Jonathan Slatter finds out that Neville and Giggsy are the new foodies in E20.
‘I’ll be honest with you, I’m not sure any of them are fantastic cooks.’
Gary Neville did not show much confidence in the culinary skills of the Manchester United boot room. Nonetheless Neville and team mate Ryan Giggs have cooked up a new restaurant on The Street at Westfield Stratford. What prompted the pair to open Café Football?
‘We both love football obviously, and we both love food,’ Giggs said. Neville joked that he is almost too fond of his food, adding ‘I’ve come to the end of my playing career and Giggsy’s nearly coming to the end of his, so we’re hopeful that it’ll be a success and people will enjoy the experience.’
Working with chefs Michael Wignall and Brendan Fryers, the footballers have designed a menu with a football twist. Dishes include Wignall’s Half-Time Orange, The Treble Pie and The Boss – a burger featuring Scotch bonnet pulled pork. (Who are you calling ‘pig’? – Ed.)
Neville is particularly proud of an item entitled Nev’s Noodle Pot: ‘It’s a take on a pot noodle. It’s gotta be chicken and mushroom as I’m from the North so I had to bring a bit of Northerness to the actual menu.’
No one but a Manchester United superstar could convince us that pot noodles are restaurant fayre!
Nonetheless these dishes are a big step up from what the players usually cook; especially Neville who admitted if he was stranded on a desert island and only able to eat one thing for the rest of his life, it would be a ‘bacon sandwich.’ He’s not going to allow everyone else to get clogged up with bacon fat and cholesterol, however.
‘The noodle dish would be seen as a very healthy dish for a football player,’ Neville explained. ‘There is nothing in there particularly that you would say would be high in fat. I’m not sure about the deserts; they may be a little high in fat! I think generally there is a good mixture of types of food on the menu that will suit everybody.’
Café Football opens on 12th December www.cafe-football.com