 had a major impact on people’s environmental approach. With stay-at-home orders during lockdown and people only venturing out for short periods of time within their local areas, many abandoned their cars

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in favour of walking, or switched to buying goods from local suppliers, contributing to lowered levels of pollution. Attitudes to restaurants have changed too, with many diners taking an interest in sustainability.

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How restaurants are tackling sustainability and where the challenges lie

Research from the Sustainable Restaurant Association, carried out among just over 1,000 consumers and released last year, highlights the extent to which concerns about the environment have grown among diners since the onset of the pandemic. When

asked about their attitude towards environmental issues such as climate change and deforestation, before and after lockdown, 65% said they were now concerned or very concerned – up from 47% prelockdown.

Consumers were also asked to rate ‘importance’ with regards to certain sustainability issues when eating out . Findings showed that 60% said it was important or very important that the restaurant championed high standards of animal welfare, 59% said the same

about menus being designed to minimise food waste and 52% rated the fact that the menu focuses on local and seasonal produce as important. A further 37% said menus should include a wide range of plant-based dishes.

On the agenda

Dominic Chapman

For Dominic Chapman, chef/patron at The Beehive restaurant in White Waltham, and who was previously head chef at Heston Blumenthal’s Michelin-starred pub, The Hind’s Head, sustainability is crucial to the restaurant industry. He says the issue has been accelerated by the pandemic.

you spend a little more, you can get a better product and happier customers sustainability is going to benefit you that bit more. At The Beehive, we focus on sustainable, seasonal food. We buy day boat fish, source locally-grown produce and opt for free range, all of which can reduce air miles.”

“We need to look at the environment and be wise with our purchasing and try not to use unsustainable produce,” he says. “Everything is driven by money; if

Vegan food brand Clean Kitchen, which champions eco-friendly dining, opened its first dine-in outlet in London earlier this year, having previously started as a

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delivery-only business one year before.

Co-founders Michael Pearce and Verity Bowditch are keen to put sustainability at the forefront, working on an initiative to implement the UK’s first re-usable delivery system, part of their zero-waste strategy on packaging, with the aim of becoming an entirely carbon neutral company.

Michael Pearce and Verity Bowditch

“Our reusable delivery system is called the Clean Drop, we get our packaging from TerraCycle, which provides us with a zero waste box,” they explain. “The Clean Kitchen Box is reusable and you can buy all your future burgers using it - just bring it in or return it, in which case you get a reward. It will encourage people to start using the reusable delivery system. We would love to push this across all our delivery platforms.”

The business also uses Pale Green Dot, a company which turns food waste into superfood for the soil, and puts it back into the ground to grow next season’s

Taking action

For restaurants looking to start their sustainability journey, there are a growing number of initiatives on hand to help. One of the latest is from startup company Foodsteps, founded by Cambridge University scientists, which aims to help restaurants assess the environmental impact of their meals. The company has developed a database that calculates, tracks and carbon labels meals, dishes and products.

“ We really want to open people’s eyes to just how much carbon emissions could be saved by choosing a business with sustainable practices,” says Pearce. “Choosing a ‘Clean burger’ over a standard beef burger has 83% less of an impact on carbon emissions and the planet. This is obviously a huge journey for us but we are on our way to becoming carbon free and always trying to be better.”

Raising awareness of packaging and recycling is also important for the brand. “We really want to encourage people to recycle and show them how important it is for the future of the planet,” adds Pearce. “We need to offset our emissions so we can reduce carbon emissions. Another way we are planning to do this is by planting trees in the city.”

access to the latest technology and data, without the commitment and fees associated with traditional carbon assessments.”

Ethical fresh food supplier 44 Foods works in partnership with farmers Boxes from 44 Foods

Anya Doherty, chief executive and founder of Foodsteps, said: “Restaurants, caterers and food providers are increasingly looking for ways to review, improve, and demonstrate their action on sustainability.

Foodsteps allows them to do that, by giving them www.worldfoodlife.uk

crops. It collects Clean Kitchens’ food waste at Battersea and takes it away to compost it so nothing is wasted.

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for everyone to be more sustainable in the food supply chain, it may mean spending more money, but in return (certainly in our model) you are creating more incentive for better quality, more investment into businesses and ultimately a future in good food businesses.

In our case you will also get a longer shelf life as we order fresh, this means less waste which is also more sustainable.”

Boxes from 44 Foods

and food producers across the country, to sell their food all in one place, promoting smaller, family-run businesses and supplying British produce when it can. Products are packaged sustainably, with minimum waste, Founder Hannah Anderson says that for 44 Foods, sustainability is all about creating an eco-system to allow all parties to grow.

“This means creating a demand and supply model which rewards all fairly, which doesn’t incur unnecessary costs and which looks after the environment where possible,” she says. “In general

Surplus food app Too Good to Go connects users with businesses that have surplus food, so that this food can be enjoyed instead of wasted. In August, it ran a ‘restaurant revival’ campaign. The aim is to ‘revive’ a local restaurant that had to close due to the pandemic, by providing them with a pop-up space and covering the rent for three months. Too Good to Go was keen for the chosen restaurant to highlight minimal food waste from the restaurant, with the resulting menu featuring an item - a ‘food waste fighting dish’, created from surplus ingredients from other dishes.

Power play

For chef James Strawbridge, who lives on the South Cornish coast, food is one of the easiest ways to make a positive change to your lifestyle and benefit the environment. He believes there has been a big push recently on the sustainability of food because we have all had more time to focus on scratch cooking at home, considering the ingredients we buy, and how they affect the planet. The author of several books, Strawbridge’s latest, due out in September, focuses on zero-waste vegetable cuisine.

“Compared to installing green technology or buying an electric car it’s a great starting point and doesn’t cost the earth,” he says. “Reducing your food miles, eating seasonally, and reducing plastic packaging all make a big 21

Hannah Anderson

difference. It’s also about empowering, to consciously control the impact of your money - where and how you spend it on weekly groceries can be a superb way to live more sustainably.”

As a chef, Strawbridge says sustainability is the most important part of his cooking, with seasonal, local and organic ingredients the key foundations of his recipes.

“Embracing a zero waste approach to cooking at home can make a significant difference to your environmental impact,” he says. “Sustainability as a chef completely overlaps with my personal lifestyle choices and the two are inextricably linked. I grow my food in the garden where possible, shop locally and support higher welfare British farming rather than factories.”

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Feature

Word on the

Street A background in

finance and science aren’t the usual credentials you’d associate with a start-up food business. But for husband and wife team Karthikk and Swati Kandala, their previous careers have helped them to stay grounded and focused when launching and growing Curry on Naanstop - a Mumbai street food offering.

It’s been more than a decade since Swati and Karthikk arrived in the UK. The two met via an arranged marriage - Swati is originally from Mumbai, while Karthikk hails from Hyderabad. Following their marriage, they both came to England in 2008 on the ‘highlyskilled migrant’ programme, with Swati working for HSBC (continuing a role she previously held in India), while Karthikk worked as a chemist for GlaxoSmithKline.

Starting a food business had been a passion of Swati’s for some time, as she craved her mother’s homestyle cooking and was unable to find similar-tasting food in London.

“The one thing I always missed when I came to London was authentic dishes and comfort food and also street food. There are plenty of curry houses with curries but it was not what I was craving,” she says. “I also wanted to introduce people to the Indian street food concept - most of it is made and served from carts on the streets.” www.worldfoodlife.uk

Swati and Karthikk Kandala are the founders behind start-up street food business Curry on Naanstop

Self-taught chef Swati also discovered a love for cooking. Prior to her marriage, she had never done much of the cooking in India, leaving this to her mother and mother-in-law, who she says are ‘amazing cooks’. When she came to London, she had to learn to cook and got inspiration from her mother and in-laws, learning different forms of cuisine and techniques via Skype, with online lessons from her mum and mother-in-law.

As a self-taught chef, this is when she realised cooking and serving food to family and friends was a big part of her passion and that she wanted to share those flavours with others.

“I learnt cooking to show I could do just as well if not better than my mother and in-laws,” she says.

“I cooked for colleagues at work and they suggested I should do something in the catering industry.

I made many traditional ‘comfort’ South Indian dishes, like lentils and biryani but to get the authentic element, I started looking at street food. I spent time 22

Swati and Karthikk Kandala

with the street food owners in India when I returned for visits.”

Swati recalls how she would pay some of the traders to share their recipes with her and teach her how to make them, and although they were reluctant at first as they thought she was a competitor, some of them were happy to pass on their cooking techniques, including recipes for snacks such as samosa chaat. She learnt the art of dosas from her mother while chutneys have been inspired by her mother-in-law’s recipe. Other

have largely had a meat-free diet and now it’s a growing trend.”

Looking to the future

dishes were created when Swati put her own stamp on them, such as chicken tikka naan wraps. Many of the dishes that have found their way on her menu were tested on friends, some of whom have been her harshest critics.

“I have amazing friends and colleagues, they have always been such a support system for us, always giving us feedback” she says. “Some of them have been brutally honest which has been a great help in getting the dishes right.”

Streets ahead It wasn’t until the beginning of 2018 however, that Swati and Karthikk took the plunge to set up a food business, although they took a cautious approach. They stuck to their day jobs while launching the business with their own savings.

Curry on Naanstop started life as a street food truck, with the pair converting a former Sainsbury’s delivery van and customising it with bright colours and rangoli art. Swati wanted something fun and playful for the business name, and is quick to point out that it has nothing to do with the iconic British Carry on comedy films that spanned the 1950s to the 1980s.

Curry on Naanstop started in the pair’s local Surrey Street Market in Croydon in South London. Both

Swati and Karthikk stayed within their jobs for about another year, before turning their attention to the business full time. On the menu you’ll find ‘Mumbai Special Small Plates’, such as ‘Vada Pav’, (a Mumbai version of a vegan burger) a potato dumpling in a bread roll with three different chutneys: a dry chutney made with chillies, peanut, sesame and coconut, a green chutney made with coriander and tamarind chutney. There’s also ‘Bhel Puri’, a rice dish made with puffed rice, peanuts, bombay mix and tangy chutneys, garnished with pomegranate seeds and herbs.

For a breakfast with a difference, the range of ‘South Special Tiffins’ feature ‘Masala Dosa’ and ‘Hot Idly’ - steamed savoury rice cakes, alongside ‘Medu Vada’, fritters made from Vinga mungo and lentils.

More substantial meals include Hyderabadi Bagara Baingan, an aubergine curry made with nutty peanuts, fresh and creamy coconuts and sesame seeds. Around 50% of the menu is vegan, with those dishes proving very popular. Swati is in charge of the menu and the cuisine, while she says Karthikk is ‘the brains and strength of the business, leading all the operations.”

“There is a big vegan and vegetarian community out there who are discovering our menu, with half of our dishes suited to them,,” says Swati. “In fact, both Karthikk and I 23

Lockdown was an opportunity to reflect on where the business was going, with Swati saying they invested ‘considerable funds’ into building a central production facility in London’s Herne Hill, with walkin fridges and blast chillers. Next came stops on the UK music festival circuit, with Carry on Naanstop serving food at the likes of Latitude, Camp Bestival, Eastival and The Big Feastival.

Last month saw their launch in Covent Garden’s Seven Dials Market, after having been through street food operator Kerb’s ‘inKERBator’, a three-month programme designed to give early stage businesses with raw talent but little experience the chance to accelerate their growth through mentorship and advice on business issues such as branding.

“We were quite scared to start with as we didn’t know what footfall there might be post-lockdown or postpandemic,” says Swati. “But it’s been one of the best locations to set up, it’s early days but feedback has been very positive and we enjoy being here.”

Swatii is also eyeing up the corporate market, having catered for businesses previously, with many of her street food snacks doubling up as canapés. A bigger ambition is to have some of her street food snacks stocked in cafés and coffee shops and she’s also planning to launch some home made spices and cooking kits.

“We have done some ‘corporate canteen’ takeovers and I want to bring the concept to coffee shops,” explains Swati. “In India, in the coffee shops, you will find street food snacks; I would love to introduce that concept here.” www.worldfoodlife.uk

Feature

Spoilt for

choice

Food halls are enjoying a resurgence, bringing people together and offering experiences that go beyond meals

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onset of hte pandemic, highlights how ‘community F-hubs’ are a new concept that have the potential to revive ailing town centre spaces.

P-Three co-founder Thomas Rose, says: “The emphasis, in a post-Covid world, will be on multipurpose venues, anchored by food, but offering a wide variety of other uses. Given their multi-functional nature I refer to this new generation of food halls as F-hubs.”

Food halls are evolving into

dining destinations, offering visitors the chance to sample a range of high-end food, curated menus and immersive experiences. They are a place where people are opting to linger in rather than rush away from.

A report from Mintel released in 2020, prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, noted that food halls have started to spring up across the country, breathing new life into the UK’s casual dining sector.

It defines food halls as a venue made up of local specialty restaurants and bars under one roof.

In its report, Mintel said that as society becomes more informal and consumers’ food and drink preferences become more diverse, food halls will provide an effective way for property owners to convert existing sites into sustainable shared spaces that allow operators to react to changing consumer demand.

Real estate consultancy P-Three says that the food hall concept is evolving. Its report, F-Hubs: The New Generation of Foodhalls, published earlier this year after the

In the pipeline

JKS Restaurants, which operates a number of brands including Gymkhana, Hoppers and Brigadiers, recently announced the launch of Arcade Food Hall at Centre Point set for 2022. The site was previously another food hall called the Arcade Food Theatre, with the revamped venue expected to feature eight new kitchens, an independent restaurant on the mezzanine level and a counter dining experience, as well as a standalone bar and outdoor dining.

In a statement, JKS says it aims

Report author Trish Caddy says food halls offer a viable alternative for independent restaurant operators wary of committing to a longterm lease on a high street location – given the twin challenges of rising rents and reduced footfall.

“These concepts work especially well in city locations, appealing to young urbanites who enjoy the convenience and flexibility of having multiple dining and drinking options – all under the convenience of one roof,” the report says.

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Eataly (above and below) and Seven Dials Market

to ‘champion emerging food and drink talent, all under one roof.

Cuisines will travel around the world exploring regional Thai curries, Indonesian street food, North Indian fast food, Spanish tapas, Middle Eastern shawarma, Japanese sushi, and American-style burgers.’

There will also be a daily provisions counter serving coffee, lunchtime sandwiches and pastries, and an immersive dessert experience and what JKS is calling a ‘digital food hall’, enabling people to choose dishes from the different kitchens to collect in one order.

An underground market/food hall is due to open soon in Manchester,

focusing on Chinese and Vietnamese produce. Hello Oriental will be spread across three floors and will also feature DJs and live music at the weekend, with the aim of making the space a ‘destination’.

The venue’s focal point will be a market hall serving Chinese roast meats and dim sum alongside East Asian street food. This will be complemented by a Chinese bakery and on-site supermarket, which will sell products and ingredients that are cooked fresh on-site, allowing customers the opportunity to cook, try and taste Hello Oriental’s food at home.

A taste of Italy

One of the latest food hall openings is Eataly, located in London.

Its original planned opening in 2020 was delayed owing to the pandemic, but it finally opened its doors this spring, taking up a 40,000 sq ft space in London’s Broadgate area, close to Liverpool Street station. The venue features a market with more than 5,000 products and also houses three restaurants, London’s biggest Italian winery, a food-to-go area, a zero-waste produce refill store and a cookery school. Chefs and food experts aim to provide in-house and online classes on everything from creating regional specialties to wine tasting, and Italian cooking for children.

“London has been on our radar for a long time, we chose our location because we wanted to open in a place where Londoners live and work,” says Matteo Ferrio, Eataly’s London store manager. “So we chose the perfect spot where the city meets Shoreditch and where the people who call London home can join us to ‘eat, shop and learn’, as well as people from outside the city, as we are so close to Liverpool Street Station.”

Ferrio adds that the concept is not a food hall in the traditional sense, ‘as everything under our roof is run by us rather than a collection of third parties.’

“At Eataly, we use the produce from our market in our restaurants and counters, which allows us to keep our food extremely fresh and seasonal, as well as to reduce

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Eataly: fresh and seasonal produce

waste,” he says. “From a customer perspective, our guests are able to buy the ingredients, products and wine that they like around the store, to enjoy at home or share with friends and family.”

He believes that offering experiences is an element that diners are finding increasingly attractive. At Eataly, visitors can sign up to a cooking school that hosts a range of classes, tastings and workshops throughout the year.

“Eataly London is dedicated to craft, because all around the store we have open production labs and kitchens where you can see fresh pastry, gelato, bread, pasta and mozzarella being made,” he says.

“We try to tell the stories of our traditions, producers and experts all around the store so that the shopping and dining experience is also a learning experience. We also have the cooking school, for those who wish to learn even more.”

Next up is the launch of Italian wood burning grill restaurant, Terra which opend this autumn. Eataly

is also hosting a range of seasonal events celebrating the best of Italian produce, with the first event focused on truffle season.

A social experience

Julia Wilkinson is restaurant director at West End landlord Shaftesbury, which operates a food hall at Seven Dials in Covent Garden and an alfresco dining space at Kingly Court in Covent Garden. She says the popularity and success of food halls stems from curating a strong point of difference through the food and drink offer and making the food hall an exciting and differentiated destination venue in its own right.

“Seven Dials Market offers a strong, independent food offer by innovative existing market and street operators, complemented by a quirky lifestylefocused retail offer and a hybrid book-shop/event space,” she says.

She adds that the social experience of dining out is one that many have missed greatly during the pandemic.

“We are certainly seeing trade 27

bouncing back across all of our ‘villages’ currently, driven especially by the re-opening of the restaurant sector and al fresco dining,” she says. “The particular appeal of food halls such as Seven Dials Market and open air food destinations such as Kingly Court is the broad range of cuisines on offer which work particularly well for group dining with individuals who may have different preferences and dietary requirements.”

Wilkinson believes that the growth of al fresco dining coming out of lockdown has been one of the silver linings of the pandemic and says Shaftesbury has plans to build on the success of al fresco destinations and communal dining opportunities within its West End villages.

“We are also currently being approached by interesting new operators who have developed successful new concepts during lockdown and are now seeking opportunities to take permanent West End sites,” she says.

www.worldfoodlife.uk

Business Profile Ellen Parr and Pete Kelly

A regional

Big, bold flavours are the order of the day at Chinese-inspired Hackney eatery Lucky & Joy

Chinese feast www.worldfoodlife.uk

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Lucky & Joy’s

concept is simple - dishes inspired by travels and tastings across China. Established by Ellen Parr and Pete Kelly, the east Londonbased restaurant’s menu draws on recipes from provinces such as Hunan, Xinjiang and Sichuan.

Parr, who hails from Bristol, originally studied for a degree in mathematics at the University of Glasgow but left before completing her studies to follow

her passion for food, working at the likes of Moro and Morito and setting up her own supper club.

But it was regional Chinese food that captured her imagination, leading her to a series of popups and then the Lucky & Joy permanent site. It’s no surprise that Michelin-starred chef Andrew Wong has been a big inspiration too - he previously studied at the Sichuan Culinary Institute just outside Chengdu and has often spoken of his fascination with the way in which Chinese food differs

I got very obsessed with regional Chinese food, particularly dishes served in a restaurant in south London called Silk Road, I had been to China previously, travelling extensively in south-east Asia in my early 20s but I hadn’t been for the last few years.

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according to region and local customs.

“I got very obsessed with regional Chinese food, particularly dishes served in a restaurant in south London called Silk Road,” says Parr. “I had been to China previously, travelling extensively in south-east Asia in my early 20s but I hadn’t been for the last few years. Silk Road’s focus is on the northern regions of China and I found the flavours really interesting and delicious - spicy, aromatic broths and dishes like fried cabbage. These were all different flavours that I had not

seen in the Cantonese restaurants that are more common in the UK. I’m also a big fan of Andrew Wong’s cooking.”

Parr got hooked on regional Chinese cuisine, and travelled to New York with Kelly in 2015 to further her research and to try different foods.

“I found a huge, diverse range of dishes, different to anything I had seen before and I became even more obsessed,” she recalls. “I started thinking about going to China and researched different regions to travel to. Pete and I

went on two big trips and we had another one booked before the pandemic.”

Visits to Xian and Shanghai and to towns in Sichuan province made a lasting impression on Parr, and on her return to the UK, she opened a pop-up based on the dishes she had tried.

“I was inspired by the food, so we did a pop up in Tottenham for a month called Lucky & Joy and it was really well received - that’s where the idea for the restaurant came about,” says Parr. “There was a continuous theme running through most of the dishes, fiery flavours with a strong punch. This is what I have always loved about food; I have a strong palate and I like the flavours that linger on the back of your tongue.”

Parr is also a huge fan of cuisine from the Yunnan province, with dishes featuring mushroom, cheese and ham - which may seem unusual with regards to Chinese food but as Parr explains, these ingredients are more common to the cuisine than one would think.

Rising to the challenge Over 2018, Parr also travelled to Hong Kong, Macau, and Taipei, exploring the Portugueseinfluenced dishes in Macau and more regional specialities in Taiwan, which led to further popups on her return to London.

“Our client base continued to grow and there was a demand for the cuisine so I thought about opening a permanent space, in the style of a New York restaurant, casual and fun, with colourful lighting,” she says. “It was about creating a space where you can eat really good food but with an atmosphere that is more casual, laid back and

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menu, including pickled peanuts and smacked cucumber, inspired by a dish Parr tried in a Yunnanese restaurant. Cold spinach blanched with sesame oil is another favourite, alongside cold sesame noodles.

Other big hitters include ‘Grandma’s potatoes’, which Parr describes as being like crisp potatoes with ginger, garlic and pickled mustard seeds.

“You keep frying the potatoes and it forms a crust and you stir it all in again - it’s like a hash brown or bubble and squeak but a slightly more pickled version,” she says.

“We’ve also served cumin lamb belly; we grill it, braise it, chill it, grill it to order and it goes all crispy, with the meat flavoured by the braise.”

Lucky & Joy’s most popular dishes

fun, rather than smart.”

The Lucky & Joy restaurant opened in November 2019 in Hackney’s Lower Clapton Road, with a quirky, colourful interior featuring lighting that changes depending on the time of day. It has an open kitchen too, a feature that Parr says is important, so that chefs, customers and waiting staff can all be part of the same experience. Just four months after opening however, the restaurant was forced to close in line with national lockdown restrictions.

“We have been quite lucky as we managed to trade the whole time, switching to a delivery restaurant,” says Parr. “We used our own drivers and the front of house did the orders. We did eventually use a third party to broaden our reach but we have been just as busy on our own platform, answering the

phone, taking orders and making our own deliveries.”

The lockdown also gave Lucky & Joy the chance to help local communities, with the restaurant providing meals for staff at nearby Homerton Hospital.

Don’t let your guard down Parr is raring to go back to China when travel rules permit to discover some new dishes but for the present time, she has to make do with her own take on regional cuisine. While there are four chefs at the restaurant, she does the majority of the cooking, with some dishes being ‘fairly simple’ while others have ‘many processes’. She makes a point of varying Lucky & Joy’s menu although some popular staples have pride of place on the

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The drinks menu has an edge too (Kelly, a drinks expert, is in charge), with concoctions including Szechuan negroni, hibiscus margarita, and coco-pandan oldfashioned.

Despite Covid-19 restrictions having eased in July, Parr says it’s vital to keep on your toes and to take a cautious approach. Lucky & Joy is continuing with deliveries and takeaways, and has built up a loyal clientele.

“It does not feel like we are out of the woods just yet,” says Parr.

“You don’t want to have more jobs than you can pay for, you don’t want to expand too much so we are taking a cautious approach.

Over lockdown I have learnt that it is worth slowing down a bit and taking stock of everything. You learn to appreciate things a bit more. I am quite an active person so it’s been nice to slow down.”

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INTERVIEW

Market Yvette Ighorue is the founder of street food concept Rendang Thank You Ma’am.

She tells WFL about her passion for the Malaysian dish and how to succeed at street markets

Yvette Ighorue: passionate about rendang

How did you get into the food business?

I was born and raised in Nigeria and had a keen interest in food from an early age. I started making quite complex dishes when I was young, I liked to challenge myself.

I came to the UK when I was 11 years old and carried on with cooking and then baking. I studied international relations and worked for a number of charities in many places around the world, such as Mexico City. I tried rendang curry and loved it. I would travel to Asia quite frequently and do stopovers in Malaysia and try rendang dishes and I signed up for cooking classes.

This encouraged me to try a street www.worldfoodlife.uk

food/catering business. I hadn’t seen anyone doing rendang before.

Tell us about Jay Rayner…

I started my business in 2018 and did my first event at a small popup, with 60 portions. People were interested in the food and willing to buy it and most people hadn’t even heard of rendang. I was working at KPMG at the time on a contract; when this came to an end, I decided to devote my time to setting up my food business, this was in 2019. I started doing more events at the weekends but then in 2020, Covid put a stop to this for a few months. I started trading again in August when restrictions 32

were lifted after the first lockdown but when it happened again in December, I realised I needed to do more than one-day or weekend events. I started a ‘rendang at home delivery’, packaging it and sending it with a pack of rice and sambal and fried onions.

I was very lucky as a good friend wrote to Jay Rayner to ask if he would sample the rendang at home product. He mentioned my business on his ‘news bites’. I received lots of orders and Marina O’Loughlin also gave an amazing review in The Times.

people in Malaysia and Indonesia do, for example, adding in shrimp paste. Kashmiri chilli was another great find, it adds colour and flavour. It’s my own take on rendang but I still try to keep it quite authentic. Alongside the beef and chicken, I have a vegan jackfruit version too which is very popular.

What makes the perfect rendang?

Rendang is a celebratory dish that originates from Indonesian/ Malaysian cooking traditions. I have been cooking rendang all the time since I discovered it. I cooked it for all my friends as I wanted to perfect the recipe. I wanted to understand rendang a lot more which is why I went to Malaysia a few times and tried different cooking schools to learn a range of techniques. It was a liberating experience, I realised that everyone cooks it differently so it’s okay for me to cook it how I like it. Some people would add tamarind but I don’t like the taste so I omitted it. But I loved what some

What have been your challenges so far?

When I first started the business I would cook the rendang at home and then cool it and transport it to events. Now I am taking all the ingredients to the venue and cooking it there. I have to plan my time quite carefully as rendang is one of those dishes that tastes better over time, its taste improves not when you cook it, but the week after. So I cook batches in advance and then prepare it to be served at events. Working on your own can be quite a lonely experience too.

I have to make all the decisions and think about the pros and cons of everything so that has been a huge learning curve. It can be scary

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Ighorue developed her own take on rendang

having this much responsibility.

I work with Kerb (a street food market operator) so at events there are other similar street food traders I can talk to which has been really helpful. I have to wear many hats - I am the engineer, the plumber, the cook, the marketing director, the driver ... There is a lot to think about.

There are particular challenges with street food; when it is good it is amazing when it is bad it is really bad. June and July this year were bad months for food businesses in general; it meant making a loss and hoping that things would get better. This business can be very unpredictable - you are at the mercy of the weather but you still have to pay for pitch fees and central London costs which can all add up. It’s physically demanding too. Setting up a gazebo is like moving house everyday, packing up and lifting heavy equipment and it’s exhausting standing on your feet for 12 hours.

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In the know

From colourful sandwiches to Chinese baked goods, WFL looks at some of the latest food and dining trends hitting the UK

Wanpaku sandos These are no ordinary sandwiches - think artistic, colorful, multi-layered fillings that are fit to burst and you’ll have a good idea of what a ‘wanpaku’ sandwich should look like. The word translates as ‘cheeky child’ and one of the latest openings with wanpaku in mind is The Secret Sandwich Shop in London’s Notting Hill. Its wanpaku offerings feature meat, cheese, eggs, and fresh vegetables, tucked into Japanese bread shokupan. Choices include egg salad, tuna mayo and chicken with honey mustard. In the near future, it is hoping to introduce a gluten-free shokupan or milk bread option. London’s Japan Centre, meanwhile, has its own take on Japanese sandwiches, with fillings including strawberries and cream, tonkatsu (pork) and the yakisoba sandwich, featuring yakisoba noodles and sauce.

Asian bakeries Chinese bakery Ong Ong Buns opened in Shoreditch in July, with goods including pineapple cookies, cocktail buns, frankfurters buns, bo lo bao, egg tarts, curry puffs, almond cookies and pineapple cookies.

Founder Aaron Mo believes there is a big gap in the market for the offering. “Other than Chinatown and out-of-town Oriental supermarkets, the capital does not supply convenience foods for typical Chinese taste buds,” he says. Ong Ong is looking to introduce different fillings for its baked goods over time, with an exhaustive list featuring savoury and sweet flavours, such as char siu (barbecued pork), coconut, shredded chicken and black mushroom, curry beef, peanut, pineapple jam, taro, winter melon paste, katsu chicken, cheese, teriyaki chicken, and black sesame seeds. www.worldfoodlife.uk

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Vegan variety Demand for vegan dishes continues to rise and now London now has its very own vegan dessert parlour.

Mookind, which opened this summer, offers homemade gelato, cakes and a mini-market.

Vegan Indian food is also proving popular - the Hungry Beast Vegan Indian Kitchen, which opened in Kingsland Road in 2019, claims to be first plant-based curry takeaway in Britain and says the business has been a ‘raving success’ during the pandemic. Speaking in an article in The Hackney Gazette, owner Musleh Ahmed says he has frequent collections from curry-lovers in Kent and Dorset, as well as orders from customers as far away as Macclesfield near Manchester. Vegan curry house Spice Box meanwhile, which opened in Walthamstow in 2019, debuted its second site in autumn, a 90-seat restaurant in Leytonstone.

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NEWS

Boost for alfresco dining more customers outside, with pavement licenses being extended and made permanent. Takeaway pints will also continue for another 12 months as the temporary permissions for off-sales of alcohol are extended in England and Wales, boosting sales.

Outdoor eating and drinking looks set to continue for some time yet, with the government extending pavement licenses by a year across England until the end of September 2022. The

plans were unveiled as part of the government’s Hospitality Strategy, which was launched in July. It will be easier for pubs, restaurants and cafes on the high street to offer al fresco dining and serve

The aim is for more shops, cafes and restaurants to make use of outdoor areas, with an intention to make this permanent. Communities secretary Robert Jenrick said: “As we build back better from the pandemic, we are transforming our high streets across the UK into the kind of vibrant places we will want to visit, work and call home for generations to come.”

Takeaways continue to boom If you are starting a takeaway business, continuing one or looking to expand, it’s worth remembering that all retailers, regardless of size, now have to charge 10p for a plastic bag, under changes to existing rules announced earlier this year. This means restaurants and takeaways will have to charge for bags used to carry food, whether for takeaway or delivery.

Ibrahim Dogus, chair of the British Takeaway Campaign, said: “Both businesses and consumers have a responsibility to minimise their environmental impact – cutting down on plastic use is part of that.

The extension of the plastic bag charge will mean that all takeaway owners will need to ensure that their staff are aware of the change and that it is implemented consistently across their business.”

People got a taste for takeaways during the various lockdowns, and this is set to be an ongoing trend, with JustEat Takeaway saying in a recent trading statement that it saw first half group orders up 61% on the same period in 2020. It’s a similar story for Deliveroo, which said it delivered 148.8m meals and groceries in the first six months of 2021, twice as many orders as in the same period a year ago. In July, the Food Standards Agency published the latest findings of the Food and You 2 survey. With regards to eating out and takeaways, three fifths (60%) of respondents had eaten food which was ordered from a takeaway either ordered directly or via an online delivery company, such as Just Eat, Deliveroo or Uber Eats, in the previous four weeks. www.worldfoodlife.uk

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App orders offer more choice While many people may be comfortable visiting restaurants once again, they may still prefer to keep contact to a minimum for some time yet. If your restaurant has a barcode that people can scan, or an app they can download to access the menu, it’s worth keeping these in place and ensuring they are updated, so that customers have the option of a paper or digital menu. You could also consider partnering with various dining apps.

Guidance published by the government to coincide with restrictions easing recommends that restaurants, pubs and bars encourage customers to make orders for takeaway or delivery online, on apps or over the telephone. It says this will help to reduce queues and stagger pick-up times and it also recommends encouraging customers to use contactless ordering from tables where available, for example through an ordering app.

Seoul food The UK’s love of Korean food shows no sign of abating. Kimchi - Korean pickled cabbage that can do wonders for your gut, was all the rage during lockdown. With people at home during lockdown and with more time on their hands, there was ample time for fermenting and pickling a cabbage or two.

Kimchi features several times on the menu of Korean Dinner Party, one of London’s latest restaurant openings, located in Kingly Court in London. Inspired by LA’s Koreatown, it opened in the summer with dishes including crispy kimchi pancake with onion and oyster mayo, white kimchi, kimchi fried rice and kimchi stone pot. According to Julia Wilkinson, restaurant director at Shaftesbury, 37

which manages Kingly Court, the growth in popularity of Korean food is a natural evolution of the insatiable demand for new cuisines and concepts, especially from Asia.

“Authentic Korean ingredients such as kimchi and gochujang paste are now readily available in supermarkets and have brought Korean cookery into our homes, especially during lockdown,” she says. “Recent Korean signings in Chinatown include the Oseyo supermarket which includes groceries and lifestyle products and Korean/Japanese fusion concept Kiwa, the first UK site for Fountain Group, a Seoul-based operator.” www.worldfoodlife.uk

Restaurnt Review

Filipino

Fusion

The restaurant has a colourful interior

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opened their first permanent Bong Bong site in 2019, on London’s Hackney Road, having secured investment following an appearance on television show My Million Pound Menu.

The restaurant’s time in Hackney was short-lived, however, as the result of issues with the lease, while the business was also affected by the impact of Covid-19 and subsequent lockdowns.

During the pandemic, Johnson and Campbell kept themselves busy with a range of catering jobs and in May this year, revived the restaurant concept at a new location, at indoor food hall Seven Dials in Covent Garden.

Lee Johnson and Sinead Campbell

are the team behind Filipinothemed Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen. The restaurant’s precursor was street food truck BBQ Dreamz, started by Johnson and Sinead Campbell in 2014, which had a presence at various festivals and street food markets for several years. Johnson and Campbell then

The indoors setting doesn’t really do justice to Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen’s street food vibe, but the modern, fun decor does go some way towards replicating the vibrant sights and sounds of Manila and giving you an idea of the restaurant’s playful approach.

Bright vibrant colours are the order of the day - with a pink neon sign saying ‘kain tayo’ at the entrance (let’s eat), fake tropical plants and Filipino paraphernalia, while one wall is decorated with palm tree wallpaper.

from the outset - split into lunch and dinner dishes with sides and desserts, it’s compact while still offering plenty of choice, for meat eaters and vegetarians alike.

Visiting at lunchtime, we weren’t able to sample the restaurant’s signature crispy pata pancakes, a twist on Chinese Peking Duck with pancakes, which features 24-hour sous vide pork hock, crisped up in the oven, served with atchara (traditional pickled vegetables), pancakes, Mang Tomas (pork liver) sauce, chicharron, coriander, lime, spring onion and chilli. There’s a vegetarian option too, the funsounding sizzling mushroom sisig pancakes.

But we certainly weren’t disappointed with our choices; Lee Johnson and Sinead Campbell

A flair for flavour Johnson gave us a very warm ‘Mabuhay’ (welcome in Filipino) - he tends to work front-of-house while Campbell manages the kitchen. He was brought up in the Philippines and has been travelling back and forth from the UK for many years. The menu is appealing 39

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Counter-style seating

satay curry, with the familiar peanut flavour, was given a refreshing lemongrass and pineapple twist and the lechon kawali, a dish featuring crispy pork belly, packed a punch. The flavour was elevated by pickled cucumber, although it would have benefited from a side sauce or marinade. Both dishes were served

with ample portions of jasmine rice. We also tried two side dishes - the ‘longanisa’, traditional Filipino spiced pork sausages served with spicy cane vinegar and adobo glazed cauliflower. The latter was a revelation, with demerara sugar giving the cauliflower a sweet and crunchy texture, while the sausages were equally delicious.

Other dishes on the menu include satay duck heart skewers – with lime, spring onion and chicharron and adobo glazed chicken wings.

Tradition with a twist The dishes are built around the foundations of Filipino cuisine – vinegar, star anise, bay, garlic, ube (purple yam), coconut, mango and calamansi, a citrus fruit native to the Philippines. As Johnson explains, the recipes have been developed from traditional Filipino ones but with a few contemporary and unusual twists his take on ‘fusion Fillipino’.

“I grew up eating my mum’s and my gran’s food and Filipino cuisine is becoming more well-represented in the UK,” he says. “My inspiration for recipe development started

from this - we have a real love in our culture for sharing food. We try to be traditional but also put our own take on the food, such as adobos and sisig with a few tweaks.”

Being sustainable is also a cause close to Johnson’s heart, with the restaurant committed to upcycling as much as possible. The serving plates are mismatched, mostly sourced from a charity shop and donated by Johnson’s grandmother, which adds to the restaurant’s quirky vibe. As you would expect, a lot of coconut milk is used in the cuisine and the cans double as cocktail glasses. There’s a short list of cocktails to try, including Calamansi Collins, Milo White Russian and a classic Pina Colada, and the two we tried were refreshing and expertly mixed.

Sadly, we were too full to be tempted by a dessert but the choices on offer, calamansi sorbet and Filipino mango ice cream would have been a refreshing finish to a well-spiced meal. Next up for Johnson and Campbell is a Sunday Roast Filipino-style, which will be introduced in the next few weeks.

We’d certainly be up for trying that.

Bong Bong’s Manila Kanteen Ground floor, Seven Dials Market, 35 Earlham Street, London WC2H 9LD www.bongbongs.co.uk www.worldfoodlife.uk

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REcipe

A taste of

Autumn

These recipes from chef James Strawbridge and 44 Foods feature some of the autumn’s season’s most popular flavours and ingredients North African Shakshouka Method 



James Strawbridge 

pan and break an egg into each pocket.

Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan. Add the cumin and sesame seeds. When they begin to heat, add the onions, garlic, peppers and paprika.

Cook until the vegetables collapse, stirring frequently.

Add salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and cook over a moderate heat for five to eight minutes until much of the juice has evaporated.

Make four pockets in the mixture in each quarter of the

(vegetarian or meat option)

Ingredients         

   

3 tbsp olive oil ½ tsp cumin seeds ½ tsp sesame seeds 2 onions, peeled and sliced 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced 2 red peppers, deseeded and sliced ¼ tsp paprika Salt & pepper 6 ripe tomatoes, diced or a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes and tomato puree 4 (cacklebean) eggs 50 ml natural yoghurt Flat leaf parsley and coriander, roughly chopped Serve with ciabatta loaf to mop up the juices

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

Spoon over the yoghurt, put the lid on the pan and cook until the eggs have begun to set, but the yolks are still runny.



Scatter over the parsley and coriander and serve with the ciabatta loaf.



For the carnivores, add 150g minced lamb at stage two and cook till brown before adding the tomatoes or crumble over some feta to add extra creaminess.

Pea and Truffle Pasta Serves: 4

Ingredients          

Bertagni Truffle Triangoli 250g 50g goats cheese, grated 6-8 pea pods 100g fresh garden peas 2 tbsp olive oil 1 preserved lemon, finely diced ½ shallot, finely diced ½ tsp cracked black pepper ½ tsp sea salt flakes 2 tsp summer truffle, grated [optional]

Method

43



Boil a large saucepan of water for pasta and preheat a small sauté pan for the peas.



While the pasta cooks for 3-4 mins, heat some olive oil in the other pan and add the shallot, preserved lemon, shelled peas and pods. Sauté for two minutes ensuring to keep the contents moving in the pan on a high heat. For a final minute add mint and half the grated cheese.



Remove from the heat and add the pasta into the pan with a slotted spoon, plus a couple of tablespoons of pasta water.



Emulsify the sauce back on the heat for 30 seconds, gently coating the pasta in the minted pea sauce and serve with extra cheese and freshly grated truffle on top.



Season to taste with salt and pepper. www.worldfoodlife.uk

Cooking with

The British apple and pear season started in October, showcasing the best of home-grown varieties including Gala, Braeburn, Jazz, Cox, Conference pears and English Bramley. Chef Raymond Blanc, who has partnered with industry body British Apples and Pears for the second year running to celebrate the start of the season, shares one of his appleinspired recipes.

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Apples

Copyright Chris Terry 2021

Tarte Boulangère

(servers 4-6 people), Preparation Time: 15mns / Cooking time: 50mns This is also known as baker’s tart. So called because for centuries it has been prepared by nimble, floury fingers in every bakery in France. A pillar of French tradition, this dessert is also very simple, unrefined and rustic –bakers did not aspire to be the finest pâtissiers. With the availability of good-quality puff pastry, it is even easier to make these days. It’s delicious and a joy to cook at home, using British-grown apples. The lid-less tart can be prepared in advance and served at room temperature, or gently reheated in the oven and served warm. Apricots, plums, figs and most fruits make a delicious substitute for apples.

Ingredients        

Plain flour, for dusting 300g all-butter puff pastry (block or ready-rolled) 5–6 Royal Gala, Cox or Braeburn apples (total weight 700–800g) 50g unsalted butter 5 dessert spoons (about 85g) Demerara sugar 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon juice of ½ lemon 1 tablespoon Calvados (or water, if you must)

the apples once more, and leave them to cool. Arrange the apple segments on top of the pastry in a circle – leaving the space of about 1cm from the edge of the disc – to form a dome of apple pieces. Brush them with the remaining syrup from the baking tray.

Bake in the oven (at the reduced temperature of 190°C) for 25–30 minutes. Enjoy Tarte Boulangère warm or at room temperature.

Sprinkle with flaked almonds, if using, dust with a little icing sugar and serve with a jug of cream, a bowl of whipped cream or with ice cream or crème fraîche. You can also roast flaked almonds or crushed hazelnuts in the oven and sprinkle over when you serve.

To finish

a handful of flaked almonds (optional) icing sugar, for dusting

Method

This recipe is from Simply Raymond: Recipes from Home

by Raymond Blanc, published by Headline Home.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6.

Pastry first. On a floured board, roll out a disc of pastry that’s about 4mm thick. If using ready-rolled, simply unroll your pastry. Place a cake tin of about 18cm diameter on the pastry and cut around it, to create a disc of puff pastry. Run a sharp knife around the pastry, about 1cm from the edge, and about 1mm deep. This concentric circle will enable the pastry to rise perfectly around the apples. Line a baking tray, and place the disc onto it. Reserve in the fridge.

Peel and core the apples. Halve each apple lengthways, and cut each half into three equalsized segments lengthways. Melt the butter and mix it on a separate baking tray with the Demerara sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and the Calvados (or water). Roll the apple segments in the sugary mixture, so that they are well coated. Roast for 10 minutes. Turn over the apple pieces, baste them, and return them to the oven for a further 10 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven, and reduce the oven temperature to 190°C/170°C fan/gas 5. Baste 45

www.worldfoodlife.uk

Book review

Take a

colourful culinary

India

By Biba Singh When we talk about Indian food we are referencing the cuisine of a subcontinent that is more than 3,200 km, stretching from the Himalayan snows in the north to the sultry shores of Cape Comorin in south India, and 2,500 km from the arid states of north-west Rajasthan, and Gujarat in western India to the humid Bengal delta in eastern India.

While climatic and cultural diversity have contributed to a delicious variety of regional cuisines determined by the different types of produce, recipes are also influenced by religion, tradition and history. The rich creamy concoctions of north India are in total contrast to the highly spiced , coconut flavoured preparations of coastal and south India.

Mridula Baljekar’s exquisitely illustrated and well researched book Indian Vegan and Vegetarian is a collection of 200 traditional plant-based recipes, abundantly demonstrating the incredible variety of the cuisine of each region. Apart from being an exceedingly attractive hardcover coffee table ornament, it is beguiling enough to convert people partial to meat to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle.

India as ‘A Land of Contrasts’ has a variety of produce. The opening chapters are devoted to a description of vegetables and pulses, fruits, nuts and seeds, spices, herbs and flavourings. Another chapter devoted to dairy, eggs and vegan replacements will no doubt be most helpful for anyone drawn to vegan cooking.

Various types of rice and bread recipes which are served as staples with most meals, are www.worldfoodlife.uk

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Biba Singh was born and brought up in Mumbai and now lives in London.

presented with illustrations. Rice, at the heart of every meal, takes a little practice to prepare reasonably well.

Bread such as rotis, phulkas and naans, despite Bajlekar’s clear instructions, need more practice, particularly when it comes to the mixing and kneading of the dough and rolling little balls of dough into round rotis or parathas.

Naans might be more manageable.

The range of mouth-watering accompaniments such as raitas, chutney and salads have regional variations.

Last but not least is a chapter on cooking tools and techniques, guiding one in the use of appropriate pans and utensils, offering a sense of efficiency and helping to enhance flavours and aromas of the various ingredients in a recipe.

This is a rich and diverse collection of recipes of six regions of India: north India, north-east India, east India, south India, central India and west India, presented in easy-tofollow step-by-step instructions. The prepared dish is vividly illustrated on an entire page for the majority of the main courses. Baljekar has invited the novice, the expert and the dedicated cook to consider their choice of herbs and spices, their properties and their blending, to cook a variety of vegetables and pulses using fruits, nuts and seeds, rice dishes and all kinds of rotis, naans and parathas.

It is an adventurous sojourn and will be rewarding for many. Most of the recipes are perfect for the Western palate and might seem uncharacteristically

mild and surprise people who expect all Indian cuisine to be strongly over spiced. The vegetables are never overcooked and the emphasis is on retaining the character and texture of each of the main ingredients. I made ‘vangi bhaath’ (a rice dish) and ‘garlic flavoured mung beans with courgettes’ to the delight of some guests one evening and both were greatly enjoyed.

Many of the north Indian, south Indian, east Indian and west Indian recipes are familiar and have crossed state borders becoming favourites, as is the case of the availability of the most delicious south Indian dosas, idlis, sambar and rasam in Delhi, miles away in north India. However, many people, even those who enjoy a variety of foods from everywhere, might not be aware of the vegetarian cooking of north-east India and central India. Their dishes are distinct and seem to have a flair of their own.

Recipes for fruit desserts made with mangoes or apricots, enhanced with coconut cream or rose scent, vermicelli dessert, saffron and rose rice pudding are among the many alluring sweet dishes.

Bajlekar’s marvellous tome is a vast collection of easy-to-follow recipes with tips and suggestions and is beautifully illustrated. I recommend it to anyone who would like to know the ABC and XYZ of Indian vegan and vegetarian. Give a copy to your son or daughter-in-law. I’m going to give one to mine. And if you dare, give it to your mother-in-law.

47

She previously ran a small catering business, worked for a TV production company and now hosts informal cooking classes for her family and friends.

Mridula Bajlekar’s Indian Vegan and Vegetarian: 200 traditional plantbased recipes, is published by Anness Publishing (ISBN 9780754835134)

ISBN: Audience:

9780754835134 General

Format: Hardcover Language: English Number of Pages: 384 Published: 21st March 2021 Publisher: ANNESS PUBLISHING Country of Publication: GB Dimensions Weight (kg):

(cm): 26.7 x 20.5 x 3.3 1.97

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