For this week’s Q&A, we chat to Ellen Parr, co-founder of the recently opened Chinese-inspired restaurant Lucky & Joy. She explains the inspiration behind her new venture, the process of setting up a permanent location and the highs and lows of working in hospitality.
Tell us a bit more about the story behind Lucky & Joy?
My best friend Pete and I became super-obsessed with eating at Silk Road in Camberwell and then we went to New York together for a few months and became obsessed with the Chinese food scene there. We noticed that in New York, there is a particular type of restaurants that feel casual but fun, and you don’t really have that in London. We started researching about all the different Chinese provinces and decided to go travelling round China to pick up more and more recipes. We’ve been doing a series of pop-ups for the last two years and it was all received well. It’s inspired by dishes that take my interest – some of them are true to the regions and some of them are twisted versions of them.
For those who have never visited, describe Lucky & Joy in one sentece.
Lucky & Joy is a restaurant inspired by regional Chinese food and is fun and casual – we just try and make things we think are really delicious based on things we’ve tried.
How have you found setting up your first permanent location? What are the challenges that come with it?
It’s just relentless. It’s been really great and fun, and I’m really happy. But every day there is a new problem you have to solve. The cooking is the fun part, and I don’t get to be in the kitchen as I want to because I’m always problem solving. Luckily, we have a great team.
Have you found it helpful working with a co-founder?
It’s been really great, because we’re both so invested in the project and care about it so much. It’s our baby and we’ll do everything it takes to make it work.
Having gone through it, what advice would you give to people thinking of starting their own venture?
I think doing pop-ups is a great way to start. We ran serious pop-ups that felt like a restaurant and it just means you can naturally open and feel like you’ve been doing it for a while. Also, we built up a following of people who liked the food and wanted to come back, so you feel relatively comfortable that you have some clientele already which you can build on when you open permanently.
What’s to come in 2020?
One of the biggest things we want to do in 2020 is special events on Sundays: One-dish ticketed event when the chef cooks quite a complex dish like Chongqing hotpot – basically a bubbling broth of red-hot chillies! We always want to get our karaoke system set up, so you can come and eat and people can pass around the microphone if you want to get involved.
What is the best thing about working in the hospitality industry? And one of the hardest things?
It’s a great industry – I can’t sit down in an office easily and work, so it’s nice to be active. It’s very social, you make great friends. It’s satisfying to serve delicious food to people. The long hours are a bit annoying and probably unrepresentative to the amount of pay. You have more flexibility, but I like having mornings off in the week. I think the industry has got cooler and people consider it a respectable career – having your own place if possible is a great honour.
How would you sum up your day-to-day life right now in one sentence?
Cooking lots of food, serving lots of people and trying to keep everything going!
You’ve got quite a veg-forward menu- was that an active decision?
Yes, definitely. I was a vegetarian for ten years and really like vegetarian food and think it’s really important to celebrate vegetables – they are delicious! You can do amazing things with vegetables and most of my favourite dishes are vegetarian.
What’s your favourite dish on the menu?
Probably Grandma’s potatoes.
To find out more about Lucky & Joy, visit their website here
For more Q&As and industry insights, subscribe to the CODE Quarterly magazine here
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