![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-Copy-of-\u00a9JodiHinds_260129_SallyAbe_Teal_388.jpg\")
Chef Sally Abe\u0301. Jodi Hinds<\/p>\n\t\tChef Sally Abe\u0301. Jodi Hinds<\/p>\n
In February, Sally Ab\u00e9<\/a> got the keys to her first solo restaurant, Teal<\/a>. Located on Wilton Way, a buzzy street in Hackney, it was previously home to Michelin-starred eatery Pidgin<\/a>, which closed in 2024 and was replaced by the short-lived Sesta<\/a>. Ab\u00e9 had been looking for a potential spot since 2019, and it took a long time to find a small site that would be achievable without investors. She remembers opening the door for the first time in complete shock.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI was here on my own, and I walked in, and it was all dark,\u201d she tells Observer in early May, six weeks after Teal<\/a>\u2019s debut. \u201cI was stuck here for a minute, just thinking, \u2018My God, this is real now.\u2019 A restaurant is something that most chefs aspire to have your whole career. And certainly in the last six or seven years, that was more turbocharged for me. But I couldn\u2019t believe it was actually happening.\u201d<\/p>\n It took only Ab\u00e9 and her business partner, Abe Drewry<\/a>, six weeks to transform the space into Teal, named for Ab\u00e9\u2019s favorite game bird, a type of wild duck. There are only 25 covers across the tables and countertop, which overlooks the bar and kitchen. The colors are soft and welcoming, and the atmosphere is relaxed\u2014a carefully curated home-away-from-home vibe.<\/p>\n \u201cI want it to feel like an extension of my living room, warm and inviting,\u201d she says. \u201cEverything on the shelves is from my house. All of my books and loads of my knick-knacks. Some of the artwork is from my own walls. My goal was to make it feel very calm when you\u2019re in here. Like it\u2019s somewhere that you can settle into for lunch or a dinner and waste a few hours and not look at your watch.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Opening a restaurant without investors is unusual, but Ab\u00e9 didn\u2019t want to answer to anyone else. She and Drewry funded the restaurant without going into debt, which they were able to do by sticking with a smaller room and hiring just five additional staff members.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe best thing about this site was an achievable reality,\u201d she says. \u201cTo build a restaurant from the ground up, you need a million quid. Obviously, we\u2019ve spent nowhere near as much as that here, but that\u2019s because it\u2019s so much smaller. And I\u2019m really proud that we\u2019ve done it that way. We can open and close when we want, and set the prices that we want. It\u2019s a much freer way to work. All I\u2019ve really ever wanted to do is be my own boss, and now I am.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Growing up in Mansfield, England, not far from Nottingham, Ab\u00e9 never dreamed of becoming a chef. She initially wanted to be a journalist, but she didn\u2019t do well enough in school to pursue it as a career. Instead, she studied hospitality business management\u2014a degree that is finally paying off. Her first job in a London kitchen was at Gordon Ramsay<\/a>\u2019s Savoy Grill<\/a>. \u201cThe first thing I enjoyed about it when I was 20 or 21 was the pressure of it and the chaos of it,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI\u2019m a bit ADHD and drawn to the chaos. It\u2019s so different from any other job you could do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n After the Savoy, Ab\u00e9 worked at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge\u2019s, before moving on to British restaurant The Ledbury<\/a>, where she worked with chef Brett Graham<\/a> for five years. Graham became a sort of mentor to Ab\u00e9, helping to guide her both at The Ledbury<\/a> and later at his Michelin-starred pub, The Harwood Arms<\/a>, where Ab\u00e9 spent four years as head chef. She left in 2021 to helm The Pem<\/a> at the Conrad London St. James, and then did a short stint at The Bull Chalbury<\/a> last year as she prepared to launch Teal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThey were all formative experiences,\u201d she reflects. \u201cYou learn and you take away different things from different places. All of the jobs that I\u2019ve had, I\u2019ve had for quite a long time. Staying in one place for a long time, you learn a lot more because you really solidify what you\u2019re learning. You don\u2019t just learn to do it their way and then move on to the next thing. You do it so many times that you can do it with your eyes closed.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n When Ab\u00e9 moved to London in 2006, there were a few other female chefs. At Claridge\u2019s, there were a couple of women in the kitchen out of a team of 30. For about a year and a half at The Ledbury, Ab\u00e9 was the only woman. \u201cI don\u2019t think it consciously impacted me, but subconsciously, it definitely did,\u201d she remembers. \u201cAt the time, I was like, \u2018I need to be one of the boys, and I need to do this, and I need to do that.\u2019 I wouldn\u2019t let myself be feminine, whereas now, it\u2019s the other way around.\u201d<\/p>\n Ab\u00e9 has since actively encouraged more women into the kitchen. At The Harwood Arms, she aimed for a 50\/50 gender split in hiring and tried to give women a chance, even if their resumes weren\u2019t as strong as those of their male counterparts. \u201cIf nobody gives women a chance, then they\u2019re never going to get that chance and get anywhere,\u201d she says. At Teal, all of the chefs are female.<\/p>\n \u201cOnly 17 percent of all chefs [in the U.K.] are women,\u201d Ab\u00e9 points out, citing a stat<\/a> from her book. \u201cI\u2019m trying to work on changing that and moving that a little. It took me a long time to realize the differences. I was putting my head down and getting on with it, but eventually, your eyes are opened to the way of the world and the patriarchy and sexism. I got to a point where I realized maybe I could make a difference.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In 2024, Ab\u00e9 published her first memoir, A Woman\u2019s Place Is in the Kitchen, which recounts some of the challenges she faced as she rose in the culinary world, including toxic behavior from chefs. Some of that culture has evolved since. \u201cThere are a lot of people working to stomp it out, and people who won\u2019t tolerate that in their kitchens anymore,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd that\u2019s really good to see. But I think there are some slightly older chefs who need to get on board. Or maybe they should retire.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ab\u00e9 has always had a feminist streak, which she attributes to her mom. When she was 11, she was so infuriated by her school\u2019s refusal to allow girls to wear trousers that she took matters into her own hands.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI made a petition and got every single girl in the school to sign it,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI took out a book called Know Your Rights from the library, and took them to the head teacher and threatened to take him to court. They tried to pretend they\u2019d made an independent decision about it, which was annoying, but we got what we wanted.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Ab\u00e9 has worked in several fine-dining restaurants, but in recent years, she has become more interested in casual dining experiences. She goes out to places in London like Rita\u2019s<\/a>, The Pelican<\/a> and The Smoking Goat<\/a>, all of which serve really good food without any sense of pretension. \u201cAs I get older, I want to cook and I want to eat more relaxed, approachable food,\u201d she says. \u201cI\u2019ve never really been a tweezers gal. I find it all a bit too finicky and frustrating. I\u2019d rather put a big spoon of mashed potato on the plate and make someone smile.\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s exactly what the menu at Teal aims to do. The modern British bistro showcases contemporary takes on nostalgic dishes. Ab\u00e9 likes to seek out forgotten historic recipes and revive them, like the Locket\u2019s Savoury, a Stilton cheese-based starter that was served at the Locket\u2019s Club, a gentleman\u2019s club in Westminster, around 200 years ago. There\u2019s a very good Scotch egg, a deviled crab tartlet, baked bone marrow topped with snails and English mussels served with Jersey Royal potatoes\u2014all of which feel current, even if many date back hundreds of years.<\/p>\n \u201cI previously found it quite hard to express what it is that I want to showcase, but now I think that it is certainly the best of British food, but also the history of British food,\u201d Ab\u00e9 says. \u201cI find it very interesting to look into that history and modernize those dishes.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The desserts include a marmalade ice cream sandwich, which has quickly become a signature, and a Penny Lick, which is composed of a small dollop of ice cream in a mini glass, which originated on Victorian ice cream carts. Because not everyone could afford a full scoop of ice cream, the carts served a lick for a penny. Teal offers their own take for \u00a31, which is donated to the Hackney Food Bank.<\/p>\n \u201cThey actually made Penny Licks illegal in, like, 1899 because they were spreading tuberculosis,\u201d Ab\u00e9 says, laughing. \u201cI haven\u2019t looked at the law, but I\u2019m kind of hoping that they are still illegal, because it would make great content if the police came and arrested me.\u201d<\/p>\n She adds that the Penny Lick is intended as a bit of fun at the end of the meal. It requires guests to stick their tongues into the small glass, a reminder that dining isn\u2019t always something to be taken too seriously. \u201cI don\u2019t want people coming in and worrying about which knife and fork, or how to hold their napkin,\u201d Ab\u00e9 says. \u201cMy friend came in to eat the other day, and she said she found it all quite whimsical, which I really like. That\u2019s a nice way to describe it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Teal just opened in late March, but Ab\u00e9 has already changed the menu. She wants the dishes to shift with the seasons, although that doesn\u2019t have to be weekly or even monthly. She carefully sources all of her ingredients, mostly from British farms. She\u2019s aware that perceptions of British food, especially internationally, can be negative, but it\u2019s this local produce that really defines what chefs here are currently doing.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThese things come around in circles,\u201d Ab\u00e9 says. \u201cIn the \u201870s and \u201880s, British food had a really bad rap. And then you had the advent of Gary Rhodes<\/a> and Marco Pierre White<\/a>, and then Gordon Ramsay in the \u201890s. Now there are certainly a lot of younger chefs doing British food their own way now. And the supply chain has got a lot better. There\u2019s a lot more access to smaller growers and small farms, so you\u2019re actually able to get much better products.\u201d<\/p>\n Owning your own restaurant is a real gamble. Ab\u00e9 knows the early hype for Teal has to translate into return visits from guests, something she hopes to cultivate in the coming months. That will certainly be aided by the restaurant\u2019s sunny terrace and the convivial vibe in the dining room, as well as the food itself.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a massive risk,\u201d she says. \u201cBut you\u2019ve got to put yourself out there. Most people are too scared to do it, which is why most people don\u2019t open restaurants. One of the important things for me now is to take stock and actually be proud about what I\u2019ve done, instead of \u2018Oh, it probably could be better.\u2019 To just be like, \u2018Yeah, we\u2019ve made a good thing here.\u2019 I am very proud of that.\u201d <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chef Sally Abe\u0301. Jodi Hinds In February, Sally Ab\u00e9 got the keys to her first solo restaurant, Teal.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":943681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7757],"tags":[263559,263561,748,18877,120341,393,299,263560,29856,4884,522,466,388,222322,257,33989,222321,263562,280,37254,263563,263558,263564,263565,263566,263567,263556,222330,263557,263568,263569,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-943680","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-london","8":"tag-abe-drewry","9":"tag-brett-graham","10":"tag-britain","11":"tag-chefs","12":"tag-claridges","13":"tag-england","14":"tag-europe","15":"tag-gary-rhodes","16":"tag-gordon-ramsay","17":"tag-great-britain","18":"tag-international","19":"tag-interviews","20":"tag-lifestyle","21":"tag-lifestyle-interviews","22":"tag-london","23":"tag-marco-pierre-white","24":"tag-nightlife-dining","25":"tag-pidgin","26":"tag-restaurants","27":"tag-restaurants-in-london","28":"tag-ritas","29":"tag-sally-abu00e9","30":"tag-savoy-grill","31":"tag-sesta","32":"tag-teal","33":"tag-the-bull-chalbury","34":"tag-the-harwood-arms","35":"tag-the-ledbury","36":"tag-the-pelican","37":"tag-the-pem","38":"tag-the-smoking-goat","39":"tag-uk","40":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116533059109150712","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=943680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/943680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/943681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=943680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=943680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=943680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-\u00a9JodiHinds_260318_Teal_Interiors_104.jpg\")
Teal\u2019s interiors are inspired by Ab\u00e9\u2019s own home. Jodi Hinds 2025<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-\u00a9JodiHinds_260318_Teal_AngelsonHorseback_61.jpg\")
Teal is a modern British bistro. Jodi Hinds<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-\u00a9JodiHinds_260318_Teal_LocketsSavoury_42.jpg\")
Teal\u2019s Locket\u2019s Savoury is a revived, elevated British classic. Jodi Hinds<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Copy-of-\u00a9JodiHinds_260318_Teal_MarmaladeIceCreamSandwich_37.jpg\")
Teal\u2019s marmalade ice cream sandwich. Jodi Hinds<\/p>\n