Gezellig: a temple of conviviality

Graham’s upbringing wasn’t singularly focused around food – ’I wasn’t sat podding peas on my grandmother’s knee or anything,’ he jokes – but he has fond memories of good home cooking. ‘I used to help out occasionally, mainly so I could eat stuff, really.’ By the age of twelve or so he’d picked up a keen interest in food and slowly but surely, he found his way into the kitchen. After some time spent as a kitchen porter in a small hotel, he jumped in at the deep end and spent a day at Royal Hospital Road – then, as it is now, one of the most acclaimed restaurants in the country. ‘It was terrifying! I worked at Claridge’s for the opening there, too. It was a real trial by fire, but you learn a lot working in that kind of environment.’

Graham spent two-and-a-half formative years with the Gordon Ramsay Group before moving on to pastures new, notably the Sir Charles Napier – a favourite haunt of Raymond Blanc, Tom Parker-Bowles and Matthew Fort. The Oxfordshire pub-restaurant proved to be a welcome change of pace. ‘It was a very different way of working compared to the intensity of London,’ says Graham. ‘I realised that there are lots of different facets to cooking good food, and multiple ways of doing things.’

Still, Graham felt the magnetism of London pulling him away, and when an opportunity to work with Shane Osborn at Pied à Terre reared its head, he jumped at it. Graham took a big pay cut and a demotion to move into the kitchen at the two-Michelin-starred Pied à Terre, but the chance to work with Shane was priceless. ‘It was tough to start,’ Graham admits, ‘but Pied à Terre was such a great place to work at the time. Shane was a great chef but also really good with his staff.’

It was at Pied à Terre that Graham first met James Comyn, one of his partners at Gezellig. After Graham went travelling, the pair ended up working together in Hong Kong too, before returning to London and making plans for their own restaurant alongside Wieteke Teppema. ‘Wieteke was James’ flatmate back when we worked at Pied à Terre,’ Graham explains. ‘She was a sommelier at The Square then. We’ve known each other a long time, but we started talking about giving it a go ourselves about three years ago.’

The goal, says Graham, was to create something a bit more laid back and informal, but could also deliver the quality of food the trio knew from their time in the aforementioned restaurants. ‘We want to give people quality, but also somewhere where people can have a good time rather than feeling that they have to behave themselves.’ The name ‘Gezellig’ comes from a Dutch word which roughly equates to the idea of conviviality in English, but also implies a sense of cosiness, friendliness, warmth and fun. ‘When we were discussing the idea behind the restaurant, Wieteke kept mentioning this word, gezellig,’ says Graham. ‘It covers exactly the sort of restaurant that we wanted to create, so we decided to go with it as a name.’

The menu is pretty light on the Dutch influences, though the bar menu does feature suckling pig bitterballen – a porky croquette by all but name. The vibe is more general, modern and European – dishes like raviolo of braised veal shin, crisp sweetbread, pumpkin and Madeira; roast monkfish, mussel and seaweed broth, and ash-crusted venison with baked beetroots and smoked, pickled walnuts speak to Graham’s extensive time in high-end British restaurants. The team is also committed to embracing total sustainability, using local, seasonal produce above all else. ‘When I first started cooking, it was almost a badge of honour that you could get something from some far-flung place on the planet,’ says Graham. ‘That was the definition of luxury. We’ve evolved away from that idea for good reason.’ Gezellig doesn’t import ingredients from far away – instead the chefs work with local produce and use their expertise to create menus that are delicious and sustainable. ‘We also use every bit of the animals we buy,’ he adds, ‘and we run a dedicated vegetarian menu at all times.’

Gezellig is a restaurant for the modern age, catering to all at a very high standard. For Graham and his partners, it’s the culmination of two decades in the industry. ‘This was always the goal,’ he says in closing. ‘No matter what I was doing in my career, I always had an idea that one day I’d have my own restaurant. This is the restaurant I always imagined I would have.’