Anthony Demetre

Alicia Miller chats to Anthony Demetre, chef and owner of London restaurants Arbutus, Wild Honey and Les Deux Salons, and discovers his passion for cycling, gin and tonic, and all things French

I’m more French than I am English

– not only do I mostly cook French food, but my wife is Parisian and we spend a lot of time in France. We don’t go to the temples of gastronomy, but to where the locals eat; we’ll pop into a village bakery and ask for recommendations. We are keen cyclists (I do one of the Tour de France stages every year) and especially enjoy cycling around Uzès, in Languedoc-Roussillon. We always end up at a restaurant called Le Tracteur (00 33 466 371 931) in Sanilhac – the chef, Numa Testud, is a local and is really talented.

When it comes to gin and tonic,

I’m a perfectionist. Hakkasan (hakkasan.com) makes the best anywhere – they use Fever Tree tonic, which has real flavour. I often go to Aqua (aqua.com.hk) for a late-night tipple, with my friends Claude Bosi and Jason Atherton; every six months or so we head to the Maddox Club (https://www.maddoxclub.com/) for a boogie – trying to re-live our youth, I suppose. After a long service I’ll head to Terroirs (https://www.terroirswinebar.com/) for some wine and a charcuterie platter. I’m coeliac so I can’t eat bread, but I make up for it in duck rillettes.

When I was in Bangkok with Claude Bosi

we ate at Nahm, David Thompson’s place. It was one of the best meals I’ve had – until dessert. He served us durian, the stinky, pungent fruit; I tried it first, and thought it tasted repulsive. I lied to Claude and told him it was delicious, so he took a massive spoonful – I’ve never seen anyone turn so scarlet! I love Bangkok: the smells, the bustle of the markets, and the ingredients, such as tamarind, fish sauce, and kaffir lime. I’ve started to bring these flavours into my cooking now.

Kid-friendly restaurants are a must

because my three and five-year-old boys get bored very easily! I live in Acton and so we’re often at North China (https://www.northchina.co.uk/) – they do a fabulous salt-and-pepper squid – and High Road Brasserie (https://www.highroadhouse.co.uk/) near Chiswick, where service is spot on.

My background is Cypriot,

on my father’s side, and while I don’t cook a lot of Greek food, I enjoy eating it. Every year I go to Athens for a charity project, and last year I stumbled upon a small mama’s-style restaurant – I think it was called something like Phillipos – and I had a wonderful slow-cooked shoulder of lamb, with fava bean purée and celeriac.

When I want to escape London,

I pack my bags for Babington House (https://www.babingtonhouse.co.uk/) in Somerset. We go after Christmas; following a big turkey feast it feels nice to dine on the homely, honest Italian food there. I also often go to the Hand and Flowers (https://www.thehandandflowers.co.uk/), and by now it feels like I’m visiting a long-lost friend’s home. I do think it’s probably going to be the first two-Michelin starred pub in the UK.

Times are changing,

and people are going back to simple food and caring about where it comes from. We keep a vegetable patch with the kids; this was something I was never exposed to growing up in the 1960s. Maybe one day they will become chefs, but I want them to know first that this industry isn’t all rock and roll – it’s bloody hard work.