Restaurants can see bookings surge by hundreds after a feature by Jesse Burgess. But is it just hype?
W
hen the presenter Jesse Burgess goes to a restaurant, the kitchen always sends him dishes he didn’t order. One of the ironies of fame is that the more you can afford, the less you have to pay for it. Except that Burgess isn’t a celebrity, he says. “I’m just a guy who really likes food.”
Burgess is the 34-year-old host of Topjaw, a small but mighty internet chatshow with chefs and ‘foodies’ that, for better or worse, has changed the way Londoners – and beyond – eat out. Launched in 2023 with his friend Will Warr, who is also Prince and Princess of Wales’s videographer (he made Kate’s cancer statement video), it has now grown to almost a million followers.
Topjaw’s premise is simple. In a snappy 90 seconds, Burgess asks influential food types for their favourite places to eat, drink or get drunk. Featuring a mix of influential chefs, critics and celebrities including Gordon Ramsay, Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh, the quick-fire formula – best coffee in London? Best Sunday lunch? Best burger? – shares some DNA with the ‘man on the street’ interview, in which someone holding a microphone stops people to ask them about their relationship, or their outfit.
