due to the high demand of other restaurants and being these big money machines, it’s impossible to do that, because you can’t select and store enough products for people to enjoy over a long course of time. But that’s the beauty of Cycene, we actually can.
“We have loads of jars around the building, we have a really big fermentation project and we have a giant dry-ager.”
The focus on sourcing ingredients from the UK appears to be a growing trend. Asked why he feels that is, Taz said: “I think a lot of people are going down the route of trying to be sustainable. Don’t get me wrong, I love sustainability, I think it’s good to reduce our carbon footprint. But for me, it’s more that we have amazing stuff here.
“We have amazing stone fruit, we have the best shellfish in the world, in my opinion. I also think we have the best fish in the world. But people just like to overlook this.
“I’m specifically working quite a lot with a supplier called Shrub. They do amazing things, it’s all biodynamic, diverse, completely organic. The quality of the things which they use there is insane.
“Why are we outsourcing things which we don’t need to? We have amazing things here.”
Taz’s passion for food and ingredients is evident.
“This is everything I do,” he said.
“I’m also insane about foraging, about mushrooms. Every weekend I find myself in the forest, just walking around. That’s how I get my downtime. As humans, we’re so caught up with technology we just forget how life works. I think we’ve lost that sense of being in touch with the world. That is what made me love food so much and why I’m so concerned with the quality of produce.
“In nature, if you see a rotten mushroom, you’re not going to pick it, right? But if a supplier sends you a three-day old mushroom, people just chuck it in the soup. For me, that’s bonkers.”
He added: “This ideology of being able to buy avocados all year round or the way that we eat bananas from the shop, they’re all underripe and taste like nothing for me. It’s all about using things when they’re at their best. We have to follow the seasons, otherwise things just don’t taste good.
“It sounds crazy, but we’ve lost the sense of actually tasting things. We can sit there with a plate of food in front of us and be like ‘that’s amazing’. But when you really taste it, it’s something completely different. I always think the mouth is the most important thing when we’re talking about food. A lot of people just don’t even think about it.”
Cycene holds a Michelin star and was this year included in the list of the top 100 restaurants in the UK.
“We have a very unique experience,” said Taz.
“I honestly do think we have something very, very special here. I think there are plenty more accolades to come in the future.
“As long as we keep on pushing and we have the right people around us and have the full support of all our amazing suppliers, I think we can do even better things.”
