Mark Sargeant

The chef at the helm of restaurant Plum + Spilt Milk, at London’s Great Northern Hotel, talks to Alicia Miller about dream dinners in Italy and Kent, and opening his first restaurant in Singapore, Oxwell & Co

Travelling to eat is exciting

I’ve been to El Bulli and it’s about going all the way to Barcelona, then all the way on that tiny road to Roses, to eat 35 courses you will never understand or be able to take home. It’s about the whole experience, not the food. For the food, I’d love to go to San Sebastián. Not for the Michelin stuff – though I’d have to go to Arzak (https://www.arzak.es/) – but for rosé and sardines by the harbour, and the pintxos.

Italy is my favourite place in the world

I’d never eat in a Michelin-starred restaurant there – the best are the nonna-run trattorias. My best ever meal was in Sienna. There’s a square by the clock tower and you go down lots of stairs and there are two trattorias. We chose one and had an amazing Florentine steak made with delicate Chianina beef. It came with lemon wedges, wilted mountain greens and potatoes – perfection.

I don’t like fine dining anymore

I love London’s Pitt Cue Co (http://www.pittcue.co.uk/) and I’m really looking forward to the new Salt Yard opening from my friend Ben Tish. I’m a big fan of anything by Carl Clarke – such as his Rotary Diner residency in the East End. I’ve asked him to do the food at my wedding!

If I am going to eat mid-range in London

then it’s got to be the Caprice group (https://www.caprice-holdings.co.uk/): Scott’s or J Sheekey. I know I said I don’t like fine dining but I recently went to The Square (https://www.squarerestaurant.com/) and Phil Howard just gets the mix fantastic – he’s modern but not silly.

I rarely remember what I eat

but I remember my meal at Bras (https://www.bras.fr/en) in Laguiole, in the Midi-Pyrénées. The starter was called Une Grande Tomate and was a beef tomato stuffed with goat’s curd, edible flowers, pata negra ham... In complete contrast, when we were leaving the region we stopped at a roadside caff. It was full of lorry drivers, red-and white checkered tablecloths, the most basic food – including a cheeseboard that got passed table to table. Being Laguiole, all the drivers had the prestigious local steak knives which they ate their bare bones meal with. We ordered carafe after carafe of red wine and had the best time, all by accident.

Kent has some great restaurants

and I often eat at Read’s (http://reads.com/), where I worked while training. They’ve been going strong for 37 years and are like a little Le Manoir with their own veg garden; the owners have become great friends of mine. I also like The Marquis at Alkham (http://www.themarquisatalkham.co.uk/).

My Singapore restaurant

Oxwell & Co (http://oxwellandco.com/), is an old-fashioned oyster house, with British classics like prawn cocktail. I love the cultural melting pot of Singapore, it’s Euro-Asia. I eat at Jason Atherton’s Esquina (http://esquina.com.sg/), and at Tippling Club (http://www.tipplingclub.com/) – Ryan Clift does great food and cocktail matching.

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