With a career spanning a quarter of a century and some of the biggest names in the world of restaurants, Ben Tish is a classically trained chef, whose critically acclaimed food, restaurants and cookbooks have helped establish him as one of the smartest operators around and a master of the Med. A regular on Saturday Kitchen and Sunday Brunch, we caught up with Ben to discuss his latest projects, the pub game and his new book – Mediterra – that launched last month.
Tell us about Cubitt House and the new role?
Cubitt House was an existing estate of pubs. There were five of them at the time when I joined. All in excellent Central London locations. They had probably lost their way a little in terms of the food and beverages and the hospitality they offered. The owners wanted to bring in a new executive team to take them over, refurb them where necessary, turn them around and, in essence, grow the estate. A friend of mine was involved and asked me to come and meet some of the directors and potentially join as the chef director. Immediately, the role, the estate and the ambition appealed to me.
Your background is restaurants, was it easy to adjust to the pub business landscape?
Pubs are having a bit of a moment, so I think the opportunity came at a fantastic time. When I started, our pubs offered Mediterranean snacks at the bar, had a great selection of drinks and served quality food so it was pretty similar to what I had been doing. They just happened to serve a few more pints and you could get a scotch egg at the bar as well. Each of our pubs has its own personality and character. Some of the pubs have a Mediterranean style, which fits with my background. Others are a bit more British with a chop house feel.
What are the goals?
There isn’t one thing – it’s a combination. Renovation has been crucial to bring the venues up to the standard of their locations. The venues always had location on their side as they’re perfectly placed. We’re talking Notting hill, Knightsbridge, Mayfair, Belgravia, Marylebone – so they’re all Zone 1 London. With that you generally have tourists, office footfall, high-end residential and then the midweek trade. When I arrived, the pubs were probably slightly tired on all fronts. Some of them didn’t need masses of work doing to them as they are beautiful historic buildings, but they were a little dated. Ten years out of step and the pub landscape changes quickly. Improving the décor was really important to attract the clientele we wanted, who would spend the right amount of money.
What changes did you make to the food?
It wasn’t long after the pandemic, so it was almost ground zero for us and many hospitality businesses at the time. The food wasn’t anywhere near where it should be, so I was given carte blanche. I initially introduced a short menu across the group along with some set menus to standardise everything for a few months. That enabled me to really delve into things, get certain parts up to speed and get a real grasp on what we needed to do.
We’re nearly three years into it now and we’re at a place where we have some truly outstanding head chefs, who each produce their own menus that I sign off. The menu changes four times a year with a bit of tweaking here and there in between. I still work closely with the chefs and run full tastings with them as we create the new menu. As long as everything is working, the staff are happy, profit is good and food quality is great, I try and leave them to it.
What have been the biggest challenges these past few years?
The biggest challenge has probably been getting the food quality to where it is now and at the same time ensuring we stay busy and can charge a premium. There is still a perception that a pub isn’t quite the same level as a restaurant, which is ridiculous really. We’re in the higher end of the pub industry so I wouldn’t say we’re cheap. Our Fish & Chips are around £21 so we can still make a decent margin but that means the quality has got to be high. It means we have to work harder to ensure we offer a great product and keep our standards even higher.
We last spoke prior to the launch of Sicilia – tell us about Mediterra?
My last books focused on specific regions or places in the Mediterranean – this one looks at the Mediterranean as a whole. There is a common link across the Mediterranean when it comes to the terroir, weather, climate, olive oil, roots, the way they cook, live and eat. At the same time, it’s so diverse. This book explores the similarities and the differences taking in France, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Greece and lesser-known places such as Croatia and even north Africa.
Can you provide a recipe from the new book that works perfectly in August?
I’m going to choose my Tuscan-style steak with rosemary, garlic and grape molasses recipe. A culinary hymn of praise to simplicity, this is my favourite way to cook steak. Fiorentina is traditionally a T-bone or a porterhouse steak – a steak on the bone has more flavour than a boneless one – but a good-quality rib-eye or sirloin steak will work well.
“A culinary hymn of praise to simplicity, this is my favourite way to cook steak. Fiorentina is traditionally a T-bone or a porterhouse steak – a steak on the bone has more flavour than a boneless one – but a good-quality rib-eye or sirloin steak will work well.”