This week, we’re heading over to Jeremy Lee’s and – let us tell you – it’s lovely. (Though, of course, we already knew that, having previously spent the day with him.) The shelves are groaning (with books and bowls and more books) and any guest invariably leaves similarly stuffed, fortified by the fruits of the Scots-born chef’s fondness for free-handed hosting. The glasses here are – metaphorically, literally, etc – half-full, if not running over.
When Jeremy isn’t running the show at Quo Vadis, the Soho institution whose kitchen he’s helmed for more than a decade, he can be found here – an apartment in an old suit factory built in the 1920s, “happily placed between London Fields and Victoria Park in Hackney, near to some of the best bakers in London”. The split-level flat is prized by the chef and writer for its “extraordinary” concrete ceilings and huge windows, in front of which Jeremy’s desk is situated, giving him views across the city to mull over as he ruminates on recipes. Also huge, he tells us, is his television, which is in near constant use, normally showing any one of his favourite classic films. He likes to play them as he chops, stirs and simmers, chatting over them to the many friends that often have a seat at his table. For as well sharing this space with his beloved bicycle, Jeremy says he lives, most importantly, among “memories and hopes – for lots of lunches and a lot of books”.
