Women Chefs Need Customers Not Just Boosters

(Bloomberg Opinion) — The London restaurant world is in a roil over sexism again. On Monday, the Times of London ran an interview with Jason Atherton, one of the most prominent and accomplished chefs in Britain, under the headline “I haven’t seen any sexism in the kitchen.”

The outcry on social media was immediate from women in the business who related their own experiences not just with sexism in general but harassment and what’s euphemistically called “bad boy” behavior in the kitchen. Atherton — whose two-month old ROW on 5 restaurant in London just received a Michelin star — defended himself by saying his remarks had been misconstrued. He was “absolutely against sexism, 100 percent, and I will not tolerate it.” He clarified that his reference to sexism’s invisibility didn’t apply to the entire culinary world — just his patch of it. That seemed to appease some critics.

But there’s more to do than crying out loud. We can put our money to work supporting culinary endeavors owned or run by women (or both). They don’t have to be big, fancy restaurants like Core by Clare Smyth in Notting Hill and Helene Darouze at the Connaught in Mayfair. There are also small businesses, startups and residencies. Show up with your wallets.

Here are six women pushing their singular visions and skills in the tough culinary world of London:

Adejoké Bakare: I’ve been a fan of her Chishuru since its previous incarnation in Brixton, a train ride across the Thames from where I live. Since then, she’s moved to Fitzrovia, where Chishuru won a Michelin star in 2024 and retained it this year. In her first season at the new location, Bakare, who’s in charge of the kitchen as well as co-owner, won chef of the year from the National Restaurant Awards in 2024. (Chishuru placed 31st on that annual list of the 100 best restaurants in the UK). Her West African cuisine — taking off from her northern Nigeria roots — is precise in execution, sensual to the palette and ravishing to the eye. 

Guirong Wei: She runs a handful of restaurants, purveying the cuisine of China’s Shaanxi province and its capital Xi’an (home of the army of the First Emperor’s terracotta warriors unearthed in 1974). I’ve been ordering takeaway from Master Wei in the Holborn area for years, but she also has outposts next to the Tower of London (Dream Xi’an) and across the street from Emirates Stadium (Xi’an Impression). The biang biang noodles are wonderful; and whenever I need a mapo tofu fix — which is several times a month — I head for one of her spots. They are getting busier since she was featured in the 2024 season of Netflix’s Chef’s Table. I only wish she’d move Xi’an Impression from under the shadow of where Arsenal play to the vicinity of Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea has its home. Go Blues!

Anna Tobias: Her Cafe Deco in Bloomsbury is low-key with a homespun elegance — the perfect setting for Tobias’ sumptuous simplicity. She’s managed to push through the travails of a just-before-Covid opening in 2020 to capture the hearts of the neighborhood. I’m just happy that Cafe Deco’s now open on Mondays — a treat for someone like me who eats out every night in a city where many good restaurants aren’t open on the first day of the work week. If she has pie on the menu, eat it.

Julie Hetyei: I’ve been enjoying Hetyei’s monthslong residency at 107 Wine Shop & Bar (the former site of PFranco, an iconic natural wine emporium). I’ve had her food before: She worked at Flor in Borough Market and then at Cadet on Newington Green, both places that I love. But the dishes she has been creating at 107 are stunning — and all cooked on a single induction cooktop in a kitchen smaller than my desk here at Bloomberg. She’s testimony to the talent in the city — and how women can do so much with so little. Catch her before her stint ends in March.

Rahel Stephanie: I’ve written about her before. She’s on a mission to educate the world about the diversity and range of Indonesian cuisine. She doesn’t have a brick-and-mortar shop of her own, but she’s been popping up all over town, growing a fervent band of fans who show up everywhere she does. Her pandan blondies — made with the deep-vanilla essence of the southeast Asian leaf — are essential eating.

Joyeta Ng: With one of the most impressive kitchen pedigrees in London’s pop-up world (Noma in Copenhagen, Den in Tokyo), Ng is perfecting dishes as she lays the groundwork for a restaurant of her own, focused on Cantonese cooking. She had a star turn over Chinese new year’s week at Carousel — London’s showcase for up-and-coming chefs.  

There are so many more women entrepreneurs out there transforming the London restaurant scene (Among them: Cynthia Shanmugalingam’s Rambutan and its Sri Lankan diaspora cuisine; Boutheina Ben Salem’s Tunisian supper club BabeldeB; Helen Graham’s vegetable-centric pop-ups). Like all nascent businesses, they need support — and if you get a chance to try their food, and you like what you taste, make sure you find them again. Your hard-earned money can boost a hardworking chef.

I discovered this the hard way just about a dozen years ago in New York. I had stumbled stupidly into a controversy as the editor of a magazine chart that lionized chefs, without citing a single woman who ran a restaurant. (I summarize the experience at the end of this column.) One of my loudest critics was Amanda Cohen, chef of the vegetarian Dirt Candy. In my repentance tour, I booked a table at her restaurant. Unsurprisingly, the food was delicious (even to a carnivore like me), but what was shocking was the size of the Dirt Candy, one of the best reviewed openings of 2013. It was tiny, hardly bigger than a middling coffee shop. I realized why there was so much frustration: While investors and bankers readily risked their capital on restaurant concepts with male cooks, women chefs with innovative ideas were stuck trying to make a success out of holes-in-the-wall.

The happy ending for Cohen was that Dirt Candy eventually got the backers it needed to move to sleeker digs. And this year, Cohen saw out a controversy that had her battling a Texas enterprise for rights to the name Dirt Candy. The ironic shift? Cohen was seen as the big shot trying to muscle out a hippyish agricultural outfit. That too caused a social media hubbub. I’m sure it was a headache for Cohen (who I now consider a friend). Running a restaurant has never been for the faint of heart. But, it’s fitting that some women in restaurants are now at a point where they can be treated — and feared — as the boss.

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This column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.

Howard Chua-Eoan is a columnist for Bloomberg Opinion covering culture and business. He previously served as Bloomberg Opinion’s international editor and is a former news director at Time magazine. 

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