Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Max de Nahlik spent five years as an accountant before walking away from finance to pursue a career in restaurants. As a child, Max was a fussy eater. But between his mum who said if he wanted something other than pasta he could make it himself, his grandmother, a ‘keen but “out there” cook’, and a godmother who bribed him to try something new every day on a holiday in France, Max’s love of food began. Today, he owns and runs The Holland, a popular pub in Kensington which serves a produce-led, modern British menu that changes regularly.
‘When I left school, I worked in pubs and loved it and kind of fell in love with the hospitality industry and then went to try and do something sensible. And then I fell out of love with doing something sensible.’
Max secretly enrolled on the Leiths Culinary Diploma having heard about it from friends. ‘The course was huge fun. I never did uni as I went straight into work and so it was kind of like university for me.’
After graduation, Max tried different roles for a couple of years, ultimately choosing the restaurant world over private catering. ‘I like the fact that in a restaurant you’re cooking your food or the head chef’s food,’ he explains.
He then spent five years running pop-ups and residencies across London with a business partner, using the time to test ideas and talk to investors about plans to buy a restaurant. When The Holland came on the market in January 2023, he had £250,000 in investment ready to go. One month of 120-hour weeks later – sanding floors, painting walls, deep-cleaning the kitchen – The Holland opened.
His advice for aspiring restaurateurs is practical: work in kitchens first to test your passion, then consider pop-ups in empty kitchen spaces at wet-led pubs.
‘That’s a cheap-ish way of getting your foot in the door and finding out if you’ve got something people like that goes beyond just “My mates seem to really like my food.”’
‘I’m trying to curate a menu that I think enough people will enjoy to come in and want to try,’ he says. The menu features dishes like Buttermilk Fried Partridge with a Peanut Chilli Crisp and Honey. The Holland also offers London’s cheapest grouse at £35, alongside ‘lots of really amazing fish and seafood’ when they can get it.
‘The vast majority of feedback is incredibly positive. People do enjoy it. We’ve got a nice number of regulars and people are still three years in discovering it the first time and raving about it,’ Max says.
The first year nearly saw the business run out of cash. ‘It was just such a slow burn. And so I lost a lot and didn’t get much sleep. But every year since it’s been kind of a slow build on getting busier and busier.’
‘It is tough out there, but I think if you’ve got something kind of interesting and fun and a bit different from what the other offerings in your area, you should still draw people in.’