Four square metres and a lift
The City Kitchen Chef
The specialist in small flats, narrow stairs and one oven: plans the menu around the building, not around the photograph.
Skills
What the job actually demands
- Auditing a kitchen in ten minutes and writing a menu that fits
- Cooking without an extraction hood and leaving no smell
- Working silently in an open plan room
- Washing up invisibly, in a bathroom if necessary
Watch out
The warning sign
Anyone who asks for equipment your flat does not have instead of adapting. The profile is adaptation.
Trial
How to audition one
Send photographs of your kitchen and ask what they would cook. A good answer arrives as a menu with a reason for each course.
Ask these five questions
Before you book
- What would you cook in this kitchen, and why?
- What do you bring, and how much counter do you need?
- Where will the washing up happen?
- How do you stop the flat smelling of fried fish at nine?
- What happens if our oven runs ten degrees cold?
Questions hosts ask
How many guests can a city flat really take?
Twelve at one table if the room allows it, with a menu of four or five courses. Above that, the bottleneck is the kitchen rather than the table.
Will my flat smell?
Not if the menu is built for it. No deep frying, no pan roasted fish at the last minute, windows managed and the bins out before the guests arrive.
Formats
Where this profile fits
Format
The kitchen is the stageChef’s Table at Home
One chef, up to ten guests, everything finished in front of you.
Read on
Format
Restaurant precision, private roomTasting Menu for Eight
Eight to nine courses, a brigade of three, wine paired by the glass.
Read on
Format
Two hours, standing, forty bitesCocktail Reception
Two hours, no chairs, eight to twelve bites a guest and a bar that never has a queue.
Read onMenus
What they cook
Menu
Three shapes, made in front of youPasta at the Counter
A chef’s table menu built entirely around pasta: dough made in front of the guests, three shapes, three sauces, and a green salad at the end to prove it was a meal..
Read on
Menu
For after the partyThe Midnight Supper
The course nobody plans and everybody remembers: something hot, salty and simple served at one in the morning to guests who danced instead of eating..
Read on
Menu
The full eveningThe Eight Course Tasting Dinner
The classical arc: three small bites, a raw course, a soup, a fish, a meat, a cheese moment, a pre dessert and a dessert.
Read onMarkets
Where to find them
Market
Townhouses, mews kitchens and a trade that never sleepsLondon
No city hires out a kitchen brigade faster.
Read on
Market
Where catering is a trade with its own wordParis
France gave the trade its vocabulary, and the Parisian traiteur still behaves like a restaurant that happens to travel.
Read on
Market
Six flights of stairs, one service lift and the best brigades in AmericaNew York
New York has the deepest American talent pool and the hardest buildings.
Read on
Market
The best organised private dining market in AsiaSingapore
Singapore combines a serious chef scene, formal service and regulation that actually functions.
Read on