A team of three Greek entrepreneurs from London was joined by a common passion. Food.
“Where is there happiness amongst all the people? When feasters in the house, sitting in rows, can listen to a singer, while beside them tables are full of bread and meat, and a waiter brings wine from brimming bowls and fills their cups: this seems to me in my heart to be the best of all!”
– Odysseus to his host Alcinous in Homer, Odyssey IX
Stathis Georgiadis and Thom Ntinas have come a long way together, having been best friends since kindergarten. They met Christina Christodoulou early on at school in Veria, a town in Northern Greece, where they all grew up.
“Might be destiny, who knows? We all ended up in London and decided to activate an old idea; to work together and combine our dexterities,” Thom tells Neos Kosmos.
“We definitely wanted to do something about food, cooking, searching for new [sometimes old] concepts and flavours, offering something different to the gastronomic paradise that London is.”
Their academic fields as well as their shared enthusiasm for gastronomy clicked almost magically and this is how The Philosopher’s Stove project was born – a thematic pop-up kitchen which specialises in ancient Greek cuisine.
Thom is a food connoisseur and a professional cook who has worked in numerous restaurants in Wales, Greece and London. He started his career from the very humble beginnings of army cooking, where he accidentally volunteered to cook three meals a day for 1,000 trainee soldiers, and has never looked back. He later went on to work in the kitchens at the legendary Abbey Road studios in London.
Thom currently has his fingers in a lot of pies. As well as cooking ancient Greek recipes in pop-up restaurants across London, he is also launching a source to table olive oil project that links Greek farmers directly to olive oil consumers, as well as constantly researching obscure cheeses from all over Greece. On the sidelines, he frequently works as a freelance live and studio sound engineer.
Stathis, on the other hand, was born in Veria, Greece, though he spent most of his adult years in Athens. His studies in translation, interpretation and applied foreign languages led him to travel extensively all over Europe. An avid traveller and researcher, he has also penned the internationally acclaimed books Ouzo: A Definitive Guide to the Famous Greek Alcoholic Beverage (Road Editions, Athens, 2008), and Konstantinoupoli-100 Hartografimena Simeia [Istanbul, 100 mapped spots], the latter being a combined travel book and map of Istanbul (Road Editions, Athens, 2011).
Stathis thought he would like to be an academic and almost finished his PhD in History, in Florence, Italy.
However, during the last year of his thesis he was overcome by the urge to quit his studies and “set sail for new adventures”.
Apart from travelling and writing for various sites, he is currently planning his ideal guidebook about Greek restaurants while promoting The Philosopher’s Stove.
The newest member of the ‘triad’ is Christina, who is the Stove’s front-of-house and public relations manager.
Christina has been in the UK for 16 years. After finishing an MA in Translation from Surrey University she ventured into the exciting world of project management.
Thom, Stathis and Christina’s combined qualities and hard-to-please tastebuds make The Philosopher’s Stove what it is.
The Philosopher’s Stove is all about serving its ‘guests’ authentic and deliciously tasty foods.
“Some dishes come straight from ancient papyri and lost books of the old, others a fusion of ancient with the modern, and all are homemade and handmade,” the team explains.
“We use the best quality ingredients everywhere.”
From organic flour and vegetables to meat and fish; all the ingredients Thom, Stathis and Christina use are locally sourced from farmers around London.
“Even our bread is home baked according to a 25-century-old recipe,” they emphasise.
The Philosopher’s Stove reflects on the philosophy of ‘I eat therefore I am’, “which is why, every time we feed you, we are making you who you are” head chef Thom Ntinas says.
“This is a huge responsibility placed on our stove and we take it very seriously.”
All their dishes are nutritionally balanced without any artificial flavourings or preservatives.
“Our ingredients are fresh, selected and used with a focus on health and quality.”
The entire event planning takes the team about two months. They first decide on the concept, then they start researching and proceed to sourcing and tastings.
“In the beginning it was a bit more difficult than now. Given the fact that we are still a start-up, we have to do almost everything ourselves,” the head chef explains.
“Finding some unusual, rare or downright impossible ingredients that were used back then always proves trickier than we think.”
The diners that usually attend The Philosopher’s Stove pop-ups arrive with a mixed feeling of anticipation and surprise; some of them do their homework beforehand while others come looking indifferent but then dive into a vast ocean of taste and knowledge.
“Most of our events have been sold out and the feedback was more than encouraging. We still have many things to refine,” Thom adds.
“So far, the reception of our events really makes us smile at the end of a long and tiring event day.”
When asked if they would consider holding a symposium in Australia, they all screamed: “Yes! Please, somebody invite us. We’ll behave.”
For bookings, press, or general enquiries, please email info at thephilosophersstove.co.uk
