Quality Chop House

A stunner. – Diana Henry

Where Ill always want to be. – Marina OLoughlin

The Quality Chop House has stood proudly on the corner of Farringdon Road and Exmouth Market since 1869. It’s been a working man’s cafe, a 90s celeb magnet and, for the last 7 years, one of London’s best-known, best-loved restaurants, with its famous confit potatoes regularly topping lists of ‘dishes you can’t miss in London’ on websites across the globe. On any given night, you will find notables from Londons food world propping up the bar or rummaging for bottles of wine in the shop next door.

Every week, delicious produce arrives at the restaurant from all over the British Isles: produce which eventually ends up in dishes like pastrami-cured salmon, roast cod with trotter tortellini or beef mince on dripping toast. The cooking is deceptively simple but honed to perfection: behind each recipe is an accumulation of notes, seasoning tweaks and adjustments according to what might be in season. Learn the secret behind those famous potatoes, the timings behind a perfect Sunday roast and what really makes a sandwich.

This is British cooking written with accessibility and precision, that will make itself at home in any kitchen.