The Go To Food Podcast

Today we’re joined by Patrick Withington, founder and head chef of Manchester’s cult favourite Erst. Fresh off welcoming a new baby and about to turn 40, Patrick sits down with us in the restaurant everyone told us we had to visit during our 36 hours in the city. Tucked into the heart of Ancoats, Erst has become something of a pilgrimage for natural wine lovers and food obsessives alike — the place locals insist you visit if you’re anywhere near Manchester.
Patrick’s route into cooking is far from conventional. A former plumber who didn’t start in professional kitchens until his late twenties, he built his way in through supper clubs, travel-inspired cooking and a belief he could create the kind of restaurant he wanted to eat in himself. That idea became Erst in 2019. After a quiet start, a turning point came when Patrick had to call diners to cancel bookings ahead of lockdown — including restaurant critic Jay Rayner, who promised he’d return. When he did, his glowing review helped ignite the buzz around Erst and cement its place as one of the most exciting restaurants in the city.
In this episode we talk about the journey from Sirocco Supper Club to Trove to Erst, the dishes that have become cult favourites (including the famous beef-fat flatbread), and why natural wine became such a big part of the restaurant. Patrick also shares his favourite Manchester spots, the realities of opening a restaurant, service horror stories, and what his ultimate three-course meal would be. It’s a conversation about instinct, hospitality, and building a restaurant that stays true to what you actually want to eat and drink.
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Today we're joined by the wonderful Henry Harris fresh back from Sri Lanka — complete with tales of dog bites, hoppers, sambals and chicken curry for breakfast — Henry arrives in glorious form, reflecting on the journey that took him from the dining room floor to becoming one of the most admired chefs in Britain. From his early days around his father’s restaurant Le Grand Gésier in Brighton to falling in love with hospitality over long lunches and simple French food, this episode is packed with the stories that shaped him.
Henry looks back on the pivotal people and places that defined his career: the magic of Karl Lauderer at Manley’s, the terrifying but transformative start to his cooking life, and the years spent learning under the legendary Simon Hopkinson at Hilaire and Bibendum. He recalls topping and tailing endless French beans in silence, watching great classical cooking up close, and later finding himself surrounded by an extraordinary generation of chefs who would go on to shape British food culture. There are wonderful glimpses of old restaurant London here — a time of Bobendum lunches, roast chicken revelations, and a generation of cooks learning that true greatness often lies in doing the classics absolutely right.
At the heart of the episode is the story of Bouchon Racine: how a failed pub project, a false start in Farringdon, and one overlooked pub near the station eventually became the home of one of London’s most beloved dining rooms. Henry speaks beautifully about building the restaurant with Dave Strauss, doing the maths on a spreadsheet, keeping expectations modest, and discovering that what they had created was somehow outperforming even their most hopeful plans. He shares the philosophy behind the blackboard menu, the joy of cooking the food people actually want to eat, and the pleasure of running a restaurant full of character rather than polish — a place with good bones, brown carpet, old mirrors, cycling prints and the unmistakable feeling that you are in safe hands.
The conversation wanders delightfully through stories of Racine, restaurant politics, pub culture, set lunches, offal, tartare, tongue sandwiches, and the dishes Henry believes never go out of style. He talks with disarming honesty about business partners, missed opportunities, Michelin disappointment, and the changing face of London, but always comes back to the same idea: restaurants should restore people. Warm, generous and full of hard-won wisdom, this is a portrait of a chef at the happiest point of his life — still cooking, still caring, and still finding enormous meaning in feeding people well.
Pre Order Ben's Incredible Book - All You Can Eat - By Clicking Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-You-Can-Eat-British/dp/1805221523

Get 2 Months of Blinq For Free - With Code - GOTOBLINQ - https://blinqme.com/

Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com

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This week, we’re joined by Andrew Clarke of Acme Fire Cult for an episode that goes everywhere — from fire cooking and restaurant building to addiction, recovery, music, and the moments that change a life. This is a conversation with a true original: chef, restaurateur, former Maverick of the Year, co-founder of Pilot Light, plant medicine facilitator, and owner of what may well be the best facial hair in London.
We recorded this one at Acme Fire Cult in Hackney, and Andrew paints the full picture of how the restaurant grew from a scrappy lockdown car park operation into one of London’s most unique dining experiences. He talks about starting with barely any money, serving on palm leaf plates because proper crockery was out of reach, and slowly reinvesting every pound back into the space. There are brilliant details throughout — the dark walk down Abbott Street before you reach the yard, the old wine bar they inherited, the butternut squash cooking overnight in residual heat, the signature leeks with pistachio romesco, Marmite bread made from brewery yeast, and the way Acme turns into a “curry house” each winter inspired by his travels through Mumbai, Goa and Kerala.
But what makes this episode really special is just how much Andrew gives us. He shares stories from his childhood eating pie, mash and liquor, his early years wanting to be a professional musician, playing in metal and hardcore bands, DJing to fund his record habit, and drifting into kitchens almost by accident. He takes us through working at places like The Square, St. John, Anchor & Hope, Rita’s, Brunswick House and St Leonards, with all the chaos that came with it — tattooed chef prejudice in old-school kitchens, sleeping on banquettes, wild post-service nights, and the intensity of trying to create great food while his life was unravelling behind the scenes.
This episode also gets incredibly raw. Andrew speaks movingly about depression, cocaine addiction, telling his dad he didn’t want to live anymore, and the long road back through honesty, friendship, therapy, men’s circles and plant medicine. He tells unforgettable stories — a terrifying first ayahuasca ceremony in a blacked-out room in Essex, reviving a collapsing croquembouche at a wedding, a non-paying table turned into tequila-shot regulars, and the mad reality of building restaurants with brilliance and dysfunction happening at the same time. It’s hilarious, heavy, generous and packed with hard-won wisdom — and by the end, you’ll understand why Andrew Clarke is one of the most compelling figures in hospitality today.
Pre Order Ben's Incredible Book - All You Can Eat - By Clicking Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-You-Can-Eat-British/dp/1805221523

Get 2 Months of Blinq For Free - With Code - GOTOBLINQ - https://blinqme.com/

Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com

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Michael Caines joins Go To Food for one of the most raw and revealing conversations we’ve ever had. Fresh from winning a Michelin star at The Stafford just months after opening — and still chasing that elusive second star at Lympstone Manor — he breaks down the realities of modern fine dining. From why tasting menus might be getting too long, to why à la carte is far from dead, to the financial tightrope of running a destination restaurant in rural Devon, this is Michael in full flow: honest, sharp and unapologetically ambitious.
He takes us back to the beginning — a young lad from Exeter set on joining the Royal Marines before a last-minute pivot to catering college changed everything. We hear about staging at Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, walking an hour each morning from a B&B just for the chance to cook for Raymond Blanc, and then heading to France to work under Bernard Loiseau and Joël Robuchon. The brutality of those kitchens, the silence, the stove inspections, the mind games — and a young Gordon Ramsay in the same brigade — it’s a masterclass in what elite training really looked like in the 90s.
Then comes the moment that changed his life forever. Driving home exhausted, a split-second lapse, the car flipping — and waking up to see his arm gone. Michael recounts the crash in chilling detail: running from the wreckage, asking surgeons if they could save his arm, and returning to the kitchen just two weeks later with no insurance payout, no safety net. Teaching himself to cook left-handed. Learning to fillet fish and truss pigeons again. Being written off — and refusing to accept it.
Four years later, he wins his second Michelin star at Gidleigh Park. A crowning moment earned through pain, grit and sheer bloody-minded belief. From building the Abode hotel brand, to rethinking pricing strategy with sold-out lunch offers, to explaining why too many chefs obsess over micro-herbs and tweezers instead of flavour — this episode is packed with stories, lessons and hard truths. It’s about resilience, reinvention, and why great chefs — like great restaurants — survive by evolving.
Pre Order Ben's Incredible Book - All You Can Eat - By Clicking Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-You-Can-Eat-British/dp/1805221523

Get 2 Months of Blinq For Free - With Code - GOTOBLINQ - https://blinqme.com/

Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com

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This week, we sit down with a man who is reshaping how the world sees Middle Eastern cuisine: the one and only Fadi Kattan. Born in Bethlehem, classically trained in Paris, and now leading acclaimed restaurants in London and Toronto, Fadi is more than a chef — he’s a storyteller, a cultural historian, and one of the most important voices in food today. From his grandmother’s kitchen to Michelin recognition, from Venetian influences to Palestinian terroir, this is a conversation about identity, resistance, generosity, and flavour — with a side of glorious beard and just enough nicotine to get us started.
We dive deep into his London restaurant Akub in Notting Hill — a place where Palestinian produce and philosophy meet seasonal British sourcing. Fadi talks us through slow-cooked short rib with feta, coarse-textured hummus (the way it should be), mansaf with fermented jameed — the “Arab umami” — and eggs with sumac that honour sacred breakfast rituals with his father. He unpacks the politics of shakshuka, the beauty of kaleid mandala, and why hummus has absolutely no business being chocolate. It’s food rooted in Bethlehem’s old souq, in farmers knocking on the door at 7am, in adapting to what’s available — never cherry tomatoes in January.
But this episode goes far beyond the plate. Fadi opens up about launching a gastronomic restaurant in Bethlehem during the Second Intifada, cooking by head torch when the electricity was cut, refusing to overcook 40-day-aged lamb, and building a wine list that proudly features Palestinian producers. He reflects on brutal kitchen culture in 1990s Paris, the scars — literal and emotional — that shaped him, and why culinary education must return to mothers’ kitchens instead of espuma machines. There’s sharp commentary on food appropriation, trends, terroir, and what it really means to cook with integrity.

Pre Order Ben's Incredible Book - All You Can Eat - By Clicking Here - https://www.amazon.co.uk/All-You-Can-Eat-British/dp/1805221523

Get 2 Months of Blinq For Free - With Code - GOTOBLINQ - https://blinqme.com/

Order The Greatest Meat In The Country From HG Walter Here & Have Restaurant Quality Meals From Home - www.hgwalter.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.