The team at City Matters sat down with Executive Chef, Graham Chatham to discuss all things Origin City, the challenges he faces in the role and what’s in the pipeline for 2025. Read on to find out more.
Q. Talk us through your journey to becoming Executive Chef at Origin City.
A. Having worked in the industry since 1989, I have been lucky enough to work in a lot of top 5* hotels and Michelin star restaurants. With a lot of experience working with high quality produce, traditional British cuisine, and complicated supply chains, at places such as The Langham Hotel, Rules, and Daylesford Organic, the opportunity to build this all from scratch at Origin City seemed too good to pass up.
Q. What is the most rewarding part of your role?
A. I look forward to the challenge of being able to bring people simple joy through great food. I’m a bit of a perfectionist, so I enjoy the challenge of consistently delivering on every dish, making sure that everything leaves the pass is of the very highest standard. On top of that, I love getting creative in the kitchen – especially given how led we are by our concept, it can be enormously difficult to come up with new and innovative dishes that utilise every part of the animal, and there is nothing like the satisfaction when you nail it.
Q. Talk us through the main values you try to incorporate in your role.
A. Being in full control of the supply chain means we need to transfer that integrity of the product to the plate. Our farmers in Scotland spend a lot of time loving rearing the animals in the most sustainable way possible, and so I feel it is our duty to reflect that in the care we give to the dishes. My job is to make the products shine, which thankfully is helped by just how fantastic the quality of the meat is.
Q. Are there any challenges you face and how do you overcome them?
A. In line with out farm-to-fork ethos, all of our meat comes from our own family farm in Scotland. We celebrate this by making sure we use every part of every animal, ensuring no waste, which is wonderful for the integrity of the supply chain and the quality of the meat, but you have to get incredibly creative to find a use for all of the less glamourous parts of our animals.
Q. What makes Origin City a unique fine-dining experience?
A. A lot of people only recognise certain cuts of meat, such a sirloin steak or a rack of lamb. Other cuts for roasting or braising may be familiar. Our farm to fork ethos means we need shine a spotlight on the lesser know cuts, to ensure that every part of every animal is utilised in an intelligent way. For example, for our beef carpaccio, we were able to use a cut that generally goes for mince, and turn it into something much more elegant. The reason we are able to do this is that we are incredibly lucky to have such high-quality meat.
Q. Do you have any advice for aspiring chefs in the City?
A. Pick a restaurant that you really love, and think about why you enjoy it so much. If it’s something your serious about, ask if you can do some shifts there, to get a real flavour of life in a working kitchen – it’s not all glamorous, and certainly isn’t for everyone, but for the right person it is a very rewarding career, and being a chef you’re in the biggest club in the world.
Q. What can we expect from Origin City in 2025?
A. We are incredibly excited to be launching our new farm shop shortly, just a couple of doors down from our restaurant in West Smithfield. We’ll be stocking lots of fresh meat from our butchery at Origin City, along with delicious homemade hams, pastrami, pates, terrines – the list goes on! We’ll have our food to go range with freshly made sandwiches, salads, and hot snacks, as well a line of homemade ready meals – all produced at Origin City.
Questions compiled by Ivana Syrota
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