At Home Kitchen, you’ll leave with a full stomach and a slightly fuller sense of humanity, too.
Now open in the space that used to be Odettes in Primrose Hill, it’s part-restaurant, part-social experiment with an aim that’s either wildly optimistic or just wildly overdue: to help end homelessness. How? By recruiting, training and employing people who’ve experienced it – from sofa-surfers and hostel-dwellers to those sleeping rough – and offering them not just a job, but qualifications, support, and, crucially, a living wage.
The team is mostly made up of people on their way out of homelessness, guided by a professional core (including a head chef, manager, and deputy), and surrounded by the kind of quietly tasteful decor that could only exist in Primrose Hill: black wood, pink walls, and a bit of exposed brick for good measure. It’s pitched – quite literally – at the kind of locals who can afford to live in Primrose Hill, with both à la carte (£45) and six-course tasting menus (£75) that aim squarely at the fine-dining crowd.
The food? That’s where Adam Simmonds comes in. He’s a serious operator with multiple Michelin Stars and a Great British Menu win under his belt, so expectations are high – and mostly met. You can expect things like duck terrine with celeriac & mustard, brill with mussels and kohlrabi, and egg custard tart with rhubarb & nutmeg ice cream. It’s refined, restrained, and solidly respectable – if occasionally a little too respectable, with the odd dish leaving you wishing for just a bit more oomph, or more… of it.
Still, it’s early days, and they’ve got plans. Home Kitchen isn’t meant to be a one-off – there are already two more in the works, one in Brighton, the other in San Francisco – and the hope is that each one dishes up not just dinner, but a genuine fresh start.
NOTE: Home Kitchen Primrose Hill is set to open now, Wednesday to Sunday. You can find out more, and book a table at the Home Kitchen website.
Home Kitchen | 130 Regents Park Rd, NW1 8LX
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