Tom Sellers is one of London’s most successful chefs. since debut Restaurant Story At just 26 years old, Sellers has built a versatile and highly regarded restaurant group, earning several well-deserved accolades along the way. But Sellers, now 37, thinks he hasn’t reached his peak yet.
“We’re about two-thirds of the way up the mountain,” he told the Observer in September in his private dining room at Restaurant Story. “We’re still climbing. It’s a journey, and it’s a long road. I probably didn’t enjoy the journey for the first five years after Restaurant Story opened. Now, I’m trying to enjoy the process, trying to enjoy bringing in new talent, trying to enjoy the growth of the restaurant as a result of myself and other people. It takes a lot of energy and time and commitment to keep going up the hill, but I’m feeling the energy here right now.”
Today, Sellers helms Restaurant Story, which received its second Michelin star in 2021. In 2023, he opened two modern European restaurants pigeon tower At No. 1 Mayfair Hotel and story cellara Parisian-style grill. He is opening a test kitchen and office around the corner from Restaurant Story’s Bermondsey store. Sellers divides his time between the three restaurants and works with brands like Rolls-Royce and Bang & Olufsen as a chef ambassador. It’s a balancing act that requires six days a week, with only Sundays being his own.
“I’m always in the restaurant,” Sellers admits. “If I don’t, it’s because I’m at a Story Cellar or at an event or conference in another country. But I love being in my restaurant. I love trying to impact the environment in a way that improves and enhances everyone’s focus. But very importantly, I also allow the people who work in my restaurant to thrive and be able to deliver the experience. If you overmanage it, you can become destructive.”
Cyrus didn’t mind being so busy, mostly because he’d never known things any other way. He has been the restaurant’s operator since Restaurant Story opened, rather than handing over the reins to a restaurant group or investors. His management skills were so deft that, shockingly, Sellers had no desire to become a chef while growing up. At 15, he started washing dishes part-time in a restaurant in Nottingham while at school, and it was only after experiencing the atmosphere of a professional kitchen that he found his calling.
“I fell in love with the environment in the kitchen—the energy, the hierarchy, the discipline, and sometimes the volatility,” he says. “I loved it and probably needed it at the time. And then I was lucky enough to work in a great kitchen with some great chefs.”
After moving to London at 16, Sellers “jumped right in”. He worked at Tom Aikens in London, before moving to Thomas Keller’s Per Se in New York and René Redzepi in Copenhagen. It was during this time that Sellers began imagining his own restaurant.
“When I came to London, I decided, ‘One day I’m going to open my own restaurant,'” he recalls. “I don’t know how it happened or why, but I knew it was going to happen. At that time, the demands of the industry on people – time and pace – were less controlled than they are now. Nothing was balanced. So I decided that if I was going to keep doing this for 10 years, I had to have something that was my own at the end.”
From the start, the Nottingham-born chef knew he wanted to call it Restaurant Stories. The name is not as literal as it sounds. While some dishes do tell a true story, not all dishes are grounded in narrative. Instead, Sellers views the experience as a story in itself, about everything that led him to this point. “From the time you’re a kid, the power of storytelling is one of the most beautiful things,” he said. “It’s everything: where I grew up, who raised me, where I worked, everything that influenced me. My whole story is woven into what we do here.”
Some dishes are more obvious than others. The mid-meal palate cleanser, dubbed the “Halftime Orange,” is reminiscent of the orange slices given to kids playing sports. One of the desserts pays homage to Paddington Bear’s beloved jam sandwich. Sellers like to pepper their menus with these nostalgic moments. “When you can be nostalgic like this, you can create new food memories at the same time, which is very powerful,” he points out. “That’s been one of the biggest strengths we’ve had here for 13 years and it’s been part of our identity.”
The bread combo is probably the most famous and Instagrammable dish in Restaurant Story. It’s been on the menu since the day the restaurant opened in 2013. In the early days, it was surprising: When serving a course, the waiter would bring a lit candle to the table, only to eventually discover that the puddle of “wax” was actually beef drippings. When I dined recently, the reputation of this course preceded it. But dipping brioche buns into melted drippings is still a whimsical delight.
The bread course was inspired by Sellers’ working-class upbringing. He remembered his father eating a bread with beef drippings and wanted to pay homage to him. The team makes 200 to 400 candles each week. “It’s very difficult to come up with an original idea,” he said. But I definitely think that’s an original dish. It’s very close to my heart. It has been perfected over and over again over the years. From the first reincarnation to where I am now, it is literally just days and nights. ”
He added, “When we like the idea or we like the story and we like the moment, then we think, ‘How can we elevate this? How can we advance this?'” That’s our biggest focus. ”
For sellers, fine dining restaurants like Restaurant Story are not just about the food, but about creating memories and moments. “Up until now, you’ve only been able to push food off the plate, or over-manipulate it, or reinvent it,” he said. “So the key is to make sure that the products we use are the best in the world for shopping, and to make sure that we look after that with the utmost respect and knowledge. And then making sure that people have a great time, that they feel relaxed in our environment and feel like they’re part of our restaurant. It’s a conscious decision. We design the room, the service, the music and the pace. It’s not an accident.”
As he got older, it was something he focused on more. Sellers empowers his team to research guests ahead of time and create surprising or memorable experiences. If someone is a die-hard Manchester United fan, a team-branded scarf might be on the table. Waiters have carefully prepared lists of recommendations for Paris in case they overhear guests saying they’re crossing the English Channel. It tends to get an overwhelmingly positive response, which is exactly what sellers are looking for.
“It’s always nice to hear people say they really enjoyed their time here because that’s the ultimate goal,” he said. “I’ve lived a long time and food is so subjective. Sometimes you have to remind yourself of that.”
When Restaurant Story opened in 2013, London’s culinary landscape was already different. There are fewer and fewer young, up-and-coming chefs, and a 26-year-old just opened his first restaurant in Noma, which is a big deal. Restaurant Story is set in a converted Victorian toilet (which looks far more elegant than its history would suggest), and the hustle and bustle around it is intense. The scrutiny and attention may have overwhelmed him, but the chef didn’t buckle under the pressure. Instead, just five months later, Sellers received his first Michelin star. Maybe that’s why he’s been fighting the misconception of “bad boy” chefs ever since. Sure, Cyrus has a few tattoos, but as the owner of Restaurant Story, Cyrus is definitely a true pro.
“I guess it’s because I was young and had this image,” he shrugs when asked how much his reputation as an elusive, rock-and-roll chef with a troubled background bothers him. “I just go with it. With the day-to-day running of my business and the restaurant and the level we operate at, I don’t know if I find it funny or insulting or both. It feels like lazy journalism. I’m lucky enough to be covered right away, and I’m probably leaning into it. It almost becomes a character because it creates this interest in me.”
Sellers are certainly not bothered by outside opinions. “I know how much hard work we put in, and how much hard work I put in before to get here,” he said. “I’ve worked under all the great chefs and the time and dedication I’ve put in. I try to focus on what we’re doing and how we’re doing it.”
Some Chefs I’ve interviewed recently include Humble Chicken’s Angelo Satocites Sellers as an inspiration, both for his creativity in the kitchen and his ability to propel his career. He owned his own restaurant—a rarity in the hospitality industry—and he wanted to be among the top one percent in the industry. While the spirit of Restaurant Story has never changed over the years, he has evolved as much as his dishes. There are challenges, like the pandemic, but Sellers just sees all of them as part of an upward journey.
“You have good times and you have bad times,” Sellers admitted. “Sometimes it’s hard for you to be creative. Sometimes you feel burned out. At the time, you tell yourself you’re not burned out. Your relationships with other people go up and down. [the] media. People say good things about you and then say bad things about you. With a restaurant like this comes expectations. “
Sellers often ask themselves and their team specific questions: Why do we want to open a restaurant? How do you want to feel when you go to a restaurant? While they could answer philosophically, the real answer is the experience of Restaurant Story. The tour is a precise, thoughtful encounter between diners and staff that never feels pretentious or inaccessible. During the meal, the friend who accompanied me was so impressed by the discovery of finger limes that she had never seen before that the kitchen sent a box of citrus fruits for her to take home. The restaurant feels like it’s on the verge of earning a third Michelin star, a goal that Sellers admits is reflected in his decisions and efforts. Emphasis on everything is the answer to the seller’s why.
“I love hospitality,” he said. “I love creating happiness for people. No matter where we push our food, that’s still the essence of what we do. I was young when I opened the restaurant and had a dictatorial, driven attitude. Now I sit in a place surrounded by great people and we have great conversations and we don’t change for the sake of change. We let the restaurant push us forward, not the restaurant forward.”
