Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
Food and Hosting
The Rising Star Behind Peckham's Best-Kept Secret
21.04.2026
Put the kettle on and spend five minutes with Holly Middleton-Joseph (@hollymiddletonjoseph), head chef and director of Hausu (@hausu_london) in Peckham, and you quickly sense that cooking, for her, is rooted in instinct, heritage and honesty. Raised across cultures, with Chinese and Trinidadian roots woven into everything she makes, she came up through some of London's most respected kitchens before stumbling, almost accidentally, into a restaurant of her own.
After a phone call out of the blue and a month of building something from scratch on a shoestring, Hausu was born - and with it, a DIY spirit that still runs through every corner of the place. Now a National Restaurant Awards Rising Star, Holly reflects on cooking without a label, the new late-night bar upstairs, and why the food always has to feel true to her first.
Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
Image: Photography Adam Firman
Interview with Holly
Tell us a little about yourself and how Hausu came to be - who are the people behind it and what kind of place did you set out to create?
To be honest, a lot of how Hausu came to be happened a little bit by accident. We were running pop-ups at the time, and we did one at the old Coal Rooms site in Peckham. We loved working in the space, as it felt like it had so much potential. While preparing to host another one there, the owners called Christian out of the blue and asked if we’d be interested in taking over the lease. After trying to work out how we could even fund it and having a really short window of time to make the space feel like ours, we basically did everything we could on a shoestring in a month. It’s meant that a DIY, family feel has always sort of permeated through everything we do at Hausu, and I think guests seem to resonate with that when then come to us.
You came up through some brilliant kitchens - The Camberwell Arms, The Waterman's Arms, Frank's Café - before doing pop-ups and residencies with Tom and Christian. Was there a moment where you knew you were ready for something of your own?
I did feel like I was ready to open my own space, but where that opportunity was going to come from was very unclear. I think when these opportunities present themselves, even if there are risks involved, you have to take them when they come along. You don’t know when they’ll appear again.
Your menu weaves together Italian technique, Chinese and Trinidadian heritage and a love of cooking over fire. How do those threads come together naturally for you?
I think it really just comes down to making things that feel natural to you. There’ve been times at Hausu when I’ve felt pressured to define exactly what the cuisine is, or make things that feel more in keeping with a certain style or aesthetic. However, as time’s gone on, it feels more and more natural to just make dishes I like to cook, with flavours that I want to eat. Some of that comes from the kitchens I’ve cooked in, and some of it comes from what I want to taste when I go out somewhere to eat, but it always has to feel true to me.
Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
Image: Photography Adam Firman
The menu shifts with the seasons and whatever's inspiring you at the time - how do you know when a dish has found its moment, and when it's time to move on?
Well, obviously, the seasonality of any ingredient will play a big part, and focusing on what’s coming into season is always the main steer for any dish that will be coming onto the menu. What’s going out of season will steer anything that will be leaving, but sometimes it really comes down to getting a bit bored of seeing the same dish for too long, and wanting to be excited by something new. There are a lot of different pressures in this job, and sometimes it’s easy to forget what you love about it. I need to find ways to remember just how much I love the creativity of cooking, and creating new dishes is the main way I get to do that.
Upstairs at Hausu opened on 20th March - a late-night bar inspired by Lilly Reich's Velvet and Silk Café and David Lynch's Red Room. How did that vision come together, and what does the space feel like when you walk in?
Christian’s (co-owner & founders) partner Eva Gold is an artist. She has always guided us with the creative direction for the interior at Hausu. We knew we wanted to make the upstairs space into more of a cocktail bar, that felt more suited to late nights and after-dinner drinks. One of the big issues with the space was that it always felt too big and cavernous with tall ceilings, which lacked the closeness and intimacy of a dimly lit cocktail bar. Eva had the idea to use curtains as room dividers to create that intimacy, as well as make the high ceiling more of a feature than a hindrance to the space. We wanted people to feel like they were stepping into this slightly secret world of unknown possibilities.
Image: Photography Adam Firman
Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
You've put together a bar snacks menu to go with it - oysters with house tabasco, boquerones in lime leaf oil, smoked butter and bread. How did you approach writing a menu designed for a late night upstairs rather than dinner downstairs?
It needed to feel different and we wanted to create something that worked as a bar snack, that can be eaten with hands or a cocktail stick. It was designed to make service feel a bit more casual up there and less like you’re in a slightly formal restaurant setting.
You were recently named a Rising Star by the National Restaurant Awards (congratulations!). Does recognition like that add pressure, or does it just make you want to keep going?
Thank you! I think with this job it can be hard to take a step back and appreciate your achievements, but I think I’m always looking for the next thing. There’s already enough pressure in hospitality to just survive, so you have to feel good about these moments of recognition when they come along.
Your Chinese and Trinidadian heritage clearly shapes the food, but it never feels like a concept. How do you think about the relationship between identity and cooking?
It comes back to that thing of making food I like to cook. If I try and over conceptulise the dish or take it too far away from being something that feels natural to me, it already doesn’t feel right. There’s sometimes a bit of a fine line between making dishes for ourselves as chefs and our egos, and making food that people are excited to eat. For me, I want our guests to be excited to eat the food first and foremost.
What does cooking mean to you beyond the restaurant - is it something you switch off from, or does it follow you everywhere?
It’s still a huge pleasure of mine. I’ll cook in a different way at home than I would in the restaurant, but still, I get excited by cooking all the time. It can still feel great to be excited by a simple dish you’ve had a thousand times before, but it gives you the warmth and comfort of familiarity.
Image: Photography Teo Della Torre
Image: Photography Rebecca Dickson
Music runs through everything at Hausu - Christian programmes the vinyl, there's a revolving DJ programme upstairs, the whole thing is built around sound. Is there a record that changes the feeling of a service for you?
I’m not sure about one individual record, but on a weekend when there’s a DJ playing upstairs, it can make a massive difference to service and how the restaurant feels. In a way, you’re more uniquely attuned to the vibe of the place than you might be in a dancing setting, because if it’s too downtempo and ambient, it doesn’t feel right at all, and if it’s too hectic or upbeat if feels at odds with the environment and the whole restaurant feels frantic. Some of the DJs get it spot on, and others aren’t quite as in tune with the atmosphere; it makes a massive difference to how service feels on those nights.
The downstairs room has such a distinct feel - mid-century, considered, a little moody - and upstairs draws from Lilly Reich and David Lynch's Red Room. How important is the physical space to what Hausu is, and how involved were you in shaping it?
We had to do a lot of the initial fit-out in the space of a month with a very small budget, so there are parts of the restaurant we inherited or adapted slightly from the previous owners. One thing we’ve changed across the whole restaurant has been the lighting. It’s always a really important part for us in creating the right atmosphere in the space, and creating this dimly lit, intimate feel is part of how we want our guests to experience the space.
If someone has never been to Hausu before, how would you want them to feel by the end of the night?
There are lots of elements of Hausu that can feel a bit like a performance, from the open kitchen to the live soundtrack, and the interconnection between all the different spaces. I want people to come in and feel like they’ve been able to enjoy our performance for that evening, and that it could always be a little bit different each time, evolving week by week.
Quickfire
The dish that best explains Hausu in one bite?
Scallop & Prawn Toast
The record that always sets the room right?
Outkast - Spottieoppiedopalicious
Last meal that genuinely stopped you in your tracks?
I had a really delicious dinner at Auguste last week!
An ingredient you can't stop cooking with right now
Jalapenos
The bar snack you'd eat standing up at midnight?
I love eating crisps man
Dinner party: three guests, living or dead?
Hmm I always find these questions difficult to answers I’ll be honest. Steve Erwin, my mum and David Bowie, there we go!
The city that changed how you cook?
That's tough because wherever I go i get inspired, but I’d think I’d have to say Bangkok
What are you drinking tonight?
A strong cuppa tea
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