Melissa (left) and Jasmine Hemsley
Nicholas Hopper
You're probably familiar with the faces of Jasmine and Melissa Hemsley: they've all but dominated the food scene – healthy and otherwise – since the launch of their first book, The Art of Eating Well, just two years ago. Their rise has been meteoric, going from food bloggers to having their own column in Vogue, releasing their second book, Good + Simple, and now the opening of their first café in Selfridges. They tell us about learning to cook, where they like to eat, and how the café will help them help more people.
On being self-taught
We're home-cooks to the core. We don't have any professional training or fancy knife skills, in fact most of what we've learned came from our Mum. We were lucky enough to have a good start in life; Mum always cooked lovely, nourishing meals from scratch – a (sometimes odd) combination of traditional Filipino cuisine and classic English dishes. As the eldest, Jas learned from helping Mum and Mel learned from watching Jas. The great thing about being home-cooks ourselves is that it means that we can create recipes that are simple to follow.
Hemsley + Hemsley dishes – in pictures
On where to eat in London
The Newman Arms is a new favourite (recommended to us by Clerkenwell Boy), the food is great and they use top-quality ingredients, all sourced from small producers in Cornwall, which we love to support. Our good friend Seamus Mullen is the head chef at Sea Containers in the Mondrian hotel on South Bank – it's brilliant and one of our go-to places for a celebratory meal. We've been going to St John for years and it never fails to impress, plus they're all about nose-to-tail eating which is something we champion ourselves. Elliot's and Wright Brothers in Borough Market are lovely places to stop into for lunch after picking up some fresh ingredients in the market itself, and the Camberwell Arms and Canton Arms are two of our local gastropubs that are perfect for a relaxed midweek meal.
One of the great things about having our own cafe is that now we can really engage with our customers
On their new café at Selfridges
It's always been our dream to open our own day-to-night café that reflects our philosophy and with the launch of the new Body Studio in Selfridges (the gorgeous setting for the café), we were lucky enough that it just the right time and place to make that dream come true! We both love Selfridges, they're so considered in everything they do, and it's at the forefront of a lot of major trends – it's the first department store to remove all plastic water bottles from its stores.
We're so excited about it and we'd love to spill the beans but we want to keep the menu a surprise. You can definitely expect to see some of our Hemsley staples though, such as bone broth-based soups and stews, spiralized noodle salads and paradise bars, as well as some new dishes like quinoa courgette toast, salmon burgers, and carrot cake. The menu is a fabulous mix of old favourites from The Art Of Eating Well, new favourites from Good + Simple and brand new exclusive recipes created specifically for the café. One of the great things about having our own space is that now we can really engage with our customers and make it easier for them to choose to eat well.
What we really want people to realise is that healthy food and great-tasting food don't have to be mutually exclusive. Our recipes are designed specifically to be nourishing, nutrient-dense and jam-packed with goodness and flavour. We don't skimp on any of those, but do avoid refined carbohydrates, replacing them instead with spiralized veg or cauliflower and broccoli rice, highly nutritious wholefoods packed full of vitamins and minerals that fill you up and leave you feeling satisfied. Instead of refined sugar, we use natural sweeteners like raw honey, maple syrup, dates and other fruits – and less of them.
Good + Simple is out now. The Hemsley + Hemsley café at Selfridges will open on 4 April; 400 Oxford St, W1A 1AB; selfridges.com; hemsleyandhemsley.com.
