At Home With Pinch Chef Alice Norman

Alice Norman’s culinary journey began at the renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School in Ireland, where she developed a deep passion for food, putting her hand to farming to baking. Soon after completing two courses at the school, she began working her first job in hospitality with team at modern Indian restaurant Kricket in Brixton. She would later move to Clipstone, the British bistro in Fitzrovia, developing her skills under the direction of chef Merlin Labron-Johnson and Stuart Andrew, before taking time to travel and cook in Asia.

Upon returning to London, Alice joined wine-focused Levan in Peckham and later was appointed sous chef at Emilia, a restaurant focused on the cuisine of Emilia-Romagna. However, when the pandemic hit in 2020, Emilia closed, and Alice temporarily left the restaurant scene to study Food Anthropology MA at SOAS University.

During the pandemic, Alice began collaborating with local farmers in Suffolk, which led to the creation of Pinch, a farm-to-table bakery and café based at Maple Farm in Saxmundham. Pinch is built around organic ingredients and has a menu inspired by Alice’s surroundings, featuring pastries (including trademark crullers), coffee, and more. After four successful years, Pinch expanded into a larger space, introducing a new menu and drinks list, and embracing a more casual, no-fuss dining experience with Roman-style pizzas, slushies, and cocktails.

Here, Alice invites Something Curated into her home to share some of her most cherished posessions.

Kunz spoon

Alice Norman: This spoon has recently become my favourite kitchen utensil. At home we are big on pickles, brines and ferments, and these clever perforated spoons make the straining process a whole lot easier. You can get similar ones in the U.K. but none match the ergonomics of this brand. Annoyingly you can only get them in America (unless you want to spend big on delivery charges).

Makrut lime tree

AN: The Citrus Centre in Sussex grow an incredible variety of plants that are hard to come by in U.K. I tend to cook Thai food at least once a week, so it’s invaluable to have a makrut lime tree at home. It doesn’t get hot enough to grow the limes, but the leaves are always bountiful, even in the winter, and are arguably more useful than the limes themselves.

My mum’s copper fish

AN: My mother, who’s an artist, went through a period of making sculptures from old copper boilers. She buys old boilers from scrap yards, but only some of them have had enough time to develop this green/blue layer of oxidised copper – so it’s always a gamble when she cuts them open. Sometimes she can speed up the process by scattering a layer of salt and leaving them in the rain for a few weeks. She turns them into all sorts of shapes and sizes, but my favourite are the series of fish.

Writing table

AN: I do most of my admin at Pinch, but when I need complete peace and tranquillity, I come to this sleepy corner of the house. We found this woven bamboo desk at our favourite local antique shop, Marlesford Mill, and it’s now become one of my favourite possessions.

William Balthazar-Rose painting

AN: My old friend Lucy, who helps run Pophams (and has her own side hustle, Iota Edit), has the most fantastic eye for art and objects. She introduced us to the artist William Balthazar-Rose, who has a deep fascination with cooks, and often includes them in his work. I love the slightly eerie yet whimsical feeling of his paintings.

All photography by Alice Norman.