Before he leaves Belfast to start the next chapter of his career working for Ollie Dabbous in London, chef Nathan Snoddon will cook a Michelin standard meal for 150 people left homeless this Christmas.
Giving back to his community has been something Nathan has wanted to do for a while, but until now the promising young chef wasn’t quite sure of what to do or how to go about it.
Beef, carrot, onion & egg yolk
Cooking for the homeless
“Long story short, I wanted to do something charitable for people for the past year using my skill but I didn’t really know what until I started doing a couple of pop up restaurants around Northern Ireland," says Nathan.
After witnessing so many people left stranded and vulnerable on the streets of London, Nathan soon began to realise just how much homelessness had affected his city back home in Belfast. It was this epiphany that led the chef to want to host a Christmas feast unlike any other for those who will be left cold and alone this festive season.
Speaking of the Michelin starred meal, Nathan said: “No one has done that before and anything they have done hasn’t been a great standard of food and I thought that was something I could offer them.”
Although the former senior sous and food photography enthusiast has come up with the concept he’s still scouting the area for the right site to host the event.
“It needs to be finalised but I have been searching for the right venue for the past two weeks," he informs us.
When we caught up with Nathan he said he had just come back from visiting a potential venue for the pop up.
“There’s a place in the city centre of Belfast," he explained. “I think they’re going to let us use their space which is a small hall with a little kitchen at the back of it.”
Food style for the pop up
Once the chef finds the right location he will be working on a three course meal, although it won’t be Michelin starred food he promises it will be a Michelin starred standard way of cooking.
“My thoughts were that there would be people already doing a traditional meal. So, there was no point in me doing something they could already get so I wanted to do something a bit different that is restaurant standard food.”
Nathan said he was already considering doing a unique twist on a classic, the posh fish finger sandwich, a dish the chef describes as feeling ‘homely’ and ‘nostalgic’. But both the starter course and dessert remain a mystery as the chef continues his search for the right spot.
And it seems he will have no problem sourcing ingredients as the chef assures us he’s been inundated with messages from potential volunteers and suppliers alike.
Nathan Stoddon. Photography by Ross Reaney
“I have a cracking relationship with suppliers around the area so they’re going to donate most of the food for free.”
Although the offers have been pouring in Nathan is just sticking with a small knit group of chefs and acquaintances on the day. He is also hoping to pre prep the bulk of the cooking in a professional kitchen which he’ll then transport and finish on site.
A fundraising page has also been set up which Nathan hopes will not only raise money for people living on the streets but also awareness of the severity of the situation.
“There’s only £50 in it so far but I’m hoping to get it up as much as possible," explained Nathan.
“There won’t be a massive cost in running the event, I’m just hoping to get as much from that to donate to the organisations to help them.”
When it came to how many he should cook for Nathan reached out to a couple of organisations to get a rough idea of numbers he should expect.
“The maximum I’m going to cook for is 150.”
He continued: “If I’m cooking for 150 people at least I’m not going to have any shortages because the last thing I want is to run out of food.”
His Go Fund Me page is set at a £5, 000 target which Nathan hopes to reach by Friday, December 22 – the day the event is due to be held.
Career and future plans
Like most chefs before him Nathan started his career at the bottom working as a pot wash before climbing his way up the career ladder. And with a mother who is also a chef, it was inevitable he would follow in her footsteps.
Salmon, dill, burnt lemon & BBQ potato
He said: “I had a lot of good knowledge from my mother who gave me the foundations of cooking so that helped me massively skip the starting point of my career and boost it.”
A few years ago Nathan travelled across Europe to work in Australia and Asia to broaden his horizons and hone his skills before coming back to Belfast to focus on his career doing the odd stage here and there. Next year the young chef will be moving to London to work with former Michelin starred chef Ollie Dabbous, whose one starred restaurant, aptly titled, Dabbous closed in the summer.
The two met when Nathan staged for Ollie at his restaurant, Dabbous. After one of the chefs stormed out and didn’t return the next day Ollie chose Nathan as his replacement.
“Ollie put me on his section and it went quite well and he said if I was ever looking to come back to give him a shout and about three months ago I did!”
Luckily for Nathan, Ollie is currently in the throes of setting up a new restaurant in Picadilly, London with Roux Scholar and National Chef of the Year 2018 champion, Luke Selby in charge of the kitchen. Nathan will be joining the brigade as senior chef de partie when the restaurant opens in February.
With the plans behind the restaurant still a mystery, we asked Nathan what we can expect from the new establishment?
“I can’t tell you too much about that," he said. “but it’s going to be a really great restaurant.”
So, it looks like we’ll just have to wait a little while longer to find out what Ollie has in store.
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