Just three months after winning the BBC TV show with Anton Piotrowski,Moss told BigHospitality she was ‘delighted’ to take charge at the 53-cover restaurant which opened on Tuesday (19 March). She had to call upon the help of MasterChef judge Michel Roux Jr, to sift through the influx of job offers.
“They were pouring in – it was crazy,” said Moss. “Michel saw everything. It came in all at once and it was quite overwhelming, I didn’t know which job was best.
“To be able to speak with someone like Michel Roux Jr, who understands how to deal with everything, is amazing and so reassuring.”
On the menu
Corner Restaurant and Champagne Bar offers a ‘modern international’ menu with a middle-of-the-road price point – the most expensive main course is a 220g filet of beef, priced at £24.50.
The restaurant, which features a marble-topped L-shaped Champagne Bar, is open daily from 11.30am to 8.15pm, to fit with Selfridges’ opening hours.
“The menu’s quite eclectic,” added Moss. “It will change soon, we’re working on new dishes now. What’s in place at the moment is a little bit Mediterranean - we’ve got white beef in there and we’re using wasabi, so it’s a bit of everything.
MasterChef ethos
“I always remember a comment given to me during MasterChef: The Professionals which was ‘this was cooked by somebody that wants to feed you’ - I want to maintain that ethos here.”
Catering company Smart Hospitality is backing Moss in her new role. Brian Hannon, Selfridges’ food and restaurants director, said: “We are really excited to be partnering with Keri Moss on her first restaurant opening since becoming the joint winner of MasterChef 2012.
“We expect it will be a huge success and we look forward to working with her closely.”
After winning MasterChef: The Professionals 2012in December of last year, 41-year-old Moss - who now lives in Nunhead – told us she wanted to eventually open a restaurant of her own.
Restaurant plans
“If it works out for me here and Selfridges are happy for me to carry on then I may well stay for a while, but in a year’s time I do want to have a place which I’ve funded myself,” she said.
“To have your own restaurant where you’re not relying on anybody is my overall aim, I certainly want to do it in the next two years.”
And, speaking of the career benefits that winning MasterChef: The Professionals 2012 has brought, Moss concluded: “MasterChef has given me so many more opportunities than if I just carried on my day-to-day job.
“It’s just made my career rocket. Even now I get recognised and congratulated on the street. So I recommend MasterChef: The Professionals to any other chefs, and if you put everything you’ve got into it you’ll go far.”