How This Primrose Hill Restaurant Is Tackling Homelessness
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3 months ago
Home Kitchen is a fine dining restaurant with a difference
Primrose Hill is one of London’s prettiest neighbourhoods, filled with chic cafes and elegant restaurants. But the latest opening brings something entirely new to the area. Just opened on the former site of Odette’s is Home Kitchen, a fine dining restaurant staffed by people who are currently homeless.
Home Kitchen Is London’s Newest Social Impact Restaurant
The not-for-profit concept started out as a pop-up in Victoria Station, going on to open a permanent venture on Regent’s Park Road this September. It’s helmed by Michelin-starred chef Adam Simmonds, who has worked at a whole host of top kitchens including Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, Le Gavroche and L’Escargot. Alongside this, he’s always had a passion for giving back to the community, regularly volunteering at soup kitchens.
Simmonds works alongside 15 members of staff who are currently considered homeless. As well as being paid above the London Living Wage, and receiving a travel card to travel to and from work, they’re undergoing training to get a catering qualification, with the hope this role will kickstart their new futures.
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Home Kitchen serves both a la carte and tasting menus, with opening dishes including lamb belly with white onion and thyme, plaice with mussels and kohlrabi, and toasted barley with celeriac and truffle. There’s also a Sunday menu featuring roasts: chicken breast, beef or a nut roast, served with all the trimmings.
Despite his sparkling CV, Simmonds describes his latest project as his most fulfilling so far. ‘I’m an addict – I haven’t been on the streets, but I was close to being on the streets,’ he told The Independent. ‘Because my family took me in I was okay. A lot of these guys and girls don’t have that.’
He added: ‘People look at those on the streets from the outside, not the inside, and don’t understand why they’re there… a lot of them don’t want to be in that situation.’
As well as offering vulnerable people the chance for a new start, Home Kitchen aims to change public perceptions surrounding homelessness. ‘It’s all about being able to see the staff we employ grow and flourish,’ says Simmonds. ‘I’m just a tool to help them get to where they want to get to… and then the world is their oyster.’
Find out more and book at homekitchenlondon.org
