My Foodie London: Robin Gill

Rising star chef Robin Gill on collecting cookbooks, shopping at street food markets and why he's excited to see what Som Saa does next
Rising star: Robin Gill
Paul Winch-Furness
Victoria Stewart3 November 2015

Robin Gill is the sprightly successful Irish chef who earned his chops working with Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc, before opening his first Clapham restaurant, The Dairy, on a shoestring in 2013, then opening another called The Manor in 2014. He recently threw open the doors to his latest, Paradise Garage, in Bethnal Green, and now hosts late-night industry supperclubs called Bloodshot on the last Saturday night of every month. Most recently Gill has been taken on by Druid Street market manager Miranda York to run a bi-weekly produce stall on Saturdays selling homemade jams, pickles, and terrines, and his own honey. Here he tells us about his favourite London food secrets.

Where do you live?

In Brixton, with my wife and little boy.

Where do you shop for home cooking equipment?

By Clapham North there is Dentons which is good for kitchen equipment, but there’s a more homely place, where you’d get stuff you might need if you’re cooking for lots of people at home, called La Cuisinière on Northcote Road.

What is your favourite home kitchen gadget?

I use my temperature probe for really simple stuff like roast beef, because I freak out when I cook at home that it’s not going to work. I’ve just got an amazing Big Green Egg in the back garden too.

Robin Gill in the kitchen at Paradise Garage Jonathan Thompson Photography

For home cooking ingredients, do you have a favourite local London deli?

Well I love the market on Venn Street in Clapham but I also love the new one on Druid Street, and also Malby Street, because within a mile radius there's Nathan the Butcher, Natoora, a beer stall, and St John Bread and Wine. You can go down there and pick up lots of stuff and make a bit of a day of it.

What about your favourite local fishmonger, grocer and butcher?

Definitely Nathan the butcher in Bermondsey, as it’s just amazing. Fish is a tricky one but if I’m shopping more locally then Moxons in Clapham. There is also a cool thing on Northcote Road that looks like a horse and cart and it’s there on Tuesdays and Saturdays. For a really special occasion, I’ll get fish from Cornwall, using Kernow Wa Sashimi. I’ve been doing that for about eight or nine years and he is so great. I might get a whole turbot or something, or whatever they have coming in. For veg, I use Natoora or one of the great stalls on Venn Street market.

Which is your favourite all-time recipe book?

I’m a massive collector of cookbooks. I have so many - I get bored of one and then I need another. But Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s Every Day is a good one as are Raymond Blanc’s for simple home cooking.

And which one are you cooking from now?

The Relae cookbook from Copenhagen. It’s quite complex but it’s very, very focused. I really liked it.

Which recipe book are you looking forward to coming out?

I’ve not yet got the book by the Swedish chef, Magnus Nilsson. It looks like it has a variety of simple and complex things.

Try this at home: Magnus Nilsson and some of the dishes from The Nordic Cook Book
Erik Olsson

Are you experimenting with any new ingredients?

Clementines and all sorts of citrus, which is in season now. I’m working with Natoora and they send me all sorts of limes and a huge variety of citrus and I’m playing with how to do it with fish and veg. Otherwise I’m using loads of carrots and barley and oats and grains.

Do you make any larder-type items at home?

Oh yes, all the time. I do a lot of jam. I try to buy in bulk at the restaurant and then I might make it once a week or more, depending on what comes in. I’ve just done a clementine, black pepper, and star anise jam, with a bit of butternut squash in it.

Som Saa in London Fields 

Have you tried any interesting new dishes in London lately?

I loved what Som Saa, who did our most recent Bloodshot supper, is doing and can’t wait to see what they do next. I really like what our neighbours are doing at Mission on Paradise Row. It’s changed and it’s great. And Bao, too, is great, especially that black pudding blood cake.

Where would you get a good cocktail?

White Lyan is excellent. Or Dandyelan too. They’re both reliably good.

All mixed up: Ryan Chetiyawardana, aka Mr Lyan, at Dandelyan in the Mondrian hotel
Rebecca Reid

Where would you go for a pub supper in London?

The Camberwell Arms. It’s just brilliant.

Is there anywhere you go regularly?

Barrafina Adelaide Street – it’s open on a Monday so I go early to make sure I get a seat and sit up there.

Paradise Garage, 254 Paradise Row, E2 9LE, paradise254.com; the-dairy.co.uk/events; druid.st. Robin Gill is one of the top UK chefs who appears in the Action Against Hunger calendar - buy it here.

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