If you’ve kept up to date with our restaurant coverage or our mouthful page on Instagram, you’ll know by now that we’re big fans of the buzzy new Big Night restaurant in Hackney. The charming and unpretentious spot celebrates the best of British-ish produce with a playful twist that draws inspiration from yakitori izakayas. In a nutshell: it’s good food (mostly on sticks), good vibes, and plenty of good drinks. Given our love of the place, we knew we had to talk to the team behind the restaurant.
Before linking up to bring big nights to Hackney every night, Joshua Ralphs and Jack O’Connor met while working at Larry’s in Peckham. At the now-closed Larry’s Jack headed up the kitchen and between them, they’ve worked in places like Jolene, Lasdun, and Flor. Suffice it to say, they know what they’re doing – and what London’s diners are after.
Hot off the back of chatting with the likes of Dan Fletcher, Rahel Stephanie, and James Cochran, we had a chance for some ‘Kitchen Chatter’ with the Big Night bois.
What inspired you to become a chef, and who are your biggest culinary influences that have shaped your cooking style?
Jack O’Connor – “I had lots of different jobs in lots of different industries and never found anything that inspired me. I ended up becoming a chef because I found myself unemployed and after going into cinemas, record shops, and Japanese restaurants, only one place invited me back. I was washing dishes at Jidori in Dalston the next week.
“Additionally, I remember I saw the film ‘Babette’s Feast’ just before I started working in the kitchen and it seemed like the most beautiful idea. It’s a lovely film about this French former chef, Babette, living an austere life in rural Denmark. She wins a fortune in a lottery but spends it all on cooking a beautiful dinner for the locals in the village and continues to live her life as before. Rather than using her money to improve her own life, Babette uses it to give ordinary people a taste of the sublime – to open their hearts and minds for just one night. The ultimate goal of a chef rather than a cook has to be to make something memorable.
“[There] is also the idea within the film ‘Big Night’, the inspiration for the name of our restaurant, that even if things are not going well and everything is unravelling you can still try and give people the best meal of their life. That’s what it is all about and that should always be the goal.”
Joshua Ralphs – “I actually first remember thinking ‘working in a kitchen would be fun’ watching ‘Big Cook, Little Cook’ on Cbeebies when I was like 6 or 7. It just looked like great fun making all sorts of different things with your tiny little mate and his flying wooden spoon – and I was totally right.
In terms of influences I can’t say there is any one chef that stands out as the main influence, [although] there are loads of chefs I trust wholeheartedly to deliver my favourite version of a dish…. But my biggest influence would have to be my mum. She showed me so many different cuisines and opened my eyes to how much exciting food is out there! Although, admittedly, her renditions of these dishes were not the most accurate depiction. Maybe wanting to make better versions of what my mum would cook us also helped me on the restaurant path! -laughs-
What are the biggest challenges and rewards of being a young chef in London?
Jack – “I honestly love this job so the challenges are not so much challenges as [they are] the realities of the job. It’s certainly not for everyone. You work long hours; you don’t get enough sleep; you end up drinking too much and falling into unhealthy eating habits; you get lots of cuts and burns – and sometimes you have to tolerate really bad music choices.
“But the rewards are great. Firstly it’s just really fun: you spend a lot of time with great people and find true friendships. You [also] get access to amazing ingredients and eat delicious food; you get to play with knives (which is obviously really cool); you have endless amounts to learn. London in particular … [is such] an active scene you can really be at the front of things that are changing and developing as it is happening. And you get to make people happy night after night – it’s a really fulfilling experience.”
Joshua – “At first, the biggest challenge was to work so late into the most sociable hours of the week, but I got used to that reality as I got older and placed a lot more importance and dedication into my career. The new challenge is trying to put up with this f***ing bad back – [the result of] too many years of unsafe lifting of kegs and machinery and carcasses. Take those ‘how to lift safely’ posters seriously!
“There are plenty of rewards for doing a job like this, one of the biggest for me (without sounding too corny) is giving people a really great night out. Watching people do that ‘f*** this is delicious’ nod with the furrowed brow is just endlessly satisfying.
“Also the amount of lasting relationships I’ve made whilst moving around different kitchens: from customers we’ve just got along great with [to] the deep friendships that are inevitably created when you spend 14 hours a day working with people. I don’t have many better friends than those I’ve made in hospitality.”
How have shows like “The Bear” and other media representations influenced public perception of chefs?
Joshua – “I would actually put the trend of chef/hospitality-related media down to the [Jon Favreau] film ‘Chef’ from 2014. Ever since that, there has been a shift in tone with media about the service industry, it’s taken a lot more seriously with things like [John Wells’ 2015 film] ‘Burnt’ and [Mark Mylod’s 2022 film] ‘The Menu’.
“Instagram is absolutely the biggest influence on the perception of chefs…. People flocked to all these chef’s pages [during lockdown], learning how to cook all sorts while stuck at home. Then after everyone was let out and restaurants opened again, everyone put their newfound obsession to use by exploring the whole restaurant scene. [There is a] new relationship between customer and restaurant with a lot more personable connections to your favourite restaurant or chef.
“This all feeds into why The Bear has done so great (not only because it’s a fantastic show) people want the curtain pulled back more than ever and The Bear absolutely does that.”
How has the London culinary scene changed over the past few years?
Jack – “Instagram has had a big impact on things: food made for photographs and food as fashion. A few years ago big expensive burgers were everywhere but that has been dying off. Vegan fast food was supposed to be the next big thing but that seems to have quickly fizzled out. Trends are constantly dipping in and out…. But there has been such a surge of the modern European small plates model that has felt inescapable. Linked to this, the wine-bar-as-a-restaurant [concept] is everywhere now [and there] also has been an increase of seasonality in menus which is great.
“Food has got spicier I think. Our tastes have become slightly more adventurous. I remember when the only place I would see Thai food was Thai green curry in pub kitchens and now there is a glut of excellent Thai restaurants to choose from around town and so much more.”
Joshua – “Well, the obvious big change is the small plates/natural wine obsession. But there also seems to be a big focus on personality chefs – people who are present on Instagram. People know a lot more chefs by name and where they’re currently working these days than in the past. People follow their favourite chefs to their next restaurant or pop-up. It really seems to be driving a very media/content-centric necessity.”
Where do you see the London culinary scene heading in the next 5-10 years?
Jack – “Sustainability is going to be more important. Now it is quite fashionable but a lot of it can be token and superficial. I think it is going to be taken more seriously going forward and will have a big influence on what people are doing. With that the seasonality of ingredients is going to become more important as people become more educated about real sustainability in restaurants.
“I think the focus on authenticity is coming to a head. There are going to be more diverse super-local regional places opening, but as various traditional cuisines are normalised the scene is going to become more adventurous. [I reckon] there will be more creative and surprising independent restaurants popping up.
“I think the seriousness and formality of eating out has been eroded and restaurants are going to be more fun and will increasingly be treated as social spaces.”
Can you share a memorable experience or anecdote from your time working in London’s kitchens?
Jack – “One of my favourite memories was when I was working at Flor. Our Wi-Fi wasn’t working and we couldn’t play music so I brought in my record player and set it up in my small corner of the kitchen, precariously close to the hand wash sink. I was cooking and selecting records all night and there was this moment when the restaurant was full, it was a busy Friday or Saturday night around 9 o’clock, and I put on this Rizan Said album ‘King of Keyboard’. It’s amazing Syrian dabke music. It’s intense high energy and so much fun, and when it dropped the whole restaurant was buzzing off it.
“I was there cooking this fantastic food at one of the best restaurants going and it was kicking off with one of my favourite albums. Customers at the bar were asking what the record was and I was getting it down and showing it to them and talking about the music as I was serving them their food. I remember just stopping for a moment and taking it in and looking around. I remember my mates in the kitchen were doing the same and absolutely loving it. It felt like the coolest thing in the world and it was just a perfect moment of real joy that I will never forget.”
Joshua – “Our New Year’s soft launch of Big Night will be a moment (or rather a big collection of moments) that will stay as vivid in my mind as if it was yesterday…. Getting to serve and host all these people I hold close to my heart on the first service of our new restaurant was unreal.
“When we weren’t cooking skewers, we were pouring drinks and when we weren’t pouring drinks we were doing shots and dancing. It was just one of my favourite nights of my life let alone in a kitchen.”
Read our review of Big Night here.
If you want to try out Big Night’s food and experience the vibes for yourself you can find it at 177 Morning Lane, E9 6LH. The nearest stations are Hackney Central and Homerton.