Professional chefs Ben Philo and Claudia Pollinger left the UK to start a new life and a new catering business on the beautiful island of Corfu
When Ben Philo and Claudia Pollinger tell you that it’s been an uphill struggle setting up the hugely successful catering business they now run on Corfu, the Greek island that has been their family home now for five years, you certainly don’t feel inclined to disbelieve them.
However, if a couple ever had the right credentials for making a go of such an enterprise you’d be hard pushed to find a team more impressively qualified than Claudia and Ben.
Both are trained chefs and widely travelled; Ben cut his teeth working at the some of the most exclusive hotel restaurants in the States, serving political giants such as Bill Clinton and Israeli president Benyamin Netanyahou, before returning to the UK to work for celebrity chef Andy Worrall-Thompson in his London restaurant Wiz. It was there that he met Claudia, who had returned from working in a restaurant in Hong Kong before moving on to Goa where she’d opened her own bistro.
With such shared passions it was almost inevitable the pair would become an item, and once they had it wasn’t long before they realized it was time to exploit their combined expertise.
“We both always felt that ultimately we wanted to live abroad somewhere, and as soon as our relationship was settled I think we kind of looked at London and said ‘right - where next?’” explains Claudia, as the couple relax away from the midday heat in the cool modern kitchen of their newly refurbished island home.
“I’ve always been a big fan of Greece,” continues Ben, “and I had a friend who come out here to build his own home and was constantly singing Corfu’s praises. When I found out that Claudia hadn’t ever been to Greece it seemed silly not to come out here for week’s holiday and a have quick reccy at least!”
“As soon as we got here,” says Claudia, “I felt instantly at home. Although the landscape is very different, the atmosphere here reminded me of Goa, very safe and friendly, and of course with the most gorgeous weather. When we came back to a grey UK my mind was racing with ways we could make a living and start a business out on Corfu.”
“There’s a lot of money on the island, especially in the exclusive north-eastern corner in the hills around the harbour town of Kassiopi. There are hundreds of multi-million pound holiday villas all tucked away and owned by some of the wealthiest families in Europe. Then it struck me that one possible way to employ our culinary skills would be to offer a private villa catering service, so that holidaymakers could enjoy a meal cooked to the highest restaurant standards al fresco on their own terrace – and that’s how The Invisible Kitchen was born.”
Read the full article in our April 2009 edition.
www.theinvisiblekitchen.co.uk
