Topjaw’s Jesse Burgess on Gordon Ramsay, Michelin stars and building a food empire online
With more than a million followers, Topjaw has transformed the way a generation discovers where to eat. As he returns to host Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars, Jesse Burgess talks Gordon Ramsay, the future of food media and why he’ll never take money from a restaurant.
Since landing on YouTube in 2015, Topjaw has become the online destination for food fans, now counting over half a million YouTube subscribers and 1m followers on Instagram. Co-founded by host Jesse Burgess and pal, producer Will Warr, the channel picked up pace in 2019 with a longform guide to the hottest eateries in Paris. “It started to make a bit of money then, but we were putting it straight back into the channel to pay for the next trip,” Jesse, 35, remembers. The culinary city guides were inevitably put on pause in March 2020, after which they discovered attention spans had dramatically decreased. “Everyone was on TikTok, Shorts and Reels. People had moved on and we lost all the momentum. We weren’t in the best place, and we were wondering whether to shut it down or not. I decided that I really didn’t want to let go of it, so I totally closed down everything else I was doing,” – Jesse has dabbled in interior design, property development and worked for Candy Kittens – “and went full-on with Topjaw.” An American friend mentioned he loved listening to Jesse and Will talk to their chef mates about what was happening in the world of London restaurants – and a new foodie format was born. “When I did the first Best of London interview, we had 70,000 followers on Instagram. It got well into the millions of views, and it was like, Oh shit! Social media has this mechanism that if the idea is good, if it transcends. All you’ve gotta do is publish it – and boom.”
Social media has this mechanism that if the idea is good, it transcends. All you’ve gotta do is publish it – and boom.
Jesse Burgess, Topjaw
Over the past few years, Topjaw has welcomed both Hollywood royalty and stars of the kitchen: think Kate Winslet, Tom Kerridge, Matt Damon and Angela Hartnett.
Far from merely being an influencer, Jesse’s knowledge and passion not only for food, but the chefs that create it, is what makes watching him so special. The former model is full of quick wit, charm and expertise. And energy. Jesse is a doer. When we caught up in London last week, he had just left a meeting at 180 The Strand to discuss a screening of the TV show he hosts; Apple TV’s Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars which has just hit the streamer for a second season. After this, it’s back to the office to cook up more ideas for Topjaw.
Series 2 of Knife Edge just dropped on Apple TV. Why did you want to get involved in presenting a ‘traditional’ tv show?
I was doing my Topjaw thing, and my manager called me up saying there’s a show about the pursuit of Michelin stars, they have the Michelin Guide signed on, it’s with Apple TV, and it’s being made by Gordon Ramsay’s production company. And I was like, Crikey, that sounds pretty good! I didn’t think I had a hope in hell of getting it because it felt like a pretty big, serious, broadcasting gig. But I do also feel that I’ve spent the previous 10 years in a Rocky Balboa training camp for this role. The number of chefs I’ve spoken to and interviewed and hung out with from across the world, whether they’re serving chicken soup out of a stall, or they are a Three Michelin star chef. I felt I would be able to do the job in a layman’s terms way, rather than coming at it from a chef’s angle, which would be technical. When I got the opportunity to do the screen test, I was… filling my pants with shit (laughs). I was very nervous; it was very overwhelming, and daunting. I’d never really done script before, since my days of drama school. So it was all very new and very overstimulating,
What are the differences between doing Topjaw and this, as you say, big broadcasting gig?
I thought there was perhaps going to be more of a dramatic difference. But the thing is, I got on so well with the crew. James Callum, who’s a fantastic TV director, and Alex Knowles, the DOP, they ended up coming to my wedding last year. That then made the bigger crew suddenly feel very small and intimate, and very akin to what I have with social media, where we’re a small team, knocking through it. In Series 1, everybody really liked the scenes where the restaurant was still open, it had normal paying customers and normal service, and everyone was going hell for leather. That got the best results, because it was natural, it was organic, it was real, it was raw. So, to answer your question, it has become more aligned with Topjaw. It’s what people want. People want real, they want authentic, and we try to get as close to that as we can.
Mr Ramsey. Nice bloke?
Yeah, he’s great. It’s funny, for a while, he was “Gordon Ramsay” and he was always on. The public expects a lot from Gordon. I walked about 10 meters in Borough with him, and it was mad. You know when you see royals going around shaking everyone’s hands and having those conversations; he’s having to do that type of thing, because he’s one of the most famous faces on the planet. But after a few meetings it’s more relaxed. Now we send each other rather mundane voice notes which is funny. He’s a wonderful supporter of me and what I do. He knows I’ve spent a long time doing this and that I really care about it, and that my understanding and enthusiasm goes beneath the surface level.
What have you learned about yourself as a host making Knife Edge?
I got quite criticized in Series 1 for just saying things are “great”. I don’t mind being criticized, I don’t want everybody to like me, because if everybody likes you, you’re a bit vanilla. If some people think you’re great, well, the byproduct of that is that some people won’t. However, it is really painful to read criticism that says, “Oh, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about”, “he’s just saying that things are ‘wow’”. Because, of course, I’m describing what I’m eating, it just didn’t always make the edit. In series 2, I said, listen, I really feel strongly that the viewer deserves to understand why this restaurant is different from that restaurant. Like, what makes that dish really special? So in Series 2, there is more time spent in the restaurant on the dishes. I have filmed in well over 3,000 restaurants, and I’ve experienced so much but I’m not a chef, I’m never gonna talk about it from that perspective, but I do know how I’d describe something to a friend. I think that’s just what I’ve spent a long time doing and honing, is the layman’s terms.
When did you and food first make friends? What’s your food origin story?
I became obsessed with the concept of exploring the world through food more than I was interested in restaurants. My mum was cabin crew all my life, she did a lot of flying, she saw a lot of the world and she would bring me back food from where she’d been. And then her dad, who was an engineer in the Navy, he was my favorite person in the whole world. He told me, never get a job that ties you down to one country. Do whatever you want, do what makes you happy, but don’t specialize in something where it grounds you. The best thing you can do is see the world and eat the world. He was a massive foodie and always pushing tripe on me on things, which is why I think I got my early appreciation for offal, and an open mind when it comes to sticking things in your trap and getting on with it. I did alright at school, but I didn’t fancy going to university necessarily, because I didn’t really know what I wanted to do and I didn’t want to be tied down to a certain place. So a week after I turned 18, I moved to London, and I’ve never gone back.
You’ve had amazing guests. Who have you particularly enjoyed meeting, and who’s the next get?
Well, I interviewed Florence Pugh this week, and that’s the second time that she’s been on. That felt really special, that Florence asked her team to come on. Well, I don’t know whether she asked, but I was told that she didn’t want to do anything else. She’s a massive foodie, and I think she likes what we do, and that was very touching. I’d really like to get Nigella Lawson on; that’s one that is eluding me at the moment.
What’s the plan for Topjaw?
I am very excited and committed to the future of Topjaw. My ambition is for it to be the most authentic and trusted resource in food discovery around the world. I think it’s a really, really exciting platform. We get copied all over the world and that’s fine; people can copy what I’ve done, but they can’t copy what I’ve got in my head that’s about to come.
I think there is something inherently incredibly beautiful about having an idea, making it, putting it online, and suddenly it’s seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people.
Jesse Burgess, Topjaw
Thank goodness for the Internet, eh.
Sometimes it can be a bit of a scary place. It can give very loud voices to the very vocal minority of negative voices. However, the internet opens the world to everybody. I think there is something inherently incredibly beautiful about having an idea, making it, putting it online, and suddenly it’s seen by hundreds of thousands or millions of people. We’ve never, ever, ever had that. It was always controlled by the Rupert Murdochs, the people that controlled the media, and you had to play the game and climb the ladder. Now if you have a good idea, you have a passion, you have enthusiasm, you have energy, here’s this world stage that wasn’t available 10 years ago. For all of the bad points of the internet, it is all outweighed by that one fact. It’s a really exciting thing that I want to keep building on. Having your own creative control is such a luxury. It’s a great gift to be able to host Knife Edge, but I’m not necessarily sitting here going, What TV show is next? I’ve had lots of offers but I’m not doing another TV show. I’ll do Knife Edge, and I’ll do Topjaw, and that will be a wonderful life.
Series 2 of Knife Edge: Chasing Michelin Stars is out now
@topjaw
The eye has to travel: The Row’s worldly ease The eye has to travel: The Row’s worldly ease
The eye has to travel: The Row’s worldly ease
Pentaglam: Rick Owens’ elegant otherness Pentaglam: Rick Owens’ elegant otherness
Pentaglam: Rick Owens’ elegant otherness
Forever Chloé: Chemena Kamali takes stock of her house Forever Chloé: Chemena Kamali takes stock of her house
Forever Chloé: Chemena Kamali takes stock of her house
Clarity of vision: Pierpaolo Piccioli sharpens his focus at Balenciaga Clarity of vision: Pierpaolo Piccioli sharpens his focus at Balenciaga
Clarity of vision: Pierpaolo Piccioli sharpens his focus at Balenciaga
Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter
Brooks Nader on Baywatch, Hollywood and her next chapter
Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain
Girl gone wild: Antonin Tron gets bolder at Balmain
An incroyable return: John Galliano re{form}s Zara An incroyable return: John Galliano re{form}s Zara
An incroyable return: John Galliano re{form}s Zara
A new Courrèges: Débutant Drew Henry finds joy in disruption A new Courrèges: Débutant Drew Henry finds joy in disruption
