With Stephen Harris

With Stephen Harris

From Table Talk by The Spectator

October 28, 2025 · 32 min

About this episode

Stephen Harris discusses his journey as a chef and the influences behind his cooking.

Stephen Harris, a self-taught chef who has run the Michelin-starred restaurant The Sportsman for over 25 years, sits down with Olivia Potts on Table Talk. Based just outside of Whitstable in Kent, The Sportsman has won national restaurant of the year multiple times, and Stephen is also an executive chef at Noble Rot. The Sportsman At Home is his second cookbook, available to pre-order now and out everywhere from the 6th November. Stephen tells Liv about his earliest memories of food from school dinners to sweets, how he started out as a history teacher and in the City of London – before getting his big break, and which restaurants he loved most in 1980s London – from Marco Pierre White's to Pierre Koffmann. He also reveals the influences he has had from France, from the Kent countryside and even from the Domesday Book. Plus, Liv reveals she celebrated her 30th birthday at The Sportsman and can remember every thing she ate! Produced by Patrick Gibbons. Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more. For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts . Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on…

People in this episode

Host: Olivia Potts

Guest: Stephen Harris

Topics covered

  • food
  • cooking
  • restaurants
  • Michelin-starred
  • cookbooks

Keywords

  • The Sportsman
  • Noble Rot
  • Kent
  • Domesday Book
  • 1980s London

Mentioned in this episode

Products: The Sportsman At Home

Books & works: The Sportsman At Home, the Domesday Book

Places: Whitstable, Kent, the City of London, London, France

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