Meet the co-Head Chefs leading the Refettorio Felix Community Kitchen

Megan Schiller

When Holly and Georgia met working at the Rome Sustainable Food Project, it would’ve been a very beautiful, if slightly ambitious, idea that 2 years on they would be running their own kitchen.

Now, at Refettorio Felix, Holly and Georgia spend their weeks creating their own completely unique menu every day, serving 120 people a restaurant style, 3-course meal using only surplus ingredients.

The guests that they serve rely on Refettorio Felix for a variety of reasons: many of our guests are rough sleepers, and this lunch will be their only meal of the day. Many are in active recovery from their struggles with addiction. Others arrive seeking support with housing issues, and stay for the comfort that is provided at the centre. Some people come for lunch every day just for the company. We have an open door policy. Everyone’s welcome.

Georgia describes her cooking as instinctive. “I rarely follow recipes. I like to let the produce inspire me. I really really hate waste - so I try to think of recipes with whatever needs using up first.” Holly says her style is “fresh. It’s simple, paired back.”

Growing up in Normandy, Georgia has spent the past 3 years working in kitchens in Rome, so her cooking influences span widely across the Mediterranean. “Where Holly and I worked in Rome we learnt a lot about sustainable cooking and using up every part of the ingredient…making mascarpone, pickles, jams, yoghurts…”

After training at Ballymaloe Cookery School, Holly’s first kitchen that she worked in was Skye Gyngell’s restaurant Spring at Somerset House. “This was a masterclass in seasonal, simple, fresh cooking. Skye works directly alongside a farm in the Black Mountains - I gained a great insight into the special collaboration there can be between grower and chef.”

Holly and Georgia only have surplus ingredients to create their recipes from, receiving deliveries from The Felix Project twice a week. Many different restaurants, caterers and suppliers from across London often drop by with all sorts of ingredients that otherwise may have gone to waste.

Fresh ingredients are often easier to come by, but it’s the ambient stock and fats that we sometimes lack. “At present, we need sugar!” Holly says. A volunteer recently connected us with the sustainable flour organisation Wildfarmed, who now regularly donate flour to us. “We’ve been making lots of cakes and sweet treats to utilise this - now we need the sugar to equalise it…”

“Also, olive oil. We can never have enough olive oil donations. It’s always appreciated in our kitchen.”

Working in a community kitchen can be a challenge: you’re dealing with ingredients out of your control, managing different kitchen volunteers every day, serving palettes that may be sensitive, all whilst being on a strict time schedule: our takeaway meals have to be ready to be packed at 10:30.

“It pushes us a lot,” Georgia says. “The ingredients we get donated are always different. When you work in a restaurant you might be working in just one section - we dabble a bit in everything.“ Holly echoes this. “

Georgia joined us a couple of months ago, and is used to working in brigades, a completely different environment. “We get to be very creative here - coming up with different menus every day is great. In restaurant kitchens, there’s a lot of repetition and not so much independence.”

There’s definitely an air of positive change in the Refettorio Felix kitchen.

“We’re looking forward to more takeovers, more events…we also want to have a bit more time to make things like our own homemade bread and pasta, as long as we have the ingredients to do so.”

Holly has big plans for the centre, too. “I would like to try and organise more food related workshops here. Georgia did a wonderful pasta and spritz workshop last week. It was great to see the centre take on a new form in the evening. I have some fun ideas for other workshops. Watch this space!”

For the first time in two years, we’re hosting a supper club at Refettorio Felix, to fundraise for our daily activities and (officially) introduce Holly and Georgia. On the 16th of May we’re hosting a four-course, Italian - style menu at the centre and we couldn’t be more excited.

Tickets are selling very fast - so if you aren’t too late, you might be able to get a ticket here.

If they have sold out - we still have some tickets to our other fundraiser, our Open Mic, on the 25th of April.

If you’re interested in volunteering or organising a kitchen takeover, please email volunteers@stcuthbertscentre.org.uk.

If you have ingredients or kitchen equipment you would like to donate, please email megan@stcuthbertscentre.org.uk.

Do you want to host a supper club at Refettorio Felix? Email events@stcuthbertscentre.org.uk.

Photo credit: Megan Schiller