Welcome back to The Go-To Food Podcast, where we're joined by Alison Roman — chef, writer, and creator of some of the most talked-about recipes of the last decade. Alison takes us back to her first kitchen job at Sona in Los Angeles, working under David Myers for $7.25 an hour, crying daily but learning fast. It was a tiny, nine-person kitchen that ran like The Bear, long before The Bear existed. From there she went to Milk Bar in New York, then the Bon Appétit test kitchen — reverse-engineering photo-shoot dishes into recipes home cooks could actually make. The early days were brutal, pre-Instagram, and anonymous. No bylines, no fame, just biscuits, burnouts, and a deep sense that if you showed up more than anyone else, something would happen.

In London, Alison’s been eating with purpose — Café Deco’s anchovy-studded little gem, a quiche that insists it’s a frittata, and a beef stew she calls one of the best she’s ever had. She weighs The Devonshire against The Pelican and The Hart. There’s a fascination with pub culture, a debate over sharpened pencils at hotel reception, and a reminder that the best meals aren’t always on “the list.” We get her take on TikTok chefs, the chaos of phones in kitchens, and an unnerving AI ad that generates recipe ideas without authors — proof, she says, that food without humanity just doesn’t taste the same.

We talk legacy too. From Dining In to Nothing Fancy to Sweet Enough, Alison’s cookbooks built a blueprint for the way people cook now — easy, intuitive, quietly confident. She admits the dessert book nearly broke her, but Something for Nothing came easily because it mirrors how she actually cooks. There’s a new tomato sauce line born from her husband’s refusal to cook, a love letter to anchovies, and an argument for doing one thing well instead of a thousand badly. We end with her perfect menu: shrimp cocktail, Caesar salad, ribeye in brown butter and lemon, and a slice of key lime pie — the ultimate Alison Roman meal, simple, specific, and unapologetically human.

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Get ready for a live podcast recorded at the Opentable Hospitality Summit at a sold-out Barbican, where we're joined by a heavyweight trio from the heart of UK dining. Please welcome Hawksmoor co-founder and CEO Will Beckett, Dom Hamdy of Ham restaurants, and Florence May Maglanoc, founder and chief executive of Donya and Panadera.

Our panel lifts the lid on what really matters right now. Will reveals the story behind Hawksmoor St Pancras and what London can learn from the high-voltage hospitality of New York and Chicago. Dom breaks down the shift toward high-value, high-theatre experiences that make dinner feel like a show without the ticket price shock. Florence speaks to the joy and grind of running both restaurants and bakeries, the rise of 45 past the hour bookings, and how to keep service swift without losing soul. Together they tackle the big questions. Earlier dining, smaller plates, smarter bar food, and the art of making guests feel not just comfortable but special.

Then we go under the hood. Operations, margins, and the tech that actually helps. From AI-powered fixes on a broken ice machine to the real game of showing up where diners now search, our guests map the road ahead. Expect sharp takes on perceived value, pre and post theatre flows, relentless incremental improvement, and how to keep regulars coming back with names remembered and off-menu surprises. If you want the blueprint for hospitality that wins in 2025, this live episode is your seat at the table.

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Today we're delighted to be joined by Michelin starred chef and restaurateur the wonderful Chris Galvin, who has been one of the important chefs in London over the last 40 years, from winning Sir Terence Conran his only ever Michelin star to launching one of the most famous restaurants in history in 'The Wolsely' with Jeremy King and Chris Corbin.

Stories tumble out. Michel Roux Sr. once told a 19-year-old Chris never to take a restaurant with fewer than 70 seats. Anthony Worrall Thompson was already running a small-plates playground that felt like the future. At The Ritz, Michael Quinn flipped menus into English and put British cheese on a pedestal. Later, Chris joined Jeremy King and Chris Corbin to sketch The Wolseley after a whistle-stop tour of Europe’s great cafés, locking in icons like the schnitzel and even commissioning hand-wrapped chocolate coins with pastry star Claire Clark. Sir Terence Conran’s notes sharpened Chris’s eye. Pierre Koffmann’s grouse with ceps still sits in his personal hall of fame. It is a roll call of British gastronomy and the impact still echoes through London dining rooms.

Chris is clear-eyed about the business. He tracks the return of the long lunch after the hits of Brexit, the pandemic, and a thinned-out City week. He talks about value in a Michelin-starred room, why sharing plates suit how people want to eat, and why consistency is the quiet superpower. He is honest about the ledger too, from paid-by-the-hour labor to ingredient costs that keep faith with farmers and winemakers under climate pressure. Strikes can wipe out six figures in a day. Even so, he argues the restaurant table is one of the last places we look each other in the eye, do deals, celebrate, and live fully in the moment.

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Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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The Go To Food Podcast returns with a legend. Margot Henderson OBE joins us for a gloriously frank, funny, and deeply human conversation about the craft of hospitality. From the early days at The Eagle and The French House to the white heat of opening St. John with Fergus Henderson, Margot traces the rise of modern British cooking, the joy of whole-animal kitchens, and the art of building atmosphere without gimmicks. Expect big stories, bigger flavours, and the kind of kitchen wisdom only a lifetime in service can teach.

We record at The Three Horseshoes in Batcombe, Somerset, where the tomatoes burst like fireworks and the faggots arrive wrapped in caul and pride. Margot lifts the lid on a life spent nurturing chefs who fly the nest, the realities of PR, and why a great waiter can save a meal. She celebrates the producers around Bruton, tips her hat to Wescombe’s cheddar cave, and recalls the art world and Anthony Bourdain putting rocket fuel under St. John. This is a rolling feast of memories, mishaps, and moments that changed the way Britain eats.

There are love stories too. Sweetings proposals, bar counters, the rhythm of service, and the calm conviction that simple food, cooked honestly, can move a room. 

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Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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In this episode of The Go-To Food Podcast, we sit down with one of Britain’s most brilliant young chefs, Merlin Labron-Johnson—the visionary behind OSIP, the tiny Somerset restaurant recently crowned Restaurant of the Year by the Good Food Guide. Merlin opens up about his move from the intensity of London’s dining scene to the calm of the countryside, explaining why creativity needs “mental and physical space” and how the stars over Somerset matter more than Michelin ones. He reflects on leaving the chaos of Portland and Clipstone behind to build something truer to his roots—a farm-led restaurant that grows almost everything it serves.

From learning to cook school lunches at 14 after being kicked out of multiple schools, to enduring the brutal kitchens of France and Switzerland, Merlin’s story is one of resilience and redefinition. He shares vivid tales of his early mentors—Michael Caines’ “Thai puree” at The Abode, and the revelatory salt-baked celeriac at In De Wulf in Belgium, where a chef finally asked him, “How are you feeling?” That question, he says, changed everything about how he cooks and how he leads.

Merlin also pulls back the curtain on life at OSIP today—where there’s no menu, dishes arrive as surprises, and the chefs might also be the ones who picked your carrots that morning. He talks about resisting culinary clichés (“Everyone needs to relax on caviar”), his devotion to balance and storytelling on the plate, and the creative discipline of cooking from what the land gives. From his love of Fergus Henderson’s prose to his dream pub pint of nameless cider at the Seymour Arms, this is an episode that captures the soul of a chef who’s rewriting what fine dining can mean.

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Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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It’s a Go-To Food Podcast first — we’re coming to you from the hottest new opening of the year, Dockley Road in Bermondsey, where the doors officially open this week. We sit down with Emily Chia (Ex Head Chef at St John) & Alex Keys (Ex Head Chef at Rochelle Canteen) the creative minds behind this much-anticipated spot, to hear about them coming together to open this wonderful new restaurant. The result? A lively, behind-the-pass chat about friendship, food philosophy, and how years of experience in world-class kitchens have come together to shape one of London’s most exciting new restaurants.

From banh mi terrine inspired by Parisian-Vietnamese bistros to Lancashire hot pots inspired by St John's famous mince on toast and local stout, the chefs take us through their playful, thoughtful menu. They talk about sourcing from Bermondsey’s legendary suppliers, collaborating with cocktail wizard Nick Strangeway, and why this space fills a gap London didn’t know it had — a place to eat, drink, and shop the city’s best produce all in one spot.

There are plenty of stories too: burning soup on trial shifts at St. John, cooking for Anthony Bourdain, and learning the realities of restaurant ownership the hard way (hello VAT bills). It’s an episode packed with wit, warmth, and the kind of culinary energy that makes London’s dining scene so electric. Whether you’re a chef, a foodie, or just someone who loves a great opening night story, this one’s a feast.

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Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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Ravneet Gill joins The Go-To Food Podcast with an episode full of chaos, charm, and honesty. She tells the hilarious story of how she met her now-husband Matty while developing menus at Llewellyn’s—he didn’t like her at first, unfollowed her on Instagram, and fell for her only after a passive-aggressive argument about blue roll on the hob. She relives his rainy proposal at Frieze Art Fair, the parking ticket that came with it, and their wedding filled with food from Lily Vanilli, Happy Endings, and half the London pastry scene. And of course, she shares the madness of opening Gina, their new restaurant in Chingford—five-star reviews from Faye Maschler, half a million pounds spent before serving a single plate, and one unforgettable Sunday when bad potatoes caused a local uproar.

Rav opens up about life behind the pass—what happens when trolls flood your Google reviews, when diners complain the “fish has bones,” and when a burger brings in the wrong crowd. She talks about juggling motherhood, TV, and restaurant life, plus the unexpected secret to keeping her marriage strong: living apart during opening month. There’s also the surreal story of being scouted for Junior Bake Off through a random DM she nearly ignored while private cheffing in Greece, only to sneak home in the night after her furious client found out she’d landed the gig.

She also rewinds to her sweet-toothed childhood above her dad’s corner shop, where Crunchies and chocolate-covered raisins ruled, and the fateful moment at 14 when she stopped being a fussy eater. From her first days at St. John (where Fergus Henderson once handed her a doodle of a pair of breasts that inspired a Paris-Brest dessert) to surviving bullying kitchens that pushed her to create Countertalk, Rav tells it all with warmth, humour, and absolute candour.

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Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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This week on The Go-To Food Podcast, Freddy and Ben sit down with the extraordinary Diana Henry, whose food writing has shaped how we cook and think for over two decades. With warmth, humour, and striking honesty, Diana shares stories from a life steeped in flavour — from her mother’s soda bread and Sunday puddings in Northern Ireland to her teenage awakening in France, where vinaigrette and apple tarts revealed food as art, culture, and freedom.

She recalls her early dinner parties — prawn cocktails, ratatouille, and Hamlyn cookbooks spread open on the counter — and the thrill of discovering writers like Claudia Roden and Alice Waters, who showed her how recipes could tell human stories. London brought new worlds: barrels of olives, tahini epiphanies, and a stint on TV Dinners, where she helped stage surreal futuristic feasts with silk and sandpaper.

There’s the pivotal Friday phone call that changed everything: being asked to ghostwrite Antonio Carluccio’s Vegetables, which proved she could build a book from scratch. That led to Crazy Water, Pickled Lemons, her breakout success — a deeply personal collection shaped by mood boards, travel dreams, and an instinct for beauty that made her one of the most admired voices in food.

In one of her most moving stories, Diana opens up about her time in hospital — the serious illness that almost ended her career, the long, slow recovery, and how the act of cooking helped her return to herself. Even at her weakest, she found comfort in ingredients and the language of recipes, proof that creativity and appetite can endure when everything else falls away.

This conversation is rich with memory, resilience, and joy — from French tarts to Carluccio’s kitchen, from the ICU to her writing desk. It’s a portrait of a life lived through food, and a reminder, as Diana says, that “there’s always something worth cooking for.”

Around the Table - 52 Essays on Food & Life by Diana Henry, Mitchell Beazley, £20

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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Anna Tobias joins us at Café Deco with a rollicking origin story: letters to Jeremy Lee straight out of Oxford, a crash-course at Blueprint Café (including emergency ice-cream runs mid-service), and the Garden Museum saga that sparked an industry-wide outpouring of support. From Hong Kong lettuce-wrap memories to Lower Saxony kale festivals, Anna’s food map is as eclectic as her menu—anchored by that now-iconic egg mayonnaise (halved, dolloped, criss-crossed with anchovy) that made the New York Times list of must-eat London dishes.

We get under the hood of Café Deco’s quietly fanatical seasonal rhythm—veg first, always—then the “wet meat/dry meat” dance, beany stews that show off the market, and why the late-summer-into-autumn handover is peak cooking season. Anna talks River Café discipline, becoming head chef at Rochelle under Margot Henderson’s watchful, open mind, and the P. Franco stint that sharpened her own voice. She’s candid on staying relevant once the new-opening glow fades, the realities of PR, and why trends (hi, crudo) can flatten a city’s food culture.

There are stories galore: floods as true kitchen nightmares, the one thing that makes a customer instantly “worst,” and the trust Café Deco builds with regulars who come for comfort done properly. We finish with travel and nostalgia—Madrid’s surprise-hit cod tripe rice, and the all-time Hall of Fame dish: her mum’s broth with semolina dumplings—before Anna cues up our outro with Blondie’s “Heart of Glass.” If you care about London cooking with backbone, this one’s essential listening.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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Step into Soho’s most storied dining room with executive chef Neil Borthwick — Scottish straight-talker, lover of demi-pints, and guardian of The French House’s old-school rules: no phones, no music, proper conversation only. He walks us through the thrill of a handwritten, daily-changing menu and the cult dishes that vanish by Friday — calves’ brains with beurre noisette and capers, that famously crispy pork jowl, a parsleyed ham terrine pricked with ox tongue — and yes, a rum baba to finish. We even learn the two sacred days when pints are allowed (April Fool’s and Pride), why four halves is a “rubbish” order, and how the vibe stays gloriously convivial because of it.

At The French House, Neil has built something rare — a place where the food feels both deeply French and completely unfussy, rooted in seasonality and memory rather than trends. The menu changes daily but always reads like a love letter to proper cooking: Dover sole meunière with caviar-laced velouté, pigeon pie, or a bone marrow–crumbed beef plate that regulars pray will reappear.

From Gordon Ramsay’s Amaryllis to Phil Howard’s The Square, Anne-Sophie Pic’s three-star temple, and a formative stint with Michel Bras, Neil’s CV reads like a greatest-hits of modern gastronomy. He unpacks the legend of Bras’ gargouillou (no tweezers required), the origin story of molten chocolate cake, and a philosophy that rejects “cool” in favour of nourishing, seasonal food done beautifully well. Expect dish-by-dish storytelling, laughter, and the tale of how a Paris lift kiss with Angela Hartnett, a near-fatal cycling accident and seven-day coma, and a hard-won recovery led him to the kitchen that finally feels like home.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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Step into the world of London’s most iconic cheese emporium with Patricia Michelson, founder of La Fromagerie, as she joins The Go-To Food Podcast. From a single wheel of Beaufort cheese smuggled home from a disastrous ski trip to running three of London’s most beloved food destinations, Patricia shares how a moment of serendipity sparked a movement that transformed how the city eats. Hear how she turned her garden shed into a “cheese cave,” won over Michelin-starred chefs, and built a thriving, independent food business — all without investors, all on instinct.

In this conversation packed with stories and flavour, Patricia recounts her early days selling cheese at Camden Lock Market, the birth of her Marylebone café culture, and the surprising musical history of her family — including her brother’s 1960s restaurant, Mr. Love, on Brook Street, where Jimi Hendrix once stayed upstairs. From those heady Soho days to her invention of “small plates” years before it became a trend, Patricia’s journey is a love letter to creativity, connection, and courage in the world of food.

From truffle pasta and toasted cheese made with a splash of white wine to tales of chefs like Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver discovering the joys of raw milk, Patricia brings the spirit of London’s culinary scene to life. This is a story about taste and tenacity, told by the woman who taught a city how to eat cheese — with a rock’n’roll twist.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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In this episode, Maison François founder Francois O’Neill shares what it really takes to keep restaurants thriving amid rising costs, changing diners, and constant uncertainty. From the realities of staffing and margins to the return of brasserie theatre — foie gras “burgers,” dessert trolleys, and caviar-topped chicken nuggets included — Francois reveals how optimism, generosity, and beautiful chaos keep his world turning.

Beyond the food, Francois is candid about the realities of running a restaurant today — the impossible margins, soaring ingredient costs, and the new normal of 35% staff overheads. But his optimism shines through as he explains how Maison François has weathered every storm: through generosity, energy, and human connection. He takes us from the flickering lights of Brasserie St Quentin, where a towering French chef named Marcel used to eat from the stockpot, to today’s buzzing St James’s dining rooms where corner booths, dessert trolleys, and champagne carts help guests “order with their eyes.” It’s a love letter to old-school glamour made relevant again — and a reminder that theatre and warmth are as vital as the food itself.

In a wide-ranging conversation, we hear about the breakfast hustle that went from one table to 200 covers, the behind-the-scenes of Frank’s, his quietly brilliant Borough Market venture, and the power of saying yes to single diners. Francois opens up about the grind and the gratitude — from crisis-era reopenings to future plans at Frieze London, and from late-night service lessons to the Brazilian beach barbecue that still defines his idea of heaven. It’s rich, funny, and full of texture — a portrait of a restaurateur who still believes in beauty, hospitality, and a good bit of butter.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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From punk rocker to pasta sauce pioneer, Loyd Grossman has lived many lives—and he tells the stories with all the colour and humour you’d expect. In this episode, Loyd looks back at his unlikely journey from fronting a chart-climbing band to backing Van Morrison on stage, before swapping guitar strings for restaurant reviews and TV stardom. His take on the difference between the US and UK punk scenes alone is worth the listen.

Food, of course, is never far away. Loyd recalls arriving in 1970s London, a time often maligned for its bland cooking, and sets the record straight with tales of surprising sophistication: Margaret Costa’s influential writing, brilliant trattorias, and the early days of Le Caprice, when he was sometimes the only diner in the room. He explains how these restaurants, along with innovators like Peter Langan and Anton Mosimann, transformed London into a truly global dining city.

There are TV tales too. Loyd shares the accidental phone call that led to him co-creating Through the Keyhole with David Frost—an idea born in Camden over steak and chips that went on to become one of Britain’s biggest entertainment shows. Then came MasterChef, which he fronted in its gentler, pre-competitive era. He reflects on why he stepped away when the format shifted, and on how the food people cooked on those early episodes reflected changing British tastes.

And then, of course, the sauces. Loyd reveals the unlikely beginnings of his now 30-year-old range—how factory trials first turned out “absolutely bloody awful,” why supermarket buyers balked at olive oil, and the moment someone told him his sauces had “too much flavour.” Add to that his failed but fascinating battle to improve NHS food, and you’ve got an episode packed with stories of grit, wit, and the power of perseverance.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £64 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com/

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Richard Corrigan has lived through—and helped shape—the restaurant revolutions that made London one of the world’s great food cities. From his early days with the eccentric genius Stephen Bull at Blanford Street, through his game-changing decade at Lindsay House, to opening Corrigan’s Mayfair on the very day he closed Lindsay House with a party, Corrigan’s career is a story of grit, brilliance, and survival. He remembers the 90s buzz alongside Gordon Ramsay, Gary Rhodes, and Marco Pierre White, when Michelin stars were scarce, small kitchens did the impossible, and London’s dining scene finally came alive.

In this wide-ranging and unfiltered conversation, Corrigan recalls the madness and magic: Marco Pierre White denying he sat for a portrait—until it was bought by the National Portrait Gallery; Gordon Ramsay standing in his tiny Lindsay House kitchen asking how he pulled it off; and the supermodels who ran out mid-meal when told their limousines had arrived. He shares his passion for honest cooking, his disdain for overblown tasting menus and foodie fads, and his belief that hospitality is about turning even the worst customer into a loyal friend. Along the way, he dishes on everyone from Jay Rayner to Faye Maschler, from the King of Jordan to Kate Moss.

Always outspoken, Corrigan cuts through the noise with clarity. Pizza, he insists, “isn’t dinner, it’s just bread.” Long lunches are a dying art. And the future of food lies not in obscure herbs or gimmicky “Scandi bowls” but in intelligence, honesty, and produce that sings. Whether cooking for three prime ministers, the Queen, or just another guest with a bad day to forget, Corrigan has never lost sight of what matters most: generosity, joy, and a little bit of sea salt in his pocket, just in case.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £64 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com/

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Richard Corrigan is a chef who has lived many lives, each one bound by resilience, tradition, and an uncompromising love of food. In this conversation, he shares the stories that have shaped him, offering a rare glimpse into the philosophy behind one of the most distinctive voices in British and Irish hospitality.

From oysters and stout to the centuries-old legacy of Bentley’s, Corrigan speaks with passion and precision. He rails against culinary shortcuts, celebrating instead the perfection of a native oyster with lemon, pepper, and brown bread. As custodian of one of London’s great institutions, he reflects on Bentley’s survival through war and hardship, and his mission to keep its traditions alive. His plan to take the London oyster championships on the road captures both his entrepreneurial spirit and his conviction that food culture should be open, mobile, and inclusive.

The conversation also explores Ireland in vivid detail: his childhood on a small farm, learning the hard realities of food through animal slaughter and the making of black pudding, and his candid reflections on Ireland’s politics, diaspora, and culinary renaissance. Corrigan recalls his formative years in kitchens—from peeling potatoes in a local hotel at 14, to stepping into the Hilton Amsterdam at 17, and later forging a reputation in London that drew the attention of Albert Roux.

As the stories unfold—late nights at Lindsay House, his thoughts on the madness and magic of Irish hospitality, and the fine line between toughness and kindness in professional kitchens—what emerges is a portrait of a chef who has never lost sight of his roots. This is Richard Corrigan at his most unfiltered and insightful: a man who believes in the value of tradition, the dignity of work, and the enduring power of food to connect us to place, to people, and to life itself.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

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Tomos Parry—chef of London landmarks Brat and Mountain—joins us on location at fforest in Pembrokeshire for a special Brat × Mountain residency episode. We dive into his fire-led cooking and the thrill (and chaos) of bringing 30 team members to West Wales to cook with the producers who shape his food: think lobster caldereta cooked a stone’s throw from the boats, raw-milk fresh cheese that only exists for a week, and vegetables lifted straight from the farm. Tomos traces the sparks that forged his style—The Ledbury’s edge-of-service creativity, River Café’s seasonal discipline, a formative summer at Noma—and how he builds rounded chefs who understand sauces, fire, P&L and life after the pass. We talk the rise of British terroir restaurants, why Basque cheesecake became a London icon, the cult of dairy cow steak, and the nerve-jangling night he nearly smoked out the Royal Academy. Quick fires take us from Soho’s tiny Jugemu to blowout plates at Ikoyi, Galicia as the dream weekend, corn ribs as a hard no, and a play-out salute to Super Furry Animals.

Recorded at fforest, West Wales.

Sponsor: This episode is brought to you by Blinq—POS made simple: £69/month, unlimited devices, 24/7 UK support, no contracts or hidden fees. Use code GOTOBLINQ for a free month. Got a true kitchen nightmare? Send it in—Ben’s favourite wins a year of Blinq.

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Our guest today is none other than Atul Kochhar, the genius who redefined Indian cuisine in Britain and became the first Indian chef in the world to win a Michelin star.

You’ll hear Atul laugh about an American guest who demanded “the spiciest dish you can make”—only to then bring his own vial of mysterious black liquid so fiery it nearly sent Atul to Mars. You’ll hear the story of him landing in London over 30 years ago, shocked at the state of “curry houses,” and how he helped transform the UK’s perception of Indian food from late-night lager fodder to multi-course, white-tablecloth artistry.

Atul also opens up about the education that made him: growing up in a Punjabi-Bihari household in Jamshedpur, where neighbours from every corner of India introduced him to a mosaic of regional flavours; moving as a teenager with a single iron trunk to Chennai, where he fell in love with idlis, dosas, and the tang of tamarind; and the brutal but life-changing discipline of the Oberoi Hotel kitchens, where he worked under Thai, Chinese, and French Michelin-starred chefs. These years gave him the precision, speed, and ingredient-driven ethos that he would later use to revolutionise Indian fine dining.

And then there’s the leap of faith that changed everything: being scouted to London, helping launch Tamarind, and winning that fateful Michelin star. Atul recalls the dizzying pride of the moment—how overnight he became a national hero in India, and how his father, a catering man who’d seen failure more than once, inspired him to push forward even when the business of running restaurants nearly broke him. From early struggles with sourcing the right onions in Britain to discovering the joys of cooking with venison, hare, and game birds, his stories are as textured as the dishes he plates.

Of course, no Atul story is complete without the drama of restaurant life. He shares nightmare days where gas pipes flooded on a Saturday service, or worse—the devastating fire that shut down his flagship for six months. He remembers the pain of sitting helpless in insurance limbo, and the joy of loyal friends and partners who stepped in to keep his dream alive. There’s humour too—like the “rudest customer” who managed to be offended even when given a bigger table on their anniversary, or his bemusement at Britain’s national dish, chicken tikka masala, which he insists is delicious but—make no mistake—a British invention.

Atul speaks candidly about adapting menus for a world where more diners are on weight-loss drugs, why smaller plates and non-alcoholic cocktails are the future, and how he sees the new wave of Indian chefs in India itself taking innovation to dazzling heights. There are also tender moments: memories of litti chokha eaten by hand and soaked in ghee, evenings when six Thai chefs “adopted” him as their little brother in Delhi, and the bittersweet guidance of Mrs Khanna, the royal-blooded matriarch who taught him the secrets of true Patiala cuisine.

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Step inside Covent Garden’s beating heart with this week’s episode of The Go-To Food Podcast, where we sit down with Will Palmer and Ian Campbell – the masterminds behind London’s legendary wine bar 10 Cases, the seafood temple Parsons, and the ever-buzzy Baudry Greene These two friends-turned-restaurateurs didn’t just build businesses, they created a street corner empire that has shaped how London eats and drinks. And their story? It’s as intoxicating as the wines they pour.

From the genius simplicity behind the 10 Cases name – only ever buying 10 cases of a wine and moving on once it’s gone – to the unforgettable proposal that unfolded at the very table where we recorded, Palmer and Campbell reveal the mix of romance, chaos, and grit that comes with running some of the capital’s most beloved spots. Expect tales of burnt toast experiments, staff dramas, and the exact moment Jay Rayner’s stinging review became the tough love they needed.

But this isn’t just a nostalgia trip. The duo dive into the hard truths of hospitality: how to keep wine lists fresh, why chasing percentages is a trap, and why value – not markups – has been their secret weapon for 14 years. Along the way, you’ll hear about the scallop slider so good it nearly stops the interview, the cocktail that reinvents a Negroni, and the young drinkers still hungry to learn despite the headlines of wellness and sobriety. Whether you’re in hospitality, a wine obsessive, or just someone who loves a brilliant behind-the-scenes story, this is an episode not to miss. Pour yourself a glass, settle in, and discover how two mates with no master plan ended up creating a corner of Covent Garden that Londoners can’t stop talking about.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode of The Go-To Food Podcast—brought to you by Blinq (the UK POS rebels)—we sit down with fire-obsessed chef Lennox Hastie, the man behind Sydney’s cult restaurant Firedoor and the pintxo-loving Gildas. From starring on Chef’s Table to earning two Chef’s Hats (Australia’s Michelin-adjacent kudos), Lennox has built a career on cooking everything over live flame—no gas, no charcoal, just wood, nerve, and precision.

Lennox takes us back to the Basque Country, where a chance overheard conversation in a bar sent him up a mountain to Asador Etxebarri—and straight into Victor Arguinzoniz’s inferno. He shares how he went from three-Michelin-star kitchens to a tiny grill line where the ovens roasted your back and the fire seared your front, translating for Anthony Bourdain and learning that wood choice is as crucial as the cut. You’ll hear why turbot belongs flat on the grill (not in a cage), how prawns can stop time, and why simplicity hits harder when the flames are perfectly tuned.

Back in Australia, Lennox fought a four-year, site-by-site battle to open Firedoor the uncompromising way—100% wood-fired or nothing. He breaks down the nerdy magic of ironbark vs. oak, why the team builds log-cabin fires every morning, and how prep dances around rising and falling embers. Expect goosebump dishes and surprising ideas: live-marron split and kissed by heat, grilled lettuce that eats like a revelation, long-aged beef that hums with prosciutto-y depth, and flame-finished desserts that prove pastry belongs in the fire, too.

We also detour through San Sebastián and Sydney’s best bites—pintxos culture, tomato salads worth a pilgrimage, vermouth-forward Marianitos, and Lennox’s go-to Korean and Japanese haunts. It’s a story of obsession, patience, and learning to “slow dance” with fire—from mountain grills to a packed open kitchen where every lick of flame is on show. Plug in for craft, chaos, and crackling honesty—and leave hungry.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £69 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Adam Handling sits down for The Go-To Food Podcast, you know you’re in for fireworks. The Michelin-starred chef pulls no punches, opening up about landlords who tried to strong-arm him, staff who faced his infamous “card machine punishment” for costly mistakes, and the emotional nights he locked himself in the restaurant bathroom and cried after service disasters. 

The Michelin-starred chef relives the moment he took legal action against a trendy London bakery for using the “Frog” name, and the breakdown he suffered during COVID when he thought his entire restaurant group might collapse. Brutally honest, occasionally explosive, and always compelling, Adam holds nothing back about the cutthroat world of food and hospitality.

Adam also shares the rollercoaster of building his restaurant empire — from landlords evicting him overnight to resurrecting Ugly Butterfly 2.0 on the Cornish cliffs, and from bursting power supplies that shut Frog Covent Garden mid-service to dealing with chefs who jump kitchens every few months. 

And then there are the customers. From finger-snappers unceremoniously kicked out mid-service to diners outraged when crab butter replaced his signature chicken butter, Adam has seen it all. Brutally honest yet fiercely passionate, he reminds us why restaurants are the most exhilarating, maddening, and life-affirming places on earth. This is an episode every foodie — and anyone who’s ever worked in hospitality — needs to hear.

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Please leave us a great rating and a comment and share it with your friends - it really helps us grow as a show.If you're in the industry and are looking for the greatest POS system in the world than look no further -as Blinq are tearing up the rulebook—no long-term contracts, no hidden fees, and no per-device charges.

Just £49 a month for unlimited devices and 24/7 UK-based support that’s always there, in person when you need it.Built for hospitality, by hospitality, blinq is the fastest, easiest POS system on the market—so intuitive, anyone can use it. And while others take weeks to get you up and running, with blinq, you’re live in just 2 hours.Join the hospitality revolution today & use the code GOTOBLINQ to get your first month free - https://blinqme.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.