My Plate & Place with… Joe Hurd

As a chef, Joe has worked alongside Francesco Mazzei, Heston Blumenthal, Aldo Zilli, Jamie Oliver, Gennaro Contaldo and the late, great Antonio Carluccio. He’s a regular guest presenter on BBC One’s Saturday Kitchen, on stage at festivals and events across the UK, and his little black book of industry contacts makes him a go-to for event and content curation as part of brand partnerships and activations.

Joe trained with Francesco Mazzei at the acclaimed “L’Anima” restaurant, before working in the kitchens of some of the cities best Italian dining establishments. Following this he began a career on camera, fronting the children’s cooking show The Munchbox, before going on to regular shows on the Travel Channel, Discovery, C5 and BBC1.

His passion and knowledge really lies in ingredients and their importance in the Italian culinary tradition. Working now for Delitalia, the UK’s leading supplier of quality Italian Food and Beverages, Joe gets to share his passion for ingredients with the UK’s Italian culinary scene while continuing his learning journey. Currently Joe is beginning a new project with Petra Flour, helping the brand expand into the USA.

Describe your perfect day in London?

Well, it would all be on foot, as I think one of the best things you can do in London is walk it. The Underground is such a waste when’s there is so much to explore and see for free.

I’d probably start in Bethnal Green where I lived for six years in the most destitute little bedsit. I would visit my friends over at E Pellicci and have an espresso before walking to Soho via the City and Holborn. I’d call in at Eataly on Bishopsgate and get a Tomato focaccia and some jars of chilli to take back up North. My mum’s family are from Calabria, so this is a staple.

If it’s a perfect day, the Italian Club above St. Peter’s Church in Farringdon would be open, and I’d probably have a few games of Scopa (Italian card game) before having a wander around the church itself and lighting a candle to San Calogero. Once upon a time, this journey would have involved an incredible amount of pub stops, but as I’m currently not drinking I’d probably head to Covent Garden where I recently discovered Club Soda, an alcohol-free bar that makes sobriety moderately more human.

I’d finish up in Soho, head down into Trisha’s for a dance and maybe a nostalgic smoke. It’s the last real Soho club and you feel like you are back in the golden era of the area.

Favourite restaurant?

Little Sardegna on Blackstock Road. When I moved to London in 2013, I was working for Francesco Mazzei at L’Anima (I’d say my favourite restaurant of all time, now sadly a Tesco Express). Little Sardegna is where all the chefs would eat when not at work. I ended up working there for four years and the owner Marcello is my daughter’s godfather. Marcello resisted filling his menu with the leftovers of the 1960’s trattoria revolution, the ubiquitous plates of Carbonara, Minestrone and Cotoletta Milanese. Here you are going to eat the kind of dishes that preceded that, things like Sausage and Cauliflower, Malloreddus and Salumi that Marcello brings from his village in Sardinia. It’s truly old-world but cooked by a chef with so much instinct and natural ability, the kind you don’t find anymore.

On the other side, I am enjoying Brutto; it’s a bit Disneyland Italian and the wine list annoys me, but the plates are an excellent representation of Florentine Trat food.

Non-Italian, I really like Humble Chicken in Soho, I’d never have believed the parsons nose and raw cabbage could taste so fine.

Best place for brunch?

I don’t really like brunch; it makes no sense to me. I don’t eat in the mornings. I tend to have 5-6 Espresso between 7am and 12pm, at a push I may have a boiled egg. So basically, anywhere that does the above.

What was the last museum or gallery you visited?

Like a massive tourist, I went to the Tower of London with my wife recently. I lived in London for nearly seven years and never went to the place once. I am a big BIG history nerd, I did an MA in Jacobite History, but I never visited the tower. I was persuaded to see the crown jewels which didn’t hold much appeal to me, but to be fair I was blown away by them.

Other than that, I went to Shakespeare’s Globe to see a modern interpretation of Joan of Arc – it was dreadful, but the globe was fascinating.

London is really the most wonderful museum and gallery itself. I also love wandering around and discovering the blue plaques.

Where are the best places to shop?

For food, I love Eataly. I can get Italian cuts of meat there that I can’t get from a British butcher, as well as fruit, vegetables, and fish, etc. I always come back home with cooler bags full of fresh products. I have found a wonderful Japanese supermarket, Tian Tian, in the Brunswick Centre just off Marchmont Street which is currently intriguing me.

For clothes, I really like Earlham Street, between Covent Garden and Soho. It’s got a Carhartt store, the fantastically expensive American Vintage store, and a few other places I can get clothes that marry up work and leisure. My advice though is sack off London and get your sen’ to Meadowhall, Junction 34, M1 (N).

Preferred bar or pub for a great night out?

Trisha’s on Greek Street has been a favourite for years. I really want to go to Gaz’s Rocking Blues at the St. Moritz Club but it’s only open on Thursdays and I am never in town then. Otherwise, I recently went to The Devonshire in Piccadilly.

That place is a shining beacon of what a super pub should and can be – Oisin Rogers is hospitality. I’m also a big fan of Baladin in Camden Market, for great beer, amazing wine and probably the best Italian street food in the UK.

Most relaxing place to unwind?

Hazlitt’s in Soho. I spend my working life travelling and in recent years it’s become increasingly global. Consequently, I stay in hundreds of hotels a year. Hazlitt’s is the best I have ever stayed in and always seems to me to be a bit of a hidden gem. It’s like staying in Dickensian-era London without the pestilence, crime, and poor sanitation. The attention to detail and level of luxury, considering the price, is insane. I never sleep better anywhere else and always feel like I’ve had a month in a Swiss health spa when I leave.

If you had only one day in London, where would you visit?

For food, I think I’m old enough for a Kettner’s visit now. I really used to turn my nose up at French haute cuisine but now I’m guiltily, quietly embracing it. For shopping and fashion, it would be Vivienne Westwood’s Worlds End collection. And for a dose of culture, I’d visit Dennis Severs’ House in Spitalfields.

What is your top London tip?

Despite it being a pretty good, cheap night out in the West End, Gordon’s is not London’s best kept secret by any hopeful stretch of the imagination.

Tell us what you are currently up to?

I work for one of the UK’s leading Italian Food and Beverage suppliers, Delitalia. We spend a lot of time looking at new products, researching and interpreting the market – this takes up a lot of time. Italian food is at something of a crisis point in the UK, so we are thinking around this a lot.

I do a lot of work with Lifetime Training, one of the UK’s top providers of Chef and FOH apprenticeships and we have an incredible new Italian Academy we are launching alongside Delitalia. Hospitality is in desperate need of new talent, and people of passion, so working with Lifetime Training is, I feel, the most direct way to impact the future of our industry.

Make sure to follow Joe on Instagram @joehurdcook to keep up to date on his work and latest projects!