The Go To Food Podcast

This week on The Go-To Food Podcast, we travel to Guernsey to sit down with Nathan Davies at his restaurant Vraic. After walking away from the world’s most intense kitchens, Nathan chose the island to build something entirely his own. What he has created is confident, generous and already one of the most talked about new dining rooms in Britain.A huge part of Nathan’s story is his formative years working alongside Gareth Ward at Ynyshir. He speaks candidly about the brutality and brilliance of that period, the pressure, the creativity, and the uncompromising standards that shaped him as a chef. It is a rare, honest look inside one of the most influential kitchens of the last decade, and what it really takes to survive and grow in an environment like that.At Vraic, those lessons are everywhere, but filtered through Nathan’s own voice. The menu blends Welsh roots, Japanese influence, live fire cooking and Guernsey produce into something deeply personal. He talks about why flavour always comes before ego, why generosity matters more than luxury signalling, and how he has taken the best parts of his past without trying to replicate them.This episode is about ambition without arrogance, discipline without fear, and building a restaurant on your own terms after working at the sharpest end of fine dining. If you want to understand how chefs carry their mentors with them while forging something new, this conversation is essential listening. Recorded at Vraic in Guernsey and powered by Blinq. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Set deep in the Suffolk countryside, the Greyhound Inn is the kind of place that immediately feels special. Over 400 years old and restored with quiet confidence, it balances the warmth of a proper English pub with the ambition of a serious food destination. The welcome is generous, the bar stacked with thoughtful bottles, and the room hums with the sense that hospitality comes first. This is not a place chasing trends, but one grounded in time, community and craft.At the heart of it all is chef Adam Spicer, whose cooking is rooted in hyper-seasonality, nose-to-tail thinking and an obsessive respect for produce. Menus change weekly, sometimes daily, depending on what local farmers, gamekeepers and fishermen bring to the door. One night might feature wild halibut, venison shot by a family member, or rabbit offal cooked with confidence and restraint. When ingredients are this good, Spicer’s philosophy is simple: do as little as possible and do it well.Spicer’s journey here has been anything but conventional. Largely self-taught, he honed his fundamentals while cooking at Corpus Christi College in Cambridge, before testing himself on MasterChef: The Professionals in 2019. The experience sharpened his focus rather than defining him. What sets his food apart now is not showmanship but depth, from long-reduced bone sauces to perfectly judged offal dishes that feel both generous and precise.Underpinning it all is a shared belief in hospitality over margin. Wine is priced to be enjoyed, not hoarded, with a list leaning towards small, organic producers. Regulars mix easily with visitors from London, including the occasional appearance from local fan Ed Sheeran. With its roaring fires, serious cooking and unpretentious charm, the Greyhound Inn feels like a pub that knows exactly what it is and why it matters. It is a reminder that some of the most exciting food in Britain is happening far from the capital, quietly and confidently. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He cooked at El Bulli at its absolute peak, worked side by side with Albert Adrià, and lived through a kitchen so intense you had to physically fight just to plate food. In this episode, Rob Roy Cameron strips away the mythology of the world’s most famous restaurant and tells the unfiltered truth about what service was really like behind closed doors.From running an illegal bakery as a child in southern Africa to becoming one of Spain’s most in-demand chefs, Rob Roy’s career is anything but conventional. He opens up about brutal mentors, impossible standards, creative obsession, and the moment he realised molecular gastronomy had lost its magic. There are war stories, near-meltdowns, and a nightmare service with Spain’s greatest chefs watching every move.Now head chef of Alta in Soho, Rob Roy reflects on walking away from the El Bulli universe, cycling solo through conflict zones, and why today’s diners crave simplicity over spectacle. This is a rare, honest conversation about ambition, burnout, creativity, and what really matters once the hype fades. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From corporate law burnout to one of London’s most influential independent restaurants, this episode dives into the extraordinary journey of Mandy Yin, founder of Sambal Shiok. Broadcasting from her Holloway Road laksa bar, Mandy tells the story of how a chicken satay burger at a street food market sparked a complete career pivot, and how Malaysian food became her vehicle for creativity, survival and cultural expression in the UK.At the heart of the conversation is laksa. Not as a trend, but as a mission. Mandy breaks down the obsessive detail behind Sambal Shiok’s signature curry laksa, made entirely in house from paste to broth, including a vegan version designed with the same depth and care as the original. She also lifts the lid on the brutal economics of hospitality, explaining why a £22 bowl of noodles is not excess but the bare minimum required to keep a restaurant alive.This episode captures Mandy at her most candid. She talks about the physical grind of street food, the transition to bricks and mortar, the impact of Covid, and the moment she went viral explaining how VAT quietly cripples independent restaurants. There is frustration, but also clarity, particularly around kindness, sustainability and the widening gap between what diners expect and what restaurants can realistically deliver.Come for the laksa, stay for the honesty. From nasi lemak and sambal Brussels sprouts to pandan cake and salted banana caramel, this is a conversation about flavour, resilience and refusing to compromise. It is an essential listen for anyone who loves eating out and wants to understand what it really takes to keep the doors open in modern hospitality. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week, The Go-To Food Podcast closes out the year inside one of London’s most talked-about dining rooms. Recorded at Café Cecilia on the canals of Hackney, the episode finds hosts Ben and Fred sitting down with chef owner Max Rocha at the height of Christmas service. It is warm, chaotic, funny and deeply human, the sound of a restaurant in motion as one of Britain’s most influential young chefs reflects on how he got here.Rocha speaks with striking honesty about his journey through Spring, River Cafe and St. John, and the mentors who shaped him, particularly the late Skye Gyngell. He unpacks how Café Cecilia exploded from a modest, family-run opening into one of the hardest tables to secure in the country, without PR, without hype chasing, and without compromising on food that is rooted in simplicity, seasonality and care. This is a masterclass in building something quietly exceptional, one plate at a time.The conversation goes far beyond the pass. Rocha opens up about burnout, addiction and the pressure of sudden success, describing how sobriety and exercise quite literally saved his life and his restaurant. He talks about rewriting kitchen culture, setting boundaries, banning hangovers, and creating an environment where young chefs can learn properly, from butchery to bread, rather than just survive service. It is one of the most candid discussions of mental health in hospitality you will hear this year.Along the way, there is food, a lot of it. Guinness bread and butter, fritti with anchovy and sage, deep fried bread and butter pudding, big steaks, Dublin restaurants worth travelling for, and the dish Rocha would put in the Go-To Hall of Fame. Thoughtful, generous and quietly profound, this episode is a fitting end to the year and essential listening for anyone who cares about cooking, creativity and staying human in a brutal industry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.