Blog | 200 Kitchens

Kitchen Napalm

To be confronted by a roaring demon of heat and flames in the work place is an unwelcome jolt. Radiant heat and weird shadows fill the...

Gawain Barker

Oct 10, 20205 min read

New People of the Pemmican

With rivers frozen over, fruit and grains buried under snow and most edible animals vanished from the landscape - how in hell would you...

Gawain Barker

Aug 14, 20205 min read

Welcome to the Machine

Approaching the row of hissing bench-top steamer ovens, I remembered what Lloyd the Sous Chef had said about opening them - be bloody...

Gawain Barker

Jul 31, 20204 min read

Submarine Cook

I've worked in some sweat boxes - kitchens as moist and stinky as a wrestler's jock strap, but for true hard-core cooking action there...

Gawain Barker

May 31, 20205 min read

Chefs of Tommorrow

Apprentices are generally young, hung-over and over-sexed. I should know. So over the years, working with these budding chefs of...

Gawain Barker

Feb 1, 20205 min read

Amuse-bouche

Amuse-bouche are complimentary bite-sized serves of finger food to amuse the mouth before starting on the menu. Here are some tasty...

Gawain Barker

Jan 8, 20201 min read

The Q Word

It’s a new café in your manor; you feel like supporting it with your custom and you order something simple - a slice of ham and cheese...

Gawain Barker

Dec 12, 20193 min read

Customers

It’s the biggest horse-race of the year and we’re cooking in a track-side marquee. Well-dressed, drunken men barge in and start cutting...

Gawain Barker

Nov 14, 20194 min read

Mercenary Story

It didn’t get more mercenary than this. On the horizon - 3 billion dollars worth of marine hardware; behind me - a gargantuan industrial...

Gawain Barker

Oct 17, 20195 min read

Bucket of Blood

From beneath my feet, in the public bar below, came a sudden roar and shriek of voices, then floor-shaking bangs and the sound of...

Gawain Barker

Sep 10, 20196 min read

Salties

While setting up the BBQ station on the restaurant’s deck, I had the feeling of being watched. Around me the visitors to the Crocodile...

Gawain Barker

Aug 21, 20195 min read

Sal & Liz

Sal and his wife owned and ran a trendy inner-city cafe. All shiny surfaces and modern-as-heck furniture, it was the new kid on the...

Gawain Barker

Jul 27, 20194 min read

Trickster Gourmet

Grimod de La Reynière was one of life’s true characters. With his artificial hands, culinary curiosity, great wit and ability to write,...

Gawain Barker

Jul 10, 20195 min read

I Shall be Late!

Darkness. Freezing cold. Warm bed and thick eiderdown. A minute passes. Another one. Peek at bedside clock. Shock! Horror! I’m going to...

Gawain Barker

Jun 23, 20194 min read

Hardcore

“The greatest joy is to vanquish your enemies, chase them before you, rob them of their wealth, see those dear to them bathed in tears...

Gawain Barker

Jun 3, 20195 min read

Big No No

This is about what not to do. This is about rules, writ stark and clear; ancient rules handed down through the centuries and known to us...

Gawain Barker

Apr 27, 20194 min read

Black Money

When I started out, the restaurant industry drank from a stream of black money. Hospitality was, as the Japanese call it, a water trade...

Gawain Barker

Apr 11, 20194 min read

A Perfect Movie Morsel

Tampopo, a perfect movie morsel from 1985, is a uniquely Japanese take on food, cooking and eating. An endlessly inventive comedy, the...

Gawain Barker

Mar 26, 20194 min read

Keep Cool

I had a problem. The power was out, unlikely to be fixed for days, and I didn't just have a whole cold room full of food, but three...

Gawain Barker

Mar 11, 20194 min read

Tools of Pleasure

Knives all have a handle and a blade, and at one end of the blade is the tip; at the other end is the heel. Unlike their hunting and...

Gawain Barker

Mar 9, 20194 min read