The 23-year-old, who is currently the bar manager at The 3 Crowns in Old Street, has partnered with established butcher Tom Richardson Hill and chef Alex Szrok (from The Eagle in Farringdon) to open Hill & Szrok Master Butcher & Cookshop in Broadway Market in March.
The venue will be a traditional butcher during the day, offering rare breeds, free range and organic meat; and a contemporary restaurant at night, showcasing meat from the butcher in an intimate setting for just 20 diners.
Mathiszig-Lee, who dropped out of university for a career in hospitality, recently told BigHospitality of his desire to open more restaurants. In a wide-ranging Career Profile interview, he said: “I would like to open one or two more pub/restaurants.
“The 3 Crowns has to be successful, of course, but I would love to open a few more places - something a bit fun. My main aim at the moment is to make The 3 Crowns work, there’s no point having three venues that aren't successful.”
Butcher by day
Just a few months later and that dream is already being realised. Speaking of this new opening, Mathiszig-Lee said: “This is an exciting project for me and the boys. I believe in Hill & Szrok being able to serve the local community by day with its high quality and varied selection of meat, then create a brilliant, vibrant and loved cookshop at night.”
Remaining true to the site’s previous incarnation as a butcher, Hill & Szrok will feature tiled walls, a wood and brass window fridge for the meat and central marble counter for the butcher.
Hill, who trained in butchery at the esteemed Godfreys in Highbury Barn, will make use of every part of the animal, from standard and more familiar cuts to offal and cheaper, lesser-used cuts of meat.
Restaurant by night
Once the butcher has shut up shop at 6pm, Hill & Szrok will be transformed into the ‘cookshop’; opening its doors at 7pm for dinner. The central marble worktop will become a communal dining table for 12 diners and an additional eight stalls will be lined up against the wall counters for evening service.
Head chef Szrok’s menu will be ‘unfussy and honest’, in keeping with the philosophy of an historic cookshop – a place to buy food and have it cooked for you by the chef. Dishes will include Suffolk White chicken quarter (£12); braised ox cheek with bacon and ale (£12); and a Dorset Downs butterflied leg of lamb to share (£32).
A small selection of wines (three red and three white) will also be available, to complement the meat on offer.
The project will be financed by savings and bank loans. Mathiszig-Lee will remain a partner at The 3 Crowns and will split his time between the two venues.
Hill & Szrok Master Butcher & Cookshop will open in Broadway Market in March.