Joe Otway – The Chef Rewriting Manchester’s Food Scene

Joe Otway has built one of the most exciting restaurant groups in the country, and in this episode he tells the full story, properly. From Brighton to Manchester by way of Cape Town, New York, San Francisco and Copenhagen, Joe charts the long, obsessive road that led to Higher Ground, Bar Shrimp and Flawd. We meet him fresh off national recognition and immediately get into what really matters: not lists, not PR, but full dining rooms and food that actually moves people.

At the heart of the conversation is Higher Ground’s farm-led philosophy. Joe explains how Cinderwood Market Garden shapes everything, from baby cabbages grilled hours after picking to a cheddar tart that’s never left the menu. He talks candidly about putting offal ragu on the menu, expecting guests to run a mile, and instead watching the North embrace it. It’s serious cooking without the theatre, light-hearted on the surface but absolutely ruthless underneath.

The origin story is wild. Joe and his partners meet at Dan Barber’s Blue Hill at Stone Barns, get snowed in during a historic freeze, and decide they are going to build something together. What follows is an education in chaos and intuition: farm chores, goose slaughter, no written menus, thirty-five dish services changing daily. He then stages at Benu just before it wins its third star, learns brutal discipline in an Indian kitchen back in Brighton, and eventually lands in Copenhagen at Relæ, where the four-day week model reshapes how he thinks about leadership and life in restaurants.

Along the way there are smashed windows in Copenhagen, racist guests thrown out in Cape Town, bike thieves, nightmare services, and a brutally honest take on chasing accolades in modern hospitality. We finish with Joe’s ultimate three-course meal, from cockles on Brighton beach to chicken biryani and rhubarb and custard, and a glimpse at what might come next: a Manchester deli and farm shop to rival anything in London. It’s funny, sharp and properly revealing, and if you care about where British food is heading, this is one you need to hear.

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