How Mick Jagger’s favourite Primrose Hill spot became a hot new restaurant run by the homeless

It’s the season when many people volunteer to feed the less fortunate, but cool newcomer Home Kitchen is turning the tables at this fine dining restaurant and giving jobs to vulnerable people to serve in one of the fanciest postcodes in town. Zoe Beaty reports

Snuck under a rich green awning on a picture-perfect street in north London, Home Kitchen is softly lit with a gentle buzz. The surrounding streets – Primrose Hill’s candy-coloured townhouses flanked by sycamore trees and winding paths that lead to intimate views over the city skyline – are steeped in storytelling. Here, the place Sylvia Plath described as “the last word in London Bohemia”, tales become chronicles baked into local history. In September, on the other side of a large dining window on Regent’s Park Road, another such story began.

Home Kitchen is not just another London restaurant. It’s fine dining, yes – seasonal plates, designed by two-time Michelin-star winning chef, Adam Simmonds; gorgeous pairing wines that delight alongside his tasting menu. But, the chefs behind the plates, the waiting staff and the kitchen help, have their own stories to tell, too.

All staff employed there have been recruited from the homeless community, and their work now fuels this non-profit, an initiative that seeks to break the vicious cycle of insecure housing; the first of its kind in the world.

Even Simmonds, for all his achievements, understands how crucial the initiative is – and how easy it is to become vulnerable, for all kinds of reasons – from experience. He was lucky to be taken in by his family when a devastating cocaine addiction rendered him unable to pay his rent. He doesn’t underestimate the importance of second chances, nor the stigma that can come with being stereotyped.

The incredible dishes are cooked up and served by those struggling with insecure housing (Home Kitchen)

The idea came from one of its directors, Alex Brown, founder of Soup Kitchen London, and Michael Brown, chief executive of Asociat. Michael “realised that business can and should be kinder and inclusive”, and two years ago they began a crowdfunding campaign to make that happen. It’s a fitting tribute that the initial £350,000 they raised in donations would help raise the bar of community action, with an additional £210,000 borrowed from a philanthropic social-impact fund.

All staff are either homeless or vulnerable and at risk of homelessness. They are paid the London living wage (£13.85 per hour). They are also supported in training, building skills, careers and education. Prices are fixed – diners pay just £75 for a five-course tasting menu, or £45 for lunch.

It’s ambitious, highly commendable and raises the bar for social initiatives that work. So far Home Kitchen has received effusive reviews from the New York Times and The Spectator; it’s been featured on the Today programme on the BBC with Fred Sireux popping in for a visit. The Mayor of Chicago has dined there and dispatched a team to consult with them to set up a similar initiative in the US city. The space is quickly becoming a hub for the socially-conscious elite. Which is fitting, given its history.

Award-winning head chef Adam Simmonds designed each delicious dish (Michael Cheetham Photography)

The building has long been an icon in the borough. It first opened its doors in 1978 as Odette’s Restaurant, a cool hub that was soon a beacon for London’s beautiful people. In the creative boom of the following decades, musicians, artists and media became Odette’s regulars. “By the 1980s, it had quite a celebrity following,” Michael explains. The original founder – who isn’t actually called Odette, but Simone – is still their landlady to this day.

“She’s still around – she’s in her 90s, but she’s sharp as a pen,” he adds. When they signed their 14-year lease with her, she “came over for a little tour”, Michael explains.

“She was walking around, pointing at tables. Paul and Linda McCartney would come in regularly, she told us, all throughout the 1980s, and she showed us the table they would always sit at. On the table opposite was where Mick Jagger would sit – ‘with whoever he was dating at the time’, she added. McCartney and Jagger would often be in at the same time.”

Another notable diner was the 1960s photographer David Bailey, the Gallagher brothers ate there too when Primrose Hill was in its peak Nineties era. A speakeasy-style wine bar that “stretches out under the pavement”, Michael explains, “is still there, though we’re not yet using it”.

Back in the day, those in the know could stay late, drinking until the wee hours of the morning, unbothered. Still, Odette’s was relatively unassuming – it wasn’t until Bryn Williams was appointed head chef in 2006, and bought the restaurant two years later that it underwent a transformation of sorts, and became the darling of national food critics.

Williams’ seasonal, produce-led style of European cooking caught their attention, alongside tourists and locals. They were known for their extensive wine list and pared-back ingredients, in a more contemporary setting. When it closed its doors in May this year, anticipation of what would come next grew. If it was a lot to live up to, Home Kitchen has certainly met expectations.

While critics have enjoyed the food, the restaurant’s softer aesthetics elegantly nod to the building’s history. Low lighting with mid-century style chairs (fittingly) feels homely. Staff are warm and friendly, and many are already achieving promotions and recognition despite having just three months of experience in the industry. Many have found new confidence and a sense of family in the Home Kitchen and, despite there inevitably being issues to overcome from time to time – some have come across issues with their temporary housing, which Michael and the team have helped solve – they finally have a structure that they can build upon.

A glamorous interior and michelin chef serving up delicious dishes (Home Kitchen)

In the New Year, Home Kitchen will undergo some tweaking. The lunch menu, for example, will be more flexible to allow diners with less time to enjoy it, Michael says. They’re also crowdfunding again to fund two full-time salaries of star staff in the coming quiet months – Lily, a young mother and Iranian refugee who fled persecution now leads the front of house team, and Mimi, a talented pastry chef forced to leave home at a young age.

While they’ve had a busy few months and a flurry of global attention, their mission means they have higher costs than other restaurants from the get-go. “We pay London living wage, we subsidise travel and educational qualifications, for example,” Michael says. “And we have also made sure that our staff are on full-time contracts, whereas the standard is zero-hours – unstable – contracts in the catering industry.” Michael and the four other directors are running and managing the restaurant voluntarily, but hope that profitability will allow them to step back somewhat in the year ahead. In the meantime, over Christmas staff will take a well-earned break. Then, next year, the staff’s new cycle, away from the scourge of housing and job insecurity, will begin: opening up the restaurant, learning, working, finding opportunities where there once appeared to be none. Home Kitchen promises to be the gift that keeps on giving.

Home Kitchen is 130 Regent’s Park Rd, London NW1 8XL 020 7183 6155 To book a table go to: https://homekitchenlondon.org/