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Heard It Here First
Heard It Here First
We’ve shared our kitchen with some pretty extraordinary chefs over the years but it’s the rising stars who’ve gone on to bigger, even brighter things who bring us the most joy. For these burgeoning talents, Carousel has provided a collaborative platform for them to test out new ideas on a hungry and enthusiastic audience of London’s most adventurous diners (thanks guys). And the best bit? A good few of them are just a hop, skip and a jump away from us right here in the capital, so we can now devour their delicious food whenever we please…
Tom Brown – Cornerstone, Hackney Wick
Needing no introduction after the year he’s had, Tom Brown’s first solo venture has snared pretty much every award going. One bite of Tom’s potted shrimp crumpets and you’ll soon understand why this Hackney Wick favourite has become a Cornerstone of any self respecting fish-lover’s bucket list. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy either. No really, we love him.
Ravinder Bhogal – Jikoni, Marylebone
Saunter down Blandford Street in an easterly direction and you’ll soon be met with the elegant pink facade of Jikoni, Ravinder Bhogal’s runaway success story. Her Carousel menu was a sign of things to come, a wonderfully unique fusion of Indian and East African flavours with an extra sprinkle of magic. For shepherd’s pie good enough to “inhale through a tube” (Marina O’Loughlin) this is the place to go.
Selin Kiazim – Oklava, Shoreditch
Three words: Medjool. Date. Butter… Selin had us at ‘helim’, bowling over a suitably impressed Grace Dent back in 2014 with a belter of a Turkish-Cypriot menu (“if I hadn’t gone, I’d have missed some of the greatest cooking I’ve tasted this year”). Oklava, Kyseri, a best-selling cookbook and a Great British Menu-winning dessert followed, but it all started here in Marylebone with that crack butter.
Jeremy Chan – Ikoyi, St James’s
Long before their much-trumpeted St James’s opening and their Michelin star, Iré and Jeremy were just two talented young guys with one very cool idea: to give the tweezer and blowtorch treatment to the incredible flavours of West Africa. They approached us, we got very excited and the rest is history. Named after a wealthy Lagos neighbourhood, Ikoyi is a genuine class act. If you haven’t already, go.
Santiago Lastra – Kol, Marylebone
Santi first bounded into Carousel like an excitable puppy in 2015, waxing lyrical about foraged sea herbs and giving us the 411 on the secrets of nixtamalisation. We loved him, you loved him and now he’s busy applying the finishing touches to his first permanent spot, Kol, right around the corner from us. Expect Mexican recipes remixed with wild ingredients from around the British Isles. And plenty of mezcal.
Alisdair Brooke-Taylor – Moorcock Inn, West Yorkshire
“Head-spinningly good” is how good Jay Rayner thought his meal was at the Moorcock Inn. Too right. Former right hand man to Kobe Desramaults at In De Wulf, the affable Aussie has a wondrous way with wild ingredients and crazy flavour combos, as we found out when he served up a gratin of carrots, plums, lavender and walnuts for pudding. Back then, of course, the pub was just a twinkle in his eye.
Alex Nietosvuori – Hjem, Northumberland
Sometimes you just know that a chef is destined for big things. Now tearing it up near Hadrian’s Wall with Hjem (old Northumbrian for ‘home’), the Swedish prodigy is fulfilling all of that early promise, drawing on all his experience at Bror, Frantzén, Fäviken, Boragó and Maaemo to create more instant classics like the surströmming tart with cauliflower flatbread he served us first time round. Yummers.
For more of tomorrow’s next big thing, today, check out our upcoming residencies online.
