Bringing Home The Bacon
On a return visit to the Violin Factory at Waterloo for the launch of Grohe’s new Blue classy collection of taps, we caught up with London’s hottest Michelin starred chef Keith Goddard. Classically trained – he studied at the French Culinary Institute in New York – 33 year old domestic god Keith has worked with Tom Aikens and Oliver Peyton at the Wallace Collection. After his much lauded stint at the restaurant 101 Pimlico Road, Keith’s latest venture is Munch Food Company.
“If you want fine dining experience in the comfort of your home or for your business event, Munch is the answer,” says Keith. “We love the challenge of creating exquisite one-off menus. We’ll happily do it in your kitchen or at your chosen venue. Either is good for us. Just tell us how many people we’re catering for, what your tastes are, and we’ll come up with something that’s fit for a king.” Or queen.
Working up a sweat in the Violin Factory kitchen, Keith reveals, “Equally if all you’re after is a platter of sandwiches or Munch pizzas followed by homemade brownies, banana and maple syrup flapjacks, and elderflower refreshers to show your employees how much you appreciate their hard work, then order a Friday afternoon treat they won’t forget!” There’s always room to Grohe.
Why a chef? “I became a chef by accident while training in New York at the French Culinary Institute. My intention was to learn all I could about every aspect of the restaurant business before embarking on a career that would hopefully have led me to become a successful hotelier or restaurateur. Although I absolutely loved cooking even then, the idea of spending 16 hour days in a hot kitchen didn’t appeal to me. However, one week into my Culinary Arts Degree I realised I’d found my vocation.” Where’s home? “Paddington in London with my girlfriend.”
Why Munch? “At the time when 101 Pimlico Road shut its doors I’d spent six straight years in restaurant environments doing anything up to 100 hour weeks. I certainly didn’t want to change industry but had a plan in my head as to where I wanted to be in my mid 30s. This involved not only a restaurant of my own but a catering division that would allow us to provide a service for many of my customers who’d inquired about it in the past but to whom I had to say no to as we just didn’t have the capacity. On top of that, event catering is a very different skill. I figured the time was right to make the move into it before I got back into another restaurant.”
Favourite dish to cook? “Strangely I love cooking soups, particularly authentic soups from various parts of the world. In a similar vein I like slow cooking things like daubes, stews and tougher cuts of meat.” Best advice? “Don’t mess with the classics!”
Eating out? “I like to vary things to be honest. We’re extremely lucky in London as in one week we could eat pretty much every cuisine in the world. I occasionally like to go high end to Michelin star restaurants but the rest of the time to anywhere that has identity, that isn’t trying to please everyone. Other than French and Italian, I like Lebanese, Chinese, Japanese and Indian food a lot.” London or New York? “I lived in New York for two of the best years of my life. However London is tough to beat.”
