“We work crazy hours, shoulder-to-shoulder all day. It’s fun to break away and have a bit of team bonding time just to relax. We might go for a beer at Chijmes, or a late night chicken rice – Swee Kee, for me, is the best chicken rice around. Or, we might go to Tian Tian Seafood at Outram Road and have cereal prawns and xiao bai cai with garlic.” For a quick fix in between lunch and dinner services, “we get murtabak with mutton curry, biryani and sugary tea at Zam Zam.”
“People come and go, but every person that has been in this restaurant over the years has a huge part on the growth of this restaurant.”
Summing up the journey, he said: “We’ve stamped our claim on modern British cuisine – my interpretation of what I believe it should be seen as today, and how it should be seen as in the future – trying to change people’s expectations over the last 50 to 100 years. I’ve obviously evolved and grown myself, and I’ve really come to understand the style of food that I have always enjoyed, and now, I’ve got the confidence to share it.
“If I come to your house for dinner, you’re not going to cook what I want. You want to cook what you want. And it’s the same thing in a restaurant – the customers are coming to enjoy the food that I want to share. They come here for a special experience and something unique, and ideally items not re-create-able.”
He added, “It’s been an amazing journey so far, and I look forward to the next 10 years.”
JAAN BY KIRK WESTAWAY IN DISHES
Here’s a look at the restaurant’s journey through its most memorable and evocative dishes, many of which have appeared on the menu in different forms and iterations over time.
“FISH AND CHIPS”
