Rav Gill - Getting Bullied By Chefs, Abusive Trolls & the Half-Million-Pound Restaurant Gamble

Ravneet Gill joins The Go-To Food Podcast with an episode full of chaos, charm, and honesty. She tells the hilarious story of how she met her now-husband Matty while developing menus at Llewellyn’s—he didn’t like her at first, unfollowed her on Instagram, and fell for her only after a passive-aggressive argument about blue roll on the hob. She relives his rainy proposal at Frieze Art Fair, the parking ticket that came with it, and their wedding filled with food from Lily Vanilli, Happy Endings, and half the London pastry scene. And of course, she shares the madness of opening Gina, their new restaurant in Chingford—five-star reviews from Faye Maschler, half a million pounds spent before serving a single plate, and one unforgettable Sunday when bad potatoes caused a local uproar.

Rav opens up about life behind the pass—what happens when trolls flood your Google reviews, when diners complain the “fish has bones,” and when a burger brings in the wrong crowd. She talks about juggling motherhood, TV, and restaurant life, plus the unexpected secret to keeping her marriage strong: living apart during opening month. There’s also the surreal story of being scouted for Junior Bake Off through a random DM she nearly ignored while private cheffing in Greece, only to sneak home in the night after her furious client found out she’d landed the gig.

She also rewinds to her sweet-toothed childhood above her dad’s corner shop, where Crunchies and chocolate-covered raisins ruled, and the fateful moment at 14 when she stopped being a fussy eater. From her first days at St. John (where Fergus Henderson once handed her a doodle of a pair of breasts that inspired a Paris-Brest dessert) to surviving bullying kitchens that pushed her to create Countertalk.
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0:00 Welcome back to The Go-To Food Podcast
0:11 Introducing Rav Gill — writer, chef, TV star, and campaigner
0:28 The Gina phenomenon — and that Fay Maschler five-star moment
0:58 Meeting Matty at Llewellyn’s — and why he unfollowed her on Instagram
2:21 Falling in love over burnt blue roll
2:50 The Freize Art Fair proposal and two weddings later
3:34 Building a restaurant together — why they swore they’d never do it
4:05 Spotting a gap on Chingford High Street and taking the plunge
4:47 The brutal economics of opening Gina
5:58 Half a million down — and the true cost of running a restaurant
6:21 How owning your own place changes everything
6:46 Oversharing or transparency? The power of Rav’s Substack
7:03 Trolls, one-star reviews, and staying kind online
7:45 What to expect at Gina — British food with a Chingford twist
8:14 Essex fine dining: truffle risotto and champagne regulars
9:02 Why local restaurants are booming after Covid
9:38 Parenting, work, and near-burnout — Rav on balance
10:31 Running a restaurant with your partner: the hardest test
11:02 Living apart to stay sane — the secret to their marriage
11:50 Discovering front-of-house is tougher than kitchen life
12:54 The unexpected challenges and costly lessons
14:05 Locals, assumptions, and “Are you opening an Indian restaurant?”
15:45 Sugar addiction and the corner-shop childhood
16:40 Growing up Sikh — and discovering real green beans at 14
17:45 Early food memories: McDonald’s magic and the perfect chicken sandwich
18:13 The burger that broke Gina — and why they took it off the menu
20:10 Dealing with haters, fake reviews, and Facebook wars
22:21 Nightmare customers — free-meal scammers and fish-bone panic
23:35 Finding calm amid chaos — and refusing to quit
26:02 Becoming a chef: from psychology student to Le Cordon Bleu
28:43 Landing at St. John — and being mentored by Fergus Henderson’s team
30:16 Revolutionising pastry at St. John and learning kindness in kitchens
31:42 Kitchen trauma, bullying, and why Rav founded Counter Talk
34:04 Sharing the secrets — why transparency built a movement
38:39 The DM that changed everything: how Rav landed Bake Off Junior
41:01 Behind the scenes with Bake Off kids — and fondant fancies
44:09 Pastry revolution: Llewellyn’s, Black Axe Mangal, and Rochelle Canteen
48:06 Three cookbooks in — and the fourth on the way
49:46 Creative life at Gina: menus, suppliers, and sober kitchens
52:00 Counter Talk’s legacy — and a kinder restaurant culture
55:09 Favorite foodie scents, worst fads, and date-night spots
59:16 Nightmare day — when the roast potatoes ruined Sunday service
1:01:09 No time to rest — motherhood, work, and what keeps her going