Ravneet and MattiePhoto: @jamesdkelly
Our story
A neighbourhood restaurant on the edge of Epping Forest
We’re Ravneet and Mattie, a husband-and-wife team who’ve spent more than 15 years cooking in some of London’s best kitchens (we met in one, back in 2018). In June 2025 we opened Gina on Station Road in Chingford, a few minutes from the Overground and a short walk from the forest.
We wanted to build the kind of place we’d want to eat at ourselves: warm, unfussy, and full of food that makes you feel good.
Who we buy from
Fussy about where things come from
We cook with the seasons. The menu moves with whatever’s best that week, and there’s always a daily blackboard of cuts and specials.
Pastry is a big deal here too. We bake our own bread, make our own preserves and puff pastry, and the puddings get a menu all of their own.
Kind words
“What they’ve done at Gina has truly put Epping Forest on the gastronomic map.”
TIME OUT ★★★★★
In our first year Michelin awarded us a Bib Gourmand, and The Good Food Guide named us the Best Local Restaurant in London. We’re hugely grateful for all of it, but mostly for the regulars who’ve made Gina feel like theirs.
Read the reviews: The Sunday Times · Tom Parker Bowles · Jimi Famurewa · Time Out
How we run things
Looked after, front and back
A restaurant is only as good as the way it treats its people, so we look after our team as carefully as we look after our guests. They’re a small, joyful, hard-working bunch who care as much about hospitality as they do about cooking.
You’ll feel it whether you’re in for a quick solo lunch, a midweek catch-up or a long Sunday with the whole family. Kids are always welcome.
Before Gina
The two of us
Ravneet Gill
Has worked in pastry at Zuma, St. JOHN, Black Axe Mangal, Jamavar and Wild by Tart. I’ve written three cookbooks, I’m a regular on Saturday Kitchen and I’m a judge on Junior Bake Off.
Mattie Taiano
Mattie has been cooking since he was 18, in kitchens all over London. Most notably at The Anchor & Hope, where he cooked under the watchful eye of Jonathan Jones and learned all about seasonality and cooking by instinct. He’s also cooked at Noble Rot, Andrew Edmunds, Franks and Som Saa, among plenty of others, and at Llewelyn’s in Herne Hill. That’s where we met, when I was running the pastry.
Why ‘Gina’
Named after Mattie’s mum
Gina, Mattie’s late mother, is the heart and soul behind our name. She was a woman of warmth, generosity and boundless creativity: a true artist, a dedicated teacher and a fabulous mother. Her home had an open-door policy, always filled with good food and great company.
We want to bring that same spirit to Gina: fun, abundant, a little cheeky, and always welcoming.
If she were here, she’d be out front with a glass of red in one hand and a cigarillo in the other, ready to greet you like an old friend.
