My review of Home in Leeds didn’t go down well with the owners. Then I agreed to do a stint for charity in their kitchen …
I don’t like to talk about all the charity work I do, because I don’t do any, but I did some this week, so let’s talk about it. Turning Tables is a Leeds Indie Food festival event where food writers cook in the kitchen of a high-end restaurant for paying guests, to raise money for Action Against Hunger. The problem is, I’m working at a restaurant that hates me.
I can see why – in my review of Home in Leeds, my companion compared the texture of a potato foam to a certain … gentleman’s emission. Harshly, I thought, but who would shoot the messenger? One of the owners and co-head chef Elizabeth Cottam greets me. “You’ve got a nerve showing your face within these walls.” Then she switches tack, revealing a warmer side. “Nah, we’re gonna bury the hatchet. In your head.” Co-owner and co-head chef, Michelin-recognised Mark Owens is less forthcoming. A huge man – think David Prowse stepping out of the Darth Vader suit to reveal chef’s whites – he mostly just stares at me. I start counting the knives.
Related: I’m obsessed with mock meat and I’m not even a vegetarian | Rhik Samadder
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