With a background in events and celebrity booking for MTV and Channel 4, being part of the team at British fashion label House of Holland and releasing a cookery book this weeks LDNER is one busy lady. Regularly hosting pop-up restaurants and catering for private events, meet the lovely Anna Barnet…
Tell us where you live in London and what you like about that area?
I live in Hackney in East London. What I love most about the area is the sense of community, the passion for food…we have Broadway and Nettle Market every Saturday, the lido and being so close to the canal and Victoria Park. There are so many great restaurants, plus I can pretty much walk everywhere.
So tell us about what you get up to in your day to day and what’s going on currently?
My days are pretty varied…some days I will be recipe testing or shooting recipes and writing for different publications, and other days I may be prepping and catering for an event. Most days will include a dog walk and now that it’s warming up they’ll hopefully be a swim at the lido too. I’m currently working on a collaboration with Denby for their new Natural Canvas tableware range, which has been designed for modern living and is ideal for the dinner parties I host. I’ve also created a number of seasonal recipes for Denby, which I’ve really enjoyed doing. Getting the opportunity to be creative with produce I can eat is what my dreams are made of.
Lets talk food, if you could create a meal based on dishes from your fave restaurants what would be included and why?
For starters, Jerusalem Artichoke soup with a load of freshly baked bread and salty butter – I had it for the first time in The Eagle pub (the first ever gastro pub) in Farringdon and have made it so many times since. I love the flavour and heartiness of this soup. Plus, anything that goes with amazing bread and butter is a winner. My all time favourite main course has to be home made tagliatelle with king prawns and star anise – I ate this dish a minimum of twice a week when I was 18 while out in Lindos in Greece for the summer. We were up in a little hidden restaurant that looked out over the bay, covered in amazing honeysuckle style plants with an amazing chef who just cooking away. He eventually wrote out the recipe for me and I’ve managed to make something pretty close to it since (a few times over), I loved it so much that I even included it in my book. For dessert, it would probably be my Nans upside down pineapple cake or apple pudding…I can’t decide! Homely and hearty wins every time, ideally these would both be served warm with a big scoop of Cornish vanilla ice cream, followed by a snooze.
You regularly host pop up supper clubs, what have been some of your faves and what have you got coming up this year?
The Christmas ones are always the best, we do carols at the end of the evening around the piano and I love how much everyone gets so involved, it’s at that point that I know it’s Christmas.
What would you perfect day in London be?
I’d start with a big brunch at The Wolseley, just to get my energy levels up before walking through town and across the river onto the South Bank (ideally someone would meet me with my dog so he could come with me for this part). I’d then wonder down to Borough market, snack a little on melted Raclette over crushed new potatoes with cornichons, I’d also stock up on a little cheese selection to take home. I’d then walk over London Bridge and back to Hackney stopping off at the Royal Oak pub for a little glass of red wine. I’d possibly pick up a bunch of flowers from Columbia Road flowers market then head home to sit in front of the fire with friends and eat cheese or maybe I’d get distracted and just stay at The Royal Oak with friends and red wine.
Anna Barnett has created a series of recipes to showcase Natural Canvas from Denby, with pieces that are stylish, functional and perfect for every meal occasion, available here.