The competition is hotting up on BBC’s MasterChef this week, with the final 12 contestants about to find out if they can stand the heat of a professional kitchen.
The BBC show has recruited some of London’s most exciting chefs to put the budding cooks through their paces, with bright young thing Adam Handling first up to lead them through a busy lunch service at his flagship restaurant Frog by Adam Handling.
Adam Handling isn’t a stranger to the TV series having made it to the finals of MasterChef: The Professionals in 2013, so there’s a good chance avid fans of the show may recognise him – but what if you don’t?
If you skipped that series, we’re here to spare your blushes. From the food he’s famous for to his impressive CV, here’s everything you need to know about one of the fastest rising stars on the London restaurant scene.
Who is Adam Handling?
At just 30 years old, Scottish chef Handling is the chef-owner of three London restaurants, two bars and a deli, and has recently assumed the role of chef patron for the new Belmond Cadogan Hotel in Chelsea. He began his career in Scotland as the first ever trainee chef at luxury hotel Gleneagles, before becoming the youngest ever head chef at Fairmont in St Andrews. Multiple award wins later, Handling came to London to open his first restaurant, The Frog E1, in Shoreditch in 2016, which further east last year to a larger location, reopening as The Frog Hoxton.
What kind of restaurant is The Frog?
Adam Handling’s restaurants now straddle the breadth of the city, and each naturally has a different character, from East End edge and street art in Hoxton to quintessentially British luxury in Chelsea. The core of the cooking at all, however, is the celebration of sustainable British ingredients cooked in a modern British style – with the occasional surprise to be found along the way thanks to his employment of innovative, contemporary cooking techniques. Signature dishes on Handling’s menu include chicken butter served with sourdough, potato with caviar and barbecue ash, and cheese doughnuts with truffle.
Where can you find The Frog restaurants in London
You can now find Adam Handling’s food at multiple “Frog” locations across the city. The Frog Hoxton is predictably still in Hoxton, but Handling also boasts a flagship restaurant in Covent Garden named Frog by Adam Handling. His most recent venture saw him get the gig of overseeing all food and beverage provision at the new Belmond Cadogan Hotel, the first London site for the internationally renowned luxury hotel group. Inside the Belmond, you’ll find the Adam Handling Chelsea restaurant, as well as Cadogan’s by Adam Handling, where he’ll be serving his take on afternoon tea, as well as breakfast.
Connected to the Hoxton and Covent Garden restaurants, Handling also owns Iron Stag Bar and Eve Bar respectively, along with Bean & Wheat, a sustainabilty-focused City deli which uses surplus food from the nearby Hoxton restaurant – and, crucially, sells chicken butter.
