The ever-evolving UK food scene is a hotbed of established and emerging female talent, and so to mark the occasion of International Women’s Day 2023, Tommi Miers – the pioneering chef and co-founder of Mexican-inspired restaurant group Wahaca has joined forces with two fellow women in food to combine their diverse culinary expertise and create a celebratory evening of sharing:
- Known for presenting on BBC Radio 4’s award-winning The Food Programme and her role as a critic on Masterchef: The Professionals, Leyla Kazim’s Mauritian and Turkish-Cypriot parents made sure she was brought up enjoying exceptional cooking.
- Bringing her baking skills to national TV as a finalist on The Great British Bake Off, Crystelle Pereira has an equal passion for cooking, with her dishes known for their diversity of tastes and flavours, inspired by her Portuguese-Goan family and recently documented in her debut cookbook, ‘Flavour Kitchen’.
The trio has been collaborating in recent weeks to bring together elements of their own diverse culinary experiences with the aim of creating a top-notch menu that’s perfect for an evening of celebratory sh
aring on the evening of International Women’s Day 2023.
The delicious fruits of their labour can be enjoyed at Plates Shared – a one-off supper club at Wahaca’s Shoreditch restaurant on Wednesday 8th March to enjoy a specially-created five-course tasting menu, with plates including smoky tomato fideos with grilled mussels and herb butter, five-hour grass-fed short rib with Tehuano sauce and toasted almonds, and grilled cornbread with blood orange and piloncillo caramel. And, in keeping with the global celebration of women’s achievements and talent, the kitchen and front-of-house staff on the evening will include women from Wahaca’s brilliant team.
Profits from the evening will be donated to Practical Action, a charity focused on tackling gender equality and poverty in the developing world.
Tommi Miers commented: “Being surrounded by inspiring women is something that captures the essence of International Women’s Day so I am thrilled that we are making this happen with our supper club next month. Whether through our wonderful suppliers, the women on our teams who turn up every day to give it their all in the Wahaca kitchens, or through the extremely exciting guest appearances of Crystelle and Leyla, two women whom I very much admire, I am feeling very excited to celebrate some female power in our kitchens. It has been great fun dreaming up this very special menu and it will be wonderful seeing it all come to life on the 8th!”
Tickets are available now for £60 via wahaca.co.uk/plates-shared-supper-club
Wahaca was born in 2007 from a love of fresh, honest Mexican Market food. First inspired by Thomasina Miers’ travels to the country and her stint living in Mexico City, she and co-founder Mark Selby later set about recreating Mexico’s vibrant flavours and social dining culture at home in the UK with fresh and exciting dishes made for sharing, as per the gregarious style of Mexican eating.
Leading the wave of fresh Mexican food for over fifteen years, Wahaca was recently named by Londoners as their favourite restaurant (YouGov, 2019). Its recipes, such as guacamole freshly made in each restaurant every day with fresh lime juice and ripe Hass avocados or the signature pork pibil tacos made with free-range British pork, have helped Wahaca build a huge following of fans who collectively eat 3 million tacos a year across our restaurants.
With 13 restaurants across the UK, each site-specific design references the terroir of the local areas and their style of street art, Wahaca transports diners on a journey of discovery, straight to the streets of Mexico – creating fun and dynamic spaces where guests can enjoy great food and experience the many and varied different styles of cooking that Mexican food has to offer.
In 2016, Wahaca was the first UK restaurant to be certified as carbon neutral, and in keeping with its passion for sustainability, all ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, or grown and transported with care for the environment. Fish is of the highest sustainability accreditation (MSC certification) and each Wahaca restaurant is designed to the highest sustainability levels.
Cook, writer, TV and radio presenter, winner of MasterChef and mother of three, Tommi Miers has made cheese and run market stalls in Ireland, cheffed with Skye Gyngell at Petersham Nurseries and in 2007, after living in Mexico for a year, she co-founded Wahaca, winner of numerous awards for its food and sustainability credentials; in 2016 the whole restaurant group went carbon neutral. Tommi’s passion lies in food and the environment: she co-founded the Pig Idea in 2015 with Tristram Stuart an award-winning project to tackle food waste, helped set up Chefs in Schools in 2017 for which she is a trustee, is an ambassador for the Soil Association and was awarded an OBE in 2019 for her services to the food industry. Tommi has a weekly column in the Guardian’s Feast magazine, and regularly cooks at different events and shops at her local food market.
