Monday 6 November saw Olivier Award-winning actor Mark Strong team up with Michelin-starred chef Jeremy Chan to host an intimate dinner as part of the Esquire and Platinum Card® by American Express partnership, hosted at London’s newly renovated 180 The Strand - the ideal venue to bring to life the Amex Platinum Card benefits and the access it can provide.
At face value, an actor and a chef might seem like an odd pairing but on further investigation, Strong and Chan are very much alike: both masters of their craft, theatrical in their output and dedicated to thoroughly researching their portrayals of characters and food to make sure what they produce is authentic and honest.
“I’m a terrible cook,” Strong said on the night. “When I was a student, in order to save on the washing up, we put tins of baked beans straight on the hob and just ate from the tin with an oven glove. But the reason I’m here is because I’m an enthusiastic eater of food — and Jeremy is an amazing chef.”
The menu was a taste of what can be experienced at Chan’s renowned Ikoyi restaurant, known for its cuisine based around British micro-seasonality: think vegetables slowly grown for flavour and sustainable, line-caught fish. Canapés consisted of a ike-jime trout and carrot tart, and an artichoke and pumpkin seed miso rice pancake; the starter was a pumpkin soup with plantain caramelised in ginger and kelp; and the main was a refreshing jollof rice.
“My food is hyper-seasonal and I work very closely with my producers, farmers and fishermen,” said Chan. “I don’t just call up a big food company, I go straight to the person on the boat. It is a daily struggle to get the food into the restaurant because we only use the best, which is sourced locally and directly.”
Chan, who is an American Express Global Dining Collection Chef, cooked in front of an intimate audience of 68 (which included the likes of chef Isaac Carew and actor Russell Tovey) while chatting to Strong about their careers and love of food, with stories spanning from Strong’s experiences of working with Robert Downey Jr and Michael Caine to Chan’s decadent eating habits at secret restaurants in Hong Kong.
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