Chef Kerth Gumbs to oversee menu at new South Bank site Boiler & Co

Kerth Gumbs is to oversee the menu as head chef at new London restaurant and bar Boiler & Co, which will launch in January.

Opening at the former Camino site at 5 Canvey Street and founded by Adam Carr and Cesar Breton, the concept has been inspired by caramel-coloured beverages such as beer, whiskey and coffee that get their signature depth and body from the boilers they’re produced in. The aim of the venue will be to showcase their versatility in ways that haven’t been done before.

Boiler & Co’s dishes will use local ingredients while drawing on global flavour influences across breakfast, lunch and dinner, designed by Gumbs (pictured), former head chef of Ormer Mayfair.

The menu will offer small plates with nods to Gumb’s Caribbean island home, Anguilla, with dishes such as crab Johnny cakes served with scotch bonnet mayo and roe, a dish that saw him reach the Great British Menu final last year.

There will also be marinated meat and fish cooked over charcoal or on a robata grill and desserts such as pistachio, stem ginger and cranberry served with mascarpone.

A la carte options will include grilled ox tongue with crispy potatoes and green peppercorns as well as roasted scallops with carrot and coconut curry sauce. A tasting menu will be paired with cocktails designed by the team of mixologists.

The business will also set out to prioritise a sustainable supply chain as well as employee health and wellbeing and ethical practices.

Gumbs said: “It has long been a desire to cook, create and serve food in a place that better reflects my personality. Each dish will be fun, vibrant and tasty. I’m really excited and can’t wait to have everyone experience what Boiler & Co has to offer.”

Carr, co-founder and managing director of Boiler & Co who also founded Aura Beverages, said: “It has been a life-long dream to open a place such as Boiler & Co It will be a genuine space for guests to enjoy and a place the whole team can be proud to be a part of. After 17 years of working in bars and restaurants, this project reminds me of how truly passionate I am about the hospitality industry.”

Breton, who also co-founded food delivery service Eat & Co, added: “Boiler & Co. is not reinventing the wheel, but it is carrying out proper due diligence of how it operates ethically as a business. This includes the products we source, our employment conditions and the businesses we work with.

"Living and breathing this ethos is part of our story and is an opportunity to do away with false economies entrenched in the service industry for generations.

“We want to appeal to the socially conscious consumer, and we plan on doing that by creating a personal connection that’s meaningful and authentic. We aim to make each Boiler & Co guest feel understood and accepted without compromising who they are or their ethics. To us, that’s what a sustainable and ethical business is all about.”

Photo: William Torrillo