What was your first job?
Selling event programmes at the Moscow State Circus (in London).
What is your guiltiest food pleasure?
Twiglets. The ideal partner for a Negroni.
What’s the best restaurant meal you’ve ever had?
Lunch at Bistrot Paul Bert in Paris. Rabbit liver and girolles, bavette steak and chips, and finally Paris brest.
What industry figure do you most admire, and why?
Simon Hopkinson. First and foremost, I love the kind of food he cooks. Classic, un-fussy, and ingredient focused. But I also like how understated he seems to be. No shouty bravado or big ego. I have a pipe dream of being invited around to his house for a long boozy Sunday lunch.
If you weren’t in kitchens, what would you do?
I did the office thing before starting Brick House, and I don’t think I could ever go back. It would have to be something involving working with my hands, like being a potter.
What is your biggest regret?
Not getting into the business when I was a bit younger and had more energy.
Pet hate in the kitchen?
Aggression.
What’s the oddest thing a customer has said to you?
“Where do you buy your bread from?”
What’s the dish you wish you’d thought of?
Toast. It took genius for someone to bake a loaf of bread and then say, “I’m going to cook it again”.
Describe your cooking style in three words
Simple. Generous. Fermented.
Most overrated food?
Matcha. For a while it seemed to appear in everything. It’s definitely symptomatic of the Instagram food scene, that vivid green colour, but flavour wise it’s just not my bag. I don’t get it.
Restaurant dictator for a day – what would you ban?
Squeezing too many covers into a dining space. I hate being sat so close to other punters that I feel like I’m dining with them as well as who I’m with.
What’s the worst review you’ve ever had?
“They should stick to what they’re best at; selling over-priced bread and average coffee.”
If you could cook for anyone in the world who would you pick, and why?
My wife (and business partner) Sharmin, and our son Ludo because we don’t spend enough time all together.
What advice would you give someone starting out in the industry?
Be passionate. Be a bit naïve, And be prepared to work harder than you ever have in your life.
Which single item of kitchen equipment could you not live without?
It’s not exactly a piece of kitchen equipment, but the natural yeasts and bacteria that are at the heart of every loaf of sourdough we produce. They have been the foundation of Brick House, and I couldn’t do it without them.
What do you cook at home on your days off?
Simon Hopkinson’s coq au vin.
What’s your earliest food memory?
It’s not my earliest, but my strongest childhood memory of food is of eating barbecued merguez sausages on a family holiday in France aged eight or nine.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
Don’t fuck it up.
What’s the closest you’ve ever come to death?
Trying to save my wife’s flip flop from some very rough water off the coast in Santa Barbara. Looking back, it wasn’t a great move.
Where do you go when you want to let your hair down?
On holiday to South West France. The one hair that I have left really loves it there.
Tipple of choice?
Red wine.
What would you choose to eat for your last meal?
A massive plate of langoustines with lemon, aioli and good bread and butter.
