Create Michelin Star Meals

Your January Menu

2008-12-02T11:08:00.003Z

It's always lovely when we hear what people want on our menu. So now we're really putting you to the test. We want to receive your suggestions, with your recipe, and we'll try it out. The best one will get included in our January menu, and we'll even name it after you.

So if you've got a special January signature dish, email it in (hello@visitthekitchen.com)

The Robots Have Unlocked Us

2008-11-20T13:15:00.004Z

Well after a couple of weeks it seems like the the Robots have unlocked us and we're free to express ourselves again.

Not sure where to start, wine tasting, hen nights, Stir Up Sunday, children's parties, school visits, screen tests, Canape sessions, new desserts.

Basically we've been working harder than a butcher's elbow, and if you want to know what that's like, book in for Andrew Sharp and his legendary Masterclass, Saturday 13th December.

We're also lucky enough to have Kai Kyoichi, responsible for setting up and opening Zuma and Roka restaurants joining us for a Sushi Masterclass 2nd December. One not to be missed. A real honour for us.

December and January menu is virtually up and some real treats in-store.

Man's Best Friend

2008-11-05T15:24:00.000Z

We just wanted to say well done to our friends Simon, Rhodri and Ben from Bulldog who won HSBC Startup of the Year last week.

A fantastic achievement from a group of really lovely guys, and it inspires us even more to know that good guys can win and that the spirit of entrepreneurialism is still truly alive in the UK.

Half Term Kids Special - 20th - 31st October

2008-10-09T21:26:00.007+01:00

We've just introduced our new lunch-time half term kids sessions which will run for two weeks during half term.

The sessions costs £20, and run as follows

Monday: 20th and 27th October - ‘Sweet Things’ (Rocky road cake, cup cake decorating)
Tuesday: 21st and 28th October - ‘Mini Meals’ (mini fishcake, mini chicken goujons, mini beef burgers)
Wednesday: 22nd and 29th October - ‘Viva Italia’ (Lasagne, Garlic Bread, Fresh Fruit Pizza)
Thursday: (23rd - Day Off) 30th October - ‘Vive le France’ (Duck Parmentier, Apple Croustade)
Friday 24th October - ‘Vive le France’ (Duck Parmentier, Apple Croustade)
Friday 31st October - ‘Halloween’ (Fancy dress – pumpkin lantern making, strawberry ghosts, creepy crispies)

Start time: 11.30am – approx 1 hour

Please send us an email or phone 0207 736 8067 to book

Saturday Kids Club

2008-09-28T08:00:00.003+01:00

We always wanted The Kitchen to be more than just about the eating of great food. For us we believe that the preparation is as important as the actual eating, and that it should be fun.

But we also believe that it should involve the whole family and that by making the whole process more enjoyable and interesting, it encourages children to experiment and eat different foods.

We've therefore created a Saturday Kids Club (11.30 every week) session where mums or dads can bring their children (over 10) to come and help create the families weekly meals. Due to space, it will be 1 adult and child per Workstation.

For this session we've kept the menu the same as we are firm believers that children generally will and want to eat the same meals as their parents.

Incidentally I've heard once that habits form after doing something 21 times, and children need to taste a food over 10 times (sometimes) before they'll say they like it.

Book online or give us a call.

The Baby Kitchen

2008-09-21T16:16:00.002+01:00

We've had so many requests for a session where new mums could bring their babies we've created a new session especially for you - The Baby Kitchen

It's exclusively for parents (and carers) and their babies under 1 year old. It runs every Tuesday at 9.30am (starting this Tuesday 23rd September) and parents and carers can enjoy one of The Kitchen’s session by coming along to make their weekly meals with our Michelin star chef without worrying about the babysitter or disturbing others.

Simply book the session and bring your baby along and we can promise we'll help you create some deliciously tasting meals.

Please note that all persons must be accompanied by a baby under 1 year old.

Book online or give us a call.

Posted by Natalie

Who's Making Lunch?

2008-09-11T00:03:00.002+01:00

Well you are of course, with a little help from us.

We've put on a new special lunch-time session. You can turn up anytime from 12pm for your session. There's no fixed start time as lots of people said they took lunch at different times.

When you arrive, tell us what sandwich you want for lunch, we'll make it whilst you create your meals, and we'll then have it ready for when you leave.

You can make about 5 different meals (20 portions) in an hour, more than enough for a week.

Back To School?

2008-09-07T13:18:00.004+01:00

It's that's strange time of year when I have a strong sense of nostalgia. That memory of laying out the new school uniform and packing a new pencil case in a new bag for the first day at school. As well as watching my daughter go through this ritual, with a sense of fondness, it's also slightly with regret that the years are just rushing by.

At The Kitchen, it feels like we're entering another term too. Everyone's back from holidays, new recipes have been developed, more new menus are on the way and lots and lots of new and exciting things are happening: new friends, new classes (and lots and lots of extra homework).

Our first newsletter is about to be sent out so if you would like to receive this and haven’t already, go ahead and register and we’ll send you regular updates and goings on from The Kitchen.

We've also started working closely with a local nursery and a local school, as we really want to use our knowledge and passion for food to try and impart a little bit of our passion in to making food fun and fulfilling for everyone including the kids.

Posted by Natalie - 7th August

A Change is As Good As A Rest

2008-08-27T07:20:00.007+01:00

The past few weeks have been really a little bit surreal. We always new that there was an exodus out of Fulham and Parsons Green over August, but there have been times when there hasn't been a car on New Kings Road and the boys were tempted to start playing football in the street.

That said we've been unbelievably busy, not only running sesssion's, canape parties, playing cupid, Corporate events, etc etc. but we've also been planning our September activities. We've been:-

testing a whole series of different dishes that we're going to introduce over the next few weeks
planning our wine and food matching Specials
looking into our Saturday Kids Club
meeting lots of press
even thinking about Christmas (you've got to start making Christmas pudding's in September if you want it to really be amazing)

Needless to say, we're loving it, and we're loving the challenges that running a new concept business brings (but it was still lovely to close over the Bank Holiday and for all of us to spend some time with our families who have been unbelievably supportive, given that we haven't really seen them for the past 6 months)

Posted by Natalie 27th August

At What Cost?

2008-08-16T17:05:00.006+01:00

Like most people, I don't want to pay more than I have to anything, and I'm always looking for a Supermarket bargain, but bizarrely it does worry me when I hear about Supermarkets slashing prices.

Yes, we're in a "credit crunch", and people are worried and understandably tightening their belts, but my concern is for the UK farmers and producers.

For years now we've heard about how tough it is to survive as a local producer, and how they're being squeezed on prices, and with the credit crunch biting, what I can see happening is that Supermarkets will drive down prices, local producers will naturally be asked to reduce their costs, and a load more local producers will have to close down and we'll end up having to import cheap produce. Neither good for the environment, our farming community or our heritage.

Natalie

Every Day is Like A Beautiful Mezze

2008-08-13T18:13:00.003+01:00

Yesterday we had the most wonderful day, we had such interesting and nice people in, it just amazes me the variety every day brings.

Last night we had Georgie Thompson and the SUPER Chicks girls in. Such a great concept and Georgie's promised that she's going to help me get fit, so I'm already a big fan.

We also had a couple of very knowledgeable people from John Lewis and Waitrose came in and gave us some really helpful and great advice as to how to keep building the momentum (as we've said numerous times, we're really happy to talk to everyone).

Our regular Monday party were back (and we actually had our first 2 evening sessions especially for our regular customer, the lovely Jennifer and her friends)

And finally we had Sabine and Kevin. Sabine arranged for them both to come for along Kevin’s birthday treat, making dinner over a few glasses of wine.

New Arrivals

2008-08-09T18:21:00.001+01:00

This week we ran our first team session for a drinks Company, which was great fun. They booked out The Kitchen for 1/2 a day, and we created a bespoke programme for them that saw them making and tasting Gyoza's (Claudio used to work at Nobu), trying to win a blind tasting competition, creating lots of different meals, plus a 3 course dinner created by Thierry and Claudio, before sending them on their way.

We've also over the past few weeks had so many requests to help out new Mums and Dads, we've created a special new gift for New Arrivals; a weeks worth of meals, a bottle of Champagne and we prepare the meals and have it delivered to the front door.

Our first New Arrival packs went out this week, and we've had some lovely emails from people telling us what a godsend they've been.

We've begun to build up a bit of a fan base for our wine selection, and although we never set out to be a wine bar, it's been nice having people stop by this week for a drink in the evening.

It's Difficult to Explain

2008-07-31T18:24:00.000+01:00

Everyone always asks is a top kitchen as bad as they make it look on the TV, and this week once again the spotlight is on the personalities, and pressure of top chef's and their desire to succeed.

I've worked in at least 10 Michelin Star restaurants over a very fairly long career and there is a very brutal culture within all good kitchen's due to the pressure of getting exceptional food out on time.

It's a combination of creative and physical energy that can manifest itself into something that to the outside world can look like cruel bullying or unnecessary shouting. It's part culture, part necessity as the second by second timing is vital to create the perfect dish that may have taken all day to prepare.

All that said, at the end of service the bond and friendships created are 2nd to none, and I'm proud to have worked for and with so many inspiring people that are now life-long friends.

For the 1st time in nearly 20 years, I've decided to come out of the traditional kitchen, and created something new and special which gives every day people the ability to work with top chefs to create every day meals. I don't shout at the customers now like I use to, but I still do at my outstanding Sous chef Claudio (it's a cultural thing).

The question the Guardian asked was were we all Diva's? We're not, just hard working creative people who are exceptionally passionate about what we do.

Sign of The Times

2008-07-27T18:25:00.000+01:00

Another week gone and it's just flying by, all a bit of a blur really, but all still so amazing. Numerous visits from a Celebrity Chef's team who appear desperate to know what we're up to and a lovely article yesterday from Tony Turnbull in The Times Magazine.

I think at first we were a little annoyed at being spied on, but actually now we find it quite flattering especially as we've had fun with the Celebrity Chef's Operational team this week.

We knew who they worked for (it's a small industry), so we kept asking them difficult questions about what they did, who they worked for etc. but they kept telling little white lies. I'm sure they knew that we knew, and we knew that they knew, but they were just too embarrassed to admit it. As we've said before, and we genuinely mean it, if you really want to know more, pick-up the phone and come by for a coffee.

I also wanted to thank Foodie at Large, Tony Turnbull from The Times for his article yesterday. We were really worried about meeting him and about what he would think, but he was a very genuine and charming man, and his piece that ran yesterday was lovely, so Thank You.

Should We Be Flattered?

2008-07-23T18:28:00.000+01:00

We've heard that a couple of our very nice customers weren't just being nice because they liked us, it was because a certain high-profile celebrity TV chef is thinking about opening a similar concept later in the year and they wanted to find out more.

We're more than happy to talk to people about what we're up to and even the things we've learned on this journey, we'd have just preferred it if people had been more transparent as to why they wanted to know so much about our business model.

So if you'd like to know more, or want to open up a similar concept, give us a call or pop in and tell us. There's over 60 million people in the UK, with about 20m in London, we're fairly convinced there's enough customers for everybody, and a little competition is a good thing.

Nice to Meet You

2008-07-19T18:30:00.000+01:00

It's been fantastic over the past few weeks to have met so many great neighbours. We've been open, but not running full sessions, and the amount of support and interest we've had has reaffirmed our belief that the village of Parsons Green was the perfect location for The Kitchen.

We've also loved being at the Fair, we were a little worried about how we'd manage to freshly bake the scones and arrange the lamb, spit roast, bbq, whilst in the middle of a launch, but it all seemed to come together so thanks again, for the support.

We really hope you like what we're trying to do as we really want to become part of the local community.

Pressing Matters

2008-07-19T18:29:00.000+01:00

I think everyone involved in launching a new business is always nervous when it comes to opening the doors. There's that period where you think you have a good idea, but you wonder whether the customer you've created the business for is going to think the same. Things become even more nerve racking when you open up Pandora's Box and ask journalist's to walk across the threshold and give you their opinion (which is then read by 2.5m people)

Well today, some of the waiting is over, our first piece of coverage appeared today in The Daily Telegraph and I pleased to say Tamsin Kelly wrote a thoroughly lovely article about us (obviously if she hadn't I probably wouldn't be writing this entry) It's lovely to read that other people are enjoying The Kitchen as much as we are.