Sohaila is a Lebanese-inspired wine bar and restaurant on Shoreditch High Street that grew out of Fat Macy’s, a social enterprise which trains young people living in temporary accommodation for careers in hospitality. Harden’s caught up with its founder, Nathalie Moukarzel, as the restaurant approaches its fifth anniversary in December. Hardens: Nathalie, congratulations on five […]
Why Seafood is Better When You Source With the Seasons The Sustainable Restaurant Association shares why tapping into the seasonal rhythms of local seafood is a missed opportunity for many kitchens. When you think of seasonal food, you might picture ripe summer fruits or some brightly coloured harvest vegetables. The seasonality of seafood is unlikely […]
Important updates are released this week to the world’s leading sustainability assessment for the hospitality sector, the Food Made Good Standard London, 5th October 2026: The Sustainable Restaurant Association (The SRA) is delighted to announce the launch of a new edition of the Food Made Good Standard, its flagship sustainability certification for hospitality. The new edition […]
Jeremy Lee, chef-patron of Quo Vadis in Soho, has published a wonderful new book called Kitchening, in which he interweaves 150 of his favourite recipes with anecdotes and reminiscences of his life – mostly in the kitchen. Jeremy kindly agreed to a grilling from Harden’s, responding in his trademark inimitable style. HARDEN’S: In Kitchening, you describe […]
The Gold Service Scholarship awards for 2027 will be launched at the Four Seasons Hotel in London next week. Harden’s hears about it from trustee and lead judge Alex Fasoli MCA – Master of Culinary Arts – who has been involved in service at the highest levels for more than 25 years, initially at The […]
A new generation of chefs are creating culinary mashups that challenge traditional notions of authenticity – and transport diners from Austin, Texas to Afghanistan or from Mexico City to Malaysia through the magic of flavour Fusion food has attracted a lot of flak over the years. It’s been condemned as culinary vandalism, as cultural appropriation, as […]
The Sustainable Restaurant Association is proud to share the Sustainable Spaces Playbook in partnership with Reassemble, free to download now! “Your profitability will be set by the spaces you build, not just what you serve.” Hospitality fit-outs can have major environmental and financial impacts and carry long-term operational risk — yet, until now, the sector has lacked a […]
Carys Williams, aged 16, beat a field of 14,000 to win the Springboard FutureChef 2025 title, and is now mentored by leading Welsh chef James Sommerin (middle left) at his brilliant restaurant Home in Penarth. She is one of thousands guided into a career by Springboard UK, the charity whose mission is to help young […]
Born in New York and raised in Spain and France, Victor Garvey has been a chef since his mother sent him for work experience to a then little-known restaurant called El Bulli. This month, he is moving his Californian restaurant Sola from Soho, where it opened in 2019, to Westbourne Grove in Notting Hill – […]
Restaurants are finding clever ways to reposition circularity in ways that speak to luxury and opulence rather than deprivation and compromise, reducing food waste while adding to the overall guest experience. In this article from The Sustainable Restaurant Association, Alex Francis shares how his team at De Vie bar, Paris, constructs the right narrative to convey this. At Nén Danang, Vietnam, chef Summer Le (pictured) places some “chef’s bites” on the pass, ready to […]
