“Subscribe to free weekly news letter HUNGRY FRIDAY FEAST here”
Jeremy King doesn’t just talk about restaurants — he talks about change, class, creativity, ego, instinct, death, literature, leadership, and why the best dining rooms become tiny theatres of human behaviour.
In this conversation, the legendary restaurateur behind The Ivy, Le Caprice, The Wolseley, Arlington and now Simpson's in the Strand explains why “maintaining standards” is actually the road to bankruptcy, why great restaurants must constantly evolve, and why hospitality is really about love, generosity, observation and care.
Jeremy and Dan explore everything from Mick Jagger and Bianca Jagger at Le Caprice, to Lucian Freud, A.A. Gill, Harold Pinter, Graham Norton, Apple, Kodak, IBM, The Beatles, New York brasseries, Parisian cafés, class in Britain, and why every great creative or political movement may have started in a restaurant. This one is unforgettable.
A conversation about restaurants, yes — but really about how to live, lead, notice, change, and leave the world slightly better than you found it.
ON THE MENU:
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:03 Why Restaurants Must Always Change
00:05:46 Why Leadership Is A Benign Dictatorship
00:07:24 Maintaining Standards Leads To Bankruptcy
00:13:47 Why Restaurants Get Defensive
00:17:35 Why Enough Is Never Enough
00:20:06 Why Altruism Still Matters
00:22:13 When Jeremy Refuses A Booking
00:26:06 The Silent Couple At Mirabelle
00:32:08 Arlington, Soho And Restaurant Design
00:35:55 Why Great Restaurants Are Egalitarian
00:41:18 Why Money Ruins Taste
00:43:49 What Makes The Best Restaurant?
00:47:43 Why Restaurants Need Creative People
00:49:43 How Le Caprice Changed Service
00:55:19 Why Culture Hates Real Change
00:59:49 Why Strong Opinions Win
01:03:00 How To Prepare For Death
01:05:14 Why Jeremy Has Regrets Every Day
01:06:16 The Power Of Happy Problems
01:08:30 Why Jeremy Finally Wrote A Book
01:15:12 Why Restaurant Work Changes Young People
01:18:31 How Shyness Became Jeremy’s Advantage
01:20:17 Can Dogs Sense Us Coming Home?
01:24:11 Why We’ve Lost Our Instinct
01:27:14 The Brain’s Restaurant Memory Card
01:33:09 Why Moneyball Thinking Kills Instinct
01:35:12 How Jeremy Feels A Restaurant’s Hum
01:38:07 Why First Impressions Mislead Us
01:41:18 Do All Movements Start In Restaurants?
01:44:10 Why Creativity Needs Long Lunches
01:48:48 Jeremy’s Favourite Books And Writers
01:55:31 How Meditation Helped With Lucian Freud
01:58:21 How Literature Taught Jeremy Restaurants
02:00:01 Jeremy King’s Best Life Advice
02:03:29 Ruthie Rogers’ Eye Contact Lesson
02:05:33 Why Questions Beat Statements
02:07:33 How Mick Jagger Helped Le Caprice
02:11:43 Why Jeremy Prefers Narrowcasting
02:13:01 Jeremy King’s Rules For Success
==============================================
♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here - https://hungryfeast.beehiiv.com/🍲
==============================================
🤝 Let's Connect!
►Let’s link-up here (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)
►Stalk me here (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)
This episode was edited by: G.Thomas Craig (https://www.linkedin.com/in/gthomascraig/)
Ireland