These are very strange times we are all going through at the same time. We find ourselves in a lockdown hence an opportunity for this blog to finally see the light. As the pandemic hit London, a friend and I had embarked on an exciting journey with the intention of opening up our own place, perhaps a restaurant, a deli coffee shop or a bar with an eatery. We were attempting to punch above the average coffee place and certainly not aiming for high dining. Somewhere with great wine, great simple food and silky coffee. Nothing really prepared us for the brutal competition to secure a place and at the time of writing we had been rejected by three places on which we had set our hearts on and invested our time for market research, cost predictions and business plans.

In London, an upfront premium or goodwill, high rent and rates are simply not enough to get us our shop. A real learning curve. I found many investors in the business who have nothing to do with the food scene but the hospitality scene as a whole is a big money spinner. However given the situation now, many places not offering takeout or delivery have been forced to close. The sinking feeling is that it’s the small chef patron, small shops and independent cafes which are going to bear the brunt of all this. Major bigwigs with Michelin Stars and or tv fame have got their big investors behind them and can ride this wave. Not so much for the others. In any case, after trying our hand at doing a couple of supper clubs pre pandemic, somewhat successfully, we had been looking forward to the next step which was to have our own place. I cannot help but thank the stars for having been rejected by the properties we looked at, us small players would have been shredded financially. Hopefully should things calm down in the near future, we shall be on the lookout once again. This sort of endeavour I have no doubt will find it’s way through as a separate piece all of its own. At the moment, I am just glad to be at home, putting pen to paper and finally getting this out. Yes, I still jot my thinking on paper with pen first before typing them up. My thoughts seem to transcribe rather naturally this way. I’m halfway through these ramblings and I realise I have failed to introduce myself. I could potentially post my CV to describe what I can do if you do not know much about me, however, there is so much more to my destination here than can be put in a few words. I shall therefore add more about my life in time, with more relevant postings. 

First now, a brief summary of me if you care for it. My food and cooking experiences were shaped by my father’s extraordinary culinary skills, subsequently working against my will, it be peeling onions and potatoes and washing dishes in my mother’s kitchen at home or chopping, stirring and serving at my parents’ restaurants whilst on university break. I studied Law at university which is very far from what I am doing now. I am if you will, a person who landed a chef hat quite by a matter of chance and circumstance. I carried on refining my skills whilst at uni on summer jobs and short culinary courses. These were a source of great joy to me. It goes without saying, in my circles my penchant for wine became legendary, so sommelier and WSet qualifications ensued. We all eat, taste is inherent in all of us, it is akin to our fingerprint. It is our ID, never let anyone dictate what you should or should not like. Cooking does not come naturally to all of us, but remember, it is a skill which can most certainly be appropriated by everyone. In the meantime, welcome, explore my rants and what not, try my recipes, try to decipher my wine notes and make your own. This is the idea, we are all unique and shaped by our own taste DNA.