Today we're joined by the recently crowned Michelin Star Head Chef and Owner of Lyla in Edinburgh in the wonderful Stuart Ralston to celebrate his success, find out he achieved it and dig out his best war stories from over 20 years in the professional kitchen. Stuart got his big break working under Gordon Ramsay in New York, having grown up in a council estate in Scotland and followed his father into the industry, albeit that was working in his fathers pizzeria rather than the Michelin starred kitchens he found himself in from New York to London to the Caribbean. Stuart shares with us some shocking stories ranging from; getting stabbed, the most shocking sights he's witnessed in the kitchen, slicing off his finger and carrying on his trial, working for Ramsay and what his famous temper is like, the beef in the Edinburgh food scene & how it's grown into a culinary destination (recently labelled the 'Best Foodie City In The UK'), his fathers stern words to him growing up, fucking up a trial at a Michelin starred kitchen in London,  his hatred of foraging, the secrets to getting a Michelin star and much much more.....

---------------

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/

Is there a more charming, eloquent and talented chef in the industry than Jeremy Lee? I think not and so today we're delighted to be joined by the legend himself in the studio to celebrate over 40 years of his incredible culinary creations. Jeremy is the only chef in the world to work under both Simon Hopkinson and Alistair Little, both the founding fathers of modern British cooking, and so regales us in some incredible stories and memories of his time working for both. Prior to running Quo Vadis he was running The Blueprint Cafe in partnership with the legendary Sir Terence Conran for 15 years, arguably the most important restaurateur in London, and Jeremy reveals to us some wonderful stories of their time together. We hear about his magical childhood, how he got fired as a waiter and forced into the kitchen instead, the machoism of the kitchens in the 80s, the magic of Bibendum and the birth of the London restaurant scene, the accidental invention of his smoked eel sandwich, his love for Soho's great institutions, the struggles of the current food scene and oh so much more! So sit, back, relax and enjoy and please make sure you're subscribed and you leave a rating and comment.

-----------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Head to www.delli.market and discover the thousands of creative products dropping daily.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

Today we're joined by the delightful Avi Shashidhara who's Head Chef of the multi-award winning Pahli Hill Bandra Bhai in Fitzrovia, which Jamie Oliver recently revealed as his favourite restaurant in the city. Avi's journey is an incredible one which has taken him from growing up in Bangalore to working for Antonio Carluccio in India to working at various Michelin starred restaurants in the UK before running the River Cafe for 10 years to cooking personally for Anthony Bourdain & Nigella Lawson to now running one of London's greatest restaurants. Avi is in a wonderful sharing mood as he entertains us with crazy stories of; being bullied in a 2 Michelin starred restaurant, the brutality of Indias fine dining culinary college, working at India's first boutique hotel under Chef Antonio Carluccio, the magic of working at the river cafe for over a decade, why PR agencies are ruining the food scene, why Michelin are 'anti-indian restaurants' and so much more.....it's a real juicy one, so sit back, relax and enjoy!

-------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Get tickets to Avi and Andi Olivers supper here - https://www.pahlihillbandrabhai.com/whats-on/a-dinner-with-andi-oliver

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

Today we're joined by the most famous food critic in the world in Jay Rayner, to discuss his incredible career as a restaurant reviewer for the Observer over the last 25 years. Jay is on incredible form as he reveals stories of ; falling out with chefs, scrapping reviews, law suits, reporting murders, fighting nepotism, questioning whether he's infact a bastard, why Guinness refused to give into the Devonshire's discount demands, the worst restaurants he's ever been to, the art of writing a review, the magic of Joe Allen's, the tragedy of the downfall of The Ivy, why Pizza Express pizzas are some of the best in the country, the secrets to perfect meringues and much much more....

Buy 'Nights Out At Home' here - https://www.jayrayner.co.uk/books#13

Buy tickets to Jays next gig here - https://www.woolwich.works/events/jay-rayner-sextet

------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Head to www.delli.market and discover the thousands of creative products dropping daily.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

Today we're bringing you a pastry special and who better than the King of Cakes himself Eric Lanlard to take us through his incredible career which has taken him from cooking for the French President in the Navy to baking cakes for the; Queen, Madonna, David Beckham and Elton John to name a few. Eric moved to London in 1995 to work for the legendary Roux Brothers and within 2 years was heading up their whole pastry kitchen overseeing all the sweet treats in all their restaurants and for the likes of Harrods and various 5 star hotels. During this time he worked alongside Gordon Ramsay amongst others and struck up an incredible friendship with his mentor the late great Albert Roux. He then went on to set up his own company 'Cake Boy' where he's become the go to baker for all celebrities parties and weddings. It's not all been plain sailing however and today he reveals all of his nightmares he's experienced from his time as a Chocolatier Apprentice in Luxembourg as a 16 year old to working in the Michelin kitchens of london right up to the modern day where he's set to become the first chef in history to enter Space! Eric is a wonderful man and great orator so sit back, relax and enjoy.

------------------

 Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

Today we're honoured to be joined in the studio by the wonderful Romy Gill MBE who's an award winning food/travel writer and broadcaster and was the owner and Head Chef at Romy’s Kitchen, and In 2016 she was appointed an MBE in Queen Elizabeth’s 90th Birthday Honours List. On this podcast we discuss; her incredible journey from West Bengal to the UK, her memories of 1000 mile picnics to the Punjab as a kid, the magic of Tiffin boxes, why she can never emulate her mothers cooking, why she thought she was getting punked when she got an MBE, the struggles of opening a restaurant in the UK, a nightmare Valentines Day service involving Grace Dent and Matt Tebbutt, how a Fay Maschler review changed her life overnight, the secrets to cooking great Indian food, why Dishoom changed the game in the UK food industry, secrets from Ready Steady Cook and much much more.....

-------------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Head to www.delli.market and discover the thousands of creative products dropping daily.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Books-Romy-Gill/s?rh=n%3A266239%2Cp_27%3ARomy%2BGill

What a joy it is to be joined by the incredibly charming and wonderfully talented Emily Roux at her restaurant Caractère, which is celebrating its 5th anniversary and this year hoping that they may have just charmed the Michelin inspectors enough to win their first star. Emily is joined in the kitchen with her husband Diego Ferrari (Ex Head Chef at Le Gavroche) and they are creating some of the best dishes in London. Today we were lucky enough to sit down with her and properly uncover all her stories from her career so far and find out about the pressures of growing up with the Roux family name. We discuss everything from; the delights of French supermarkets to why she chose not to keep Le Gavroche alive to false claims of nepotism by jealous onlookers to the rudest customers she's ever had to how cancellations are ruining the restaurant industry and much much more....So sit back, relax and enjoy.

-------------

Download The Appetite app now and track your fav spots or places that you're dying to check out and book them easily all through the app - download it now. https://shorturl.at/yFXyK

Today we're truly honoured to be joined by one of the most famous Michelin starred chefs in the world in Niklas Ekstedt, who's inspired a whole culinary movement by opening his restaurant 'Ekstedt' in Stockholm in 2011. Niklas decided to get rid of all modern appliances; ovens, grills, microwaves, sous vides and replace them purely with birchwood fuelled fires. This creates a significantly increased amount of challenges for his cooking but also forces him to be creative and innovative to the point where he's invented some of the most famous dishes in the world. Today he takes us through his incredible journey from; growing up in rural Sweden to travelling to America to work for the late Charlie Trotter in Chicago and then onto being an early employee for El Bulli. He hated his time at El Bulli so greatly that he eventually walked out and headed back to Sweden to set up his first restaurant at just 21, where he employed a certain gentleman called René Redzepi. Niklas shares with us some of the most entertaining stories from these times but also some incredible advice on how to get the most out of your talents. He's a pure joy to listen to.

-------------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Head to www.delli.market and discover the thousands of creative products dropping daily. 

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...

Today we're joined by Seb Vince, the owner and genius chef behind the most sought after Pizza brand in the country 'Breadstall' to celebrate his incredible career thats taken him from the advertising boardroom to selling cut price ciabattas on Portobello Road to eventually creating the best pizzas in the UK. We discuss everything from; how he came up with his award winning dough, the magic of the pizza industry, angry customers, stoner delivery drivers, his huge move opening up in Soho, the secrets to his success, getting banned from Rosa's, the best city in the world for a foodie weekend, his thoughts on his competitors, how he learnt his trade selling bread on market stools with his dad, why he gave up selling coffee and pastries for Pizzas, what he hates about the industry, his favourite restaurants to eat out in and much much more.....

---------------

Download The Appetite app now and track your fav spots or places that you're dying to check out and book them easily all through the app - download it now. https://shorturl.at/yFXyK

Today we're joined by the Financial Times food critic and multi-award winning food writer, author and owner of the famous Fitzbililes cafe's Tim Hayward to uncover his fascinating story and unpick his varying views on the industry. Tim has a fascinating life story which takes us from; working in the deep-south as an illegal alien working as a line chef in various diners to writing comedy for BBC Radio 4 alongside Armando Iannucci to becoming one of the most respected food writer and critics in the world. In this interview we uncover; why food critics have gone soft since covid, the hardest reviews he's ever written, why natural wine has a huge marketing problem, why you should never put a certain something on your bacon sandwich, how he turned around Fitzbillies from bankruptcy into a thriving business, the impending death of restaurants, how Jamie Oliver and Gordon Ramsay made men finally fall in love with cooking, why he would never have his own Substack, why he's tempted to buy The Regency Cafe, what its like working in diners in the deep-south, why you should never do anythign for free, the secret to cooking the perfect steak, his favourite restaurants and much much more.....

---------

Please leave us a 5 star rating if you enjoyed the podcast and a written review, it really helps us to grow and of course share it with anyone you think would love it as much as you hopefully have!

Head to www.delli.market and discover the thousands of creative products dropping daily and use the code GOTODELLI25 for 25% off everything from us.

Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter here - https://open.substack.com/pub/thegoto...