Mise En Place, a French (culinary) term for having "everything in place", is probably the most important word in any food-related business and yet you probably never heard of it. For most customers, we often only notice what is in right front of us and rarely celebrate the countless hours spent making those dishes presented to us. We want to help put a spotlight to the sacrifices many chefs put in behind closed doors (or to be more precise, shutters).
In our second feature, we follow Chef Nellie, Co-founder and Executive Chef of Homeground Grill & Bar, as she goes about a typical day in running a Bar & Grill restaurant.
Chef Nellie, a Head Chef and a Mentor
"Seeing that the staff feel a lot more confident and they see that chance to progress beyond what they came in initially with is what makes it all worth it"
I think what really left an impression on me when I met Nellie for the first time was how she puts in so much attention to ensuring that her staff are learning and growing, not only in their professional roles but as a person too. Seeing Chef Nellie asking her Sous Chef Carissa to help in menu development, allowing her Junior Sous Chef Dionne to take up (what I think is probably) the most stressful station, the grill, showed the genuine and very intentional care that she puts in to ensuring all her staff are always improving.
A bar next door
"We wanted to bring back the idea of a bar next door, where people would come after work"
Homeground truly lives up to their mission of wanting to be 'a bar next door' where you can always go to no matter the occasion - be it your family's Sunday roast, a birthday or even a casual weekend lunch. Having been there about another 6 times since I first visited, their welcoming staff and the homely ambience is something I could never get enough of and it feels like I could sit there with friends for hours on end to talk as we eat bar grubs.
Grilling everything from raw
"One thing that we take a lot of pride in is that we grill our food from raw"
I was surprised to find out that the wait for the signature dish, the Homeground Mixed Platter, would take about 20 minutes to arrive. When I asked Nellie why, she shared that this is the only way that the aroma of the charcoal can really seep into the different meats without taking any shortcuts. While it is true that the quickest way to serve everything out perfectly is to sous-vide the different meats and finish them off on the grill, it takes away the entire strong smokey aroma that you can only get from grilling over charcoal over a long duration.
If you love your whiskey (or whiskey in your steak) and a really good roast, there's no better place to have it than in Homeground. The staff are really friendly, the food's really tasty, drinks are great and most importantly, you can get collect 5% cashback rebate every time you visit!
Drop them a visit!
Opening Times: Tuesday - Friday: 6 - 11pm
Saturday - Sunday: 1 - 11pm
Check out their social channels
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/homeground.grill/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/homeground.grill/ Website: https://www.homegroundgrill.com/