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soci lmagazine<br />
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6<br />
Think Tank<br />
Great Chefs and<br />
Industry Insiders<br />
Jetsetter<br />
Irha Atherton’s<br />
Travel Diary<br />
From Grape<br />
to Grain<br />
What to Drink Next
social magazine<br />
What am I trying to<br />
achieve? I am always<br />
asked that question.<br />
In its simplest form,<br />
the answer is: to leave a<br />
legacy that teaches the<br />
next generation of chefs and<br />
restaurateurs how to run a<br />
good and ethical company that offers<br />
great food, great service, and innovative<br />
products. But it isn’t that easy.<br />
The energy that goes into the dayto-day<br />
life of The <strong>Social</strong> Company<br />
is staggering. We operate 24 hours<br />
a day, every day, on five different<br />
continents. It’s a huge commitment to<br />
keep all those plates spinning to the<br />
standard at which we want to spin them<br />
without letting any fall. It comes down<br />
to choosing the right staff members,<br />
making sure our supply chain is topnotch,<br />
and perfecting everything<br />
from menus to the right wine lists and<br />
cocktail programs.<br />
In the following pages, you will read<br />
stories about the tenacity of my staff,<br />
the incredible purveyors who support<br />
us, and the issues that affect our<br />
industry right now. The idea is to create<br />
a platform where diners, fellow chefs,<br />
and our own workforce can come<br />
together to take part in a conversation<br />
about this fascinating industry—and<br />
what it takes to create memorable<br />
experiences for everyone involved.<br />
ROYAL COLLECTION<br />
NEBULA<br />
contents<br />
Hand-crafted in Switzerland<br />
Calibre A&S5101: manufacture movement / skeletonised and symmetrical<br />
architecture / hand-wound / power reserve over 90 h / historical English<br />
movement design with 10 bridges and solid gold chatons / all technical<br />
elements visible dial side / Haute Horlogerie finishing: chamfered bridges<br />
with polished edges, sunburst barrels, satin-finished wheels and ratchets<br />
with chamfered and polished edges, screws with bevelled and mirrorpolished<br />
heads. Functions: hours, minutes and small seconds. Case: very<br />
elaborated and tapering from top to bottom to perfectly fit on the wrist /<br />
stainless steel / diameter 41.50 mm. www.arnoldandson.com<br />
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8<br />
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17<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Wine and Tapas:<br />
Small-plate conversations<br />
Sosharu: A relationship grown<br />
from ingredients<br />
Berners Tavern: On the front<br />
burner with Chef Carmichael<br />
On The Chef Shortage<br />
by Jason Atherton<br />
18<br />
19<br />
20<br />
22<br />
The Restaurant Act<br />
by Adam Hyman<br />
The Creative Process<br />
with Sat Bains<br />
Fostering Talent<br />
with Daniel Humm<br />
Uncorked with<br />
Executive Head Sommelier<br />
Laure Patry<br />
26<br />
29<br />
34<br />
Discovering Cebu<br />
with Irha Atherton<br />
Behind the Bar<br />
with Jamie Jones<br />
<strong>Social</strong> News<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
3
SMALL PLATES<br />
Small Plates,<br />
Big Ideas<br />
at <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas<br />
While the small-plate revolution continues to make the rounds in London,<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas pushes the envelope on tapas-style food with<br />
collaborative dinners and endless options for wine pairings. Ever prepared,<br />
Head Chef Frankie Van Loo is fired up for small-plate domination.<br />
CChef Frankie<br />
Van Loo started<br />
with The <strong>Social</strong><br />
Company in 2011<br />
at Pollen Street <strong>Social</strong>. Like many who<br />
end up in the Jason Atherton camp, his<br />
appetite to cook was fuelled by a desire<br />
to work for the best. ‘I was in Australia at<br />
the time, and I knew when I came back<br />
to London that I was going to work for<br />
Jason.’ Van Loo applied for a position<br />
at Pollen Street with a plan ‘to make it<br />
happen’, and it did. After a couple of<br />
years there, followed by a few more at<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Eating House, Jason presented<br />
Van Loo with an opportunity to run the<br />
kitchen at a brand-new concept.<br />
‘<strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas was born out of<br />
a need to find a style of food to pair<br />
with the wines our Executive Head<br />
Sommelier Laure Patry wanted to<br />
feature.’ The original idea was a wine<br />
shop, but the space they found begged<br />
for more. ‘Tapas lends itself easily to<br />
showcasing the wines; it allows people<br />
to mix and match small plates with<br />
several wine options, which was optimal<br />
for this situation.’<br />
In true Atherton fashion, the plan<br />
was the best of both worlds: Spanish<br />
influences with the best of British<br />
ingredients. Trips were made—nothing<br />
as extensive as Atherton’s own time<br />
spent at elBulli during his formative<br />
years—but Van Loo got the picture:<br />
‘Tapas is different in each of the regions<br />
in Spain. We didn’t want to do a carbon<br />
copy of it. We didn’t try to set out to be<br />
a traditional Spanish tapas bar.’ Instead,<br />
they went about picking the best<br />
elements from each city and putting<br />
their own twist on them.<br />
The charcuterie comes from Spain, along<br />
with the spices and aromatics. The meat,<br />
fish, and cheese are British. Some of the<br />
dishes are traditionally Spanish—take<br />
the Padrón peppers, ham croquettes,<br />
or crema catalana dessert—others are a<br />
decided mix of styles. Even a bit of an<br />
Asian influence, prevalent in Atherton’s<br />
other places, slides in by virtue of an<br />
ingredient here and there. This blending<br />
of cuisines adds to the informality of the<br />
menu, where the conversation about<br />
food and wine can start just about<br />
anywhere. ‘The original vision was to<br />
have a laid-back place where you could<br />
come by any time of the day to enjoy a<br />
quick snack and glass of wine, or more<br />
if you wanted it. It’s about giving people<br />
that freedom to eat what they want.<br />
If you opt out of a three-course meal,<br />
three glasses of wine and a charcuterie<br />
board is just as acceptable.’<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
5
SMALL PLATES<br />
SMALL PLATES<br />
Dishes go in and out of the kitchen at a<br />
fast clip, similar to a pintxos bar in San<br />
Sebastian. Van Loo explains that 80 percent<br />
of each dish is ready to go in the mise<br />
en place, leaving only a few cooking<br />
operations necessary to finish it. Take a<br />
sea bream—the actual cooking of the fish<br />
takes only three to four minutes to execute,<br />
with the garnish, a fennel salad, and saffron<br />
aioli prepared beforehand. With this sort<br />
of speed, guests can feel at ease ordering<br />
what they want, when they want, without<br />
the pressure of a normal service.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
For a place of<br />
small plates, there<br />
is no compromise<br />
and no shortcuts,<br />
when it comes to<br />
ingredients or<br />
presentation.<br />
The majority of the food is cooked on<br />
either a plancha—a flat iron grill—or a<br />
josper, which combines a grill and an oven<br />
in a single machine. With a warehouse<br />
located outside of Barcelona, The <strong>Social</strong><br />
Company chefs had a chance to learn its<br />
full potential right at the source. ‘We went<br />
from just cooking steaks in them to a whole<br />
range of items that in turn add a new<br />
flavour profile to a dish.’<br />
The menu follows the seasons. Garnishes<br />
change even when proteins stay the<br />
same. For a place of small plates, there is<br />
no compromise and no shortcuts, when<br />
it comes to ingredients or presentation.<br />
Guests might seek out an informal dining<br />
experience, but it still comes wrapped in<br />
a red bow. They relax, chat, enjoy a glass<br />
of wine, and graze on plate after plate of<br />
well-orchestrated food that come out in<br />
staggered intervals. It seems to be the way<br />
of the world these days. ‘There is definitely<br />
a shift in dining. In general, people want<br />
something a little healthier, a little lighter,’<br />
adds Van Loo, highlighting a section of the<br />
menu dedicated to only vegetables.<br />
Indeed, <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas is the first<br />
to point out that they don’t corner the<br />
market in tapas, but instead are in very<br />
good company. There’s The Salt Yard<br />
Group, where the influence on small dishes<br />
is a mix of Italian and Spanish; Barrafina,<br />
that is more traditionally Spanish; and the<br />
Palomar, with Middle Eastern flavours,<br />
among others. Those three in particular<br />
have been part of collaborative dinners<br />
at <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas, where sharing<br />
styles have merged on one menu. Wildly<br />
successful and a lot of fun to orchestrate,<br />
Van Loo plans on many more.<br />
Call it part of the <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas<br />
tapestry: weaving accessible food and<br />
amazing experiences together to bring<br />
people to the table, whatever the occasion.<br />
Small plates perhaps, but celebrating big<br />
changes in the way we approach food.<br />
CHARGRILLED CARROTS,<br />
BURNT AUBERGINE & MISO,<br />
WALNUT PESTO<br />
Serves 4<br />
Burnt Aubergine and Miso<br />
2 aubergines<br />
1 shallot, finely sliced<br />
3 garlic cloves, crushed<br />
25g white miso paste<br />
Prick the aubergines with a fork and roast in a hot oven,<br />
turning regularly until the skin has charred. Remove from<br />
the oven and place into a bowl covered with cling film.<br />
Leave to cool.<br />
Sweat the shallots and garlic in a pan for 5 minutes before<br />
adding the miso paste and cooking for a further 2 minutes.<br />
Cut open the aubergines and scrape out the flesh,<br />
discarding the skins. Add the aubergine flesh to the pan<br />
and cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes. Blend<br />
the mixture to a smooth purée, check the seasoning, and<br />
adjust if necessary.<br />
Walnut Pesto<br />
100g flat-leaf parsley, picked and washed<br />
2 garlic cloves, crushed<br />
25g walnuts, roasted<br />
Extra-virgin olive oil<br />
Place all ingredients into a blender and blitz coarsely,<br />
adding a little extra-virgin olive oil to bind the mix together.<br />
Carrots<br />
10–12 carrots with tops, medium-size, 12–15cm in length<br />
25g butter<br />
Remove the carrot tops and set aside. Blanch the carrots<br />
in boiling water until just cooked (they should retain their<br />
bite). Heat the butter in a pan until foaming, add the<br />
carrots, and roast until evenly caramelised.<br />
to serve<br />
Add a couple of spoonfuls of the aubergine and miso purée<br />
onto each plate, arrange 2 to 3 carrots on top, drizzle with<br />
the walnut pesto, and garnish with the carrot tops.<br />
SALT-BAKED BEETROOT, RICOTTA,<br />
PINE NUT & RED WINE DRESSING<br />
Serves 4<br />
150g each of golden and candy baby beetroot<br />
100g rock salt<br />
6 sprigs thyme<br />
4 cloves garlic<br />
200g large red beetroot<br />
1 bay leaf<br />
200g Sairass sheep’s milk ricotta or soft goat cheese<br />
Salt and cracked black pepper to taste<br />
150ml red wine<br />
25ml cabernet sauvignon vinegar<br />
100ml olive oil<br />
75g pine nuts, toasted<br />
Handful of salad leaves<br />
Preheat oven to 160°C. Wash the baby beetroots and<br />
thinly slice 2 of each colour on a Japanese mandolin.<br />
Place into ice-cold water for 5 minutes.<br />
Place the rest of the baby beetroots on a bed of rock salt<br />
with 4 sprigs of thyme and 2 garlic cloves. Bake in the oven<br />
at 160°C for 25 to 30 minutes. When ready, the beetroots<br />
should pierce with a little resistance. Leave them to cool<br />
slightly, then peel off the skins. Cut into different sizes—<br />
some in half, some in quarters, and others whole.<br />
For the purée, peel and quarter the red beetroot and cover<br />
with water in a pan. Add 2 sprigs of thyme, 2 garlic cloves,<br />
and a bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Simmer for 45 minutes,<br />
drain, and then blend to a smooth purée.<br />
Whip the Sairass or goat’s cheese until soft, and season<br />
with salt and cracked pepper.<br />
To make the red wine dressing, first reduce the red wine<br />
to 50ml by heating it in a pan. Take 1 tbsp of the beetroot<br />
purée and whisk in the reduced red wine. Add cabernet<br />
sauvignon vinegar before slowly adding in the olive oil.<br />
to serve<br />
Place a few spoonfuls of the whipped cheese on the plate,<br />
followed by a mixture of the cooked and sliced beetroot.<br />
Scatter over the pine nuts, drizzle with the dressing, and<br />
finish with a few salad leaves.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
6<br />
7
SMALL PLATES Sosharu<br />
Her Story<br />
Mash<br />
Purveyors<br />
and<br />
Sosharu<br />
A Perfect Marriage of<br />
Ingredients and Technique<br />
Alexandru Craciun &<br />
Aleksandra Jazevica<br />
Fiercely independent, self-starter<br />
Aleksandra Jazevica worked her way up to<br />
a sales position after eight years in the fruit<br />
and vegetable market. She affectionately<br />
refers to herself as the ‘greengrocer lady<br />
who fell for a chef’. With a strong Latvian<br />
accent, she expresses her appreciation<br />
for the opportunities Mash Purveyors has<br />
afforded her. She’s not selling anything, but<br />
she peddles passion.<br />
And there’s plenty of that in the air as<br />
Aleksandra sits at the counter at Kisetsu,<br />
the jewel box within Sosharu that offers a<br />
kappo style tasting menu to just 10 guests<br />
each evening. Craciun, her boyfriend and<br />
executive head chef, busies himself in<br />
the small but functional kitchen space,<br />
even as her gaze locks on him. He lets the<br />
tiniest smile escape, clearly affected, as he<br />
examines a piece of burdock, a Japanese<br />
type of ginger. Kisetsu has been open<br />
for only a few days, so he has a right to<br />
have plenty on his mind. Sourcing the<br />
best ingredients is luckily the least of his<br />
worries—Jazevica has that covered. Even<br />
so, his menu that evening is at the mercy<br />
of what he receives into his kitchen that<br />
day, and sometimes that’s only 30 minutes<br />
before service starts.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
When Mash Purveyors sales rep<br />
Aleksandra Jazevica went to<br />
Japan to visit her new boyfriend<br />
and chef, Alexandru Craciun,<br />
she fell in love with a whole<br />
new world of vegetables. Today,<br />
Japanese products are a big part<br />
of what Mash Purveyors is able<br />
to offer London restaurants, and<br />
Sosharu benefits greatly from this<br />
unique relationship.<br />
Aleksandra senses his need to concentrate<br />
and shifts back to the way Mash handles all<br />
the details. Don’t be fooled: She’s not your<br />
typical produce rep. She has a keen eye for<br />
detail and presents a level of service that<br />
illustrates her complete understanding of a<br />
chef’s needs. She explains how important<br />
it is to go and eat in the restaurants she<br />
works with: ‘That is the only way you can<br />
understand where you can help them,<br />
which garnishes to recommend, what<br />
products they should switch out. Are the<br />
tomatoes they use good enough, or can I<br />
get them something better?’<br />
If it’s a new relationship with a restaurant<br />
that is just opening, she asks for a menu<br />
and puts together a sample box of her<br />
choosing—from leaves to edible flowers.<br />
‘From that, they can pick what they need.’<br />
Going the extra mile is part of Aleksandra’s<br />
DNA. Most chefs place an order after their<br />
service is done, and the delivery hits their<br />
kitchen the following day. Sometimes they<br />
need a top up and might order again in the<br />
morning. ‘If a chef is under pressure during<br />
an opening or event and forgets something,<br />
we will always help them out,’ she adds,<br />
happy to jump in her car and courier over a<br />
delivery that has just arrived dockside. ‘It’s<br />
our job to make sure that happens.’<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
8<br />
9
Sosharu<br />
SMALL PLATES Sosharu<br />
Local and Proud of It<br />
Japanese Ingredients<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
Mash brings in products from all over<br />
the world: Europe, Africa, and now<br />
Japan. ‘Japan closes that gap and<br />
offers our chefs something completely<br />
different,’ she explains. And if it wasn’t<br />
for Craciun, she would never have<br />
suggested bringing that country’s<br />
offerings into the fold.<br />
His Story<br />
Alexandru Craciun started helping out<br />
in kitchens in Romania and moved<br />
to Newcastle 10 years ago. Despite<br />
language barriers, his skills progressed,<br />
and he was soon in charge of his own<br />
kitchen. Never one to rest on his laurels,<br />
he continued to push himself: ‘Being in<br />
a new country was very motivating. I<br />
wanted to work harder.’ Introduced to<br />
Japanese flavours at Maze, Alexandru<br />
was hooked, fascinated by how clean<br />
and different they were. ‘I had never<br />
known anything like this growing up<br />
in Eastern Europe,” he explains. “Hot<br />
sauce; mirin; rich, umami-flavoured<br />
broths—this was all new, and it touched<br />
me very deeply.’<br />
He went to Japan several times to ‘stage’<br />
and worked with the likes of esteemed<br />
three-Michelin-starred Chef Yoshihiro<br />
Murata, one of Japan’s most respected<br />
traditional-style chefs. There he learned<br />
how to respect the product and the<br />
culture—sometimes learning the hard<br />
way. At the famous RyuGin, he turned<br />
up several mornings in a row and stood<br />
outside the door before finally being<br />
allowed into the kitchen. ‘They made<br />
me shave my beard and arms,’ he sighs.<br />
But now he is running the kitchen at<br />
undoubtedly one of London’s most<br />
compelling restaurants. ‘Everything<br />
is taste, taste, taste’, he offers when<br />
asked how he marries Japanese and<br />
British ingredients to create the dishes<br />
served at Sosharu. ‘A citrus from Japan<br />
is different than a British one: different<br />
flavour, different smell. Taste everything.’<br />
Big in Japan<br />
Before Craciun opened Sosharu, he<br />
searched for suppliers to bring in<br />
authentic Japanese produce, but it<br />
wasn’t so easy. It was the perfect<br />
opportunity for Mash to introduce<br />
a new line of products—and for<br />
Sosharu to get their hands on the<br />
right ingredients. Jazevica admits that<br />
cultural barriers are just that: ‘It’s really<br />
hard to connect with Japanese people.<br />
You have to push them to react. They<br />
don’t like change, and it’s challenging to<br />
get a quick response time.’<br />
Jazevica flew over to see Craciun<br />
while he was ‘staging’ in Japan for<br />
three months, and he took her to the<br />
market. ‘It completely changed my life!’<br />
she exclaims. ‘I just couldn’t believe<br />
the number of vegetables I had never<br />
encountered before, even while working<br />
in the business.’ Today, she considers<br />
it a bonus to sell these items to not<br />
only Japanese chefs in London but<br />
also European chefs. ‘It’s so exciting to<br />
show them something new, something<br />
completely different and unique that<br />
they have never seen before.’<br />
While visiting Japanese farms, Jazevica<br />
was wowed by the produce—each piece<br />
perfectly formed and identical in look,<br />
size, and flavour. Then she walked out<br />
onto the soil and understood why. ‘It is<br />
so soft that you actually step down into<br />
it.’ She explains how Japanese growers<br />
work the land for at least two years<br />
prior to planting to kill all the insects.<br />
‘As a result, the soil is soft and full of<br />
moisture to the touch.’<br />
While chemicals are used to treat the<br />
soil initially, nothing is sprayed once the<br />
ingredients are in the ground, so you<br />
can actually eat it unwashed. Perfect<br />
growing conditions with perfect results.<br />
Jazevica smiles wistfully: ‘We still have a<br />
lot to learn from the Japanese in terms<br />
of farming in England.’<br />
Beyond the art of farming is the harvest.<br />
As each vegetable is taken from the<br />
ground, it is impeccably wrapped into<br />
neat bundles. The perfect leaves are<br />
packed right into wrappers and flown<br />
over to London. It’s super fresh, and<br />
that’s the way Mash likes to keep it. ‘The<br />
Japanese are very good at looking after<br />
their products, and so we instruct our<br />
staff to do the same.’ Mash get deliveries<br />
once a week from Japan, and delivery is<br />
about to increase to twice a week.<br />
As much as Mash Purveyors brings in<br />
speciality items from other countries, it’s<br />
very important to them that they support<br />
English growers. ‘We do believe that if<br />
produce is grown here, it will taste that<br />
much fresher—not to mention, it’s the<br />
right thing to promote British products,’<br />
says Jazevica. Mash works with Secretts<br />
of Milford, a family-run farm they sit<br />
down with before each growing season<br />
to figure out specific growing needs. ‘It’s<br />
a solid relationship, and they appreciate<br />
that they get to see their produce in some<br />
of London’s best restaurants.’ Jazevica<br />
points out that Secretts’ corn on the cob,<br />
super fresh, is harvested in the afternoon<br />
and in Craciun’s kitchen the following<br />
morning. ‘The prawn and corn tempura he<br />
has on the menu is amazing because of<br />
the combination of the chef’s skill and the<br />
quality of the product.’<br />
Scottish blaeberries, or wild blueberries,<br />
likewise make their mark on the menu<br />
because of their unique taste. ‘These<br />
small, extremely dark blueberries taste<br />
completely different from a regular<br />
blueberry, almost as if they contain a little<br />
bit of the forest inside them,’ Jazevica<br />
says, smiling. You won’t find them in<br />
Japanese restaurants, and that is what<br />
makes Sosharu so special. ‘It’s a unique<br />
product, available for a short season, that<br />
our foragers in the region specifically seek<br />
out. And not something you’re going to<br />
find in a local market either.’<br />
In the Kitchen<br />
Respecting the ingredients starts in the<br />
ground and continues all the way to<br />
the plate. That’s the way Craciun was<br />
instructed, and it manifests itself on the<br />
satisfied faces of Sosharu’s diners—and<br />
now Kisetsu too. ‘People have accepted<br />
what we are doing here. They have<br />
accepted my palate,’ he says, deliberately.<br />
‘What you taste here is totally different.<br />
We are a different kind of Westernised<br />
Japanese restaurant.’<br />
They are busy. And, yes, at the end of each<br />
evening on this opening week at Kisetsu,<br />
Craciun has been treated to a heartfelt<br />
round of applause by his mesmerised<br />
crowd. ‘Food is a very powerful weapon,’<br />
he adds quietly. To which we add: His<br />
interaction with great ingredients is the<br />
catalyst for making this food so effective.<br />
Myoga<br />
A Japanese ginger used often at<br />
Sosharu. Not as spicy as conventional<br />
ginger, it has a nice, mild flavour.<br />
Beautiful to look at, with edible flower<br />
buds and flavourful shoots. Good for<br />
pickling and in salads.<br />
Japanese Cucumber<br />
Less water content and fewer seeds<br />
than a continental cucumber, this is<br />
one of Mash’s biggest sellers, not only<br />
with Japanese chefs but British ones<br />
too. Great for pickling.<br />
Burdock<br />
This slender, brown-skinned root is<br />
about a metre and a half long.<br />
Good for tempura. Like an English<br />
salsify, but more meaty in texture.<br />
Nashi<br />
An Asian pear with the<br />
crispness of an apple, along<br />
with the juiciness and taste<br />
of a pear. Available from late<br />
summer to November.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
10<br />
11
Berners Tavern<br />
On the Front Burner<br />
Executive Chef Phil Carmichael at Berners Tavern<br />
‘<br />
Jason was willing to literally<br />
sacrifice everything to make<br />
that restaurant a success.<br />
It was incredible to witness<br />
that sort of drive in a boss—<br />
he was in the kitchen with us<br />
for 16 hours a day pushing<br />
himself, pushing us.’<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
There is no romantic back story about cooking with his grandmother as a<br />
small child, cautions Berners Tavern Executive Chef Phil Carmichael. ‘Sure,<br />
I had home-cooked meals’, says Carmichael. ‘But food was fuel growing<br />
up, nothing more.’ Instead, it was a job washing dishes that lead to bigger<br />
things in the kitchen—granted, well oiled by Carmichael’s own gumption,<br />
call it his cheeky manner even, when he saw the opportunity and seized it.<br />
Like many<br />
successful people<br />
whose interest in<br />
a craft outgrows<br />
their comfort zone, Phil Carmichael’s<br />
passion for cooking quickly transcended<br />
the tiny town of Cowbridge in the Vale<br />
of Glamorgan in Wales, where he grew<br />
up. He compartmentalises his career<br />
into two sections: the one in which he<br />
discovered a knack for cooking; and the<br />
other, when he started to do something<br />
about it. Moving to Amsterdam as a<br />
cook, for starters.<br />
Soon after, and quite by chance, he<br />
ended up working side by side with<br />
Chef Albert Roux on a couple of<br />
large private functions, including the<br />
Hampton Court Palace Flower Show,<br />
where he summoned up the courage<br />
to nonchalantly ask the lauded chef for<br />
a job at Le Gavroche, Roux’s Michelinstarred<br />
restaurant in London. ‘He turned<br />
to me and said he would speak to his<br />
son. Three months later, I was working<br />
there, getting my head kicked in,’<br />
Carmichael says with a laugh.<br />
Today, he sips on a latte and slips easily in<br />
and out of conversation about food and<br />
hospitality, unassuming and yet perfectly<br />
at home in undoubtedly one of London’s<br />
most beautiful dining rooms: Berners<br />
Tavern in The London EDITION hotel.<br />
It’s been a crazy ride since those early<br />
days with the Roux brothers, and<br />
certainly a testament to old-fashioned<br />
hard work. Meeting Jason Atherton for<br />
the opening of Maze was another eyeopening<br />
experience. ‘I had never worked<br />
with anyone who was so single-minded<br />
about what he wanted. Jason was<br />
willing to literally sacrifice everything to<br />
make that restaurant a success. It was<br />
incredible to witness that sort of drive in<br />
a boss—he was in the kitchen with us for<br />
16 hours a day pushing himself, pushing<br />
us. It was inspiring and has been like that<br />
ever since.’<br />
They have been together now for over<br />
a decade, and Carmichael confirms that<br />
intensity is still alive and kicking: ‘Every<br />
time we do a project or open a new<br />
restaurant, Jason commits himself to it<br />
100 percent. When we get comfortable<br />
in a place, he tries to mix it up. Plus he<br />
delivers on everything he ever says he’s<br />
going to do for us. Who else would I<br />
want to go work for?’<br />
Good point—plus at Berners Tavern,<br />
Carmichael runs the show. Cushy job?<br />
Hardly. With a team of over 40 to<br />
manage, which includes not only the<br />
restaurant needs but also banqueting<br />
and room service for the hotel, he<br />
wrestles with keeping them motivated<br />
and happy. ‘It’s a challenge, least of<br />
all because at any given time we are<br />
working with eight or nine nationalities<br />
from all over Europe.’ He concedes<br />
there is a stigma associated with ‘hotel<br />
restaurants’ that Berners Tavern has<br />
done its best to break down: ‘Some<br />
chefs get very snobby about working<br />
in hotels. However, we have been<br />
responsible for an upsurge in hotel<br />
restaurant dining.’<br />
And then there’s the food. While Berners<br />
Tavern doesn’t aspire to Michelin levels—<br />
—executive chef Phil Carmichael<br />
‘It’s not what we set out to be here’—<br />
Carmichael doesn’t take what comes<br />
out of his kitchen lightly. ‘We do solid<br />
cooking, simple food that is ingredientdriven.’<br />
And there’s its relationships<br />
with cream-of-the-crop purveyors that<br />
are largely responsible for those British<br />
flavours for which the restaurant has<br />
become known. Carmichael happily<br />
credits the Essex farm Dingley Dell<br />
with ‘the best pork I’ve ever eaten’, the<br />
Buccleuch Estates from Campbells up in<br />
Scotland for ‘their incredible beef’, and<br />
Flying Fish Seafoods from Cornwall with<br />
‘tasty, firm, fresh cod that is consistently<br />
phenomenal’. This allows him in turn to<br />
elevate the food and add a few more<br />
flourishes. ‘The food in the rooms and<br />
for events is just as important to me,’ he<br />
adds, seriously. ‘It has to be, because if<br />
it’s got my name on it, I’m responsible.’<br />
Carmichael points out that he’s in a<br />
good place. He has a strong senior team<br />
in the kitchen that allows him and his<br />
head chef to spend time on developing<br />
dishes. ‘Every day presents a different<br />
challenge,’ he says. ‘We work hard, but<br />
we enjoy doing it. And we are all on the<br />
same page.’ That single-minded goal<br />
is to establish Berners Tavern as an<br />
iconic London restaurant, ‘long after I’m<br />
finished here, up there with The Ritz and<br />
The Wolseley. That alone motivates us to<br />
make sure we don’t just go through the<br />
motions and get complacent.’<br />
The latte is long finished, and Carmichael<br />
is back in his kitchen, working on<br />
rounding out the second half of his<br />
career with the same fervour as when he<br />
started it. Food is still his fuel.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
12<br />
13
Berners Tavern<br />
Berners Tavern<br />
‘<br />
We never set out to put signature dishes on the menu.<br />
But as it developed, there were some dishes that were<br />
so crazy popular, we couldn’t take them off—like this<br />
version of the ’70s classic prawn cocktail. We poach<br />
beautiful tiger prawns in a flavoured stock and serve it<br />
with our own spicy sauce that has avocado and lobster<br />
jelly on it. We sell 70 to 80 portions of that per day!’<br />
—Executive Chef Phil Carmichael<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
Getting to Know Chef Carmichael<br />
Favourite way to cook: Anything<br />
over a fire. I love to barbecue!<br />
Best place to grab a pint: Has to<br />
be at The Vale, my local pub in Wales.<br />
It’s about 300 years old and offers a<br />
great selection of real Welsh ales.<br />
Always in my pantry: You will find<br />
smoked paprika, BBQ spice rub, and<br />
oat cakes.<br />
My last vacation: A road trip<br />
from Dallas to New Orleans to sample<br />
barbecue. It was my honeymoon with<br />
my wife.<br />
Recommended<br />
reading: Grill<br />
Smoke BBQ by<br />
chef-director<br />
of the Salt Yard<br />
Group, Ben Tish.<br />
Coffee: A latté<br />
please!<br />
Preferred olive oil: Cold-pressed<br />
rapeseed oil.<br />
Eggs: Scrambled.<br />
Guilty pleasure snack: Biltong,<br />
South African jerky.<br />
Pet peeve in the kitchen: When<br />
cooks poke a hole through cling foil on a<br />
dish, instead of removing it, and then try<br />
to stretch it back over. Drives me crazy!<br />
Cook shop of choice: Divertimenti<br />
Knightsbridge. They have everything<br />
you could ever want as a home cook. It’s<br />
massive—Aladdin’s cave for a chef!<br />
227-229 Brompton Road<br />
London SW3 2EP<br />
0207 581 8065<br />
divertimenti.co.uk<br />
Go To market: It’s usually pretty<br />
packed, but Borough Market is<br />
still the best place to go to for a great<br />
selection of cheese, meats, and produce.<br />
And you can have a nice glass of wine<br />
while you’re down there!<br />
8 Southwark Street<br />
London SE1 1TL<br />
0207 407 1002<br />
boroughmarket.org.uk<br />
Up-and-coming culinary<br />
neighbourhood: Brixton Village.<br />
I never went there when I first moved to<br />
London, but now it has some amazing<br />
mom-and-pop food places. It’s always<br />
been a creative hub, but it’s more<br />
focused on the food scene right now.<br />
Especially since Pop Brixton opened…<br />
49 Brixton Station Road<br />
London SW9 8PQ<br />
popbrixton.org<br />
Casual dining spot: Heading back<br />
to Brixton for that—Mama lan, which<br />
is Beijing street food. When owner Ning<br />
Ma first opened, she was hand-making<br />
all the noodles with her daughter. Now<br />
they have three stores. Best dumplings<br />
in London, hands down!<br />
Brixton Village Market,<br />
Coldharbour Lane<br />
London SW9 8PR<br />
mamalan.co.uk<br />
Braised Chicory, Celery<br />
& Butternut Salad, Toasted<br />
Sunflower Seeds, Maple<br />
Vinaigrette<br />
Serves 4<br />
650ml orange poaching liquor<br />
4 heads chicory<br />
4 sticks celery<br />
½ butternut squash<br />
50ml maple vinaigrette<br />
150g sunflower seeds, toasted and chopped<br />
Maple Vinaigrette<br />
200ml maple syrup<br />
50g Dijon mustard<br />
50ml lemon juice<br />
50ml sherry vinegar<br />
100ml extra-virgin olive oil<br />
Place all ingredients into a jar and shake<br />
vigorously until emulsified.<br />
Orange Poaching Liquor<br />
400ml fresh orange juice<br />
150ml white wine<br />
100ml lemon juice<br />
40g sugar<br />
1 stick lemongrass<br />
2 star anise<br />
2 cloves<br />
30g grated fresh ginger<br />
Place all ingredients for the orange poaching<br />
liquor in a pan and bring up to a simmer.<br />
Simmer for 10 minutes and allow to cool.<br />
Strain out the solids. Place liquid into a clean<br />
pan and bring back to a simmer.<br />
Poach the chicory until tender, then remove<br />
and chill down. Repeat this with all the<br />
other vegetables.<br />
When chilled, slice vegetables into pieces<br />
and place onto individual plates or a sharing<br />
platter. Drizzle with the maple vinaigrette and<br />
scatter toasted, chopped seeds over the top.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
14<br />
15
Acknowledging<br />
The Chef Shortage<br />
by Jason Atherton<br />
Jason Atherton might run a tight<br />
ship, but he cares deeply for the<br />
people who make up the <strong>Social</strong><br />
family. It’s a tough business, where<br />
the daily grind can be crushing and<br />
certainly not as attractive as food<br />
TV makes it out to be. A shortage of<br />
skilled chefs is a huge problem for<br />
Atherton. It’s hard to fill vacancies<br />
with good people—and even when<br />
you do, what’s to keep them there?<br />
Rather than belabour the point, he’s<br />
ready to be part of the solution.<br />
I<br />
t’s easy to complain about<br />
the current situation from<br />
both sides of the fence:<br />
as an owner and as an<br />
employee. Brexit doesn’t<br />
help and will likely leave us in a very<br />
difficult place as a hospitality industry.<br />
Of the immigrants who come in and out<br />
of London or the provinces, 65 to 70<br />
percent find work because restaurants<br />
are always understaffed. But if we dwell<br />
on the negatives, we’ll never get out of<br />
the weeds.<br />
For the past 50 years, the restaurant<br />
business notoriously has been a tough<br />
industry to work in: the hours have<br />
been bad, and the lifestyle, antisocial.<br />
And yet, for the last 25, London<br />
has steadily earned a reputation for<br />
hospitality, food, and services never<br />
offered before. Let’s keep it there and<br />
continue to push forward.<br />
We—my fellow chefs and I—have a duty<br />
to make this a better place to work:<br />
to continue to keep the hours down,<br />
the pay and benefits up, and take care<br />
of general staff welfare. Junior staff<br />
training doesn’t have to be so punishing.<br />
Furthermore, it’s not just about money.<br />
When I speak to most people, they ask<br />
what this job will offer them in terms of<br />
their career. We have to think long term.<br />
When people give me a commitment of<br />
their time and energy, I never take it for<br />
granted. In the end, I want each of my<br />
staff members to say to themselves that<br />
they made the right decision coming<br />
to work for me. Otherwise, it’s really<br />
heartbreaking. When they give me<br />
100 percent, I am happy to reciprocate<br />
with everything they need: the best<br />
kitchen, the best restaurant, partnerships<br />
even. And if they leave, which eventually<br />
people do, they remain part of my team.<br />
We will look after their careers from afar,<br />
helping them make the right connections<br />
and work for the best people. I am<br />
humbled to say I have learned this from<br />
such esteemed chefs as Thomas Keller<br />
and Daniel Humm.<br />
Taking another cue from America, who<br />
have very strong graduate programmes<br />
from places like the Culinary Institute<br />
of America, let’s improve our culinary<br />
school landscape. It needs government<br />
funding. It needs high-profile chef<br />
interactions to set the standards. What<br />
good is complaining about the quality of<br />
chefs coming out of the program? It only<br />
serves to demotivate the guys who put<br />
in all those hours. If it’s not at the level<br />
we expect, we need to change that. We<br />
need to get into the colleges and work<br />
with the lecturers to create a two-year<br />
plan that gives students a solid chance<br />
of survival in the world of restaurants<br />
and hotel dining.<br />
To that end, we are working with<br />
Westminster Kingsway College to<br />
come up with a set of <strong>Social</strong> Company<br />
qualifications. Training will take place<br />
not only in cooking but also in service,<br />
management, and entrepreneurship.<br />
There is so much more to our business<br />
than being in the kitchen—teaching<br />
kids how to be good business<br />
people; learning the financials of a<br />
restaurant; food costing, which leads<br />
to a conversation about food wastage.<br />
Learning to make ethical choices that<br />
are also smart, such as paying your<br />
suppliers early, so that you can go back<br />
to them, time and time again, for even<br />
better products and they will deliver.<br />
These were things I was never taught<br />
in school, but they’re an integral part<br />
of the skills you need to succeed today.<br />
With the right support, graduates will be<br />
ready to be taken on board.<br />
Yes, there’s a chef shortage. And it’s<br />
likely to get worse, but we have the<br />
tools to help those who want to be a<br />
part of our world now navigate it better.<br />
We have a responsibility to make our<br />
industry a better place for the next<br />
generation that comes through it.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
17
think tank<br />
think tank<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
In what other industry<br />
do people come to your<br />
workplace to do such<br />
things as have a business<br />
meeting, celebrate a birthday or<br />
anniversary, meet friends, or even<br />
finalise a divorce? Surely only in the<br />
world of restaurants.<br />
I love restaurants. They really are<br />
a marvellous invention. In theory,<br />
the whole process should be a<br />
straightforward one: The customer<br />
arrives hungry. They order, they eat.<br />
They pay and leave. Simple.<br />
If only it was so. Joe Bastianich, who<br />
along with Mario Batali owns Babbo and<br />
Del Posto in New York, explains it rather<br />
well in his book, Restaurant Man. He<br />
tells the reader how the customer has<br />
already cost him money before they’ve<br />
even entered the restaurant—the linen,<br />
the printing of the menu, and so on.<br />
‘You have to appear to be generous, but<br />
you have to inherently be a cheap fuck<br />
to make it work,’ writes Bastianich.<br />
Opening a restaurant is not for the fainthearted.<br />
Most restaurants fail within the<br />
first two years. There are many reasons<br />
for this, but anyone looking to open their<br />
own place needs to first have a clearly<br />
defined ‘concept’. There may be a reason<br />
that nobody has done it yet—and do not<br />
make the ultimate restaurant error of<br />
trying to create a restaurant that caters<br />
to everyone. Just don’t. Do something<br />
that you want to do and something that<br />
you’d want to dine in. I mean, you’re<br />
going to be spending a lot of time in it.<br />
The thing I probably admire most when<br />
working with restaurateurs and chefs<br />
is their ability to hold their nerve when<br />
opening a restaurant. This certainly<br />
helps. ‘Location, location, location’ is an<br />
apt phrase. It can be make-or-break for<br />
a restaurant, and it’s vital to think about<br />
whether the restaurant you’re going<br />
to open will work in that particular<br />
neighbourhood or postcode. Something<br />
that thrives in Mayfair might not work in<br />
the same way it does in somewhere like<br />
Peckham or Clapton.<br />
I recently reached for the Le Caprice<br />
book for some research on an article I<br />
was writing, and I recall AA Gill’s words<br />
well. The Sunday Times restaurant<br />
critic thinks the words ‘atmosphere,<br />
atmosphere, atmosphere’ are far more<br />
relevant to the success of a restaurant.<br />
And he may well be right. We’ve all<br />
been to a restaurant that serves great<br />
food, but when somewhere lacks<br />
atmosphere, it can ruin a meal.<br />
The same can be said of hospitality. A<br />
great server or maître d’ is often the<br />
reason people return to a restaurant,<br />
which is why it’s so important for<br />
the back of house to have a good<br />
relationship with the front of house.<br />
It’s all about teamwork and highlights<br />
the importance of finding the best<br />
staff. Look no further than the way Will<br />
Guidara and Daniel Humm co-ordinate<br />
their restaurant Eleven Madison Park in<br />
New York. The kitchen is in tune with<br />
the servers. They are their eyes and<br />
ears—they’re key to how the kitchen<br />
Adam Hyman is founder of CODE<br />
Hospitality, a media and consultancy<br />
business. CODE Media runs the<br />
hospitality benefits platform CODE<br />
App as well as publishes The CODE<br />
Bulletin and CODE Quarterly.<br />
CODE Consultancy raises funds for<br />
restaurants and offers strategic advice.<br />
Learn more at codehospitality.co.uk.<br />
The Restaurant Act<br />
By Adam Hyman<br />
runs. Another common downfall is to<br />
try and do everything yourself. Those of<br />
us who are perfectionists all try, but we<br />
soon realise that this is neither doable<br />
nor wise. Always surround yourself with<br />
a great team and people who can do<br />
certain things better than you.<br />
Money is key. It’s never an easy subject<br />
to discuss, but owning a restaurant<br />
requires money. It can be done on a<br />
shoestring budget—often a wise move<br />
for your first site—or at great expense,<br />
like Park Chinois or Sexy Fish. But as<br />
well as finding the lump sum of cash<br />
needed to get the place open, so<br />
many people then become unstuck<br />
with working capital. In essence, not<br />
having enough money to keep the<br />
business running on a day-to-day<br />
basis. Take advice from people in the<br />
know: Get a good investor, and also a<br />
solid accountant.<br />
There’s no science to opening a<br />
restaurant. It’s an art. There’s no<br />
template to follow as such. Those<br />
that try to ‘do it by the book’ and<br />
follow trends end up with dated,<br />
soulless concepts.<br />
Many of the finest restaurateurs and<br />
chefs compare each service to a<br />
theatre performance: Staff may fluff<br />
lines and make errors, but hopefully<br />
the audience—the diners—won’t notice<br />
the small mistakes. The curtains will<br />
draw on another performance, and<br />
everyone leaves happy. Before doing it<br />
all over again.<br />
The Creative Process with Sat Bains<br />
Sat Bains is chef proprietor of the two-Michelin-starred<br />
Restaurant Sat Bains with Rooms in Nottingham.<br />
Sometimes our subconscious takes over. Such as<br />
recently, when Chef Sat Bains conceptualized a dish<br />
for Jason Atherton’s <strong>Social</strong> Sunday charity dinner to<br />
benefit Hospitality Action. He composed his duck and<br />
vegetable dish, and it looked strangely familiar. Bains<br />
thought back to a recent trip to Barcelona, where he<br />
visited the Gaudi House Museum.<br />
Then it clicked: He had just arranged the dish as a replica<br />
of a piece of stained glass he saw there, right down to<br />
the placement and angles of ingredients on the plate.<br />
It was mind-blowing to Bains—but all things considered,<br />
it was just the product of his creative process.<br />
Ihave had a creative sense<br />
from an early age—a<br />
thought format that allows<br />
me to stray outside the<br />
box. I credit my interest in art, my first<br />
passion in school, which I still use as a<br />
tool when coming up with a new dish.<br />
A doodle will act as a template of what<br />
I am imagining on the plate. Beyond<br />
that, I think that learning the classics in<br />
culinary school was another incredible<br />
source of inspiration, especially<br />
since I never really had a mentor. I<br />
rediscovered recipes that were classical<br />
and strict, allowing myself the creative<br />
freedom to view them with fresh eyes.<br />
While I might not have had a mentor<br />
who could have shaped or likewise<br />
restricted that ability to discover, I did<br />
plenty of investigation, because I had to<br />
train myself as a chef.<br />
I read absolutely every book on the<br />
classics, all the great French chefs<br />
and the American ones coming<br />
through at the time, like the Kellers<br />
and the Bouluds. This allowed me free<br />
access to their knowledge through<br />
their repertoire, which was important<br />
because classics are rooted in solid<br />
techniques paired with seasonal<br />
produce. It is there that you get an<br />
understanding of why grouse is paired<br />
with blackberries—because they are<br />
in season around at the same time,<br />
hence they go together. From there,<br />
I then questioned certain flavour<br />
combinations. It is only when you have<br />
an acute understanding of a classical<br />
combination that you can you set about<br />
to rework it.<br />
It is that ability to have a free train of<br />
thought about an ingredient—to look<br />
at a lamb for what it is, for example—<br />
that I find so exciting. Rather than run<br />
through a catalogue of past dishes in<br />
my head, I want to look at an ingredient<br />
in its purest form and then address it<br />
differently in terms of what it goes with.<br />
It could be what is in season at that<br />
moment or what notes come to mind:<br />
grassy, salty, marshy, etc. These elements<br />
trigger different avenues to go down,<br />
rather than a traditional tried-and-tested<br />
one. It might still have that classical<br />
base, but it opens you up to an amazing<br />
array of styles and nuances.<br />
Take a cep mushroom. Draw a circle<br />
around it. In that circle are its elements,<br />
such as earthiness and aromatic<br />
woodiness. Now take a look at the<br />
lines, or profiles, that extend out of<br />
the center, like texture, temperature,<br />
acidity. If I want to do something acidic,<br />
it could be mushroom ketchup with<br />
soy to enhance the earthiness. If I want<br />
something fresh, I simply slice it raw<br />
and add some lemon juice and olive<br />
oil. Plus the characteristics change<br />
depending on the technique: roasted vs<br />
raw. Ultimately you want to enhance the<br />
flavour of the mushroom in its purest<br />
form. You could dry the mushroom<br />
and turn it into a powder. Cep powder<br />
reminds me of cocoa powder, and so<br />
that inspired me to create a tartare<br />
of venison with cep powder and<br />
chocolate—again, all based around that<br />
mushroom’s profile.<br />
Open yourself up to as many angles as<br />
you can when you reimagine a dish, so<br />
that borders do not restrict you. Allow<br />
yourself to daydream, to go into a<br />
state of free thinking. Creative thinking<br />
is born when you are unencumbered<br />
with preconceived notions and you can<br />
incorporate true emotion into whatever<br />
you are doing. And when it’s on the<br />
plate, you will taste the difference.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
18<br />
19
think tank<br />
Fostering<br />
Talent<br />
with Daniel Humm<br />
AD<br />
Daniel Humm is the lauded chef and<br />
co-owner of three-Michelin-starred<br />
Eleven Madison Park and Michelinstarred<br />
The NoMad and NoMad Bar at<br />
The NoMad Hotel, all in New York City.<br />
His cuisine is best described as a focus<br />
on locally sourced ingredients with<br />
an emphasis on simplicity, purity, and<br />
seasonal flavors.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
It’s an exciting time to be a<br />
young chef because of the<br />
vast opportunities and the<br />
spotlight on food right now.<br />
But that can also serve as a distraction:<br />
It’s hard to find focus and choose the<br />
right path given the excitement that<br />
surrounds this career. My advice to<br />
young chefs is to pick the things you<br />
want to learn and concentrate on so<br />
that you don’t end up becoming a<br />
‘jack-of-all-trades and master of none’.<br />
Furthermore, have patience and find<br />
pleasure in repetition. Working in the<br />
kitchen is not easy. You are faced with<br />
long, unforgiving hours, but eventually<br />
passion will trump everything.<br />
I strongly believe that cooking is<br />
learned in a restaurant setting, not a<br />
school. Culinary schools can provide<br />
a wonderful base, but if that is not an<br />
economical option, you are better off<br />
working with a great chef and learning<br />
that way.<br />
It is absolutely our responsibility to<br />
nurture young chefs. At Make It Nice,<br />
we believe in a culture of learning and<br />
leading. Young chefs are our future, and<br />
we have to invest in them, guide them,<br />
and mentor them.<br />
We support great programs like<br />
Ment’Or, a nonprofit devoted to<br />
inspiring culinary excellence in young<br />
professionals through grants and<br />
competitions, including selecting and<br />
training the most promising chefs to<br />
represent the Bocuse d’Or Team USA<br />
at the world’s most prestigious culinary<br />
competition. Our own James Kent was a<br />
Bocuse d’Or competitor, and members<br />
of our team, like Brian Lockwood and<br />
James, offer support with events and<br />
mentoring young chefs.<br />
It gives me great joy to see young chefs<br />
become real professionals. To that end,<br />
we are very fortunate to have people<br />
from all around the world who want<br />
to join our team. Our culture is such<br />
that everyone starts at the bottom and<br />
works their way up, and over the years<br />
that has really benefitted us. We have<br />
people that stay for a long time; they<br />
have built roots here and helped us<br />
build our restaurant group. Without that<br />
strong core, we’d be in a different place.<br />
Having that allows us to open other<br />
restaurants, to be comfortable being<br />
away from the restaurant from time to<br />
time, and to continue to foster more<br />
talent in turn.<br />
20
uncorked<br />
Laure Patry exudes<br />
composure. It’s easy to<br />
see why she is a part of<br />
the <strong>Social</strong> team. Jason<br />
Atherton calls her one of ‘the most unsung top<br />
sommeliers this country has ever produced.<br />
She’s just incredible. She’s like Margaret<br />
Thatcher. No matter what time of day or night,<br />
she can answer any question or email a reply<br />
instantaneously. I don’t think she ever sleeps!’<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
Message<br />
in a Bottle<br />
Decoding The <strong>Social</strong><br />
Company Wine Lists<br />
With 15-plus restaurants and more<br />
opening each year, Executive Head<br />
Sommelier Laure Patry has her hands full<br />
overseeing all the wine programmes in each<br />
location. Add in <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas, a wine bar<br />
and shop with over 700 selections to choose from,<br />
and you just might need to pour yourself a drink as you<br />
ponder how she handles it all! So how does she wrap her<br />
head around that many bottles?<br />
Patry grew up in the Loire Valley, where she<br />
went to catering school and fell in love with<br />
wine after taking a year-long course. She<br />
fully credits her teacher, her mentor, and she<br />
points to field trips in vineyards that peaked<br />
her curiosity. She began her official career in<br />
North Yorkshire and Bath but found herself<br />
slowly edging towards London in pursuit<br />
of something a little more ‘busy and<br />
interesting’. After a couple of years<br />
at Claridge’s, Patry was offered a<br />
job at Maze, where she met Atherton<br />
and followed him on to Pollen Street<br />
<strong>Social</strong>. Soon restaurants started opening<br />
at a fast and furious pace, with Patry at the<br />
helm of each wine list.<br />
She remembers that first year well. ‘We opened<br />
Pollen Street <strong>Social</strong> in 2011, and I was the head<br />
sommelier there. Then we launched 22 Ships in<br />
Hong Kong.’ With only 35 seats, the inventory<br />
was small, but it enabled Patry to work out a<br />
system that she would use time and time again<br />
for each new location. ‘I was sent a list of local<br />
suppliers and contacted them before putting<br />
my selection together. Then I headed there for<br />
about a 10-day stretch.’ She uses this model for<br />
each opening: working with suppliers to curate a<br />
list that is often populated with small growers to<br />
add depth, then working the first few days to set<br />
things in motion before handing over the reins.<br />
Each location brought its own set of<br />
circumstances. ‘At Marina <strong>Social</strong> in Dubai, there<br />
were only two suppliers to work with, and all<br />
the restaurants in town had similar lists. By<br />
chance, I hooked up with a supplier who got<br />
me special imports from London. And so we<br />
ended up with wine no one else had, which<br />
set us apart.’ Ham & Sherry in Hong Kong had<br />
Patry scouring London for small-batch sherrys:<br />
‘I couldn’t find 50 different brands locally!’ It<br />
arrived the very next day, like magic. The Pig &<br />
Palm wine list was dictated by location: ‘Wine<br />
is not a big part of that culture, so we kept the<br />
list small with a little bit of everything.’ Again,<br />
she found small growers, this time with a small<br />
section of fine wines as well.<br />
A Sip Ahead<br />
Wine Education<br />
Walking into a restaurant with advance knowledge<br />
about the wine list is a great way to not only prepare<br />
your order but also feel confident about your choice.<br />
Laure Patry suggests these few simple ways to get<br />
ahead in the world of wine.<br />
Get a magazine subscription<br />
This is a great way learn about wine. Even as sommeliers, we are<br />
constantly reading up on new vintages and more. Decanter always<br />
has amazing new and interesting information in it. And there are<br />
plenty of online resources as well that do not cost a penny.<br />
Go to the source<br />
Visit a vineyard, here or abroad. They are the best places to learn<br />
about wine and the process. Many producers are happy to do<br />
tastings, and even tours. Can’t get holiday time? Do tastings at<br />
local wine shops too.<br />
Taste the spectrum<br />
Open up your palate by tasting wines you normally wouldn’t.<br />
You might just find out you’ve been missing something fantastic.<br />
Come to a masterclass<br />
We hold classes with and without food pairings. It’s usually for<br />
about 10 people and runs from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. on select days,<br />
so check on our website under ‘Tasting Events’ for upcoming<br />
ones. It’s a great way to learn with friends too.<br />
Talk to your sommelier<br />
The majority of waitstaff at <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas are highly<br />
trained sommeliers. Don’t be afraid to ask questions and let them<br />
educate you. That is what they are trained to do!<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
22<br />
23
uncorked<br />
uncorked<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
She fell into a rhythm with the overseas<br />
places: setting up the wine list, doing the<br />
opening, supervising the staff training,<br />
and then letting her team order and<br />
evolve each wine list as they saw fit. But<br />
Patry also had a stable of restaurants in<br />
London on which to keep weekly tabs.<br />
With the addition of her own wine shop<br />
at <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas, it made sense to<br />
base her headquarters there, inviting all<br />
the other local restaurants to come by<br />
to taste and train.<br />
Between suppliers and visiting wine<br />
producers, tastings are frequent, often<br />
several times a week in the mornings<br />
and afternoons. It’s important to Patry<br />
to involve everyone on her team when<br />
it comes to tasting. ‘We do our research<br />
when we are looking for something<br />
specific for a wine list, and I want<br />
everyone’s feedback.’ In addition,<br />
she holds monthly head sommelier<br />
meetings at the wine shop—a round<br />
table to go through each restaurant and<br />
address issues as they come up.<br />
There are often staff trips to<br />
vineyards, and The <strong>Social</strong> Company<br />
pays for their sommeliers to take<br />
additional courses and certifications.<br />
Patry points out that she currently<br />
has a staff member going through<br />
Master Sommelier training, so there<br />
are plenty of blind tastings at the<br />
restaurant that facilitate an ongoing<br />
conversation about wine in the<br />
workplace. ‘It’s nice to have one team<br />
with the same passion,’ she says.<br />
She lets her guard down a little as she<br />
talks specifically about <strong>Social</strong> Wine &<br />
Tapas. It is clearly her ‘baby’. Despite<br />
the breadth of selection, Patry doesn’t<br />
rely on tried-and-true sellers; instead,<br />
much like her wine lists elsewhere, she<br />
seeks out small growers and unusual<br />
wines to keep the place special. ‘I<br />
don’t want to be like everyone else,’<br />
she explains. ‘I don’t have a sauvignon<br />
blanc from New Zealand or a pinot<br />
grigio just because people ask for<br />
it.’ But, please, ask away, and she<br />
‘<br />
The idea here is to engage the<br />
customer as much as possible and<br />
encourage them to try something<br />
new, while educating them at the<br />
same time.’<br />
—Executive head Sommelier Laure Patry<br />
or one of her very knowledgeable<br />
staff—all sommeliers—will be happy<br />
to recommend something quite<br />
similar, perhaps from somewhere quite<br />
different. ‘The idea here is to engage<br />
the customer as much as possible and<br />
encourage them to try something new,<br />
while educating them at the same time.’<br />
There’s plenty to dive into. Patry gets<br />
access to producers who won’t sell to<br />
anyone else, because they either don’t<br />
have the volume or else they bottle<br />
it especially for her. It’s no small feat<br />
to keep on top of it. Small quantities<br />
means the list changes quite a bit. Plus,<br />
keeping an inventory for the wine shop<br />
separate from the restaurants’ means<br />
double the work.<br />
But Patry doesn’t mind—she’s in her<br />
element. <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas is the<br />
big payoff for dedication to her craft.<br />
And she’s probably working on the<br />
wine list for the next grand opening as<br />
you read this!<br />
Fall into Wine: Available<br />
now at <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas<br />
Anjou, L'O2 Vigne, Chenin Voile, Jean François<br />
Chêne, Loire Valley 2005<br />
Left for three years under the development of the yeast veil, almost Jura style with<br />
nuttiness, bruised apples, and some spices also. Unfiltered, shows some sediments<br />
and deposits, as the producer feels that the wine needs to be left as is to evolve in the<br />
bottle. The type of wine you want to drink on a cold day.<br />
Trousseau Gris, Wind Gap, Sonoma Coast,<br />
California 2013<br />
An unusual grape variety that has a slight pink colour. The wine is fresh, elegant, floral,<br />
herbal, and zesty.<br />
Adi Badenhorst, John Strikes Again 375cl,<br />
South Africa NV<br />
A one-of-a-kind sauvignon blanc aged under the yeast veil like a sherry. It has similarities<br />
to a fino with the salty minerality, as the barrels are stored near the sea. Aromatic with<br />
some nuttiness. Only made in very small quantities and sold as a half bottle.<br />
Roc d`Anglade, Vin de Pays du Gard 2005<br />
Known as the ‘Pinot Noir from the South of France’, this is mostly carignan with<br />
mourvedre, grenache, and syrah. After aging for 10 years, the wine is very elegant<br />
and refined, and shows development with sous bois and truffle aromas.<br />
Syrah, Chanterêves, L’Intrus 2014<br />
Exclusive to <strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas in the UK. A syrah from Ventoux in the Rhône<br />
Valley, bottled in Savigny-lés-Beaune in Burgundy. This is a fun project for the domaine<br />
Chanterêves, and they will only produce a small quantity of bottles. A fresh and easy<br />
drinking wine with berry fruits and some meaty notes. No sulphur added.<br />
You can find<br />
this selection of<br />
Executive Head<br />
Sommelier Laure<br />
Patry’s favorite new<br />
picks for autumn<br />
on the wine menu as<br />
well as available<br />
for purchase.<br />
Pairing: Very complex<br />
white wine that matches<br />
well with everything<br />
from ham and cheese to<br />
white meat dishes.<br />
Pairing: Try it with<br />
the monkfish.<br />
Pairing: Start your<br />
meal with peppers,<br />
croquettes, some cheese,<br />
and a glass of this.<br />
Pairing: We just started<br />
serving it by the glass. I would<br />
recommend it with our ox<br />
cheek dish and also the rib-eye.<br />
Pairing: Perfect for<br />
our style of food at <strong>Social</strong><br />
Wine & Tapas.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
24<br />
25
travel<br />
Carbon Market<br />
Kandaya Resort<br />
Kawasan Falls<br />
Irha Atherton<br />
Magellan’s Cross<br />
by Irha Atherton<br />
Notorious P.I.G.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
Cebu, an island province of the Philippines and my hometown,<br />
is finally emerging from Manila’s shadow as a destination in<br />
its own right. It has a rich and varied colonial history, with the<br />
Spanish, Chinese, and Americans all flocking there through<br />
the centuries, and our culture and food reflects this. Cebu<br />
is famed for its international schools and beautiful furniture<br />
craftsmanship, but it’s worth visiting alone for the white sand<br />
beaches, secret waterfalls, and spectacular diving.<br />
Bantayan Island<br />
Breakfast Pitstop<br />
The A Café, which is run by the Abaca<br />
Group. Find it in a building called<br />
Crossroads, along with lots of other<br />
great little restaurants to discover.<br />
They do the best pastries and baked<br />
goods. Try a warm pandesal roll—a<br />
traditional Filipino slightly sweet<br />
bread—with a coffee.<br />
Go-To Market<br />
Carbon Market is the oldest and largest<br />
farmer’s market and sells everything<br />
from vegetables and fish to clothes<br />
and crafts.<br />
Beach Bound<br />
There are so many beautiful beaches<br />
in Cebu. Take a trip to Bantayan Island:<br />
it has idyllic white sand beaches and<br />
crystal-clear blue water, plus it’s<br />
really secluded!<br />
A Good Night’s Sleep<br />
The Henry Hotel is a very cool<br />
and quirky hotel in Cebu City with<br />
wonderfully vibrant interiors. If you’re<br />
looking for luxury, try the Kandaya<br />
Resort, which has stunning beaches.<br />
Eat Local<br />
Cebu’s most famous dish is lechon de<br />
leche, or suckling pig. Most Filipino<br />
families make a Sunday meal out of<br />
this. The best place to try it is in the<br />
province of Carcar, but we also offer<br />
a delicious version of it at mine and<br />
Jason’s new restaurant in Cebu, The<br />
Pig & Palm, with soya onion gravy,<br />
apple, and mustard leaf. Also, be sure<br />
to try adobo, a classic Filipino dish<br />
with chicken and pork. (Café Laguna<br />
does a great one.) As well as kinilaw,<br />
which is our version of ceviche.<br />
Farm Local<br />
We were lucky to find the fantastic<br />
little God’s Grace Farm, run by young<br />
people who take real care and pride in<br />
what they do. Amazing organic carrots,<br />
onions, and unusual forms of mustard<br />
leaf are all delivered beautifully to<br />
the restaurant.<br />
Cultural Gems<br />
Due to its colonial past, Cebu has some<br />
beautiful Spanish heritage spots. Visit<br />
Magellan’s Cross, which was erected<br />
when Portuguese and Spanish explorers<br />
lechon de leche<br />
first arrived in Cebu in the 16th century.<br />
I also love the beautiful Basilica del<br />
Santo Niño, again founded in the 16th<br />
century, which contains the oldest<br />
Christian image in the Philippines.<br />
Dive In<br />
Go whale shark watching in Oslob,<br />
on the southwest coast of Cebu.<br />
Whale sharks are the largest fish in<br />
the world, and swimming alongside<br />
them in crystal-clear waters is a truly<br />
unique experience. Also check out the<br />
incredibly beautiful Kawasan Falls in<br />
Badian, Cebu.<br />
Cocktail Capers<br />
Saddle up to the bar at The Pig &<br />
Palm and order a Notorious P.I.G. with<br />
bacon butter bourbon, maple syrup,<br />
and sea salt, or the very refreshing<br />
Proseccolada with pineapple cordial,<br />
coconut rum, and prosecco.<br />
When Not in Rome …<br />
Head to Tavolata, an Italian trattoria<br />
that serves delicious freshly made<br />
pasta and pizza. The atmosphere is<br />
great for a special occasion, without<br />
being too formal.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
26<br />
27
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When he started with The <strong>Social</strong> Company just last winter, Jamie Jones had<br />
come a long way from his weekend job as a glass collector in a tiny bar in<br />
his hometown of Chester. And, mind you, he walked in with a plan: the big<br />
picture—an 18-month vision, with bar menu concept changes at several<br />
locations—and the tiny details, or bits to tweak now and then. He had<br />
both the experience and the confidence to pull it off.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
29
ehind the bar<br />
approach to that menu, but we didn’t talk<br />
about those elements, because we made<br />
it very front-end friendly. Instead he’s firm<br />
on the idea that a cocktail list creates<br />
things that people want to buy through the<br />
connotations of the flavours they can see on<br />
paper: ‘So they can taste it in their head, so<br />
to speak.’<br />
behind the bar<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
JJamie Jones<br />
calls what he<br />
does ‘managing<br />
expectations’. Little<br />
did he realise how the world of cocktails<br />
might exceed his own. He remembers<br />
the first nerve-wracking time he found<br />
himself behind the bar. ‘I was so scared,<br />
but they sort of pushed me into it,’ he<br />
remembers. He found himself cleaning<br />
the bottles on the bar every Monday<br />
evening, when it was quiet. ‘I would<br />
take all the lids off, smell each liquid,<br />
and start to analyse those aromas,<br />
memorizing them and building up a<br />
memory bank of scents and flavour<br />
profiles.’ This led him to physically<br />
piece together cocktails through<br />
experimentation. ‘I began to enjoy the<br />
energy behind the bar. My confidence<br />
grew, and it was a huge social relief for<br />
me.’ Jones started to enter competitions<br />
and build a reputation for himself,<br />
nationally even, which eventually led<br />
him to create his consultancy to<br />
help other teams create their own<br />
cocktail programmes.<br />
He travelled a lot as the child, because<br />
his father had been stationed in Saudi<br />
Arabia during the Gulf War. This diverse<br />
upbringing, moving around in the<br />
Middle East and travelling through a<br />
fair part of Asia with his family, boded<br />
well for him. Even boarding school in<br />
Yorkshire gave him an international<br />
understanding he could later draw upon<br />
in the world of cocktails. It helped him<br />
tap into different audience needs with an<br />
almost innate understanding of culture.<br />
It’s more than necessary at The <strong>Social</strong><br />
Company, with bars dot the globe. ‘It’s<br />
one thing to do your online research and<br />
study a country or demographic in terms<br />
of what they like to drink, but you also<br />
have to be careful not to offend people,’<br />
Jones points out. Never a good thing,<br />
especially when alcohol is involved!<br />
‘<br />
It was very important<br />
to us to provide a<br />
bar component at<br />
each restaurant that<br />
completes the “big<br />
night out” experience.’<br />
—Chef Jason Atherton<br />
This helped him tremendously with his<br />
most recent endeavour at The Pig &<br />
Palm in Cebu. He had a chance to spend<br />
time with Cebu’s chef, who came to<br />
London to prep for the opening. ‘The<br />
chef took me to Chinatown to show me<br />
all the ingredients I would be working<br />
with, like soursop and ube, a purple<br />
yam. From there I began to work my<br />
flavour thesaurus backwards to figure<br />
out what each would work best with<br />
in a drink.’ The ube worked itself into<br />
a blended cocktail as a purple yam ice<br />
cream. ‘Cebu mangos are amazing—so<br />
sweet and juicy. The pineapples are<br />
different, even the limes. So drinks had<br />
to be reworked and modified to take<br />
those differences into account.’<br />
By taking familiar drinks and tweaking<br />
the ingredients, Jones’s plan was to offer<br />
a list which locals could tune into and<br />
visitors would likewise find appealing.<br />
Take the Notorious P.I.G.—an Old-<br />
Fashioned made with bacon and butter.<br />
Yes, you read that right! ‘We cooked off<br />
the bacon and butter and poured the<br />
fat into bottles of whiskey.’ The bottles<br />
were put in the freezer, and once the fat<br />
solidified, it was skimmed off the top.<br />
‘What you are left with is a product with<br />
the taste and flavour of bacon, smoke,<br />
and salt, and the smoothness of the<br />
butter, because of the viscosity. It takes<br />
a bite out of the whiskey. Stir in some<br />
maple syrup, and you’ve got an Old-<br />
Fashioned.’ Not to mention that Cebu<br />
is known for its pork, making this an<br />
instant favourite.<br />
Jones finds himself at The Blind Pig<br />
most days, where he keeps daily tabs on<br />
many of the other sites. Some need a bit<br />
more nurturing than others. ‘Each bar<br />
has a personality, and every bartender<br />
brings to the table a different creative<br />
background.’ Sometimes that dictates<br />
a menu. He points to Berners Tavern,<br />
where a former employee at Dandelyan<br />
developed the cocktail programme,<br />
and where they use a lot of scientific<br />
techniques. ‘That might have been the<br />
‘A good cocktail bar is about escapism: You<br />
go into a certain environment because you are<br />
comfortable with the people around you—the<br />
lighting, the music, and the drinks—regardless<br />
of all the woes around you in the world.’ But<br />
each location draws in a different crowd with<br />
unique expectations, even if they are in the<br />
same town separated only by a few streets.<br />
Jones is careful to deliver on that distinction.<br />
‘Most people do not go to Pollen <strong>Social</strong> and<br />
expect some of the drinks that we have on<br />
The Blind Pig menu, that might draw too<br />
much attention to themselves,’ he gives as an<br />
example. With names full of puns like Robin<br />
Hood, Quince of Thieves, and memorable<br />
garnishes including mini popcorn buckets and<br />
pickles, The Blind Pig is playful: ‘It doesn’t fit<br />
the environment at Pollen Street <strong>Social</strong>.’<br />
The bar at Sosharu, 7 Tales, straddles a fine<br />
line between the two aforementioned places.<br />
The room has definite character in terms of<br />
an over-the-top downtown Tokyo–pop art–<br />
neon lights fusion of decor. The Champagne<br />
Papi involves getting your drink along with a<br />
token that has to be inserted into a vending<br />
machine, reminiscent of ones you find on<br />
the streets of Japan, in order to get the last<br />
ingredient for the drink. ‘Everyone loves<br />
vending machines, plus it’s nostalgic,’ claims<br />
Jones. ‘It’s not about patronising people—it’s<br />
about not trying to grow up and have some<br />
fun along the way.’ We’ll drink to that!<br />
Meet your bartender<br />
Robyn Wilkie<br />
Current position: Assistant bar manager at Sosharu and 7 Tales<br />
First job in the industry: London Cocktail Club, Shaftesbury Avenue<br />
Go-to cocktail: Aperol Spritz<br />
Must have bar tool: Tongs<br />
Latest ingredient craze: Sherry<br />
Hot toddy of choice: Scotch<br />
Most unusual savoury ingredient used in a cocktail: Seaweed<br />
Favorite bar snack: Calamari<br />
Can be found imbibing at: Satan's Whiskers<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
30<br />
31
Laurent-Perrier<br />
chosen by The Ritz London.<br />
Illustrated by Quentin Blake<br />
CUVÉE ROSÉ<br />
CHOSEN BY THE BEST<br />
Photo credit: Iris Velghe / Illustrator credit: Quentin Blake<br />
‘<br />
BLACK TO<br />
THE FUTURE<br />
By Jamie Jones<br />
Black to the Future is my modernisation<br />
of the classic espresso martini, omitting<br />
the coffee and utilising cold-press coffee<br />
liqueur in its place, making something<br />
more akin to the classic dirty vodka martini<br />
with the salinity of the soy sauce, as well as<br />
stirring the drink down and not shaking it.’<br />
ingredients<br />
40 ml vodka<br />
20 ml cold-press coffee liqueur<br />
1 bar spoon sugar syrup<br />
2 dashes of soy sauce<br />
Method<br />
Stir all ingredients over ice and strain into a<br />
martini glass.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
33
news<br />
Publisher<br />
Michael Goldman<br />
What’s New at<br />
the <strong>Social</strong> COMPANY<br />
Temple & Sons Now Open<br />
Jason Atherton’s latest restaurant Temple & Sons, situated next<br />
to City <strong>Social</strong>, is now open. With a grill at its hearth, Temple &<br />
Sons inspires family-style sharing in a relaxed atmosphere. Meats,<br />
whole fish, and vegetables come to the centre of the table cooked<br />
via the grill. A bar downstairs riffs on the traditional British<br />
greengrocer setup, with cans lining the wall. A canning machine<br />
carbonates drinks with playful names like the ‘Canhattan’. Open<br />
for lunch and dinner.<br />
New Nova Project to Open February<br />
2017 in the Heart of Victoria<br />
Introducing a new concept to The <strong>Social</strong> Company fold, this<br />
relaxed Italian restaurant will reside in a large space and feature<br />
two amazing pizza ovens handmade in Sicily. Expect exceptional<br />
pizzas, pastas, and traditional antipasto plates. Head upstairs for<br />
a wide selection of Italian-style spritzes. Breakfast available at an<br />
adjacent deli space.<br />
Autumn/Winter Menu Now Serving<br />
at Heathrow VIP<br />
The ultimate airport experience that offers a luxurious and<br />
exclusive transition through Heathrow includes a dining option<br />
of inspired seasonal fare from Chef Jason Atherton. With a new<br />
menu debuting each month, travellers can indulge in the best of<br />
British cuisine before they leave the country, taking with them the<br />
taste memory of a true Michelin-starred meal.<br />
John Lewis Debuts Barware<br />
Collection in Time for Christmas<br />
Inspired by his flagship bar, The Blind Pig, Jason Atherton’s<br />
new barware collection, available through John Lewis, offers a<br />
bespoke option for any home bar enthusiast. Items include six<br />
beautiful cocktail glasses and copper-coloured barware, complete<br />
with recipes, and all the tools necessary to hone your craft.<br />
International Editor<br />
Namai Bishop<br />
Editor-in-Chief<br />
Pamela Jouan<br />
Design Director<br />
Seton Rossini<br />
Managing Editor<br />
Christian Kappner<br />
Assistant Editor<br />
Stephane Henrion<br />
Senior Copy Editor<br />
kelly suzan waggoner<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
Pamela Jouan<br />
Photography<br />
John Carey<br />
Jean Cazals<br />
Light & Motion<br />
Karena Perronet-Miller<br />
All other photography<br />
courtesy of<br />
The <strong>Social</strong> Company<br />
Advertising Inquiries<br />
718.288.8688<br />
HauteLife Press<br />
a division of C-BON MEDIA, LLC.<br />
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Suite 1<br />
Brooklyn, NY 11217<br />
www.hautelifepress.com<br />
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Subscription Inquiries<br />
718.288.8688<br />
subscriptions@hautelifepress.com<br />
or visit www.hautelifepress.com<br />
HauteLife Press makes every effort<br />
to ensure that the information it<br />
publishes is correct but cannot be<br />
held responsible for any errors or<br />
omissions.<br />
Printed and bound in the U.S.A.<br />
© 2016 All rights reserved.<br />
Reproduction without permission<br />
is strictly prohibited.<br />
THE ULTIMATE<br />
AIRPORT EXPERIENCE<br />
Heathrow VIP guests can experience Jason’s signature dishes,<br />
taking inspiration each month from one of his restaurants in London,<br />
New York, Dubai, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Sydney and Cebu City.<br />
<strong>Social</strong> magazine • 2016<br />
jasonatherton.co.uk<br />
London<br />
Pollen Street <strong>Social</strong><br />
<strong>Social</strong> Eating House<br />
Berners Tavern<br />
Little <strong>Social</strong><br />
City <strong>Social</strong><br />
Sosharu<br />
<strong>Social</strong> Wine & Tapas<br />
Temple & Sons<br />
New York<br />
The Clocktower<br />
Dubai<br />
Marina <strong>Social</strong><br />
Hong Kong<br />
Ham & Sherry<br />
22 Ships<br />
Aberdeen Street <strong>Social</strong><br />
Shanghai<br />
The Commune <strong>Social</strong><br />
The Philippines<br />
The Pig & Palm<br />
Sydney<br />
Kensington Street <strong>Social</strong><br />
heathrowvip.com<br />
34
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