Flying solo: the plucky pair taking on the former Pidgin site

Pidgin famously never repeated a dish. Will this policy carry over to Sesta? 

Drew Snaith: ​No. ​We like the idea of becoming known for certain dishes. The Pidgin concept was great and forced us to be creative. I came up with over 800 dishes when I was head chef there. But it was sometimes a little sad when you got to Sunday (the set menu changed each week) and there was a dish that was really good, but you weren’t ever allowed to cook it again. But we will change the menu very regularly. I’m now used to working on the fly and so is my sous chef. We vibe off each other, come up with ideas and when we get bored of a dish we move on. Working in this manner will also allow us to secure small amounts of great seasonal ingredients (much of Sesta’s produce will come from Shrub, which works with Sussex-based growers). 

Will you be dropping the set menu too? 

Hannah Kowalski: Sesta is going to be a la carte.​​ Typically, we will offer six or so snack-size dishes, four starter-sized plates and a few large sharing dishes. We will also have a pasta or another type of starchy dish because we like the idea of people being able to swing by for a bowl of pasta and a glass of wine.  
DS:​ The menu is built to be as open door as possible. The number of plates coming out of the kitchen each service will be roughly the same but the food style will be more stripped back, which should make things easier. We're looking at an average spend per head of £65. 

How is significantly lowering spend per head going to help the business?​​  

HK: ​Pidgin was a big commitment in terms of both time and cost. ​The hope is that being more affordable and neighbourhood in style will make for a busier restaurant. We will also be able to turn tables more quickly. 
DS:​ Pidgin was ticking over. For the most part James (Ramsden) and Sam (Herlihy) were hands-off owners. They are now based outside London and have young families. It had simply reached an end point for them. 
HK:​ Another thing that will really help the business is that Drew and I will be working here constantly, which will keep the payroll down.  

How did you end up taking on the site?  

DS:​ Hannah and I have known each other for a while. We met working at Brunswick House, but we really hit it off when we worked together at Pidgin (Kowalski was GM). We had already decided that we wanted to open a restaurant together and had looked at a few sites including an old burger shack in Clapton. But when James and Sam made the decision to close Pidgin it just made sense for us to take on the space. Hannah and I have great synergy; we create dining rooms full of buzz and happiness. 

Will you be retaining any of the Pidgin crew? 

HK:​ We’re taking on the whole of the team. With recruitment so tough at the moment we’re incredibly grateful to have people that we know how to work with, trust and that are huge talents. We’re already a tightly knit team and are all rooting for each other. It’s all cuddles and smiles here, which is not always the case in larger restaurants.
DS:​ We only employ 12 people in total and the space is so small we can only have six people on during service (three in the kitchen and three on the floor). 

What will your openings hours be?  

HK:​ We will stick to the same hours as Pidgin for the moment serving dinner Wednesday to Sunday with lunch on Saturday and Sunday. But we are open to moving things around and will work with our guests to figure out what works best. We’ve both been in the game for a while, but we are first-time restaurateurs so it would be remiss of us to be rigid. Pidgin closed a week or so ago, we’re hoping to reopen our doors on 11 September. 

So, you’re not doing anything structural to the site then? ​

HK:​ No. We just want it to look like Sesta and not like Pidgin. We're redoing the floor, brightening up the walls with some white paint that has some little flecks of blue and gold in it and putting in some rustic wood panelling to make it feel a bit cosier. We’re also going to hang some work from local artists on the walls that will change regularly and refresh the terrace.
DS:​ We’re making a few changes in the kitchen too including replacing Pidgin’s gas stove with a wood-burning grill, which will make the space more interactive. 

It is a notably small space... ​

HK:​ We are very aware of this. We both worked here before, so we know exactly what we are getting ourselves into. As a front of house person, I'm a fan of it because you can see what is going on at all times and it's really easy to interact with the guests. It's also much easier to make a small place feel busy and vibey. 

What about the wine list? 

HK:​ The list will be completely natural with a focus on France. Our wine storage is very limited so we will need to rotate the stock constantly. We will offer around 16 whites, 16 reds and a few orange wines, rosés and sparkling wines. 
DS: ​Having a small space forces us to change things up all the time. We won't always have the same house wine. In the course of a week half the food menu will have changed, and a lot of the wines will be different. That’s a good thing for a neighbourhood place. 

What's behind the name?

DS:​ A sesta is an old English word for a big vessel of wine. The idea was that nobody could leave the table until it was finished. I heard the word being discussed on Susie Dent's and Gyles Brandreth’s etymology podcast (Something Rhymes with Purple) while I was walking to go and talk to Hannah about the restaurant. I thought ‘that’s it!’.