Masterchef winner Tim Anderson has spoken about wanting to open his own joint in Hackney, after working on a pop-up Japanese restaurant with chefs in a London Fields pub, The Prince Arthur.
The Wisconsin-born north Londoner who won the prestigious BBC cooking programme two years ago, when he wowed the show’s judges John Torode and Gregg Wallace with his use of exotic flavours and worldwide influences
Tim served up a six course feast at the Prince Arthur in Forest Road last week taking inspiration from the southern region of Japan, where his wife’s mother’s family originate from – the area wants to base his own restaurant’s cuisine on.
“There will be some of my own created dishes but they wouldn’t be things you wouldn’t’ find in the south of Japan,” he said.
But he disappointed guests with the news that the venue he was negotiating to hire in Shoreditch High Street had fallen through.
He still hopes to find another spot in the same area however, where he believes a gap in the market exists for regional Japanese food.
“Really there’s a gap in the market everywhere, but particularly in Shoreditch and East London there’s no Japanese food at all, it seems a good place for it,” he told the Gazette.
“It’s still early days, it’s annoying we have to start from scratch, luckily we know there are places out there, we found that place after only a month of serious looking, I’d like to get up and running as soon as possible.
“It totally depends on how soon we find a site, once we do it could be a matter of two or three months.”
Winning the prestigious title on the TV show has been an amazing experience for him: “The bottom line is I’ve been cooking for a living which is all I can hope for,” he said.
“There have been a lot of great opportunities and projects I didn’t expect to get involved in, like brewing my own beer, in addition to the cooking there’s a lot of fun things along the way,” he said.
He enjoyed working in the Prince Arthur: “It was great in the pub, it’s quite a tiny kitchen but that forces you to be a little bit more organised.
“It’s a really good team there, they were really welcoming and that isn’t always the case, people are rarely rude but they aren’t always helpful.”
On April 29 he will be working with Duke’s Joint in Downham Road, Haggerston on an American Southern Japanese fusion food, with proceeds going to charity.
For more details email hannah@dukesjoint.com
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here