“We hold the food to our lips for two minutes to see how much our mouths water,” said Kul Acharya.
“That’s how we find out how tasty the dishes are.
“We cook everything fresh – meat, vegetables every day – and you have to taste it to know whether you’ve made something delicious.”
Kul should know. Born and raised in the small village of Dhairing in Nepal, he worked first as a primary school teacher before travelling to the UK on a tourist visa.
“I wanted to be a chef,” he said. “I came as a visitor and then started to work washing dishes at the Bombay Bicycle Club.
“Then I started cooking, learnt very quickly and eventually became head chef helping with the opening of new branches.”
It recently opened its second, taking over a corner space at Narrow Street’s Mosaic development in Limehouse – less than 15 minutes’ walk from the Canary Wharf estate.
Here he hopes to tap into both the east London dining and takeaway markets as the business grows.
“I have been engaged in different things in recent years,” said Kul, who is the current president of the Non-Resident Nepali Association’s International Coordination Council.
“But my focus is now on the business. I would like to have 20 locations in the Greater London area by 2025.
“We opened one in Portugal last year but had to close due to the pandemic, so I would also like to grow elsewhere in Europe.”
The restaurant opened to the public in January
For now though, it’s the food in London that’s very much on Kul’s mind.
A dish of Murg Masala arrives along with some spinach and rice during our interview and he’s much more concerned that I eat it while it’s hot rather than faff with photography.
It’s a measure of the warmth diners can expect at the new venue.
“What we serve is a fusion of Nepali, Indian and European food,” said Kul.
“The first question I always ask myself is: ‘Am I comfortable eating what I cook?’. If the answer is yes, then we can sell it. If not, then we don’t sell it.
“I’m always checking to see if there’s the right amount of chilli or salt in our dishes. The way our food looks is also very important.
“We work with a lot of vegetables and they have to be appetising and fresh.
“It’s very important to understand our customers when deciding which dishes to serve.
“Nepali food is generally less heavy – our tomato sauces, for example are lighter, not oily at all and the dahl we serve is more delicate.
“People like what we do – it’s great to get so many good reviews. Hopefully we can continue that success in Canary Wharf.
“For me, coming to this country was a golden opportunity.
“My ambition was to be a chef but before I came here I wasn’t even thinking about the possibility of having even one restaurant.
“Really I just wanted to be head chef. I certainly never thought that one day I would have more than 200 people working for me.”
Holy Cow is open daily from noon for dining and takeaway orders.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
That the resolution takes and the good intentions are converted into consistent, positive action?
January and February are traditionally the months of busy gyms as, for whatever reason, people decide to get fit, lose weight, gain muscle, improve their endurance or boost flexibility.
But, how to achieve those goals and develop a habit that will stick beyond the arrival of spring?
Along with her colleagues, her role is to help the health club’s members take the steps they need to get where they want to go.
“Our message for 2023 is all about training for life,” said Clare. “It’s the idea that everything you do in the gym supports what you do outside it.
“At Third Space we provide facilities where you can train every part of your body.
“But it’s not just the physical, it’s also about training the mind and about the restorative side of things.”
Billed as the largest luxury health club in Europe and spread over three floors of the building that houses Waitrose in Canada Square, Third Space Canary Wharf isn’t short on space or amenities.
There are free weights, a swimming pool, a climbing wall, saunas, steam rooms, ranks of cardio machines, a combat zone, weights machines and a vast Crossfit-inspired training area called The Yard.
Third Space Canary Wharf is currently undergoing a major update
That’s before you even get to the hundreds of classes every week – all included in the monthly membership. So how best to navigate such a wealth of options?
“The best thing you can do if you’re coming into training or returning to the gym, is to get as much guidance as possible,” said Clare, who trained as a dancer before embarking on a career in the fitness industry.
“You’ll see people on social media promoting crazy workouts and doing 30-day challenges. They can be great as a gateway into fitness but they are only ever the start.
“You want to be training to make your life easier, whether that’s with the aim of climbing a mountain or just running after your kids in the playground.
“In my classes I use the example of my mum. She’s retired and she loves hiking.
“She was struggling on the hikes to get over stiles, so I’ve given her barre exercises and Pilates for strength, flexibility and stability.
“It’s about working out why you want to train – whether your goals are aesthetic or fitness related. I think having longer term goals really helps.
“They make you realise you don’t need to go hell for leather – you don’t want to start with a marathon if you’ve not been running before.
“It’s the same with any type of training – pace yourself, get expert guidance and speak to the instructors for advice.
“They will be able to suggest classes that will help.
“For example, a high intensity class will be very fast-paced with larger movements designed to switch on the bigger muscles.
“Adding in something like a Pilates class can help by focusing on the lesser muscles in the body that help with posture and general alignment.
“It’s more of a holistic approach to help maintain a balanced body and avoid injury.”
Then there are the mental health benefits, derived from both intense exercise and slower disciplines.
“People who train regularly can expect to feel like they have more energy,” said Clare, who practises circus skills including the trapeze, outside work.
“The endorphins it creates give you a natural mood boost and help minimise pain.
“Training makes you feel better about your life, yourself, better in your body on a mechanical level, a bit brighter, stronger and fitter.
“Walking up the escalator on the Tube won’t leave you puffing at the top.
“There’s something about lifting a weight that’s heavier than the one a week before, when you feel connected to your breath doing Yoga or when you go swimming and you can do more lengths than the time before.
“We lead such busy lives, especially in London – having the space to concentrate on one thing is really important.
Clare enjoys Yin Yoga as a break from busy London life
“My favourite Yoga practice is actually Yin – it focuses on the softer, slower aspects of the discipline, with long held postures that are quite meditative.
“It’s good if you just need that little bit of space in your day – you can come into our studio, it’s warm, we dim the lights, we have calm music, and we’re creating that relaxing atmosphere.
“It’s like a haven – a third space away from work and home life where you can come in and only focus on yourself.
“Of course, one of the other great things about Third Space is the community.
“Members meet other members and become friends, whether that’s through attending classes or just chatting in the sauna.
“One of the things we’ve learnt during the pandemic is that people need other people – isolation isn’t good for humans at all.
“It might simply be that you’re in a class, finding it tough, look to your left and right and feel that sense of connection – something that spurs you on.
“As a teacher, it’s really beautiful when I see this happening, or when people come to a class and then end up chatting a bit more and hanging out afterwards.
“We’ve also launched Hyrox classes that are aimed at equipping members with the skills to compete in those competitive events.
“Members can do those individually, just like the event, or they can team up with a partner and the classes are the perfect place to find someone to do that with.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Near the end of our interview, Jon Wong throws me a curveball.
I’ve been enjoying the wholesome tale of how he rose to become Royal Dock’s premier bread maker.
A former fine-dining chef, he turned to sourdough during lockdown, making it from his microbakery using bags of pesticide-free flour, a heap of culinary talent and a pinch of his Chinese heritage.
He sells his bread in person from The Factory – a scheme by Projekt to regenerate a disused Tate & Lyle warehouse in Royal Docks.
“It came from American Pie’s Stifmeister,” said Jon. “He’s sort of awful, but I wanted something playful, and it kind of matches me because I like to try new things and push the envelope.”
Jon is referring to the fact that alongside traditional loaves he also sells a range of sourdough croissants, pastries and Hong Kong buns inspired by his childhood.
Unlike the business’ brash and flippant namesake, everything Jon does is the result of hours of care and hard graft.
“If there’s one word to describe what I do it’s ‘different’ because it’s all from scratch,” he said.
“Making stuff good enough to sell takes a lot of time and effort.
“You can push the starter all the way to be really tangy and sour or hold back for a more delicate flavour.
“Everything comes with fine tuning – you won’t find this on the supermarket shelf.”
All this takes an exorbitant amount of energy, with Jon up at dawn, baking until 10am and then starting the next day’s batch.
“The dough has to be done a day before, sometimes even more, and it is quite intense,” he said.
“If I just made bread it might be easier, but as good as your loaves might be, you can only sell them for maybe £5 each.
“So for the business to work I have to have the pastries as well and they do take a lot of extra time and care.
“Now in the new premises, I have started doing simple lunches like toasties. It all adds up.”
He moved the business from The Silver Building to The Factory Project last year and his bakery is open Friday 8am to 5pm and Saturday 7.30am to noon with customers able to pre-order items for collection.
He also has a stall at the street food market near the Good Hotel in Royal Victoria Docks every Saturday and has recently launched on Deliveroo on Saturdays from 7.30am to 11.30am.
He turned his oven off over Christmas but not to rest. Instead, he took a part-time job stacking shelves to support his income and is considering outside help to keep things going.
“I have invested all my savings and sacrificed my small salary for the last 18 months to bring Breadmeister to life,” he said.
“Hopefully I will be able to gain some support via crowdfunding to help the business move to the next level.”
So why choose sourdough if it is such a slog? It sort of happened by accident.
Growing up in Hong Kong, Jon loved cooking but became an English teacher.
When he got fed up with that, he moved to the UK in his 20s to make a change.
“When I came over it felt like I didn’t have the same burden,” said the 35-year-old. “You can be anyone here and no-one is going to say: ‘Jon you are not allowed’.
“No-one is will judge you, so you can decide who the person you want to be is and what you want to look like.
“Everything is open, which is quite different from where I grew up.
“There you had to do things in certain ways because of the Asian expectation thing. People prioritise white-collar jobs.”
He was free to fully embrace his love of cooking, landing a job in French fine dining restaurant Les 110 de Taillevent in Cavendish Square, learning top techniques and having his first taste of sourdough.
“I remember the holes,” he said. “Supermarket bread is always uniform, but sourdough is like a weird sponge.
“When you bite into it, it has more of a chew and is somehow more flavourful. I felt it was almost otherworldly.”
He started baking bread to save money – with an eye on making it for his own restaurant someday.
But when lockdown hit, along with many others in the hospitality industry, he found himself suddenly unemployed and looking to earn a living from home.
“I started selling bread out of a bit of desperation and boredom,” said the Canning Town resident.
“I had tried to start a food business, but it didn’t go very far because I realised I couldn’t afford to get a pitch, which was a bit depressing. I felt a bit helpless.
“I noticed other people starting to sell food from home and knew I could do that.
“I put some ideas online but it was only when I put some bread on that I got loads of responses.
“I realised it was something people actually needed and there wasn’t anything similar nearby.”
Sales went quickly beyond his expectations and he was working six days a week, which gave him a massive lift.
But working from his shared flat was a problem and made it difficult to get a food hygiene rating and insurance.
Then he found The Silver Building – Projekt’s first foray into Royal Docks. Opened in 2017, it saw the former Carlsberg Tetley HQ temporarily reimagined as a series of creative workspaces and now houses the likes of fashion designer Craig Green, photography studio Silverspace and tailor Jake’s Of London.
“The director was really interested in my idea, so I brought him some samples and he offered me a little shared kitchen space,” said Jon.
“I happily took it on and it took off from there.
“At first I was still delivering, but I soon realised my time could be better used to make more products and attract people in because that area has a lot of apartments.
“In a way, that beginning was the easy part because it was spontaneous and there wasn’t any pressure to make my living out of it.
“I made bread because it just tasted nice and felt good. Then it progressed naturally.
“That’s the whole sourdough thing – you let things grow naturally and then see how they go.”
A year later Projekt offered him a more permanent space at The Factory’s reception area next to the bar and cafe.
“That was amazing for me and for them because they have funding from the GLA, so need to have community value to what they do,” said Jon.
Since then he has hired an apprentice who works for him six hours a day, but it is still a hard slog with Jon working from 5am to 7pm.
He said: “It still feels tight with the things that need to be done, but that’s part of the game I guess.”
He sells his sourdough loaves for £5, croissants for £2.50 plain or £3.50 filled and other items such as Nutella pastries, rosemary twists and tomato and olive focaccia.
His real speciality is Hong Kong buns costing £1.70-£2.30, which he describes as “soft, fluffy and a little bit sweet with a sugar cookie crust.”
In order to make them, he has had to contend with the rising cost of electricity and ingredients, with the butter he uses almost doubling in price during the autumn.
He has also switched to a more expensive brand of flour to try and preserve the unique flavour of his bread.
Jon bakes his bread and pastries in Royal Docks – image Matt Grayson
Jon now buys from Wildfarmed – a network of farmers who produce flour while trying to protect the planet.
“I used to order organic flour from a major brand, but the flavour seemed to have become blander,” said Jon.
“What’s special about Wildfarmed is it has a regenerative ethos about how they work the land with minimal disturbance and no artificial fertiliser or pesticides.
“It costs more but, if you are making sourdough, it is worth it because it really affects the quality of the end product.”
He has fired up his oven again for the start of 2023 and is hoping after a difficult few months Breadmeister will continue to grow and prove to be the right choice.
“As a chef, I would work set hours for a set amount and then go to sleep and forget about it,” he said.
“But then you don’t get to question why you are doing this and that – even if you think you can do things better.
“With this, the money might not be as predictable and you might not have the choice of only working six hours a day – but with this risk I’ve taken, the satisfying thing is when people come to get your stuff instead of going somewhere more convenient.
This article is part of Wharf Life’s new regular series on the benefits of Crossrail for those living or working in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London
TASTE TEST
While Canary Wharf is replete with lunchtime dining options, the Elizabeth Line provides the ideal escape route for those keen to put some distance between themselves and the office.
It’s a short walk from Liverpool Street station, itself just seven minutes from the Wharf’s Crossrail stop, making it more than feasible as a dining option in the middle of the day.
It’s Aqua Restaurant Group’s fifth establishment in the capital and boasts more than 20 siblings worldwide in the likes of New York, Miami, Beijing, Dubai and Hong Kong.
Overseen by head chef Ken Miyake – a man of Japanese heritage who grew up in Spain – it offers diners a modern twist on sushi alongside a contemporary take on the classic bento box.
This is welcome news for a hungry Wharfer and I resolve to try one of the Lunch Sets, which all come with pickles and Okazu of the day as well as rice and Miso if you’re eschewing the ramen.
Shiro’s Pork Belly Ginger Teriyaki
Sampling starters first, Shiro quickly reveals itself as a place of homely comforts with Rock Shrimp Tempura (£13) a carefully balanced triumph.
The much vaunted Crystal Sushi – a dish invented in Hong Kong, where flavoured gelatine coatings are used to enhance the rice and fish pieces – turns out to be much more than just an Instagram gimmick, with the glossy coatings adding a real depth of flavour to the morsels on offer.
But somehow the distilled warmth of the Set eclipses the prettiness of the showstoppers. Ken’s Pork Belly Ginger Teriyaki, when served with its unfussy accompaniment of rice, marinated chicken, miso and a little pickle is a pretty decent deal for £19.
There’s the rich umami of the liquor the meat sits in and plenty of flavour in the sides to make it easily enough for a light lunch on its own and one well worth the short trip on Crossrail.
Shiro head chef Ken Miyake
HEAD CHEF SAYS – Ken Miyake
With nearly a decade under his belt working for Aqua and almost two in the UK, Ken is a softly spoken man who, despite the obvious complexity of some of his food, has a passion for simple carbs, family and the firey bite of ginger.
He said: “The idea of the Lunch Sets is that they are what your parents would have given you – some rice, soup, your protein and a pickle, which is good for your digestion.
“Then there’s something called an Okazu, which is a little nibble of something else. I’ll probably get in trouble for saying this but it’s like a tapa in Spain.
“My mother’s a chef. She used to cook for a family of 13 and then had a restaurant in Spain.
“We moved there in 1989 and in 1992 she opened up a restaurant in Marbella – one of the few places serving Japanese food there.
Crystal Sushi at Shiro
“I had to learn how to cook when I was living by myself – I went to university and I was cooking all the stuff I really liked at home.
“While I was there I ended up working in all these European restaurants and that set me on the path to becoming a chef.
“At Shiro we’re doing something different, modern. The ramen is good – it comes from a chef’s family recipe where the broth takes 48 hours.
“Personally, I would order the Pork Belly Ginger Teriyaki because ginger is good for the blood and you can’t go wrong.
“Then there’s the Crystal Sushi with a gelatine coating full of flavour – it looks very pretty and it gives you that extra taste.
“It was developed in Hong Kong about five years ago and we’ve now brought it to London.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Canary Wharf has, as far as I know, only one takeaway brand that draws part of its identity from ancient mythology.
Atis takes its name from the Phrygian god of vegetation – a deity whose death and resurrection echoes the plants and trees that die in winter only to rise again in spring and whose cult spread from what is now Turkey through Greece to ancient Rome.
The branch the company recently opened in Canary Wharf is its fourth location but there are two more in the pipeline.
Evidence perhaps that its founders – husband and wife team Eleanor Warder and Phil Honer – would like to see the brand spread as widely as worship of its mythic namesake did in ancient times.
That, of course, will ultimately be down to the appeal of what it sells – bowls of salad with an approach inspired by time spent overseas.
“We lived in America for a bit before we launched the business in 2019,” said Eleanor. “Phil was doing an MBA there and I joined him.
“We’d always wanted to do something in food.
“Phil had worked in financial services in London after university and always felt there was something lacking – a place offering simple, fast, healthy, delicious food.
“They say America is always a step ahead and they have companies like Sweetgreen there which are huge – all over the west and east coasts.
“We went there and to similar places a lot when we were living in Boston – we drew inspiration from them.
“So we came back to the UK in the summer of 2018 and spent a year developing the concept.
“It was particularly difficult in the beginning – when we were unknown – and finding our first location took about a year, but we opened in Old Street in September 2019 before going on to launch sites in Belgravia and Notting Hill.
“We want to grow and expand. I’m not sure we’ll ever be the next Pret, although that would be fantastic.
“For us it’s about quality, brand and experience – so we have to keep that in mind as our company gets bigger.”
Atis is located in Canada Place’s Crossrail Walk
Atis does things a bit differently. About half of the unit it has taken in Canada Place’s Crossrail Walk – between Waitrose and the Elizabeth Line station – is filled with staff preparing and cooking the ingredients it serves.
On the other side, a production line stands ready to put together its core range of seasonal salad bowls ranging in price from £6.50-£9.60 for a regular or £7.50-£10.70 for a large.
There’s also an option for customers to build their own for £6.90 or £7.70.
Hot and cold premium ingredients are extra. The aim is to offer Wharfers filling, satisfying products that deliver on flavour – something Eleanor knows all about.
“We have worked with a really brilliant, creative chef to develop core bowls that are really interesting,” she said.
“When people walk in, they see the line is predominantly fresh produce.
“The colour is really important for us – and the taste – so people get the full experience of the food they are buying.
“We’re trying to create a balance between being innovative and giving people what they want. For example, people really love tomatoes, so we do them straight, rather than doctoring them.
“But then we have a section – our hot protein element – where we take things up another level cooking ingredients using lots of spices and marinades.
“This is our main selling point.
“You can have a bowl at Atis that is fully vegan or vegetarian
but people can also add our blackened chicken, for example.
“We toyed with the idea of being completely plant-based, but we decided against it because our ethos is that we shouldn’t cut out food groups.
“The idea is that people can have meat one day and choose not to on another – they have that flexibility.
“The most important thing is that whether it’s regular or large, our bowls leave people feeling satisfied and nourished.
“There’s this old idea that salads are potentially quite grim and won’t fill you up.
“We’re trying to change that so our customers feel what they are getting is satisfying, good value for the price and high on flavour.
“My background is in the wine trade, originally in a startup importing and selling to small independent restaurants in London before I moved into hospitality and became a sommelier.
“With Atis, my focus is very much on the food we serve, developing the menu and the marketing.
Atis co-founder Eleanor Warder
“Personally, I flip between ordering the core bowls, and then building my own.
“The latter is very popular, especially on our online platforms, which shows you that people do want control and flexibility over what they eat.”
While Atis probably has Eleanor’s joint honours degree in classics to thank for its name, its presence in Canary Wharf has more to do with Phil.
“Canary Wharf was already on our minds when we started the business,” said Eleanor.
“Phil was very keen and had identified it as a place that would be really good, and I think he was completely right.
“He had worked here, knew that there would be a demand for us and that there were other operators doing really well on the estate.
“The real appeal for us is that our customers are a balance between commercial and residential, and the vertical density of population on the estate is really great for our business.”
In addition to nourishment, sustainability is at the core of Atis’ operation.
Eleanor said: “It’s an area that’s increasingly important for us, as it should be, and it’s been a big learning curve – especially on the packaging front and it’s something customers expect.
“What we have found is that parts of the UK don’t necessarily have the infrastructure to be able to deal with recycling in the right way and that’s quite shocking.
“People think they’re doing good – putting their waste in the correct bin, but there’s a whole other side to it, which makes things challenging.
“Coming into Canary Wharf – which is right at the forefront of sustainability – we’ve learnt that everyone has to really concentrate on making sure what should be happening actually is.
“Obviously there is also the food itself. We are plant-powered and that’s a huge element when we’re talking about sustainability.
“The UK is a small country and we can’t get everything we use from these shores, but we do source whatever we can locally.
“We also have seasonal focus – changing our menu four times a year to reflect what’s available and considering carefully what we can get from the UK.
“Right from the outset we’ve also been working with different partners, one of which is Too Good To Go, which helps to pass on food that would otherwise go to waste at a reduced cost.”
Atis is open in Canada Place from 11am-9pm Mon-Thurs and 11am-3pm Fri-Sun.
The Azteca Bowl topped with blackened chicken
HOW IT TASTES
Azteca Bowl, £14.10 (£10.70 large bowl + £3.40 blackened chicken)
Large really does mean large when ordering from Atis.
The Azteca isn’t quite a bottomless bowl, but by the time I’m done munching through the (optional) blackened chicken, there’s little doubt the brand’s mission to fill me up is a success.
This is more than just unctuous slices of well-cooked protein draped over some leaves, however.
There’s real depth to the Azteca, coming as it does with black eyed beans, charred corn, baby spinach, chopped romaine lettuce, something called “sustain yo’self avo smash”, picked red onions, Feta cheese and some crumbled tortilla chips all topped off with a lime and coriander dressing.
At a chunky 965 calories without the chicken, it’s a pretty serious pot of food but there’s a freshness to it that makes good on all Atis’ fine words.
I’ve no idea what’s in the smash, but it’s delicious and comes together perfectly in a blend that’s balanced enough to let all the big ticket flavours have their space.
If the other salads are this good, Atis will rapidly find its place in the hearts of many Wharfers.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Stefan Johnson cuts an athletic figure on his cargo bike.
Sourced from a Danish company via the Netherlands, it has to be robust to carry the 60kg of equipment and tools he uses for business.
Raised in Mile End and Forest Gate, the east Londoner created SJ Cycles to bring bike repairs, care and servicing to clients at their convenience via the power of his legs.
“I’m trying to encourage people to maintain their bikes more often,” he said.
“A lot of people run their bikes into the ground and then have big bills of £200 or £300 or they just buy new ones, which can also cost them a lot of money.
“I’m trying to offer something in between – there are benefits to the customer and to the environment.
“Depending on usage, having a service every six to eight months and cleaning the bike makes a big difference.
“It’s not just about how your bike looks. Grit and muck on the road can get into the mechanics – the chain, the braking system – and it slowly wears away the metal.
“That can cause long-term damage, which equals new parts and that means big bills.
“It’s also wasteful, so I’m trying to prevent that happening – maintaining your bike more often will save you money.”
Stefan originally wanted to be a car mechanic before turning to bikes – image Matt Grayson
Stefan began riding himself while studying car maintenance at Hackney Community College – now part of New City College.
“I was planning on being a car mechanic, and after four years of study I went into an apprenticeship, but unfortunately I didn’t find any opportunities in that industry,” he said.
“Instead I got my first job as a sales assistant at my local bike shop – Halfords.
“There was a mechanic there who was willing to teach me after hours about working on bikes so that’s how I started.”
Stefan went on to work at a number of independent bike shops but felt he was often recruited in a bid to broaden their customer base as they attempted to attract customers from a wider range of backgrounds.
A pattern of mistreatment and broken promises left him wondering what to do.
“Being a Christian, I decided to pray about it and start again,” he said.
“Was I going to accept this behaviour in the industry or would I set new standards?
“I took a positive leap to be passionate about what I’m doing without sacrificing my humanity.
“My faith definitely played a big part in that.
“I knew about 10% I could get to the point of launching SJ Cycles – making a Facebook page, announcing I was doing it.
Stefan carries all the equipment he needs with him on a custom cargo bike – image Matt Grayson
“The other 90% was faith that I could sustain it, live off it and make it a part of my life.
“Even though I had less confidence in myself and more confidence in God, I took it forward, made it happen and I’m here now.
“I’d started working as a bike courier, which was a very flexible thing to do and allowed me to make enough money to live on.
“It was very hard work but it made the money so I could buy all the tools and equipment to start the business in 2017.”
Stefan offers a general Tune-Up Service for £45, which lasts about an hour and a half and includes diagnostic checks, brakes and gears tuning, tyre maintenance and a deep clean of the frame and various systems, delivered either at a client’s home or office as convenient.
SJ Cycles also offers a Puncture Repair Service for £25, which includes a new inner tube and the option to be taught how to change one.
While merchandise is also available online, world domination is not on the agenda.
“I’m a very simple man, so I’m not looking to be a big entrepreneur and expand with different branches and many employees around London,” said Stefan.
“This business is about encouraging people to maintain their bikes more, for me to live off it and remain in east London, take care of my wife and earn a modest living to make it sustainable.
“If anyone needs support in maintaining their bike, I post a lot of tips on Facebook and Instagram, such as advice on security.
“That’s just to let people know that when they own a bike they’re not alone and can talk to me about it on social media.
“I would definitely encourage people to get a bike.
Stefan can service bikes at customers’ homes or offices – image Matt Grayson
“It’s very convenient – one purchase, you buy your bike and you can go wherever you want. It’s great for fitness as well.
“You can jump on a bus and pay, but for some people – when you add that up – it’s as much as a bike over one year.
“I understand why people may be hesitant, because of the infrastructure of the roads, which may not be the safest, but it’s come a long way since I started.
“Then I didn’t have a lot of confidence in my abilities, but I was very aware of my surroundings, how the traffic flows and where to position myself – my confidence grew over time – it became quite natural to me.
“I do ride for pleasure but it depends on how much I’m working – the business can be quite busy, especially in the summertime.
“After a day of working on people’s bikes I like to go skateboarding, which is my second hobby, as well as bouldering – indoor climbing.
“I’m quite a physical person, so the bikes I ride aren’t electric – that and having a strong metabolism, definitely doesn’t make the food bills easy.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
“We started this business during lockdown,” said Fouad.
“My business partner, Bertrand Kerleo and I had both lost our jobs – everyone was stuck at home, but we saw an opportunity.
“We brought the two things we were doing together in June 2020 at a bakery in Bermondsey. If you go there, you will see it’s an open space.
“There’s a front-of-house area where you can have a coffee and so on, but you can see through to the bakery and what people are doing.
“It’s all in front of people, which is interesting because they can see how everything is made.
“We always had a lot of interaction with our customers there and that’s what we like on the stalls too.
“We started doing markets in May 2021 and that’s one of the ways we’re growing our business.
“You get to see what people think of your products and also it’s easier to expand like this because you can try different locations without being tied into a lease for maybe five years on a shop.”
Originally called Bread A Manger, the company has since been renamed after a David and Goliath tussle with Pret, which was apparently concerned the startup might impact its brand in the long term.
Quite where the confusion might lie is anyone’s guess as the two companies offer markedly different things – one a byword for pre-packaged convenience food and the other for wholesale and retail artisanal baked goods.
While Bertrand has an extensive background as a baker and pastry chef, Fouad brings more than 20 years of food-based business experience to the table making the pair a formidable team.
“I’ve been working in baking for about five or six years,” said Fouad.
“Before that I was managing businesses for other people in the UK – coffee shops, for example – but I was always in hospitality.
“In France, my background was in supermarkets.
“After training as a barber originally, I started working for Carrefour just as a crew member.
“Then in six years I became a store manager before making the move to Switzerland.
“I’m not an academic guy. I never learnt English at school and had no idea how to speak it.
“But to grow up, you need to speak it, so I decided to come to London in 2013.
“I enjoyed my time here and decided to stay. With Bread And Macaroon, we started slowly with different plans and strategies.
“We began with retail although now about 70% of our business is in the wholesale market where we sell our products to other businesses.
“We are a fresh bakery – nearly everything is made from scratch every day because it tastes better that way, including the croissants, the cakes and the bread.
“We are not too expensive, but we make sure we are selling quality products.
“Anything we don’t sell gets donated to charity to help those in need in Bermondsey.
“A lot of bakeries keep bread for two or three days because you can, but we’re French – we believe you lose flavour that way.
“Our tarts are our main business and the most popular flavour is the lemon curd.
“They really are very refined – you can’t really find this product elsewhere in London, and this is why they are successful.
“For the filling, the curd takes 48 hours to make. We cook the lemon juice in a bain-marie with eggs and cream and then pipe it onto the tart while it’s still warm.
“Then it goes straight into the freezer – from 30ºC to -18ºC so it retains its shape, topped with an edible flower as a finishing touch.”
Bread And Macaroon sells a wide range of sweet and savoury pastries at Wapping Docklands Market and Canada Water Market
With costs rising, Bread And Macaroon’s first priority is to weather the economic storm by tailoring the products it offers to the new conditions.
After that, it plans to expand its retail offering through more stalls.
“In the next five years, we expect to have a presence at five or six more markets,” said Fouad.
“Of course people can order our products online – and we love that. But you don’t get the same level of interaction or the atmosphere of coming to a market if you do that.
“I grew up with French markets, which typically sell fruit and vegetables, so that’s different again. Here you get street food and all sorts of other things.
“For me, the difference between a shop and a market is that people who come to our stalls are out in the fresh air – it’s a destination.
“Going to a shop is more just for shopping and I think over the next 40 years, that attraction will never change.”
Bread And Macaroon can be found at Wapping Docklands Market on Saturdays at Brussels Wharf beside Shadwell Basin and Canada Water Market at Deal Porter Square on Sundays. Both run from 10am-4pm.
Its shop can be found at Market Place in Bermondsey and orders can be placed online for most items including cakes and special requests.
We’ve selected three treats from Bread And Macaroon that are must-tries if you’re visiting the markets:
Bread And Macaroon’s top selling Lemon Curd Tart
1. First on the list is the Lemon Curd Tart – the brand’s top seller – which costs £4.99. Piled high, this vertical wonder is both mouth and Instagram-ready thanks to its floral decoration and glossy, zesty topping
The brand’s Galette Des Rois
2. Next up is the festiveGalette Des Rois. Servedon special occasions at family gatherings, this regal bake has a coininside. Everyone sitsround, takes a slice andthe person with the treasure gets to be king or queen for a day. The crown is, of course, included for £12
Rosemary foccacia is available for £3
3. Our final pick is this deeply savoury bread. Costing just £3, this sea salt and rosemary foccacia is ideal for taking home and dipping or slicing for use in sandwiches. It’s a decent size and would also go well with a hearty winter soup
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Dishoom is different. Over the course of 18 years in journalism, I’ve asked countless people to tell me about their businesses.
Typically they communicate how they came to start their company, what it does and why.
However, when asked to tell me about the opening of Dishoom Canary Wharf, which recently arrived at Wood Wharf, the brand’s co-founder Shamil Thakrar simply said: “It’s a story.”
A simple, but completely serious point. This is no marketing flim flam.
Before the company opens a new restaurant, its founders sit down and develop its back story in detail – a fact that hints at why this is the brand’s first opening in London for five years.
But why not? After all, isn’t everything, to some extent, stories?
The ones we tell ourselves to understand the things around us, the ones we tell others to explain the world to them and the ones they tell us to illuminate their own impressions.
We grow up being read and reading them and seeing and hearing them on all kinds of platforms. Now we are increasingly encouraged to create our own myths via social media.
Dishoom’s approach, which sees each individual cafe fleshed out exactly in line with its narrative, has won the brand significant success.
It’s known for patient lines of eager customers outside its venues and has a reputation as a generous employer that looks after its staff.
You can visit the Canary Wharf branch without knowing any of the back story – nobody will refuse to serve you and the spiced chai will still taste great.
But, so rich is the narrative, that it permeates the whole experience, making it impossible to spend time in the restaurant without feeling its impact, even if that is subconscious.
Every detail of the interior flows from the back story at Dishoom Canary Wharf – image Matt Grayson
“The story of the Canary Wharf cafe is a bloke – Nauzer – who has been living as a character in my head for quite a few years,” said Shamil. “Now the right place has come up for him.
“He’s a really cool young guy, whose father owns an Irani cafe near the Bombay Stock Exchange.
“He sees some of the high rollers coming in and thinks he wants to be like them. He’s quite a canny kid, so eventually learns how to invest and does quite well for himself.
“Then his family, friends and the local community start asking him to invest on their behalf. He does that and does really well – he makes good money for them and they’re getting wealthier, until one day, he does a bad deal and everything goes south.
“He doesn’t want to tell anyone because he’s so embarrassed and that sense of shame he has, which is an Indian thing, means he can’t face them – so he invents a Ponzi scheme where new investments are used to pay out fake returns to existing investors.
“Everything seems fine, even though it’s built on lies.
“Anyway, he makes the scheme work for a while and, with the winnings, he builds this restaurant – we imagine it’s his, hence the 1970s Bombay feel of the decor.
Dishoom Canary Wharf also sells items such as chai, condiments and cookbooks – image Matt Grayson
“He invests in art and other cool stuff, and his friends are up-and-coming stars. It’s a place for them.
“In the story we join him one day when he’s stressed out. The phone is ringing, he’s sweating and I imagine him in his room, traumatised because a journalist is on to him and that’s who’s calling – that’s where the story begins.”
Dishoom has now published all three instalments of the hapless investor’s tale on its website – but it’s in the restaurant where things really take shape.
Walk in and you’re immediately hit by the scent of burning incense, the energy of a bustling bar and bright smiles all round as staff guide diners to their tables.
Everywhere there’s activity – it’s not much of a stretch to imagine this as an establishment just over the road from the busy stock exchange in Bombay.
But there’s more. Look deeper and you’ll find house rules on the wall that outlaw Ponzi schemes, historically accurate ads in the menus, coloured porcelain in the washrooms and modernist 1970s decor.
The bar is called the Permit Room, recalling the legal hoops owners had to jump through to serve booze and there’s also a Family Room – an echo of the only spaces women were allowed to access in Irani cafes of old – complete with vintage photos of the owners’ relatives.
Everywhere there’s detail aimed at placing the visitor snugly inside the narrative.
The bar serves a “scandalous” trio of miniature Martinis dubbed The Commander, The Lover and The Wife, inspired by a jealous Parsi naval officer who shot the man his other half was seeing illicitly before turning himself in.
There’s a glint in Shamil’s eyes as we talk – it’s just this sort of material that reflects Dishoom’s flair for the dramatic – ultimately all part of the owners’ ambition that visiting the restaurant should be a memorable experience.
“The most important thing, regardless of whether the restaurant is busy or not, is whether the guests are leaving happy and sated,” said Shamil.
“We have to create the conditions that allow diners to have an experience that’s amazing and that they are going to tell all their friends about.
“The best way to do that is to make sure our team is happy and that’s our job.
The Permit Room bar at Dishoom Canary Wharf – image Matt Grayson
“We have really good people working for us who have an enormous amount of heart and determination in the current economic environment, so the right thing for us to do is look after them.
“Then, collectively we look after our guests and that, hopefully, keeps people coming back.
“We are conscious that sometimes we have a lot of people who stand in line for our food in queues – it’s lovely to have that although sometimes I’m embarrassed by making them wait.
“But we’re providing something people really want, and the key to that is to make sure that our food is really fantastic, our spaces are wonderful and our service is really warm – that is all down to supporting our team.
“That’s something we’ve been thinking about ever since we started the business. Running the company, it’s our responsibility to make sure our staff really love and enjoy the environment they’re working in.
“We like to pay well, but we also make sure we look after the other benefits – the less tangible stuff – so we do regular mental health workshops, for example.
“Then a little while ago, we had the idea for The Bombay Boot Camp where we’d take anyone who stayed with us for five years to the city and show them all the good places.
“We didn’t know whether we would ever take anyone when we started, but this year we’re taking 180 people.
“Some of the places we visit can only fit 15 or 20 people so we don’t quite know how the logistics will work yet, but it’s a trip that money can’t buy because we work really hard to visit places people would never normally go and that everyone who does feels special, welcome and rewarded for the work they do.”
Mini Martinis: The Commander, The Wife and The Lover at Dishoom
For Wharfers who can’t get over to Mumbai itself, Dishoom serves up an expansive menu of flavours to transport diners in spirit.
“We bring guests into the story and give them food and drink,” said Shamil.
“But the dishes and beverages we serve also have their own stories.
“My cousin Kavi and I now run the business and, when we were setting things up, we came across the heritage of the old Irani cafes, set up by Parsi immigrants from Iran.
“We wanted to pay homage to them, their inclusive ethos and spirit, while at the same time riffing on the stories of Bombay.
“Take Pau Bhaji, for example. It’s mashed up vegetables with buttered Portuguese buns.
“There were colonists from Portugal in Bombay and their influence has become part of the city’s most delicious dish – all those stories are there.
“I think placing food in its cultural context is very important – you come along, eat it with the right music amid the right architecture – I want to give people a real taste of Bombay.
“We, the British, think we know India, and there are a number of cliches – Bollywood, cricket, curry houses, palaces, maharajahs, but I’m not sure that Britain really does know India.
Dishoom Canary Wharf features 1970s-style furniture – image Matt Grayson
“Do we know about the Bombay Stock Exchange, or that there was a great Art Deco movement post independence that signified liberty and modernity, to get rid of the old gothic architecture?
“On the food side, where we think of India as curry, there’s so much more. We don’t serve that much of what we would call curry today because there are so many other things to be said.
“Canary Wharf isn’t exactly a natural fit for us, but we’re excited to be here.
“The architecture in Wood Wharf, especially, is very cool, and I think we can bring a bit of fun and pizazz to this end of town.
“Then we’ve got a couple more good stories that we’re dreaming up for future openings.”
Dishoom Canary Wharf is open from 8am until at least 11pm on weekdays (midnight on Friday and Saturday and from 9am at weekends.
Dishoom co-founder Kavi Thakrar has selected his favourite dishes to order for Wharf Life readers
KAVI’S MENU PICKS
With so much on the menu, we went straight to the top and asked Dishoom co-founder Kavi Thakrar to pick out a few of his favourite dishes to help Wharfers make their own decisions:
1. First, the Malai Lobster. this is only available at Canary Wharf. It’s a great dish to share with friends as it feels celebratory, but won’t break the bank. Fresh daily from Billingsgate, it transports me to some of my favourite spots in Bombay to eat fresh seafood.
Malai Lobster – Priced by weight at £7.50 per 100g
Malai Lobster, £7.50 per 100g at Dishoom Canary Wharf
2. Chilli Cheese Toast. We took this off the menu for a while but I’m so happy to see it back. It’s totally delicious with a Dishoom IPA – a sneaky snack when I’m by myself, just like sitting in an Irani Cafe at the end of a long day in south Bombay.
Chilli Cheese Toast – £5.70
Chilli Cheese Toast, £5.70 at Dishoom Canary Wharf
3. And finally, I really love our Double Bacon And Egg Naan Roll. It is a great match of salty, sweet, a little heat and then the richness from the egg. I love having it with a house chai if I start my day at Dishoom
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
Around about the start of the first Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, Christabelle Lomas found herself trapped in India having just finished training as a Yoga teacher.
Short on funds from various attempts to leave the country, she approached a group of strangers at the airport for help.
With international flights cancelled, they suggested she take an internal connection with the aim of heading to eco-resort Bhakti Kutir in South Goa as a refuge from the ravages of the pandemic.
One of the group had a friend staying there – Jules – and gave Christabelle her details.
As the world shut down, Christabelle began receiving calls from concerned friends, one also knew Jules and gave her another contact at the resort, a man called Samuel Miller.
She reached out to him midway through a tortuous journey to get to the resort and he was there to greet her.
However, with the threat of disease at the forefront of everyone’s minds, she isolated for two weeks before eventually joining the group properly.
“When I first arrived there I was in this jungle hut and Sam was bringing me my meals and water,” said Christabelle.
“I was really grateful and I meditated a lot, practised Yoga and found myself surrounded by inspiration.
“Then I came out, we hung out. It was all lovely and then they started sending rescue flights, but I wasn’t quite ready to be rescued.”
The book draw’s inspiration from the couple’s time in India
While pulled in different directions, artist Sam ultimately decided to board a flight back to London,
“I came back three months later to London and we reconnected,” said Christabelle.
“I’d written this book and I was looking for someone to do the illustrations – Sam’s a fabulous artist so it made sense to ask him.”
Christabelle’s story follows the journey of Rainbow Snake as he attempts to discover what love is by seeking wisdom from a succession of other creatures he meets along the way.
She and Sam collaborated – he produced 12 paintings for the book – and fell in love as they continued their work together, inspired by their experiences in India.
“There was a little snake in the roof of one of the jungle huts in Goa,” said Sam, who is based on a glass-roofed boat at Hackney Wick.
“Then there were a lot more when the monsoons came. We also found this weird little beetle that turned out to be a scorpion.
“Having read the book, I just wanted to deepen the words and open them out with mysticism, jungle magic and strange things.
“I’d been painting jungles for ages so doing this book was very apt. Normally I would take a lot of time to create a piece, and this task was to do 12, which is a big body of work.
“At first I was worried the paintings were too dark, too melancholic for children, but you have stories like Grimms’ Fairy Tales, which are just awful and this is actually a very sweet story.”
Detail from one of Sam’s paintings for Rainbow Snake
“It’s quite hard to bottle up the magic,” added Shoreditch resident Christabelle.
“The book is very enchanting and has a beautiful message. People often ask what age it’s for, but I suppose it touches people of all ages.
“It’s a message about trusting your inner guidance rather than looking outwards, and that was a big theme for the times we went through during the pandemic – it was a time for introspection.
“In the end, love carries you through. Rainbow Snake goes on his quest and everyone he talks to has a different interpretation of what love is.
“He wonders how it can possibly be all of these things but then comes to his own conclusion.
“He’s slithering around trying to find answers and is about to give up when he finds what he’s looking for within himself.
“I’m quite a deep thinker, with a creative mindset, and I’m always looking for answers to the meaning of life and love.
“I’ve worked with children quite a lot and they have inspired me, so that’s where this piece of writing came from.
“Although it’s a book that is mostly for children, the artwork and the messages are there for everyone.
“Being in the city, it’s easy to get wrapped up in things, but looking at the stars and all the animals can help you put things into perspective.
Rainbow Snake: Adventures In Love is on sale now for £22.11
“Hopefully, the pictures and the words will expand people’s minds. I write a lot of personal projects, but this is the first piece I’ve put out there.”
Sam has been a painter since he was a child, creating work from his east London base despite the recent winter chill that saw the glass roof of his boat freeze inside and out.
“My canal boat at Hackney Wick is a studio space I’ve built myself – a project I took on when I got back from India,” he said.
“It’s like a Disney palace, a place that’s pretty mad, but it was a lot of fun to do.
“I painted as a kid and just never stopped. Then I went to the Royal Academy Of The West Of England and have continued to work ever since.”
Rainbow Snake: Adventures In Love is published by Christabelle Lomas and Samuel Miller and is currently available online, priced £22.11.
The couple have promised to donate 1.2% of their profits to the Indian Wildlife Trust.
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
As is invariably the case, a trip to Cody Dock yields an excess of optimism, promise and excitement.
What was once a rubbish tip piled high with industrial toxic waste has already become home to businesses, a plethora of wildlife, art and vegetation.
In the 14 years since Simon Myers co-founded the Gasworks Dock Partnership, an eyesore has been transformed into a community asset on the River Lea that’s tantalisingly on the threshold of the next stage in its evolution.
As CEO he’s presided over a passionate team and the efforts of countless volunteers in that time, who have all contributed to turning the wooden model of the project’s masterplan into full scale reality.
“To go alongside our rolling bridge across the dock mouth – which we installed earlier this year – we’ve finally finished our toilet and wash block,” said Simon.
“That means that after more than a decade of visitors using our very glamorous Portaloos we’ve now got proper facilities with showers, changing rooms and running water.
“What that really does for Cody Dock is to make it accessible for people to come down, especially for school visits.
“We’re probably about half way through the construction of the first phase of our visitor centre, which will include an exhibition and event space.
“The hard work is done – the foundations are in, the frame is up, the walls are being built and we’ll be doing the roof over the next couple of weeks.
“Then we can start fitting it with 100 400-watt solar panels and batteries that will give us our own electricity supply with an output that is more than the total present power consumption for the site.
“Obviously that’s only when the sun shines, but we have every intention of looking at ways of storing energy on site and – given that we have a tidal dock with a lot of water going up and down, we want to investigate how we can use that to generate electricity too.”
Like every aspect of Cody Dock, a great deal of thought has been put in to the execution of its projects and how what is created can do multiple jobs.
The Gasworks Dock Partnership is working towards re-flooding the dock
In addition to generating power, the visitor centre will become the focal point of the site.
“We have a little pop-up gallery space on site where we’ve tried lots of things and that has provided proof of concept,” said Simon.
“We also already have weekly visits from schools who come and do cross-curricular field studies in areas such as local history and river ecology
“We’ve also had an interesting arts and cultural programme at Cody Dock over the years.
“But pretty much everything has been outside – the visitor centre gives us a venue where we can put on significant exhibitions, put on shows, accommodate school visits, host music nights and film screenings.
“The first part of the venue has a foyer and a separate main area but they can be combined into one big space if required.
“It’s very much multi-functional and we’ll be equipped to host theatre performances with a fold-away stage, a green room and a proper lighting rig.
“What happens within that space will be very much a collaboration with the community and arts organisations.
“The first thing we did when we cleared the dock was host an opera on a floating stage in the middle of the water.
“These kinds of performances are very much in our DNA – we use arts as an engagement tool and this venue will enable us to do that on a scale matching the number of people who are now coming to Cody Dock on a regular basis – we’re really excited.”
Completion of the visitor centre’s first phase is expected by late spring next year to coincide with Newham Heritage Month in June.
Also in the pipeline is a new theraputic gardening, training and horticultural space that will provide a place for learning and propagation to provide all the plants for the site.
“That’s a collaboration with fifth-year architecture students from Westminster and should be complete by March,” said Simon.
“It will be a space that feels like you’re outdoors, but is actually indoors filled with plants – think Scandinavian conservatory.
“That will be opposite our rolling bridge and our plan is to finish the final landscaping of the area between the crossing and our visitor centre.
“Then we’ve got a year of planning, preparation and finalising the designs for what we have been calling until now our Heritage Pavilion.
“We actually want to run a bit of a competition and, with public consultation, to come up with a better name for it.
“It will be a new space – somewhere that celebrates the history of the waterways in this area.
“Its roof will be the keel of a fully restored Thames Ironworks lifeboat, which we already have on site at the end of the dock.
“It’s made from Honduran mahogany, is just over 100 years old and belongs to the first generation of self-righting lifeboats.
“It has an enormous iron keel and we’ll be restoring it for about a year before flipping it upside down to form the roof.
Gasworks Dock Partnership CEO Simon Myers
“That’s a nod to the fact that the River Lea was once the Danelaw boundary and we’re on the Viking side.
“So there are lots of things to get involved with if people would like to come down and volunteer.”
Cody Dock has also recently appointed new members of its team to look after ecology and education at the site, who will be running projects over the coming year as work continues towards the ultimate goal of re-flooding the dock.
After that happens, the site will become home to residential moorings, a berth for a heritage ship and dry dock facilities to service boats sailing up and down the Lea.
“I think we’re about 18 months away from doing that,” said Simon.
“We’ve done most of the necessary work at the end of the dock and we’re definitely over the hill with the restoration work on the dock walls.
“We can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Then it will be about connecting us up with Canning Town via that last elusive bit of footpath along the river.”
- Jon Massey is co-founder and editorial director of Wharf Life and writes about a wide range of subjects in Canary Wharf, Docklands and east London - contact via jon.massey@wharf-life.com
