Premier Hospitality

The Woodford

Woodford
Written by Roma Publications

The Woodford

Woodford

The Woodford, based in South Woodford, London is a modern fine dining restaurant. Located in the former Funky Mojoes nightclub on High Road, the restaurant is an 80 cover restaurant, including a table of 12 with a further 40 covers upstairs in the Oyster/Piano Champagne Lounge.

Work on the project started in August 2015 and was completed in March 2016 and has been backed by Essex-based restaurateur Stephen Andrews, founder of The Blue Group collection of hotels, bars and restaurants.

Former British Young National Chef of the Year Ben Murphy trained under Pierre Koffmann at the Berkeley, where he first learnt the basics of French cuisine. He has since worked at renowned and Michelin Starred restaurants across Britain and France, including Michel Guerard’s Les Pres d’Eugenie, Epicure at Le Bristol and The Greenhouse in Mayfair.

Now heading up his own restaurant, Ben is a former Young National Chef of the Year 2012, WorldSkills 2011 gold medal winner, three-Michelin-star familiar and star of the BBC’s Chef’s on Trial Show; a documentary that helped restaurants find their next head chef.

Ben will be joined at The Woodford by William Yarney, a previous assistant bar manager at the Shangir-La hotel in London’s the Shard, some former colleagues from the Greenhouse, Koffmann’s and Le Bristol and a former chef of The Fat Duck.

Combining British ingredients with French precision, Ben and his team bring a sense of playfulness to their dishes at The Woodford, combining ingredients in new or unexpected ways to offer a menu of vibrant and seasonal dishes.

Speaking to Premier Hospitality Magazine, Head Chef Ben said: “As the Chef, I have taken classical techniques from previous work placements, and have used them in such a way that we combine food flavours together that surprise our customers. The presentation also gives a wow factor because of the time and effort gone into creating each dish.”

Diners can wrap their trastebuds around a vareity of meuns including Grill, Tasting, A La Carte, Set Lunch and Sunday Menus and a dedicated Dessert menu. Tasty dishes include Creedy Carver Duck Breast, Oven Baked Cod, Textures of Beetroot, Potato Ravioli and Pineapple Souffle.

Ben has been involved with the project since September 2015 and has been involved with creating the design of the service kitchen and prep kitchen, as well as getting the kitchen team and front of house team together and creating and designing the menu.

Speaking about the process of working at the new restuant, Ben commented: “As with any new opening, there are always challenges, but we wanted to overcome them fully beforehand to ensure the opening went as smooth as possible. For example, we had to ensure extensive training methods and food tastings were carried out.  If we don’t try and bring something new to the Woodford, we will never know where exactly we stand in the restaurant business.

“For me personally it was very important to be involved with the project, as I really wanted to embrace the exciting challenge of going from working in really well established restaurants to having my real responsibility as head chef.”

Reservations at The Woodford can be made by telephoning 020 8504 5952 or by emailing reservations@thewoodford.co.uk. Reservations can also be made via the website.
For further information, visit: www.thewoodford.co.uk.

Woodford

Diamond Specialist Joinery Ltd 

Diamond Specialist Joinery Ltd specialises in the design and manufacture of bespoke joinery items including staircases, glazed screens, kitchens, bars, libraries, traditional and contemporary windows, wardrobes and vanity units.

Trading since 2014, the company states that they “turn ideas into reality.”

Private clients include VIPs, with affluent and discerning customers throughout London and Essex.

Having recently worked for The Woodford Restaurant, Diamond assisted on the value engineering of the scheme, offering material choices and developing design drawings to working drawings. Diamond also manufactured and installed the bars, serveries, fitted back bar units, bottle shelves, wine racks, drinks shelves, library wall to private dining areas and feature wall panelling.

Daren Palmer from Diamond Specialist Joinery said: “The project was important to us as it gave us the opportunity to showcase our work to a wider audience demonstrating our team’s capabilities. Often our joinery fitted in private homes is appreciated but not always seen. It was important working with an expanding company as we had an energetic relationship sharing our ideas and growing as well.

“We pride ourselves in having a can do attitude at short notice. We work hard to achieve short lead times and provide the highest quality bespoke joinery teams that will exceed the client’s needs.”

About the author

Roma Publications