Jane Alty is head chef and co-owner of The Begging Bowl, which opened in August 2012 starting a new era eating Thai food in London. A modern Thai restaurant centred around quality sourced ingredients, a carefully curated wine and cocktail list, and unusual dishes that you did not find in other Thai restaurants.

 

Originally from New Zealand, Jane wanted to be a chef at the age of 14, started working part-time in kitchens while at school, which meant kp on the weekends and unpaid chef work during the week. At 18 she enrolled in cooking school for two years and then worked at the best restaurant she could find in Auckland, ‘Antoines’ for a year before leaving to travel and work in London restaurants.

 

Jane has lived and worked in London for the past 20 years, working alongside the city’s best chefs. While travelling through Asia, Jane became infatuated with Thailand and its exciting and exquisite food. She fell so in love with the local dishes, people, culture, and design it changed her life and her career path to focus exclusively on mastering this deeply complex and demanding cuisine.

This led to her spending three-and-a-half years at Nahm working under the internationally-acclaimed chef David Thompson and subsequently working with him in Bangkok for four months.

But despite her formal training, Jane attributes many of the invaluable secrets she has learned to spending time with her Thai relatives on the outskirts of Bangkok. Cooking, eating, and learning new dishes over the years have provided her with constant inspiration.

 

The ingredients are the absolute key to The Begging Bowls success Jane’s expertise and ideas are now poured into her work at The Begging Bowl where she works with exceptional English seasonal produce and specialist suppliers. The team goes to great lengths to make everything from scratch while taking great care not to interfere with traditional techniques.