I’ve spent a lot of time looking at David Hockney’s 1994 lithograph Christopher and Don’s Dining Room today. I’ve also been thinking a lot about tables.

I’m a dining room nerd – in the sense of wishing to absorb every small design choice that’s been made – and, in the first week of my Italian eating odyssey (TGITT), I’ve been noticing that special tables, the ones with the best view of the room, are reserved not for guests, but for the boss, or a large bouquet of flowers.

At Nuova Arena in Milan, the room has space to breathe. The first table as you enter is round, and could comfortably seat three, but instead is saved for a vase. On the way to the bathroom, through the second dining room, another table of similar size, sits with a wide berth, bestowed once again with a bunch of flowers.

At Da Cesari in Bologna, the boss and his wife (the real boss, I’m told) sit at the table in the centre of room, right as you arrive, to check receipts and greet guests. When service quietens, the parents leave and the daughter takes over, conducting affairs from the hot seat.

At Ristorante Cafaggi in Florence, the first table you see is the till, and the gentle soul manning it. The controller of the cash and the guestbook, he’s parked in front of the kitchen, and in the midst of the front of house loop, aware of everything as it happens around him.

This isn’t anything new, but it’s something I can’t help but compare to London. In places where the margins aren’t so tight, and covers are better guaranteed, you don’t need to squeeze guests in to make ends meet. You can take up more space.

Hattie Tenant and Jazz Mignone, owner and creative director, respectively, of Fruity Booty, recently asked me whether I knew anyone at Oslo Court, as they wanted to shoot in the dining room.

Although I’m a big fan of the restaurant, I’m not friends with the team, and my advice was to visit and ask in person. The request was obliged, and they ended up shooting on a Monday, when the restaurant is closed.

Second-generation owner Maria Sanchez (line 176 in TGITE’s women-owned hospitality index) gave the Fruity Booty team pastries from Panzers, while Hattie gifted her daughters brand vouchers. 

The latest summer collection, which includes a pink napkin tee, looks right at home in Oslo Court’s retro dining room, and to me, this is an excellent example of fashion thoughtfully including the food world in its creative.

Since I couldn’t make the opening party yesterday, nor the preview today, I sent intrepid patron of the arts (fresh from a trip to Amsterdam for Yumna Al-Arashi at Huis Marseille, and 3daysofdesign in Copenhagen), and loyal friend of TGITE, Khan, to report from Basic.Space London.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Basic.Space London runs this weekend in The Old Selfridges Hotel, and is a shoppable exhibition full of independent art and design. Curated by , I’ve been enjoying watching it all come together online.

I called Mehlaqa earlier from a tabacchi, and she gave me her thoughts. Her notes on Basic.Space’s format, and her personal highlights are shared below, in case you’re curious, like I was.

TLDR: every item she wanted was £19k.

THE BASIC.SPACE FORMAT

• You sign up to the app or subscribe online to purchase items. Everything is for sale. You will scan the QR code, purchase, and collect downstairs by the exit, or arrange delivery for bigger items.

• The price point is luxury. The books and gift shop items are cheaper, including some decorative items like candles and home accessories.

• Upstairs, there are different exhibitors on the main floor, and one display by Time & Space on the mezzanine.

MEHLAQA’S HIGHLIGHTS

• CompletedWorks – aqua glassware – jewellery and ceramics made from recycled materials. A vanity set, chair and stool on display for sale.

• Jabez Bartlett – wax chairs – scenographer and designer, former art director for film. His inflatable table is the star piece (Pani note: you might have seen it in the recent Phoebe Philo campaign). White one seems to be doing the rounds but I personally loved the brown one. He was also exhibiting around version at 3daysofdesign as part of other circle this week.

• Béton Burt – coffee table and art deco cabinet – mix of vintage and newer pieces, and seemed to be the most accessible prices.

• Bjork and Berries – ros and white forest perfume oil – spoke to Johanna Engvall, and she gave me a discovery set, which is £34 and available to purchase. Swedish scent company based on the seasons, not usually in London, although featured in a Dover Street Market pop up last year.

• Keshav Anand – everything! – he is lovely. Stone jewellery based on different mythology. Stand out piece was a love scene from a South Indian temple. Works often have South Asian queer representation in Indian transfigurative entities, particularly in Hindu temples which have been destroyed. Constructed in Greece. (Pani note: I ADORE Keshav’s work).

Huge thanks to Mehlaqa for reporting on behalf of TGITE. If you’d like to see Basic.Space for yourself, tickets can be bought here.

Until next week, The Goal is to Eat.

Today, Gazelle Mba, a Nigerian-American writer, researcher, and editor, born in Los Angeles and raised in Abuja, and a recent transplant from London to New York, writes about learning to eat and exist in a new city.

Like many internet-birthed relationships, I can no longer remember exactly how Gazelle and I started speaking, but I first came across her magnetism through a shoot she did with SIGLA. Then, I dove into her extremely hot wardrobe, very smart writing for the likes of London Review of Books and T magazine, and found myself stunned by the tropical modernist buildings of University of Nigeria, Nsukka that she featured on her page at the start of this year.

We’ve been wanting to collaborate for a while, and with Gazelle’s recent move to New York, it felt like a good time to expose some of the relatable pains and pleasures that come from stepping out beyond your comfort zone, and moving to a lesser known place.

Gazelle holds three degrees and multiple awards. She’s currently a fellow of the Ideas Workshop at the Open Society Foundation, where she’s working on her first non-fiction book and developing a podcast, and I suggest you get familiar with her work.

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Places mentioned in today’s FATC: Little Tiffin, Cervo’s, Eel Bar, the Egyptian place in Astoria, and some bar in Gowanus.

A New York Diary by Gazelle Mba

October 2025

I got off the plane from London to New York City just as the sun was setting.

The knots in my stomach untying and retying themselves in never experienced before combinations, as I watched the other passengers disembarking: screaming toddlers, an elderly couple holding hands, a doom-scrolling teenager with stars plastered across their face. They all sprinted past me, while I took painful yet fashionable steps in the expensive black boots I had purchased to mark my arrival in the city.

At the arrivals gate, the border control officer returned my people-pleasing smile with a bored look, waving me through, and I made my way towards the crowded baggage claim area and onto the automatic doors which opened and closed in an anxious flurry.

These were not normal doors, I thought, even though they resembled doors I had walked through in countless other airports. These doors were different because they opened out to an unknown future, the promise of brand new life in a brand new city.

As soon as I stepped out of them, and felt the warm, stale airport air wash over me, that oddly sulphuric air, which smelled like rotting food, carbon monoxide and the bodily odours of the millions of people who pass through the airport every year, I felt hungry. Violently hungry. Hungry in a way that I knew food could never satisfy.

I was hungry for experience, opportunity, knowledge, pleasure, enjoyment. Food was a way into these larger, less tangible desires, but it was not the thing itself.

I sensed even then that food held only the possibility of fullness, that it would in fact only awaken new hunger, new cravings, longings and yearnings. This was my first lesson, to live in a great city like New York, a place of seemingly boundless, inexhaustible potential, is to always be hungry, and searching for more inventive ways to satisfy one’s hunger.

A diary of food in New York is about a serpent eating its own tail. Here are some examples.

17th October 2025

The apartment in Greenpoint is what’s called a railroad apartment. The wooden floors are inviting, worn in oak and they lead towards a large and mostly empty refrigerator. Inside, a pink container of chia pudding, packets of bone broth, a cluster of Babybel, eggs, baba ganoush and an open can of half-eaten sardines. I grab the Babybel, baba ganoush and sardines. It makes for a practical but confusing snack.

Looking at the fridge, the cupboards filled with nutritional supplements I can tell the person who lives in the apartment cares a lot about their health, their gut-health in particular, which motivates me to make good food decisions.

But I am too worn out to make some bone-broth soup, so I order from the nearby Thai restaurant Little Tiffin. The name is cute and unintimidating, cosy in a way that makes one think of Chicken Soup for the Soul books, Hallmark movies and inspirational TED Talks. The menu, I note favourably, doesn’t have too many options, which makes it easy to make a decision and I choose a meal I have never had before.

I order pad kra moo grab, crispy, spicy pork belly with jasmine rice. Sticky, spicy, sweet. It’s the perfect meal to have in, curled on the sofa, rewatching episodes of Sex and the City. It becomes my comfort meal, when I’m too lazy to cook but not lazy enough to walk the 10 minutes to the restaurant. Occasionally I feel guilty for not eating out, for not choosing an unknown restaurant or traipsing across the city or state for a provocative culinary experience.

Little Tiffin reminds me of both the comfort of home and its anxiety, the ways that staying put with what is familiar feels good, but undercuts itself with an inner restlessness. “Why not try something else?”, offers that small critical voice that lives rent free in my mind.

Attempts to reconcile these competing states, the desire for familiarity and certainty, the thirst for the strange and unfamiliar, become a part of life in the city. I order from Little Tiffin once a week.

22nd October 2025

I go on two dates in one week.

One in the Lower East Side and the other in Gowanus. The locations and the meals told me everything.

At the Lower East Side restaurant Cervo’s, I had dirty vodka martinis, oysters, and a glutinous tomato and pepper dish roughly garnished with boiled eggs, which looked awful but tasted delicious. The red of the peppers matched the red glow of the restaurant and its subtle haze, which made it look as though everyone were smoking inside even though Americans don’t smoke, or no one was.

He asks me a direct question, and I avoid answering, something about our compatibility, which is really nonexistent. We end up arguing the whole way home. The argument is passionate and flirtatious but he wants to win and be right as much as I do. We are like two bulls in a bull fight. But at least the food was good.

In Brooklyn, on the second different date, I am hungover walking to the restaurant/bar/lounge place he has chosen and I had never heard of. It’s one of those old-timey looking places where the owners want to conjure the presence of a French salon in the 1930s and authentic Americana all at the same time. There are movie posters everywhere and the menu is behind laminated sleeves, written in precise, masculine lettering.

He orders a steak with frites for us to share. I’m not the biggest fan of steak, it’s pleasant but unremarkable, much like the date itself. I think if this continues he’s the kind of guy who would like to order for me, even when it’s food that I don’t really want.

November 2025 - May 2026

I am invited to dinner, sometimes in and sometimes out.

Once when invited to the home of an editor and writer, I bring flowers and wine, and he gives me a confused look while saying thanks, dropping the flowers on the table without a second thought. I don’t know why I am hurt by this. We eat polenta and chicken and a citrus salad, buffet style.

My ex-date, now friend, and I ordered too much food at the Egyptian place in Astoria on a freezing winter night. Lobster, prawn, deep fried sea bass, calamari, crisp and flaky, stuffed with chilli and drizzled in copious amounts of oil. It feels like too much and not enough.

I prepared a three course meal: ceviche, orange-glazed salmon, oyster fried rice, pear salad with walnuts, ice cream and dates and olive oil for dessert. It’s definitely too much.

My friend makes orzo and we devour it on her rooftop in Greenpoint. It’s perfect.

1st June 2026

I woke up to the sound of grinding, gurgling, rumbling in my apartment that made the walls and floors vibrate. I had no idea what was causing it. Could not get back to sleep. Doors opening and slamming shut. Very, very, loud.

Footsteps overhead. Even louder. Light is dull and grey, numbing like a toothache. There is no food in the fridge. There are cardboard boxes everywhere and suitcases with scrunched up clothes hastily stuffed inside. There is no escape. You are here. You are in New York.

I sent the apartment management company an email about the gurgling, about the slamming. I send another and then another. I have sent four emails before 8am. The noise is ongoing I write, it began at 6am it is now 8:30am. I’m worried that the sound will follow me throughout the day, like a shudder running through my skin, my bones, hair raising, toe curling.

I worry that I’ve made a mistake.

To comfort myself I get dinner with my friends at Eel Bar. We order a third of the menu and two glasses of orange wine. The highlight is a cheesecake with olive oil. Heavenly.

You’ve been reading Food and the City from The Goal is to Eat.

Thank you Gazelle. More from TGITE soon.

It’s my first time here, but at many turns my memory flashes back to scenes from European cities I’ve visited in the last fifteen years. In some neighbourhoods I’m reminded of Rome or Lisbon, in others Valencia or Vienna, while the streets of Thessaloniki, and the parks of Berlin have come to mind too. Memory is an astounding thing, as is the Europe-wide evolution of neo-classical architecture.

Last night, we sat at Bar Nico with friends, and one of the three owners, Chiara, wore a 25th anniversary St. JOHN t-shirt. The one with Peter Doig’s sketches of suggested bestiality (man, pig and bull) where nose to tail eating turns sexual.

If you’re not familiar, in 2019, artists were commissioned to draw anniversary tees (Giles Deacon’s edition is still available online) and my friend Kitty, who managed the merch for St. JOHN at the time, tells me Doig’s design didn’t sell so well.

I’m not surprised, but that’s beside the point. It was a conversation starter.

While discussing the t-shirt, Chiara expressed just how much she reveres St. JOHN, and the impact it has had on how they do things at the bar. I often contemplate the web of St. JOHN alumni (myself included), but what I tend to acknowledge less, is its web of inspiration, which spins out much further.

It’s impossible to calculate just how much others’ methods of production are inspired and invigorated by a place and its philosophy, but I also underestimate how many bars and restaurants created this decade, perhaps this century, directly reference St. JOHN in their style of cooking, service and/or decor.

Much like neo-classical principles that propagated across the continent, creating urban environments reminiscent of one another but each with their own local flavour, so too, we dine at Bar Nico, Le Cornichon, or LS&Sia (sub in whichever examples you prefer here) and across three different cities and cuisines, we remain tethered to the core tenets of St. JOHN.

I’m amazed by it every time.

An exciting announcement today: The Goal is to Eat is going on tour.

And by that I mean I’m spending the next three weeks travelling around Italy.

To stay as present as possible through sightseeing, two wedding weekends and consulting work, Stocktake, with its need for me to be hyper-online at all times, will be going on hiatus. You can expect an XXL edition in early July.

Instead, I’ll be publishing when I’m inspired to, hopefully with some surprise formats, and sharing some of the insights I’ve promised to provide before.

And, to keep things interesting, touring beyond Italy too, I’ve invited three writers to share their stories for Food and the City over the next month.

Each week, while I move from Tuscany to Rome, and from Naples to Salina, three others will offer notable nourishment and intimate adventures from beloved places of their own. I can’t wait.

But, I couldn’t leave you without any suggestions for this month, so here are some things to pay attention to.

• VATs the problem. Why do you think so many excellent hospitality places keep shutting down? Sign the petition to cut VAT to 10% and join over 160,000 others in making a difference to our industry, and wider society.

• Harlesden High Street has transformed into a cafe called Gloria’s. A “new chain-brand café” will take over what used to be the gallery space till 31st July, and shows works by Savannah Harris and four mysterious outsider artists, to provoke conversation about the state of London and the commercial and social purpose of art.

• N5 Kitchen is hosting a public picnic in Spa Fields on 18th June. It’s free to attend, just sign up. The woman-owned caterers with a cafe on Mountgrove Road (in what was once the Sylvanian Families shop) are opening a new site in Clerkenwell. For six weeks from 10th June, it’ll be open to the public as a cafe, before turning into their main catering production hub. Capitalise on their Free Cookie Fridays, if you work in Farringdon, and if you’re closer to Highbury, don’t miss their Free Doughnut Fridays.

• Charms is back! Calvin Holmes’ ice cream is impeccable, and I’d recommend the cinnamon crunch.

If you’d like to tell me something, find me at panayiota@tgite.com, or reply to this email.

Until next week, L’Obiettivo è Mangiare.

Happy June!

Our first An Audience With TGITE last Wednesday, tackling the question of where are the women restaurateurs? was pure magic. I’ll be sharing what went down, a synopsis of our conversations, and my reflections, later this week.

I’m still digesting our panellists wisdom and the other intimacies shared, and marinating on the actions that might make the most impact going forwards.

Until then, have a read of ’s notes from Wednesday over on , or check out Alessandra Brian of ’s dispatch. Thanks to both women for asking thoughtful questions on the night.

If you came, or couldn’t make it but wish you had, message me your feedback. Compliments and criticism welcome.

If you haven’t watched episode seven of our talk show with yet, then I suggest you do. His episode marks our season one finale, and after publishing the innards of Isaac’s camera roll, and revelling in his documentation of Wong Kei dishes, AI designs, and ghost signs, we learnt that the Hovis sign in Brockley is in fact not-so-historic, dating back to 2015. Thanks Callum for the revelation.

Like I mentioned, we’re open to sponsors for season two. We’ve started curating an excellent line up of guests, so if any brand directors, or patrons of the arts wishing to enter the culinary space would like to discuss this further, get in touch.

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In today’s edition: a look inside Turn Up Truck, my notes from Tavern, a comprehensive analysis of Zylia (still in softs), an “atrociously bad” dinner in N16, Michael McGregor designed plates, the magazine-to-book publishing pipeline, ice cream as cultural object, hedonism in the countryside, Goblin Tea, TGITE’s agenda for June, and much much more.

Introducing Turn Up Truck, a soon-to-launch, novel way of running chef residencies: out of a truck parked up in Coal Drops Yard.

Launching on Friday, I asked Sam Wong – 1/3 of the Turn Up Truck team, and the baker behind Lil Wong Bakes, who I know from her days working in partnerships at DELLI – about how the truck came about, and what they’re hoping to achieve.

Who are the three of you behind Turn Up Truck, how do you know each other, and how do you split responsibilities?

It’s myself, Sage and Josh! We all met at Arts Uni in 2012 and have been close ever since. We all bring different skillsets which I think is probably one of the main reasons we work so well as a team. Josh runs operations and logistics, Sage and I both work on marketing together, with her focusing more closely on creative and brand, and me on business and community. It’s been a crazy dynamic working with close friends but I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

“Creating somewhere that people could use to test ideas, scale, and trade from just felt like a no-brainer”. I like that your idea aims to help up-and-coming food businesses establish themselves, or to allow established ones (like Toklas Bakery) try a new thing. How did the idea for the truck format come about?

Josh actually came to me with the idea at the pub just over a year ago and I was immediately on board. With our different skill sets, we got to work a few weeks later.

As he was telling me the concept idea that day, it immediately connected with me so deeply because I had (and still do!) experience a lack of opportunity for scale and space to truly test new menu items, or a place to trade directly from, without the longer-term commitment and costs of opening a shop. Essentially, I had a problem, Josh was telling me a solution, and here we are.

What has been the most challenging and gratifying thing about the process of setting it up?

Where to begin! You know when you watch those content reels on socials of people starting new businesses with tears, frustration and loads of things going wrong, and you think “that won’t be us”, and then suddenly, everything happens all at once, and you’re just fire fighting for weeks on end? Yeah, that’s real.

Seriously, setting up and working together at all hours of the day whilst we’re all working on our individual careers, is probably the most challenging thing, but equally gratifying when you problem solve together and see the process end to end. It’s amazing having known we had a conversation just over a year ago, thinking it was a business idea you’d never follow through with, and now it’s happening.

You’ve already curated the line up for the first couple of months, but you’ll be running an open application for future spots. How will you assess which operators might work best?

It’s been really fun curating the line up so far! F&B is a melting pot, especially in London and we want to ensure that there’s room for everyone! I think the key thing for us was that we want to give the businesses and chefs an opportunity to have a fully kitted space to trade directly out of, and we knew Coal Drops Yard was a perfect place to launch, so traders can really gain that footfall and traction.

I have a background in food and marketing, as well as owning a small independent baking business, so I guess it’s about recognising likeminded people and businesses that could benefit from this offering.

You’re starting off in Coal Drops Yard, but where do you plan to go next, and where is your dream destination to turn up to?

We’re so excited to be launching in CDY this summer. We have some big plans coming up, and we’re always looking to have new conversations with exciting locations and people. Our dream destination? To take this international baby!

Thank you Sam. Wishing Turn Up Truck all the best, and see you there soon.

• Spitalfields Market trading is down 40%. Are that many more people bringing a packed lunch to work?

• The best thing about the British Vogue Wellness Retreat at Estelle Manor was the spa. Eynsham Baths is a 3,000 sq metre Roman-inspired spa, and according to , the thermal experience, which moves between six temperatures, is complete heaven. The spa also includes The Hideaway, an open-air hidden oasis with a cascading waterfall, natural wildflowers and woodland ferns.

• Kitty Slydell-Cooper – trained shoemaker, the voice of St. JOHN, Countertalk’s linchpin, creator of Torbock jewellery, and mother to 6-year-old twins – somehow found the time to make the yellow striped awnings of the Magnolia Bakery pop up at Cafe Ciel in The OWO. Her husband, designer-maker Dean Slydell, constructed the rest, and it’s running until 10th June. I’ve never understood the Magnolia hype, so let me know what it’s like if you go.

• Dinner at The Golden Tooth was “atrociously bad”. I bumped into a friend in the neighbourhood on Friday night, visibly traumatised by the experience. “I have never had a dinner that terrible” she told me. I must admit that despite my proximity, I’ve not yet been, so cannot comment. I welcome yours.

• Missing your Pret jambon beurre fix? Tramps BAR has the solution. Gallery owner Parinaz Mogadassi has Harry McKenzie cooking lunch and dinner a few days a week at 15F Micawber Street, while her partner Peter Doig hangs around the speaker system. If the menu is anything to go by, I have high hopes for the couple’s next hospitality venture, restoring McGlynn’s in King’s Cross, currently used as the Tramps gallery space.

• Last week, I mentioned The Standard’s new guest restaurant critic set up, and this week, Heather Steele took over with a smart review of Tavern. I’m not in the business of criticism, but I love to offer my observations, and after

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Today, writer and explorer Isaac Rangaswami, the man behind the much-loved Instagram account Caffs not Cafes, and the London-focused newsletter , sits on the Togo.

We speak about how he turned his hobby into a career, actually visiting places while they’re still open, prioritising utility over romance in his writing, and how to remain sensitive to spaces, especially when they’re not really made for you.

I wrote for Isaac’s newsletter Wooden City in autumn last year, and you can read my piece on five of my favourite East London independent fashion and design shops here.

This episode was shot on 15th May 2026. Watch it in full here, or on YouTube.

We’ll be filming season two later this year, and are actively seeking sponsors, if that’s you, or your company, get in touch.

Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to .

Happy heatwave everyone.

London is thriving. Arsenal have won the league after 22 years (great for pubs), and it’s the hottest May on record (great for pub gardens).

I went to the Emirates stadium to celebrate the win on Tuesday night, and I’ve never seen so many men radiating pure, unadulterated joy. There was no recklessness, only positivity, and standing in the flare-filled air, walking through the streets to a tune of Limes tinkling and cars tooting, I felt especially proud of my city.

There are few things that can unify and uplift our collective spirit like sport can, and as part of this momentous win, I’ve had fun observing how hospitality establishments are celebrating.

There’s the straight-up fandom of Trullo painting their usually muted, navy frontage a bright glossy red (I think it should stay this way), the exuberant generosity of Half Cut Market promising £5 glasses of chilled red until the parade next Sunday, and some downright odd choices, like Wahaca offering 22% off the bill at their Islington branch if you have the same first name as one of the players.

Whether or not you’re watching Arsenal’s final game today, I suggest you swing by White Hot Forever tonight. A one off creamy, dreamy pop up from culinary artiste Adriann Ramirez of Fink’s, and the fruity flavour master herself, Kitty Travers of La Grotta, you’ll be in for a irresistibly clever, ice cold menu.

I’ll be having the alphonso mango and green peppercorn vanilla banana split.

In today’s Stocktake: no offhand intel but several interconnected threads of thought, and many observations on a theme, from an influx of Gothic font and wine label tech, to ice cream and travel recs.

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Welcome back to The Goal is to Eat.

Stocktake delivers commentary and insight on the world of taste, delving into matters of intrigue across hospitality, design, culture and the media.

If you have something to tell me about, email panayiota@tgite.com.

Hello from Cornwall.

Mixing things up with a Saturday send as I’m Master of Ceremonies (Mic Champion) at my best friends’ wedding later today, and I plan to be incredibly hungover tomorrow.

Putting it out there: if you ever want me to present something, get in touch.

I filmed episode lucky-number-seven of TGITE’s talk show yesterday with a guest who doesn’t typically reveal too much of himself on the internet, and I can’t wait for you to learn more about him.

His episode is a bonus addition, coming soon, and will mark season one’s finale.

Drop me a line with your impressions of the show, or if there’s anyone you’d love to see on the Togo next season.

The Goal is to Eat

The Goal is to Eat meets Lydia Pang

Today, the inimitable Lydia Pang, co-founder of strategy agency MØRNING and production studio EVENING, and the author of part memoir, part cookbook Eat Bitter, sits on the Togo…

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a month ago · 9 likes · Panayiota Soutis

I want to say a huge thank you to the 50 people who sold out our event – where are the women restaurateurs? – in less than a day earlier this week. We’re running a waitlist, but a follow up event is already in the works.

I hope that WATWR Part II will be in July, with a panel of chef-patrons.

As part of the series, we’ve built out an ever-expanding index of women-owned hospitality businesses. Focused on London for now, there are over 200 names, including pubs, pop-ups and ice cream parlours, cafes, bars and restaurants.

Have a look through, and let us know if there are any errors to correct, or names to add. I’m learning about a lot of new places in the process, and maybe you will too.

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After Adriann Ramirez – AKA Gay Nigella – came on the talk show, I received an email from Tanya Truman about a brand new musical, How to Make a Mess: A Totally Unauthorised Love Letter to Nigella Lawson.

Debuting at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in Highgate – running from 4th-28th June – How to Make a Mess tells the story of Anna, who after the death of her estranged mother, inherits Nigella Lawson’s seminal cookbook How to Eat.

Along with the book, an imagined version of Nigella arrives to guide Anna through grief and comfort, one recipe at a time. Cooking becomes a way for Anna to reconnect with herself, while broadening her appetites, and finding joy through food.

Written and scored by Emily Rose Simons, and produced by Tanya Truman Productions and Chromulume, Tanya also plays Nigella. Emily and Tanya have been developing this project through various iterations since 2022, and in the process, their entire relationship to nourishing themselves has been transformed.

Developing new musicals is notoriously difficult – read more on the journey here – and I wanted to ask them a few questions.

What is the most interesting thing you learnt about Nigella Lawson in researching her story for both writing about her, and embodying her?

Emily Rose Simons: She worked as a chambermaid in Italy when she was 19, and this is probably what ensconced Italian food deep into her heart. I like to think that when she speaks Italian and cooks Italian food, that a small part of her is 19 again exploring the world as an adult for the very first time.

Tanya Truman: Nigella is not a formally trained chef, but a self-taught home cook. I think most people may already know this, but when I first found this out officially, I was so inspired. It’s taught me to be playful and experimental within my performance as opposed to being too rigid or formal. I love that Nigella’s book, How To Eat, is exactly that - a guide on how to eat, not a recipe book or a cookbook as some might think. This is lovingly explored within the show.

Why did you choose to make a musical over a play?

ERS: This show has to be a musical in order to fully express the ginormous extraordinary encapsulated by the delicate minutia of cooking. As someone who has failed to make mayonnaise three times, there is no way that a straight play monologue could have expressed the intense crying fit that third failure brought on, nor the awe I felt the first time my partner and I made roast chicken. I remember watching him trying to figure out how to cut into it and thinking “Woah. We could really do this. We could be a family.” Cooking is intense. Cooking operas make more sense than cooking plays.

What does it mean to you to feel full, to be fulfilled?

TT: To feel full and to be fulfilled, is the feeling when you can just let go. Let go of restriction. Let go of societal pressure. Let go of everything you think you should be doing, everything other people are doing, and truly hone in on what you want and what YOU desire. When you do that, things fall into place. I am still learning to take my own advice here, but I’m getting flavours of it throughout the process of How To Make A Mess. When you are living in true alignment, listening to yourself, letting go of external noise, you are fully free to let love, opportunity, and positivity into your life. That is the feeling of fulfilment to me.

Nourish yourselves with a ticket to see How to Make a Mess here. Thank you Emily and Tanya.

In today’s Stocktake: Ronnie’s, Le Sirenuse, Jay Rayner, Rec League, Maisie Cousins, BYOB nightclubs, Chinese cigarettes, Welsh football shirts, Diet Paratha, The French House, Casa Ideale, and more.

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We speak about building philosophy-first businesses, turning creative projects into commercial ones, re-wilding in the Welsh countryside, having guts, and finding satisfaction in never feeling full.

Watch in full here, or on YouTube, and subscribe to never miss an episode.

Shot on 27th March 2026.

Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to .

I had every intention of sending Stocktake 048 as standard today, even skipping a trip to the Acropolis Museum to finish it, but something couldn’t click.

So instead, I’m sharing some exciting updates from across TGITE’s universe. These include our first public index, focusing on women-owned hospitality businesses (fear not, the chip index comes next), and our first ever ticketed event.

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Thank you to everyone who watched Anna Cafolla’s talk show episode. She really is a charmer, and it’s a brilliant conversation, especially if you care about the fashion-food overlap.

Next week’s episode (out on Tuesday) features a similarly cross-pollinating creative, and I can’t wait for you to watch it.

As per usual, I’ve been thinking a lot about London’s women restaurateurs, or the lack thereof. And, ever since Stocktake 043, with its analysis of the buttonhole napkin, and its interrogation of what might be causing this imbalance in ownership, the topic’s pertinence has felt impossible to ignore.

Through more conversations with operators on the systems in place that make it this way, I started asking more questions, and doing more research.

How many women-owned restaurants are there in London? Particularly places where the owner isn’t also the chef? What about bars and bakeries? Pubs and pop ups?

With the help of TGITE’s chief production assistant Aliyah Kossoff, we started to collate which London hospitality businesses are women-owned, and in doing so, have built this important, inexhaustive index.

Yes, it’s a Google sheet, designed to exist as an open resource. A database, of sorts.

It currently includes 125 businesses, and is unfinished. But, I’m practising building openly, in public, and so, I’m asking for your help.

In crowdsourcing information, I would like to caveat that our focus is on London – for now – we haven’t yet expanded into hotels, and many pop ups are missing.

Please flag any errors or notes that should be added for extra intel, if any adjustments or inclusions could be made, and most of all, who we’ve left off.

Email panayiota@tgite.com to make suggestions, or reply directly to this email.

By extension, this index deserves an event. Or really, the event required an index, and it all began because I wanted to have a candid conversation on the subject.

And so, I’m pleased to announce that on Wednesday 27th May, TGITE will host its inaugural edition of An Audience With (which I hope will go on to become a series of open discussions on various themes across hospitality) tackling the question: where are the women restaurateurs?

Open for all to attend, for the next 24 hours, advanced access is reserved solely for paid supporters of TGITE.

I’ll be conversing with three of the most interesting non-chef operators in London, who run longstanding, creative and multifaceted businesses: Jess Blackstone of Fink’s, Missy Flynn of Rita’s, and Samantha Lim of Elliot’s.

Engaging in a candid conversation about why London hospitality lacks women restaurateurs, and what we can do to change it, while also discussing how they go about operating their businesses day to day, you’ll be able to join in the discussion with your own thoughts, questions and experiences.

Plus, it’s an opportunity to wine, dine, and meet other interesting people working in and around the industry.

Hosted at the ever-picturesque Fink’s Clissold House.

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We speak about why the food-fashion overlap is happening now, how growing up in an Italian-Irish hospitality family set her up well for becoming a journalist, and we discuss many of our favourite women-owned brands.

Watch in full here, or on YouTube, and subscribe to never miss an episode.

Shot on 27th March 2026.

Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to .

Happy long weekend to those who celebrate.

I’ve been having a hard time knowing when to stop working. Or, more accurately, figuring out when my work stops. I’ve always wanted my life and work to co-exist, to be integrated with one another, but as my professional activities increasingly enhance my personal life, it’s harder to draw boundaries, and I no longer know how switch off.

I’m not looking for answers, nor am I offering tips, though the majestic roses blooming in my neighbourhood help get me out of my head. Instead, I want to talk to you about a painting I love.

I was deep diving into Michael McGregor (artist, hotel dweller, Grecophile) this week, after seeing photos from the opening of his latest exhibition LUNCH at Dan Yoshii gallery in New York, on until 12th June. I read Michael’s interview in Plastik magazine about his book Room Service, and when asked if he prefers Hockney or Matisse, he answered, “if you have to choose, it would be Matisse. There would be no Hockney without Matisse.” He goes on to reference Matisse’s 1947 Still Life with Pomegranates, which he wept in front of when he saw it in Nice: “something in that moment hit me, and it felt so fresh, so vibrant and full of life in the mid-day Côte d’Azur light.”

I adore this painting. I saw it in August 2022 at Un Paradis retrouvé, the Hockney Matisse retrospective at the Matisse Museum, and was so moved by it I bought the print, and had it framed in bright orange.

This painting was created to move people, only in the other sense of the verb. Matisse was commissioned to make this poster post-World War II, to promote Nice as a place of Work and Joy on the French Riviera. And, he was the perfect poster boy for it too, embodying the benefits of working by the sunlit Med.

To me, work and joy should not be independent of one another, but wholly interrelated. Perhaps that’s easier if you live by the sea. What do you think?

🚨 Next Sunday, I’ll be sharing more information about the inaugural An Audience with The Goal is to Eat, an evening for connection and discussion.

Advanced info and ticket access will be available for paid TGITE subscribers. Mark Wednesday 27th May in your calendars❗

In today’s edition: Rahel Stephanie, Graydon Carter, Uncle Hon’s BBQ, Forza Wine, Mona Chalabi, Foodies’ Archive, Long Prawn, Caroline Wong, Third Culture Kat.

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• The negroni tap ran out on Friday night at the Bar Etna opening party. 400 pre-mixed negronis later, the bar staff resorted to mixing them by hand.

• Loggia (Sifnos’ idyllic wine bar) has an upcoming collaboration with Athens’ best shirtmaker IT’S A SHIRT. Cabernet sauvignon dyed shirts are currently work in progress. Very clever merch.

• The Levan team are working on opening a restaurant in Covent Garden. Is Covent Garden on its way to mirroring Soho’s renaissance?

• Chips at The Golden Tooth are £8. Despite living 100 metres away, I haven’t tried them yet. But, my intrigue with their price point got me thinking about the price of chips city-wide. I’d like to create a TGITE Chip Matrix – with details on price, portion size, condiment availability, oil type, number of times fried, and more – and I’m looking for chip-loving volunteers to help me pull it together. Reach out if that’s you.

• Service Projects has created a beautiful editorial with Canal’s Head Waiter Piers Quinn. Service Works’ Creative Director Marcus Patrick Brown photographed Piers, and I can’t help but wonder whether this further blurs the line between two very similarly named and styled brands. That’s without adding Services Continu into the mix too…

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I hope you’ll sit and watch this episode in full to absorb the beauty and wisdom shared. Also available on YouTube, subscribe to never miss an episode.

Shot on 20th March 2026. Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to .

This week I consumed some of the greatest lamb of my life at Leo’s, two cherry-heavy bourbon sours in the Hawksmoor Martini Bar (I preferred the furniture when it was Gothic Bar, but I always appreciate a bartender who humours my three maraschino request), perfect pillows of Barbajuan at Cafe Deco, and my favourite chips at St. JOHN Smithfield, typically not on the menu, and one of the many reasons I prefer to dine at Bread and Wine.

I ate schnitzel Holstein, and hot asparagus with hot hollandaise (yes, you can also opt for cold) at Oslo Court, a chocolate sesame cookie at Esters, portokalopita at the just-opened Soho Jolene (their head baker is Greek), and deep fried Gordal olives at Clipstone.

For my birthday on Tuesday, I admired the looted treasure of the British Museum – while the King visited too – and saw The Dreamers by Alekos Fassianos at Herald St.

I’ve long adored Fassianos’ cartoony dynamism, heat-hued palette, and unabashed Francophilia. The streets of Athens are full of Fassianos fakes (I’ve been tempted), and a couple of months ago, I rushed into the Aimé Leon Dore store on Broadwick Street after clocking one his paintings in the window. The ALD x AF collaboration collection is sweet.

If you fancy a deeper dive into Fassianos, have a browse of Hydra Edition’s work with the Alekos Fassianos Atelier in Kea (I dream of visiting), masterminded by my brilliant friend Vasiliki Verousi. Guaranteed to boost your mood.

Today’s Stocktake is stuffed with intel.

Jackson Boxer answers my semi-invasive questions, while I get the inside scoop on Mayfair’s hottest new haunt, Bar Finch, open from tomorrow. We learn more about the place serving spring rolls-and-martinis come autumn, and I’m noticing a pattern: top hospitality experiential agencies are diversifying their services.

Plus, many other morsels of notable nourishment. Trust me, you’ll want to get below the paywall today.

Jackson Boxer is a prolific restaurateur, and back in February, I called him indefatigable after seeing him tease a new opening in Farringdon, just as TAQ was soft launching.

Now, Vesper has officially been announced, arriving to Exmouth Market in May. Billed to be an East London Dove, and designed by Jermaine Gallacher, Jackson wrote on Instagram about some of the reasons for building Vesper.

I had some questions.

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I hope you’ll sit and watch this episode in full to absorb the beauty and wisdom shared. It’s also available on YouTube. Subscribe to never miss an episode.

Shot on 23rd February 2026. Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to Adriann Ramirez.

This week’s Stocktake marks the official debut of a new look, designed by the women of SM Studio, Moll…

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We discuss finding tempo in your projects and making people pause, the community-building power of the mango, taking pride in being a fan, and the shared global experience of everyone drinking drinks.

I hope you’ll sit and watch this episode in full (10:19) to absorb the beauty and wisdom shared. It’s also available on YouTube. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

Shot on 6th February 2026, in one take.

Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis. Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown. Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to Cameron Malik-Flynn.

Last April, we travelled to my grandma’s village in mainland Greece, where shotguns are fired when the meat is cooked, and competing speaker systems blare out of each family’s yard, overlayed with the squeaks and beats of local musicians travelling from house to house to deliver a tune or two.

My dad always seems to select the strongest red egg, and my uncles refuse to eat lamb because it’s too high in cholesterol (a rule that doesn’t apply to kidney-as-snack while carving, or to barbecued spleen dropped off by a neighbour) and gorge on goat instead. Beer and kokoretsi are on the table from 11am.

Today, in London, we went for a full English and fasolakia with chicken and rice, mid morning at The Hope on Holloway Road. It’s been run by a Cypriot couple, Sotira and Chistodoulos Anayiotis, for the last 35 years. Cash only, but they’ll let you bank transfer if you’re true to your word.

In case you missed it, The Goal is to Eat launched a talk show.

Thank you for the support in , and to everyone who has sent words of encouragement and adoration over the last week.

I had planned to share more about why I’m doing it, as well as the process behind it, but there are several episodes to come – our next guest is revealed tomorrow, with a new episode every Tuesday for the next six weeks – so I’m going to keep things (uncharacteristically) mysterious, for now.

I’m looking forward to hearing your reactions to the upcoming episodes, and of course, I’m open to giving comment. If you want to write about it, get in touch.

THIS WEEK I WAS TOLD

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Today, the incomparable chef , host of the supper club Come To My House I’ll Make You Fat, and creator of , sits on the Togo.

We speak about building a palace of your own, the intimacy of providing pleasure through food, and being content with the smaller, everyday things.

More on why TGITE is producing this talk show, which aims to scratch beneath the surface of why people do what they do (after all, we’re in the business of appetite) will be in your inbox later this week.

The episode is not long, and I hope you’ll sit with it during some downtime, to absorb all the beauty and wisdom shared. It’s also available to watch on YouTube. Subscribe to never miss an episode.

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Shot on 6th February 2026 in one take.

Hosted and Produced by Panayiota Soutis.

Filmed and Edited by William Page-Brown.

Graphics by SM Studio.

With huge thanks to Paris Rosina.

Today, you could be attending the Lebanon Palestine Solidarity Market at The Horse Hospital, and later on, swinging by the launch of Mi…

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Partly because it’s important to stay fluid, but mostly because I’m throwing a Spring Parlour this afternoon with SIGLA, and I filmed episode five and six of The Goal is to Eat’s Talk Show on Friday (coming soon!) so I’ve had less brain space for collating my observations from the world of taste.

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