WORK • Wednesday Routine
ROGER PIZEY • executive head of pastry • Fortnum & Mason
Neighbourhood you work in: St James's
Neighbourhood you live in: Bounds Green
It’s Wednesday morning. What’s the scene at your workplace?
When I arrive, I sit at my desk and have a nice cup of tea – I work at Fortnum’s, after all. Then we start with a big tour of the whole site, making sure everyone’s in the right places, all the records are up to date and everyone’s in a good mood. On Wednesdays, we usually also host a tasting of the top plates from the afternoon tea in the Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon. We might also discuss upcoming events – for example, picnic season in the summer or Easter specials in April.
What’s on the agenda for today?
Lots of event planning! We also spend the day checking in on suppliers and kicking off development in the pastry kitchens. In the Tea Salon kitchen, we’ve got so many sections: the service section, sauce section, production section, savoury section, sandwich section, cake section and a dedicated scone section because we get through a ridiculous number of scones every week. I spend the day checking in with everyone and making sure the cogs are nicely oiled.
Any restaurant plans today, tonight, this weekend?
There’s a friend of mine, Robert Reid, with a restaurant called Les 2 Garçons, a tiny bistro in Crouch End, so I might book myself in there. He’s someone I knew back from the days I was cooking with Marco Pierre White, so we go way back. I actually went to his house for brunch last Sunday for a good old catch-up. I also might book into Cornus, because Gary Foulkes is an amazing cook. One thing also on my radar to book soon is Kirk [Haworth]’s restaurant Plates in Shoreditch. I did a charity event with him towards the beginning of the year, but haven’t yet managed to get in to eat there.
How about a little leisure or culture?
I love fishing, and every year I host a charity day for Action Against Hunger, inviting a few friends from the industry like Adam Byatt and Tom Fraser. It’s normally 15-16 of us and we all bring lunch and sit down, fish in the morning with bacon sandwiches and then fish until it goes dark.
Any weekend getaways?
For a bit of an escape, sometimes we head to Anglesea to visit my mother-in-law's near the Welsh mountains. We’ve got a little boat near her house so we do some fishing and catch lobster in the lobster pots, coupled with a bit of foraging for anything nice and seasonal that’s growing near her house.
What was your last great holiday?
Sri Lanka in January. There were 17 of us, a very big gang, but it was my wife’s 60th at Christmas so we had all the family with us, including the children and all their partners. We did the whole thing, went around the triangle to Lion Rock and then down again. The food there was stunning and everyone couldn’t wait to see all the elephants.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
I’ve just bought a new nymphing fly rod for fishing which I’m very excited about. You can catch trout with it.