Josh Katz

Josh Katz is the chef-owner of The Berber & Q Restaurant Group, comprising of Berber & Q (Haggerston, London), Shawarma Bar (Clerkenwell, London) and the recently-opened and critically-acclaimed, Carmel (Queen's Park, London).

Josh was born and raised in North London, and, after completing his studies, retrained as a chef in 2006, working in some of the best kitchens in London, including Galvin Bistrot de Luxe and Ottolenghi, before being appointed head chef in 2010 at Made In Camden, a new restaurant opened inside the Chalk Farm's iconic music venue The Round House. Under Josh's leadership, the restaurant would be awarded 5* by Time Out, 4* by the legendary, late AA Gill in The Sunday Times and earned a Bib Gourmand in 2011. He later moved on to consult and help open Zest At JW3, founded by Dame Vivien Duffield, which opened in 2013 and was described by the restaurant critic Giles Coren as “already the best restaurant in Northwest London to open in ten years.”

Berber & Q, his first self-owned restaurant, opened in 2015 to universal plaudits from some of London’s most prominent and influential food critics, including Jay Rayner & Grace Dent.

Josh's restaurant group that has grown in the intervening years since is a product of a lifelong exposure to diverse cultures and cuisines. Growing up in North London meant regular visits to the many Middle Eastern restaurants, falafel shops, grocery stores, bakeries, butchers, and the Shawarma houses which became regular after-school haunts. Dishes and cuisines savoured outside of London have also impressed themselves on Josh’s cooking, and he has spent vast swathes of time wandering Istanbul’s local markets; searching for the best grill houses in Marrakech, sampling Jemaa el-Fnaa’s specialities; and eating meat skewers in Tel Aviv’s many Shipudim restaurants.

Berber & Q: The Cookbook, Josh's first cookbook, was published in May 2018.

He has made numerous appearances on BBC 1's Saturday Kitchen and Channel 4's Sunday Brunch, and is a regular feature at Meatopia, London's premier annual food festival dedicated to barbecue. Josh regularly contributes recipes to several leading national newspapers and food publications including The Times, Delicious, Waitrose and Olive.