Meet the Man Behind the Menus at our Wine Bar and Restaurants

We take our food as seriously as we do our wine at Humble Grape. Each of our London wine bars and restaurants has a rotating menu using some of the best sustainable and organic produce from our group of outstanding suppliers. 

Pulling together the menus is a big job, and the man in charge is our Executive Chef, Dane Barnard. Dane takes us behind the scenes and talks through the influences behind the food.

What does the role of Executive Chef at Humble Grape entail?

My day-to-day role at Humble Grape involves working closely with the chefs across all the wine bars and restaurants to train and develop the teams. We as a team aim to find new and exciting recipes and keep a consistently high level of dishes within each location. Another big part of my role is to develop and maintain great relationships with our food suppliers, working with them to come up with new and exciting ways to showcase the sustainable produce we use from them. 

What does a normal day for a chef at Humble Grape look like?

My day normally starts by visiting one of the wine bars and restaurants and catching up with the team. As we have six wine bars and restaurants across London, I tend to visit a couple of the venues each day and be hands-on with the teams getting to understand each venue's different customers and experiences. 

As a team, we then spend the day thinking about how we can elevate our current offering, whether that be through training our teams on how to get the best out of the ingredients, chatting with suppliers to understand what produce they have coming in, and what different ways we can showcase these amazing ingredients. I finish the day in one of the London wine bars and restaurants trying the food and just generally spending time in the venue getting to know the guests and lending a hand where needed. 

What approach do you take to your cooking?

I like to take the simplicity approach to cooking. For me each dish should be showcasing the ingredients used, using less ingredients on a plate but using high quality, sustainable, organic produce. A refined approach that is not over complicated.

Any specific focuses in your menus?

Over the past year, we’ve assessed our vegan food offering to make sure we’re offering enough options for those that are plant-based. More and more people are living a vegan lifestyle, but it’s something that is not executed well in lots of London restaurants. We’ve really put the time into create these dishes and now some of our most popular dishes are the vegan ones.

Separately, we also work closely with our butcher and fishmonger to ensure we are using the highest quality organic and sustainable produce. We work with them to source ingredients that you wouldn't typically expect to find in your average London wine bar.

Are there influences from the wines in your menus?

Working with such a high-quality range of wines makes my job easy, we have wines from all around the world. 

We don't necessarily create dishes to pair with the wine, but we draw influences from the regions where the wines are from. Our wine experts know their stuff, so they talk with the guests to find the perfect pairing for each person to suit their individual tastes. We host wine tasting events and winemaker dinners, where the winemaker visits our wine bars, for this we create a special menu crafted around the wines that are being showcased. 

Where did your love of food begin?

I grew up watching my mum cook four meals a night for four fussy children, so food has always been a big part of my life. When I was at school, I studied food tech as it was the only thing that caught my interest at the time. As the lessons went on, I started enjoying them more and more and decided to do work experience in a kitchen. I loved it, the people, the atmosphere, and everything that comes from being in that environment. I then went straight into a job aged 15 and haven't looked back since. 

What’s your favourite thing about working at Humble Grape?

The best thing about working at Humble Grape is the people you get to meet and work with on a day-to-day basis. I also get the opportunity and freedom to use a wide range of ingredients and learn and teach the chefs more about sustainability and how to get the best form the produce. It also doesn't hurt to be able to drink an amazing selection of wines and increase my wine knowledge through wine tastings and the Wine and Spirits Education Trust (WSET) courses.