Tristan Welch

Previously the head chef of the two-Michelin-starred Petrus, Tristan Welch is now making waves with his modern British cooking at Launceston Place. He talks to Alex Mead about his life beyond the kitchen...

When I’m not at the restaurant,

I rarely venture beyond Chiswick. I’ve got 15-month-old twins called Felix and Tintin and everything we do is very family-orientated. We like going to Franco Manca (http://francomanca.co.uk). If you get there early the chefs will show the kids how the pizzas are made… they fire them in the oven in just 80 seconds, it’s amazing. We get sourdough bread from there too; incredible, but expensive.

In the kitchen,

we always discuss who does the best burgers. We go through our top 10 places and Bar Boulud (http://barboulud.com) is always in the top three because it does this amazing grilled beef and pulled pork burger. I also love the way they do snails – with garlic and shallots and a bit of puff pastry on top. I’ve really only got into snails recently; we served them at Launceston Place earlier this year with asparagus – we used British ones too, they were fat and juicy.

North Norfolk

holds many good memories for me and we still go there to stay at my auntie’s holiday home in Brancaster Staithe. The foodie culture there is incredible. Norfolk dabs, samphire, local oysters, shellfish sandwiches… people are selling it all from their front doors.

Everybody knows everybody in Edinburgh

and that’s why I really enjoy going there. I love Tom Kitchin’s The Kitchin (http://thekitchin.com) on the quay at Leith. He excels with game and shellfish and makes this beautiful dish with bone marrow. He does good snails too…

I gave my smoke gun to

the guy at Purl bar in Marylebone (http://purl-london.com). He uses it to inject smoke into drinks and he also makes cocktails with nitrogen. They do really modern drinks but with a British feel, a bit like our philosophy at Launceston Place. Nights out in town often start or finish here.

Sicily is one of my favourite places

to visit. I love the produce and the fact that everywhere I go, everything tastes great. We usually go to Taormina and while we do a lot of cooking in the apartment, we always head to the main square to eat. There’s one particular restaurant that does a sardine linguine with yoghurt dish that sounds disgusting, but works. I think it’s down to the balance between the saltiness of the fish and the thick sauce.

We alternate our Christmases

between England and Sweden where my wife Susanne’s family live. In Sölvesborg, in the south, they eat something called lutefisk which I think translates as ‘dizzy fish’. It’s a bit like swordfish: they soak it in water for months and it ends up with a jelly-like texture – you either love it or hate it!

My mother never used to let me cook

Christmas dinner because it was ‘her job’, but for the last three years she’s relented. I usually avoid turkey so we’ve had goose, suckling pig and baked salmon. This year, I think I’ll do a roasted pork shoulder – it’s got loads of crackling and has loads of nooks and crannies full of tasty bits.

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