Ben Tish

Executive chef of Salt Yard, Dehesa and Opera Tavern, grilled meats enthusiast Ben Tish dreams of travelling to Vietnam. He chats to Alicia Miller about what he does when he’s not in the kitchen

My parents were not good cooks,

so I didn’t have the romantic food-filled childhood that people might like to imagine. My grandmothers, however, were excellent – so I grew up on microwave dinners sporadically interspersed with delicious home cooking. My dad’s Jewish mum would make amazing salt cod and pickled beetroot; that’s probably why I have a taste for astringent flavours, which show up in my cooking quite a lot.

I have a thing for grilled meats

– almost all my favourite restaurants do some sort of grill. I go to Viet Grill (http://vietnamesekitchen.co.uk) on Kingsland Road for charcoal meats and pan-fried shaking beef, and to Tayyabs (http://tayyabs.co.uk) in Whitechapel for smoky lamb chops, which come out of the kitchen still sizzling. Even at home, nothing does it for me like a steak, just served with a fresh, seasonal salad.

Of all the places in the world that I’ve never been,

I’d most like to go to Vietnam. It’s the street food that attracts me – the meats, the river fish, the noodle soups – they are simple, fresh, and diverse. The sightseeing must be fascinating too, though I’m not really an ‘active’ traveller – I travel to eat!

I’ve just run my third supper club

and it was a great experience. I cooked Ibérico pork Wellington with snails and girolles, smoked hollandaise, white asparagus, pine nuts and brown butter. I plan at the last minute, and announce on Twitter – follow @lunchluncheon. I think supper clubs offer some of the most interesting dining experiences; there’s the surprise factor – you don’t know what you’ll get or who you’ll meet – but you also find some lovely food. The Young Turks (look on Facebook) is my current favourite; chef James Lowe is very talented.

I love the funkiness of natural wines.

They can be a gamble at times, because they can be unpredictable, but they have the most unique flavours, and to me they taste cleaner, somehow. Wine is a passion of mine – we do a lot of food and wine matching at the restaurants and before we put out a menu we all sit down and discuss what we like. I’m really getting into English wine now, Chapel Down sparkling (http://englishwinesgroup.com) in particular.

Hay is something I’d like to start using.

Lots of chefs are experimenting with it at the moment – it must be the Noma (http://noma.dk) influence! It’s great for smoking foods in. Jason Atherton has used it quite a bit at Pollen Street Social (http://pollenstreetsocial.com). He and I are friends, and you’ll often find me there, sipping some wine or one of their great cocktails at the bar.

Getting to meet the Ibérico pigs in Spain

with Brindisa (http://brindisa.com) was one of my favourite sourcing trips. I went out to select a bespoke jamón, cured especially for our restaurants to my specifications. Spain is probably my favourite holiday spot, especially the Basque region. I ate what was perhaps my best meal ever there, at Asador Etxebarri (http://asadoretxebarri.com). They serve locally reared pork, lamb, seafood and vegetables, all cooked over enormous flame grills. There I go, on about grilled meats again!