There’s a student-run restaurant in Shooters Hill where diners can eat for less and students get “confidence boosting’ training to further their culinary careers.
Located within Shooters Hill Sixth Form in Greenwich, City View Restaurant offers visitors a “fine dining” experience with a difference.
The food is prepared and served by advanced catering students in the final years of their training and is overseen by culinary teachers, providing a unique dining experience with dishes starting from £5.50 for mains and £3.50 for desserts.
The restaurant offers a range of dining experiences, including a lunch menu served on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays during term times from 12pm until 1:15pm, along with fine dining evenings on Thursdays for £25.50.
Overseeing the students is Head of Curriculum, Jade Wilde, who first started working for the college 15 years ago after a career in the hospitality industry.
Jade told the News Shopper: “We’re always consistently busy, we had a few years where we were closed due to Covid restrictions but since reopening we’ve had a steady steam of people coming in.
“Of course we’re aware of the cost-of-living crisis and people come here having the benefit of affordable food whilst our students receive training and experience.
“But we're trying really hard to still keep those prices manageable, to reflect of course that you're in a school and that you're being served by students.”
The training students receive during their time at City View has allowed them to break into several careers in the food and hospitality industry from British Airways to pop-up stalls.
One alumni student is Happy Chef YouTuber Rex de Guzman who studied at the college between 2009 and 2010, before launching his popular YouTube channel and later crowdfunding to open a number of pop-up stalls in London.
Jade added: "We’ve sent our students out into so many sectors in this industry, they go everywhere.
“But what we do as a department is we're talking with them very early on about where their passions are.”
They have a regularly changing menu with dishes created by the final year students including third-year catering student Josephine Brown.
Josephine’s menu includes dishes like stuffed mushrooms, sweet potato and carrot soup, and strawberry cheesecake.
The 19-year-old is currently studying a Level 2 Qualification at the college, with aspirations to become a pastry chef after graduation.
Josephine told the News Shopper: “I think it's really good for building confidence, because we’re dealing with actual customers.
“It's way much better than just making it and taking it home, it really gives you the actual experience that you would have.
“We can have up to 35 diners and I’ve been able to create a lot of dishes since working at City View, I Iove the fine dining especially because the dishes are really unique and a lot of fun to make.”
But it’s not just student chefs who work at the restaurant, it’s the servers too.
The restaurant is also operated by a front-of-house team consisting of final year hospitality students like Elizabeth Kukoyi, 19 and Maximus Tubb, 19.
Elizabeth Kukoyi is currently studying an NVQ in Food and Beverage Services, with aspirations to become a mixologist working for a leading airline.
Elizabeth has already had experience mixing her own cocktails and mocktails at the restaurant, as well as for her family, and has made 40 cocktails so far with some including her own special blends.
Elizabeth said: “We all love mixing the mocktails here, it’s a task we’re all keen to do.
“My dream is to one day work for an airline like Emirates as a mixologist and working somewhere like City View has really helped me.
“Because I also work part-time, and so I gain experience from both school and work, to know how to serve real customers.
“I’ve made about 40 different drinks now, so I’m always in demand at family parties.”
Maximus is currently studying Level 3 NVQ in Food and Beverage Supervision, with aspirations to work in central London at Fortnum & Mason or the Intercontinental in Park Lane.
The 19-year-old added that the experience helped him evolve from someone who was “very shy” to becoming more social and confident at being able to deal with customers.
Maximus said: “It's definitely boosted my confidence, as when I first started I was very shy.
“I kept being very embarrassed over everything, but now I speak to a lot of people and try to make sure I understand customer’s needs.
“So it's definitely helped with my socialising and meeting people who want to come in to try the food.”
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel