Marcus Wareing launches our Love Food Give Food appeal with pork pie sale at Taste of London

25th June 2011

We sat down with Marcus Wareing to ask him about his work, his food, and his secret to success.

Why are you here at Taste of London today?

Well, I’m here at Taste of London for Action Against Hunger; I was asked to come and bring my new restaurant here. I’m absolutely delighted; it’s a great cause. And it’s also, you know, for us to showcase the opening of our new restaurant, The Gilbert Scott, which is a beautiful British restaurant in a great building. It’s coming to a great British event like this for a cause that supports lots of people all over the world. Food brings a lot of people together...

Have you been involved with Action Against Hunger before?

Yes, having been in the industry for a long time, I’ve been involved with various different events. It’s a charity that I’ve always been aware of and seems like a charity that has been there forever! I know it hasn’t, but I think that chefs are very aware of it because we contribute to all sorts of different charities that are all food-related. Food is our life!

What are you cooking today?

We’ve got a menu here from The Gilbert Scott; we did originally plan to make a cold leek and potato Cullen Skink soup, but we’ve made it hot now because of the rain. We also have traditional English pork pie, and a beautiful mutton stew. And believe it or not, strawberries, but it is raining, so it’s not the most popular dish of the day.

Congratulations on your new restaurant, it’s been a huge success. How do you manage to juggle having two restaurants?

Well, I’ve got a great team; and I’ve built a great loyalty with my team and there are some key people that work for me now and that are ready to take on running restaurants for people like myself. I’m working at The Gilbert Scott at the moment, setting it up for the first three months, and then I’m back to The Berkeley kitchen, where I belong. That’s the restaurant that bares my name and that’s where I cook. The Gilbert Scott is in a beautiful building and thanks to the great team it’s already running smoothly so I’m able to easily work between the two.

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As part of its Love Food Give Food appeal launch, Action Against Hunger hosted a pop-up restaurant at the annual Taste of London restaurant festival in Regent’s Park to raise crucial funds towards our life-saving work. 

A big thank you to our fantastic chef supporters Theo Randall, Marcus Wareing, Cyrus Todiwala, Jun Tanaka and Mark Jankel for your fantastic support!