Starting work at 6am isn’t the norm for an average bartender, however tending this bar requires you to be remarkably better than average. In fact ‘average’ is not a word we tend to hear at
The Wolseley.

I started 2 years ago on the Vegetables section in The Wolseley’s kitchens. I am now on the sauce section which is one of the busiest and largest sections with a different Plat du Jour every day ranging from Vijay’s Chicken Curry to Coq Au Vin which takes a lot of prep.

I take a deep breath while running up the back stairs and I’m on the restaurant floor. The buzz of London’s busiest restaurant is incredible - from now I am at the beck and call of the reason we exist – our customers. I clock into our computer system to be able to access table information and place orders, turn around, and I’m in. My service face is on, my mind shifts up a gear (or two or three…) and my shift truly begins.

And so service has begun … The printer keeps printing and checks keeps being called, “SAUCE, LARDER, LET’S GO - TABLE 45! NOW!” We all get lost in the excitement of service and when I look up it almost 3pm. And slowly the kitchen starts to feel over-populated. Ah, yes, the evening shift is in.

How many customers do we have booked for tonight? Who will be working where? Is everything on the menu? Who are the VIP’s? What are their likes and dislikes?

We are usually fully booked 2 to 3 weeks in advance for times between 7.30am - 9.30am for breakfast, lunch is 12.00pm - 2.00pm and then dinner 7.00pm - 9.00pm; these times are by far the most popular with the majority of people.

Well-known author and poet Fatima Bhutto, in an essay for GRANTA, describes a night spent with the touriers at The Delaunay, making the viennoiserie destined for Corbin & King's restaurants.