Set in the heart of Primrose Hill, Home Kitchen stands as the world’s first fine-dining restaurant staffed by individuals experiencing and at risk of homelessness. This groundbreaking social enterprise combines exceptional culinary artistry with a mission to transform lives, offering its staff full-time contracts paid above minimum wage, along with professional training, and qualifications provided by Beyond Food Foundation and Westminster Kingsway College.
Having taken over the iconic Odette’s site on Regent’s Park Road, this not-for-profit venture aims to redefine perceptions of homelessness while delivering a Michelin-star dining experience. Working as executive chef, Adam Simmonds has designed a seasonal menu that demonstrates transferable culinary techniques and a commitment to quality cooking. With him, he brings Michelin-starred experience gleaned from some of the best restaurants in the world, including Ynyshir.
Starters on the Home Kitchen menu include ham hock terrine with smoked mayonnaise, scallop ceviche with apple and avocado, and salmon rillette with horseradish and pickled onion. Main courses meanwhile, offer the likes of guinea fowl with confit cabbage and truffle mash, monkfish with Jerusalem artichoke and a fish veloute, and fermented cauliflower with wild mushrooms and a pine nut dressing.
Home Kitchen employs 18 individuals from vulnerable backgrounds, each supported by a wider leadership team with experience in fine dining, casual dining, marketing, catering, and events. Home Kitchen isn’t working in isolation, the project has been made possible by collaboration with several charities and organisations working pro-bono to support the launch of the restaurant, help identify potential recruits, source produce and stock, and aid with marketing efforts, branding, and interior design. These include Soup Kitchen London, The Beyond Food Foundation, Big Issue, along with leading private organisations like Budweiser, Kraft Heinz, and Popeyes.
What Home Kitchen offers isn’t just a meal, it’s an opportunity to make a meaningful contribution, with all profits reinvested into setting up other UK locations and sites around the world in areas experiencing homelessness crises.