The Franklin Effect.

Somewhere around 2015, the instagram page of Calum Franklin came to my attention. After in the months to follow, I would be regularly, and I make no apology for this bit, aroused by the most intricate and beautifully crafted pies one could ever hope to see.

So at the beginning of the following year, I decided to shoot my shot. I called Holborn Dining Room and told them I was from the Michelin Guide and that I needed to speak to the chef. Without hesitation, they gave me his email address and I was in.

I emailed Calum beginning with an apology for the white lie explaining that all I wanted was to learn how to make such incredible pies, that I didn’t mean to mislead him or the restaurant and that all I wanted to do was learn.

Charmed by my conduct, Calum immediately obliged and invited me down to London to spend the day making pâté en croûte and stating, “I’d love to help out, the more chefs nailing pate en croute the better in my opinion!!”

So after a full day of insight followed by a knock out meal of pâté en croûte & beef wellington, we remained friends and thus began my ubiquitous obsession with pies that, like the last piss head in your local, shows no sign of leaving any time soon. This was the Franklin effect.