process! I’ve got a good relationship with them, we’ve built up the trust and I’ve changed the menu three times since January.
What is the style of food at Fenchurch?
It’s so hard to put a label on dishes these days, I suppose we do modern British. It’s basically seasonal produce, four or five components on a plate and it’s fresh. That’s how I like to run any restaurant I’m in charge of. I change things for different reasons – at the moment we are using pheasant eggs but they are only around for about a month. While things are at their best they will be on the menu.
You get some dishes that work really well so you keep them on a bit longer, some if I’m honest there’s nothing wrong with them you just get a bit bored of them. It’s important for the boys as well to change the dishes, you’ve got to keep them moving and keep new things coming in the kitchen for the guys to see and do and keep them learning.
Dish inspiration and ingredients
Are you very passionate about British produce? 
I still use produce you can’t get here like mangos or pineapple, but I like the fact that we are starting to wake up to the fact we don’t have to go to France for asparagus or peas for example. When I started out British produce was frowned upon in terms of quality. If the same product was in front of you but one was French and one was British you always thought the French would be better. But that’s not the case anymore. There’s been a real surge in focus on what we have on our own shores and I really like to showcase that.
Are your dishes inspired by what’s in season?
Yes, definitely. So at the moment we’re using new season lamb, asparagus, peas, broad beans and tomatoes – the dishes stem from these ingredients and we work around them. I’m in close contact with all of my suppliers, we speak daily on the phone and if they see something new they let me know. It’s always a nice thing among chefs to be one of the first to get a new product. In London there are lots of suppliers but there are very few really good ones. In the summer our suppliers have invited us down to where they are, so I can show all the younger lads the other side – not just what’s in the boxes that turn up at the back door, they can see the whole process.
Is that important to you, that your chefs get the chance to see where ingredients are coming from?
Oh yes! Besides cooking and serving the food, it’s as important. It teaches them respect when you see what someone has done and put in to grow any fruit or vegetable, or see the farmer who’s rearing his livestock. It really teaches them respect as they see the whole process, how long it is and how expensive it is. That’s why I get so upset when they over cook things – it’s a waste of someone’s time and money.
Do you have a favourite ingredient that you like to work with?
It depends on the time of year but I Iove lamb, it’s my favourite meat. I like spring, coming out of winter you’re quite limited on produce and for a few months you get the same things in and you keep trying different ways of doing it. When spring comes it’s like going to the shop and there being a load of new stuff in the window.
What dish on your menu would you champion at the moment?
We do a lovely mackerel tartare with a diced scallop, oyster cream, avocado, samphire, sea rosemary and salty fingers. Then we make salt and vinegar scraps, put them on top for texture with a Lovage oil – all served in a scallop shell on crushed ice and seaweed. I never get bored of it, it’s very fresh and it ticks all the boxes for me. It’s one of the dishes I’m really proud of but I love them all, it’s like asking which is your favourite child!
When you’re not working, where do you like to eat?
Typing Room is fantastic, it’s one of my favourite places to go. I was living in Brixton so I used to go to The Dairy quite a lot and Trinity. I like to go to Café à Vin, it’s a simple, French bistro style but amazing food.
