New Heights

1. What was your approach for the new restaurant — what did you want to express in the food that you think London needs right now?

I’m not sure I know what London needs. I’m probably more interested in what a restaurant needs from London. Although my cooking has become more precise, I never want it to become precious. There should be generosity and pleasure in it.

2. How does being located on the 11th floor with views of London impact how you think about the dishes and the experience?

You’re very aware of the scale of London. I wanted what happens at the table to feel very close.

3. What do you notice first when you enter a space and how did you want to translate that detail at St Clement?

How it makes me feel. Light, proportion, but also things that are harder to identify. I’m interested in what happens when materials work against each other — brushed, curled and corrugated stainless steel with warm wood, loose curtains, stitched leather chairs and wobbly glasses. Hard against soft, precise against something less certain. The same as the food.

4. What instinct do you rely on most when making creative new dish decisions?

Taste, always. Then knowing what to leave alone. I’m interested in technique when it draws something more out of an ingredient, not when you can see the technique before you taste the food.

5. What’s a tension you’re constantly balancing in your work?

Precision and generosity. I’m quite exacting, but I never want that to get in the way of pleasure.

6. What does your style of cooking and approach to restaurants reveal about you that you don’t always say out loud?

Probably that I’m more obsessive than I let on. I notice very small things — the weight of something in your hand, the temperature of a room, where something sits on a table. I don’t really separate those things from the cooking.

7. What have you unlearned about the industry since starting out?

That difficulty is the same thing as seriousness. When I started cooking, there was a lot of pride attached to exhaustion and endurance. I probably believed some of that for a long time. I don’t anymore. Rigour doesn’t always have to be punishing.

8. What’s something you’ve changed your mind about recently?

Complexity. I used to think adding another element could make something more interesting. Increasingly I find myself doing the opposite.

9. What’s something you’ve kept constant, even as everything else changes?

Taste. Something can be clever, beautiful or technically difficult, but if I don’t want another mouthful, none of that matters very much.

10. Why is it so hard to get a reservation at great restaurants these days? What does that signal to you?

Perhaps people value restaurants more than ever. There aren’t many places left where you give over a few hours without doing very much yourself. I’m slightly wary of the idea that being difficult to book is somehow a measure of a great restaurant. Getting someone through the door is one thing. Making them want to come back is much more interesting.