B - British

The Two Hungry Chefs - The A-Z of Food

The episode explores the potential of British ingredients through an in-depth conversation with Michelin-starred chef Adam Handling. The hos

Key takeaways

• Adam Handling follows an ethos of '90% British and 10% what we can't do yet' to showcase local producers.
• He emphasizes that restaurateurs must not dilute their brands or cheapen quality during economic downturns.

Main topics

• British ingredients
• Restaurant management and staffing

Notable quotes

90% British and 10% what we can't do yet.

Conclusion

A celebratory look at how local sourcing and empowered teams can eleva

Transcript preview

Speaker 3 (0:00) We went through sort of different letters for you and we landed on B. B? B for British. B for British. British Speaker 1 (0:08) ingredients. Speaker 3 (0:09) Are you thinking, this is going to be tasty? Are you thinking, my God, these guys don't know what they're doing? Speaker 2 (0:18) The Speaker 3 (0:18) laugh just says a lot. It Speaker 2 (0:20) smells wonderful from where I'm sitting. This hardship is not going to last forever. So continually keep pushing. Don't dilute your brands. Don't cheapen anything. Don't stop investing into the staff and just keep doing your best you can. Speaker 3 (0:41) So yeah, you're going from Cornwall back to Barnes and back and forth every week. Well, yeah. Speaker 2 (0:48) Summertime now will be more based on Cornwall. You know, ugly butterfly, tartan fox down there. Season. Yeah. Which part of Cornwall? So we've got Ugly Butterfly in Newquay, just off Fitzgerald Beach, actually, over the cliff. Beautiful. It's really pretty there. And then Tartan Fox in Summercourt, so surrounded by trees. So it's completely the best of both worlds. One's in, I say, a little forest, and the other one is on the cliffs of Fitzgerald Beach. Do you get the time to Speaker 3 (1:12) actually enjoy it? Speaker 2 (1:13) Oh, no. Speaker 3 (1:15) There's the thing, isn't there? You've got this lovely dream-like life. But actually, you're giving everyone else the dream life and you're just like slogging it out. I Speaker 2 (1:25) know. My relaxing part of the day is when I go and see my chickens, which is bizarre. But in Tartan Fox, we've got about 20 chickens and 18 little ones have just been hatched and about 40 more are coming. Oh, Speaker 3 (1:38) I Speaker 2 (1:38) saw Speaker 3 (1:38) your post. Speaker 2 (1:40) In fact, Speaker 3 (1:40) actually, it was Chris who sent me the post. I don't know, was it you, Emi? You sent a post of your... Of your ultrasound. Oh, Speaker 1 (1:49) that's right. Speaker 3 (1:50) I saw Speaker 1 (1:50) that. That's Speaker 3 (1:52) very good. I really enjoyed that. You Speaker 1 (1:54) had me for a second. I was like, Speaker 3 (1:55) again? I think you had quite a few people for more Speaker 2 (1:59) than a second. Speaker 3 (2:00) I Speaker 2 (2:00) had messages from people I hadn't spoke to in years. Congratulations. I was like, please click on the picture. What's to the end, people? And also, the ultrasound is a... roast chicken Speaker 1 (2:13) well hey Speaker 3 (2:16) if it's a two missioning star roast chicken no one cares i Speaker 2 (2:21) know right it was quite funny but we don't tend to really do clickbait kind of instagram posts yeah but i thought you know what these things are adorable let's just do something funny yeah um it worked it worked yeah that's brilliant no i thought that was brilliant yeah i've Speaker 3 (2:35) um yeah that's i mean that's the only one i've seen of yours so yeah Speaker 3 (2:41) Well, you saw a good one. Speaker 2 (2:43) On Speaker 3 (2:43) that note, guys, we've got Adam Handling here. Speaker 3 (2:47) This is the A to Z of food podcast. I'm Jeremy Pang. Speaker 1 (2:52) I'm Mike Reid. And this is Adam. It's great to have you. Thank you very much for coming on. Speaker 3 (2:56) We went through different letters for you and we landed on B. B? B for British. B for British. British Speaker 1 (3:06) ingredients. Yeah, British ingredients. I Speaker 3 (3:09) kind of tried to go down the political route a little bit, but Mike told me I wasn't allowed. Smacking Speaker 1 (3:14) it back. Speaker 2 (3:17) Yeah, you've always got to play careful when it comes to politics. Speaker 3 (3:21) We're more like a political joke right now, you know, a Chinese man, a black man and a Scotsman walking to a pub. But yeah, British, you know, British ingredients, obviously you're so well known for that. And that's why we wanted to kind of star that whilst we're chatting to you. But it's just. Really nice to have you here and we're honoured, quite honestly. Speaker 1 (3:42) Thank you for taking the time because you're opening a venue today. Speaker 2 (3:45) This isn't going to wear for a while. It opens at seven. But thank you for having me. Pleasure. But yeah, busy times, but it's going to be good. So my ethos is redefining British. Speaker 3 (3:55) And Speaker 2 (3:55) when we say that, it's the plethora of wonderful ingredients that we kind of lose sight on. in this country, we want to kind of showcase both with the farmers, the producers, the fishermen, all of that jazz. So we say we're 90 % British and 10 % what we can't do yet. So that's very important. We're not 100 % British and everything, but we are of the basic stuff. If you can, you do. Speaker 3 (4:18) For sure. And this is across the board for all the restaurants. The whole collection. So Speaker 2 (4:21) a lot of the outlets are hyper-local. So Ugly Butterfly is only Southwest. But again, 90 % what Southwest does, 10 % what it can't do yet. Frog is the entire country because it's in London. Yeah, it's Speaker 1 (4:35) in Speaker 2 (4:35) London. It's Speaker 1 (4:36) the Speaker 2 (4:36) epicentre. Well, Speaker 3 (4:37) it's actually around the corner from School of Walk. So my co-curry school has been there since 2009 or 2012 actually in Common Garden. Yeah, yeah. But yeah, I went to Frog I think when you maybe first opened. When did you open then? It's 10th birthday is next year. Not just your profile but the whole group has grown a lot since then. Yeah. In an Speaker 1 (4:57) incredibly difficult, challenging time as well. Yeah. Look at his face, everyone. He Speaker 2 (5:04) doesn't have to say anything. Me and Nicola just did payroll in the car and we're like, Jesus Christ, why? Speaker 2 (5:12) We have 300-odd staff in the collection. It's an expensive payroll. But, yeah, the one thing that we won't do is we won't compromise on anything knowing that it's tough at the moment. You know, I'm a big thing of it's a trend. This hardship is not going to last forever. So continually keep pushing. Don't dilute your brands. Don't cheapen anything. Don't stop investing into the staff and just keep doing the best you can. But Speaker 3 (5:38) that's the hardest part, isn't it, the staff? It's like actually trying to get that, like a good, well-gelled team together and then do it time and time again. Well, to keep Speaker 1 (5:49) them, right? To get them, train them, invest in them and then keep them. Like that is especially, I feel, not just UK, I think it's a global problem we've got at the moment, but like, I think it's especially hard. in London, Speaker 3 (6:05) because Speaker 1 (6:06) London, there are so many choices that people now just don't care. Like, we'll go here. We'll Speaker 2 (6:15) go here. I'll go here. I do Speaker 1 (6:16) think it is Speaker 2 (6:17) difficult out there, but I think if you really do, I run on three words, inspiration, education, motivation. And Speaker 1 (6:23) that's how we do our complete training programs. It's how we operate. That's our vision Speaker 2 (6:27) of how we want all of our teams to be. Speaker 1 (6:29) I Speaker 2 (6:30) have never hired a head chef in my entire collection. you know, Steven from Windsor, he's been with me 19 years in February. Wow. Jamie's been with me 12 years. He looks after Cornwall and he's the director there. You've got Cleverson who's been with me 10 years before Frog was open. I've never hired a head chef in my entire collection, but that's because we are, we are super transparent. We're an open book in terms of everything. We are family. And I know you hear all that rubbish by, we want to create a family environment and it's just all chatter and, and bullshit to be fair. But we generally do, you know, we, we put people accountable, but we also let them to make the, own choices and as a collection we're there to to to make sure that if we can see them going off into a wrong direction we tell them but we allow them to do it but they're to back them up and fix it straight away yeah it's the only way people are going to find true true like tangible this is my operation it's ownership right they have to make investment in the business yeah they have to make mistakes but Speaker 1 (7:25) they have to realize that They come with consequences. But I was going to say, as an owner-operator, that is one of the hardest things to do, though, is to watch it happen before your eyes and know it's going to happen and still let it happen. That takes real courage as an operator. And confidence. The Speaker 3 (7:44) confidence, if you have that confidence to be able to give your staff that space to make those mistakes, that in itself is a... an education that most people don't get. Like, you know, so, and from an educational point of view, because you started, you know, you haven't always been a chef, right? Speaker 2 (8:03) Always. So day one, like, so... 15 years old. Okay, so 15 years old, you started as a chef. Bloody long time ago. What Speaker 3 (8:10) made you, like, go into, like, fine dining and Speaker 2 (8:15) really push it? So I come from a complete normal background. I'm from Dundee. A bit of a pain in the arse as a child. As a child. We had Speaker 3 (8:27) to talk about this. We're supposed to be nice to our guests. Speaker 1 (8:30) I can't help it. You know I'm a dick. Speaker 2 (8:33) I saw a cheap shot. I'm sorry about that. Carry on. And my mum was of the illusion that because university is free in Scotland if you're Scottish. go to stay on a school go to university get a proper job be a doctor lawyer you know that sort of proper job and leave Dundee and be successful I could not that education for me was nothing because I didn't connect with anything there was nothing that really got me excited enough to be like I want to study that specific thing yeah so I told my dad my dad was like if you get apprenticeship that's still an education yes then we can kind of talk to your mom and see if you're gonna yeah and don't need to go and do university so the first thing that I ever saw was an apprentice chef in Glen Eagles Hotel okay That was it. So I told my dad, he's like, me and you will go for the interviews. I wore his suit, looked like a proper wanker. Speaker 3 (9:15) I was Speaker 2 (9:16) so thin. I'm glad you didn't Speaker 3 (9:18) wear a suit today. Speaker 2 (9:21) And I went. Three interviews later, it took about six months, I got the job to be the first ever apprentice in Glen Eagles Hotel. Amazing. And then from there, it was more a determination not to have that in my mum's voice to be like, you failed, I told you you should have went to university. So that made me keep going. As soon as I stepped foot in that kitchen, didn't enjoy the first few months. But then after that, that whole team vibe was the most romantic experience I've ever had. Right. You know, no one was ever able to fail. It was a team that was so strict. Very, very, very strict. Strictness Speaker 1 (9:55) in a way that you would know back in the day. You're not allowed Speaker 2 (9:57) to work that way anymore. Speaker 1 (9:58) But Speaker 2 (9:58) at the end of the day, it was that strict, but no one would fail. And I love that environment. And I love that thing. Because if a chef fails in a brigade, Speaker 3 (10:06) who's Speaker 2 (10:07) the one who's going to get a worse experience? It's the guest. Speaker 3 (10:10) So Speaker 2 (10:10) having all this pecking order and all of these lines, everyone was arm to arm going forward. And it was really difficult. But right there was it. I was not going to look anywhere else. I loved feeling like I belonged somewhere. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it was wonderful. And that made me want to learn. You know, I was tired of being the dumb one. Sure. Yeah, you know, everyone was much more older than me. Speaker 3 (10:33) That's Speaker 2 (10:33) the Speaker 3 (10:33) traditional sense of education. Speaker 3 (10:37) I'd say in this country where it's very much, you know, you're only clever if you know your maths and your English. Correct. And Speaker 1 (10:46) they still teach in the same way that they've taught for 50 years and what have you. And I feel like that story is a romantic story. You know, it's essentially you falling in love with the industry and the kitchens. But it resonates with so many chefs, you know, and so many chefs find their home once they walk in. It's being part of the team. It's the adrenaline, the rush of service. We're in this together. It's that siege mentality that's almost forged, which where you're like, oh, actually now I can't let down my mates. I've Speaker 2 (11:21) got Speaker 3 (11:22) to do my Speaker 1 (11:24) small bit to keep Speaker 3 (11:25) this Speaker 1 (11:25) all moving. Speaker 3 (11:25) Yeah, it's Speaker 1 (11:25) the Speaker 3 (11:25) way you explained it reminds me of, when was it, when South Korea in the World Cup got through to the quarterfinals or something like that and they all held hands and ran across the... whole pitch you know it's that that feeling of like that real like everyone's done each other the right like you know done the right thing for each other as opposed to just for Speaker 1 (11:46) themselves yeah that's Speaker 3 (11:47) that's that's that's you know that's a that's a fantastic way to explain it i think yeah yeah but Speaker 2 (11:52) i think that's the love that's the great thing about hospitality obviously there are some good ones and bad ones yeah one with a goal as well Speaker 3 (11:59) it Speaker 2 (11:59) needs to be. So, and I mean that we set goals every year for all of our restaurants. They're all very different because they need to have something to work for. You know, you want to be better today than you were yesterday, even if it's the most minute thing. Speaker 3 (12:11) But Speaker 2 (12:12) as long as progression is there, evolution will always come. You know, you've got to work for something. Yeah, Speaker 3 (12:19) for Speaker 2 (12:19) sure. Speaker 1 (12:19) Yeah. Speaker 3 (12:20) Yeah, yeah. That's fantastic. And, and I mean, obviously, Mike, you've, you're in it. more than I am for sure in Adam's world, let's say, like when it comes to like the inspiration that you're talking about, we've talked about it quite a lot. Speaker 1 (12:36) Like Speaker 3 (12:37) you've got, you've had various forms of inspiration, whether they're positive, negative, they're positive. You know, what sort of, you know, what keeps you ticking now that you're in the industry or you've been in the industry for decades? Just as long as Adam has. I Speaker 1 (12:56) think it's the genuine, you can only do this job, you can only be a chef, restaurateur, operator, whatever, if you genuinely in love with it. Otherwise, there's no point. There's easier ways to make money. Like, there's, you know... He's fucking stupid. Payroll when I get Twitch. You've got to be genuinely passionate about