‘You need ketchup as well as vinegar,’ James Knappett says firmly, as he dollops some on the plate in front of me. A generous helping of fish, chips and mushy peas might not be typical of a visit to the chef’s two Michelin-starred restaurant Kitchen Table in Fitzrovia, but it’s hearty fuel for a busy team, who have – as they do every day at 3pm on the dot – left the kitchen to load up a plate and grab a seat at the counter for half an hour, before it's back to prep and pace hits full tilt during service. It's Friday afternoon and it's time for Kitchen Table's staff meal – or family dinner – a restaurant ritual which sees everyone down tools to share a family-style feast. It's not a new phenomenon, but it is one that, by its nature, has gone largely unseen – or it had, until social media savvy chefs and the recent flurry of restaurant TV dramas like The Bear and Boiling Point started bringing us further into the professional kitchen.
At the same time that our interest in the drama of cooking has blossomed, shifts in restaurant kitchen culture have also made traditions like the staff dinner more of a priority. After all, when it’s done right, the family meal does what it says on the tin; brings the restaurant together, providing respite from the rush, sustenance and a chance to build camaraderie. ‘It’s very rare that a restaurant comes together to sit down,’ James says. ‘I have worked in restaurants where, if you wanted to, they’d let you work all day without eating, because everyone is too busy. Here, everyone stops at 3pm to sit and chat.’ Battered fish, heaps of chunky chips, a vat of mushy peas, tartare sauce and gherkins are set down, plates are piled high and everyone tucks in. Amid the chatter is a family meal tradition; Fun Fact Friday. They've come armed with trivia about everything from historic feasts to how much goats can eat (a lot). Ants only rest for eight minutes every twelve hours, if you didn't know (even chefs get longer than that).
Every restaurant with a family meal does it differently; at some, the responsibility belongs to the most junior chefs, while at others chefs take it in turns. Some staff menus are influenced by sentimentality (at Farringdon one-star Italian restaurant Luca, head sommelier Enzo Russomanno recently cooked his favourite carbonara mezzi paccheri for the team) or sustainability, making use of surplus produce. Often, what chefs fashion is far less, well, cheffy, than we might expect. At Kitchen Table, everyone mucks in to cook a different dish every day of the month, and contribute to seasonal specials – think black spaghetti and meatballs with eyes for Halloween, and Thanksgiving turkey feasts (often driven by Kitchen Table co-owner and James’ wife Sandia Chang). ‘They are big events and you make an effort at home with your own family – well these guys,’ James says, gesturing to the chefs behind him, ‘are a family. Everyone sees everyone here more than anyone else on the planet.’
Bringing the whole team together is a unique chance to bridge divides between chefs and front of house, relationships which can, during the rush of service, become fraught, says chef Jun Tanaka. ‘It’s a time for them all to chat and catch up on the day and what they’ve been doing on their days off,’ he nods. ‘You really do need that because there is this natural divide, and that comes from having a lack of time to spend with each other and get to know each other.’ At his one-star restaurant The Ninth, just a few doors down from Kitchen Table, the team pauses twice – once at 11am for a lighter lunch of soups or sandwiches, and again at 4.30pm for a more substantial affair. Menus are planned ahead of time and elements are shared out between chefs – today, it’s pork carnitas, loaded into tortillas with pickled red onions, guacamole, corn and sour cream (and carrot cake to finish), but it could be anything from pork Milanese to garlic chilli oil pasta and roast chicken with chips. And the family favourite? Pizza.