{"id":20908,"date":"2026-02-10T12:18:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/at-chef-andy-beynons-behind-in-london-an-ever-changing-seafood-menu\/"},"modified":"2026-02-10T12:18:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T12:18:13","slug":"at-chef-andy-beynons-behind-in-london-an-ever-changing-seafood-menu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/at-chef-andy-beynons-behind-in-london-an-ever-changing-seafood-menu\/","title":{"rendered":"At Chef Andy Beynon\u2019s Behind in London, an Ever-Changing Seafood Menu"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Andy Beynon. Dot Dash Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The tasting menu at Behind<\/a>, a modern seafood restaurant in London\u2019s hip Hackney neighborhood, changes almost every day. It\u2019s why chef Andy Beynon<\/a> doesn\u2019t post the 10-course tasting menu online. It\u2019s also why a lot of diners return to the 18-seat restaurant again and again\u2014because you\u2019ll never eat the exact same meal there twice.<\/p>\n

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\u201cWe tweak it all the time,\u201d Beynon says, speaking to Observer in mid-January. \u201cFor example, tomorrow we\u2019re doing a Mylor prawn dish because they\u2019ve just come into season. There are certain dishes we can adapt depending on the available seafood, but there are some dishes we completely change and that we develop through the week to put on the menu the next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beynon opened Behind, his first restaurant, in October 2020. Less than three weeks later, the eatery earned its first Michelin star. It was a transformative moment for the chef and the restaurant\u2019s success.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d never owned a restaurant before, and I was absolutely fucked for money,\u201d he recalls. \u201cI was borrowing and begging left, right and center. But because we won the star, we became absolutely rammed. And then I didn\u2019t have to worry too much. So I don\u2019t really know what it would be like to own a restaurant without one.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before Behind, Beynon worked in a slew of high-end British establishments, including Phil Howard<\/a>\u2019s The Square, Claude Bosi<\/a>\u2019s Hibiscus<\/a> and Matt Weedon<\/a>\u2019s Lords of the Manor<\/a>. Becoming a chef wasn\u2019t a lifelong dream\u2014he initially imagined himself as a hairdresser\u2014but growing up in Hertfordshire, he always preferred cooking shows like Ready, Steady, Cook<\/em> to children\u2019s shows. He took a job as a dishwasher at 16 while still in school, and soon became attracted to the creativity behind cooking.<\/p>\n

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Beynon in the kitchen at Behind, his Michelin-starred restaurant in Hackney. Dot Dash Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cWhen I started cooking, I fell in love with it,\u201d Beynon says. \u201cBut it wasn\u2019t really seen as a career. A lot of people around me were like, \u2018You sure you want to do this?\u2019 They wouldn\u2019t understand that the high-end level of cooking is really serious. That is changing\u2014working in the kitchen is a really good career\u2014but that was the case when I started cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beynon has always had big aspirations, and his try-hard attitude translated well to the culinary world. \u201cI love trying to push myself and be the best in sports,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd I think with cooking, that pushed me as well. So I wanted to work in the best restaurants.\u201d<\/p>\n

He started towards the top. Beynon\u2019s first cooking job, at age 17, was at The Ledbury<\/a> in London, which had just won its first Michelin star. \u201cThat was quite a shock to the system, working there when I was so young,\u201d he says. \u201cI didn\u2019t know anything.\u201d He moved on to J. Sheekey, an institution known for its seafood. Later, at Hibiscus, Beynon really began envisioning his first restaurant.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking about my restaurant forever, but I didn\u2019t have the skills of actually understanding how a restaurant ran,\u201d he says. \u201cI always knew I wanted to do it. But I think a big part of the chef\u2019s table concept [came from] when I worked with Claude Bosi, and he had a chef\u2019s table in Hibiscus.<\/a> It was very chef and customer-led.\u201d<\/p>\n

He quickly realized how much he loved talking to customers and cooking in front of them. \u201cYou get more of an adrenaline kick, instead of being in a basement or a dingy kitchen where you\u2019re told by some French waiter if table four loved it or not,\u201d Beynon says. \u201cYou can actually be honest and speak to people.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Beynon knew he wanted an open concept layout. <\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beynon knew he wanted to open his restaurant in Hackney, an area he loves. The actual design emerged from the space he found near London Fields. He knew it should be an open concept with the kitchen in full view of all the guests, and he wanted a curved countertop for the seating. Behind serves lunch and dinner with only one seating per meal\u2014all guests sit and receive their courses at the same time. It helps to create both camaraderie and an opportunity for everyone to see what the chefs are doing as they do it.<\/p>\n

The dining experience at Behind is buzzy and convivial. When I went in December, dinner felt both like a meal and a show. Everything the chefs do is visible to diners, who are seated around a semicircular counter. There\u2019s an island in the center so that the dish preparation is on display. Diners chat among themselves and with the chefs, something that doesn\u2019t always happen in fine dining. It also affords Beynon and his team the opportunity to understand how people feel about the ever-changing menu items.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps so much because I have so many regulars who are honest and upfront about what\u2019s happening,\u201d Beynon says. \u201cI\u2019ll talk about new dishes I put on quite openly with some of my customers. You can really gauge from people\u2019s reactions what they think about the food.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Prawns have remained a big part of the menu. Dot Dash Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Behind is devoted to seafood, though Beynon is open to including other ingredients on the menu. He\u2019s always preferred creating dishes with seafood, particularly at restaurants that are tasting menu-led. \u201cIt\u2019s really light, really fresh, and it\u2019s something people don\u2019t always get at home or know how to cook,\u201d he says. \u201cFish is fresh every day, and you can be so creative with seafood. You can be playful, like the prawns on toast dish I do, and really experiment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beynon is constantly swapping out his dishes, but a few have stuck around, including his unusual take on Chinese restaurant classic prawn toast. It\u2019s so popular that he has kept it on the menu for the past six months. \u201cThat dish just keeps evolving and evolving,\u201d he says. \u201cWe use a really good prawn, so we just serve a prawn and the head meat, and that\u2019s it. We used to serve it in the shell. So a lot of dishes I\u2019ve kept on, but adapt so you don\u2019t actually know what the original dish was at the start.\u201d<\/p>\n

The plates have impressive range. Some draw inspiration from flavors and cultures around the world\u2014Beynon recently visited Malaysia and brought back many ingredients and spices\u2014and others focus more on highlighting the fish.<\/p>\n

Beynon is not interested in following trends. For him, what makes food exciting is thinking outside the box and doing something unusual. \u201cIt\u2019s also about trying to keep things exciting for me,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd with seafood, you can be creative in different ways. You can be creative with the way you cut fish. But it\u2019s also about adding interesting spice flavors. We\u2019re going to do a curry-style butter sauce with the Mylor prawns. That\u2019s where the next level with Michelin and trying to get two stars really comes into play.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Brill with beurre blanc sauce; the sauce is made with smoked kipper stock, trout roe, apple and chives. Dot Dash Media<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Most of the fish served at Behind comes from U.K. waters, although some seafood is imported from Morocco and Sicily. Beynon loves to highlight gray mullet, an underrated fish that lives on seafood. He incorporates smoked kippers, another British favorite, and he has considered trying out a jellied eel dish. \u201cWe go through five kilos of smoked kippers a week,\u201d Beynon says. \u201cSo if you add it up since we\u2019ve been open, I must be one of the lead buyers of kippers in London. I like the idea of keeping traditions alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a younger chef, Beynon remembers thinking it would be best to keep adding ingredients to a dish. But he now realizes that it\u2019s more skillful to pare things down and allow the main ingredient to shine. He currently incorporates the smoked kippers into a scallop dish, allowing the kippers to augment the Cornwall-caught scallop.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t season the scallop,\u201d he says. \u201cWe serve it where the scallop is quite opaque, quite undercooked, and it\u2019s really sweet and creamy. So when you put that sauce on, you get so much salt and smoky flavor, and you can still taste the scallop. The combination is incredible. But if you put a normal amount of salt on a scallop, it could ruin the dish because you wouldn\u2019t be able to taste the scallop. We try to be really clever about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Seared scallop with pepper dulse, sea fennel, white asparagus and hazelnuts. Lateef Photography<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Beynon isn\u2019t shy about admitting that Behind is currently working towards a second Michelin star. He\u2019s as ambitious as ever (so much so, in fact, that he\u2019s boxing his former boss Jason Atherton<\/a> for charity in March). He\u2019s in the process of opening a cocktail bar in the back of Behind, which he plans to call Behind Behind, and he has lots of ideas for new dishes. That second star may not come as quickly as the first, but Beynon knows it takes time to develop a restaurant, particularly one with a vision like his.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we\u2019re there,\u201d he says. \u201cFor me, two-star level is giving something different to your diners. I\u2019m doing what I think is best, and keeping things creative, and keeping a good team around me. I\u2019m someone who is in, all or nothing. If I\u2019m not interested in something, I don\u2019t waste my energy on it. I\u2019ve learned with getting older that it\u2019s best to reserve your energy so you can be ambitious with the things that matter most, like the restaurant.\u201d It\u2019s clear he\u2019s putting that energy in the right direction.<\/p>\n

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