Off to Barang, then, not previously on the list on the grounds of it being a residency. Risky business for critics, residencies: 10 minutes after the review comes out, an email flies in announcing they’re upping sticks with new backers and big ideas. But Barang has done the rounds for a while, first popping up in the summer of 2023 as weekly supper clubs in chef Tom Geoffrey’s home; after that, variously, nights at Carousel, Oranj, Mambow, six weeks at South London Louie. Geoffrey has been at the stove in New York, Bangkok, Phnom Penh, somewhere in Sweden. A hot tub, probably. All quite a lot for the former head of events at King’s Business School, who before that was an actor (“I’ll treasure that three-star review from Total Film forever”).
