When Mark Jarvis first opened Anglo in London’s Farringdon at the beginning of 2016, he was a bit of an unknown and was simply looking to cook the food he liked in a relaxed atmosphere, hopefully having a bit of fun along the way. Two weeks after the doors opened, it was descended upon by London’s top critics, heaped with praise and booked up months in advance. It must have been a nice shock – albeit a shock nonetheless.
Clearly undeterred, Mark has just opened his third restaurant – Stem – in the West End, and is already thinking about the idea of adding a pub to his repertoire of lauded restaurants. Despite all this, he comes across as a very relaxed character, who has simply taken opportunities as they’ve come along rather than setting out to create a mini restaurant empire from the get-go. However, a peek at where Mark trained and worked before Anglo proves he’s a seriously hardworking, talented chef that spent time mastering the basics before setting out on his own.
Instilled with a love for cooking thanks to his mother’s job at a local hotel, Mark’s first experience of fine dining came when he joined Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in 2005. Over the next three years he spent time manning every section, at the same time other celebrated chefs such as Agnar Sverrisson, Robin Gill and Ollie Dabbous were learning the ropes. He then moved to Agnar’s own restaurant Texture, in London, before taking the head chef job at The Blueprint Café following Jeremy Lee’s departure. After a two-year stint as executive chef at The Bingham Hotel, he was finally ready to open his own place – Anglo, a small, forty-cover restaurant on a little road off Leather Lane in Farringdon.