When you are footballer, your fitness is always the first priority. You must focus on training, stay fit, and always eat right. So, there go all your food fantasies. However, once you retire, just like Paul Konchesky, you can dwell into all your foodie dreams.
Paul not only decided to do that but also made a business out of it. In 2015, he took over a cafe in Brentwood, Essex.
Konchesky at Konch’s kafe with his family (Photo: The Sun)
The cafe went by a different name earlier, but the first move after taking it over was to rename it to ‘Konch’s kafe’. He started selling the traditional East End grub – pie and mash and it has all been looking upwards since. It is 2019 and the cafe is still running strong with lots of visitors and great reviews. He also made sure that the business runs in the family and got his mother to run the Kitchen.
Carol, Paul’s mom, is a chef with quite some experience and used to work as a cook in the kitchen at Royal Oak pub in Essex.
Paul absolutely loves his pies and has been fascinated by them since he was a teenager. Clearly not the right diet for a pro footballer but who cares now. He told Daily Mail about his love for pie and mash:
There was this pie-and-mash shop next to our school in Dagenham. Every Tuesday we’d all have mash and liquor for a pound in a takeaway cup. Every Friday it’d be proper pie, mash and liquor, with jellied eels. And a cream soda. Without fail.
The food at the cafe is loved by the customers (Photo: The Sun)
Konchesky, however, has put a break on his consumption of pies as he is a marathoner now and recently completed the London Marathon. He does not mind being at the cafe though and greets the customers as well. They not only love the occasional chat with the footballer but also devour into the delish that is offered by the cafe.
As for the menu, Cockney favourites – pie ‘n’ mash start at a reasonable £3.90, while if you want to add some jellied eels to the dish with a bit of liquor, you’ll pay £6.40. If you are a breakfast person, there are many options for you including the Mega Feast – two eggs, sausage, two bacon, black pudding, mushrooms, chips, beans or tomatoes. Now, that sounds quite like the feast.
Well, if you are in Essex sometime this cafe is sure worthy enough of dropping by!
