British chef-author believes in flexibility

British chef Laura Jackson says adaptability has served her well

As special as they are to regulars, restaurant cookbooks serve as an equally delightful slice of the unknown. I haven't wandered along Regent's Canal in East London and pulled up a chair at Towpath, where four unassuming kiosks form the cult-favourite restaurant.

Yet, from the stillness of my kitchen, I can imagine how it might feel to be alternating sips of coffee with spoonfuls of porridge dotted with melted butter and toasted walnuts, watching morning runners blur past as coots and ducks glide across the water.

This is the beauty of author Lori De Mori and chef Laura Jackson's cookbook, Towpath: Recipes & Stories (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2020). You don't need to have been there to feel a connection to their canalside perch.

A collection of elemental recipes, Towpath is rooted in Jackson's inviting style of cooking.

But as much as it's a book about food, it's a story of taking chances, the joys and challenges of running a restaurant and, most poignantly, a partnership embedded in friendship. “It sounds really cheesy, but Lori is the first person I really want to speak to about anything,” says Jackson. “Every day I think how lucky I am to have that, not just in business, but in personal life as well.”

When De Mori and Jackson first rolled up the shutters at Towpath in 2010, they didn't have a phone, website or kitchen.

Everything, except for their toasted cheese sandwich — filled with Montgomery farmhouse cheddar and served with quince jelly — was ferried over to their original three kiosks from De Mori's home across the bridge, where Jackson did the cooking.

Eventually, they acquired a fourth kiosk, which became an on-site kitchen.

Navigating the unconventional setup of Towpath's early days instilled an adaptability, which has served them especially well over the past year.

“In some ways there's so much about Towpath that has always been sure in its ethos, but very flexible in how we would respond to different circumstances,” says De Mori.

The canal is a character in their story. And though Towpath is closed at the moment, Jackson has been there quite often over the past month doing catering for a local photographer. She's appreciated the structure and routine of getting up in the morning and going to the restaurant.

As much as she enjoys being in the kitchen busy with staff, she also loves being there on her own, cooking and listening to podcasts with no interruptions.

Still frozen in places at the time of the interview, the canal was subdued: no swans showing off, gliding and flying as they usually do when Towpath is open.

“It feels like life needs to come back into it,” says Jackson. “It feels quite calm, a little bit bleak, I would say. But I think that's everyone's mood at the moment.”

De Mori adds: “Sometimes I have an aversion to going to the towpath when we're not open and I realized this year that it's because when we're not open doing our thing, it feels bleak to me. It's only when we're really open and we're doing it that there's life there that I think, `Oh yeah, this is the place where I'm super happy spending all my time.' It's like a certain magic happens.” Recipes and images excerpted from Lori De Mori and Laura Jackson's new book, Towpath (Chelsea Green Publishing, October 2020).