. We started with a skewer of lamb, decent but being slightly tough (and covered in chimichurri that I think could have been bol){kind=link}
Chef Tom Seller, Michelin stars under his belt, serves a distinctly Parisian sharing menu – the snail bolognese is a winner
Chefs are a fidgety, restless bunch. They need constant change and renewal. Which means they make life hard for themselves because what customers and critics want is consistency, and what chefs in fact demand in their own kitchens is steady regularity. But they employ other chefs who end up being just like them: exhaustingly impatient and restive.
It’s one of the reasons chefs get tattoos. If their menu demands the gruelling, repetitive labour of turning out a daily dish of, say, beef dripping candle, then at least a fresh tattoo ensures the lively agony of a needle and the satisfaction of some new body art.
Tom Sellers, an accomplished chef in his mid-30s who won acclaim and Michelin stars 10 years ago with Restaurant Story in south London, near Tower Bridge, has worked out a perfect scenario for his restlessness this year. He’s closed Restaurant Story for a major refurb and has opened not one but two new places: one in Mayfair called Dovetale and another in Seven Dials called Story Cellar. Doubtless he has a few new tattoos too so he’s setting a noble example for his peers.
The premise at Story Cellar is cosy upmarket dining with chic tables and a kitchen counter. It’s a distinctly posh incursion into this part of London’s Covent Garden, a district whose streets once ran with vagrants and vagabonds and are now all boutiques and tourists.