Seasonality, fresh local ingredients, quality produce. When it comes to making an excellent meal, many high-end chefs sing off the same hymn sheet, crediting quality ingredients as their secret to success.

Robin Gill, however, takes it to another level. We’re talking a farm share, rooftop gardens and a cellar of preserved food that sounds like an Aladdin’s cave for foodies.

His restaurant, the Dairy in Clapham, London, is probably as urban as any restaurant can get but that doesn’t stop him getting that rural injection.

Back to basics

It all goes back to a trip to Spain, to a small restaurant in the hills outside San Sebastian.

Gill may have learned from some of the best in the business, such as Marco Pierre White and Raymond Blanc. However, it was Etxebarri where he truly discovered his style.

“Etxebarri is this amazing restaurant nestled in the mountains. It’s surrounded by farmland and cows, and it is so close to the sea.

However, it is the way that they use their ingredients, the respect. Everything is cooked and treated in a primitive way. They churn their own butter.

"I had the most amazing steak from a five-year-old Gallician cow, and their chorizo just blew me away; it is gently smoked and doesn’t even resemble that rubbery, artificial chorizo that has become commonplace.

"They are consistently placed in the top 100 restaurants in the world, while others come and go. My whole experience there was a real eye-opener and although I trained in many Michelin restaurants over the years, learning lots of different techniques and modern approaches to food, Etxebarri really taught me the importance of going back to basics.”

Robin Gill. \ Jamie Lau

Robin Gill. \ Jamie Lau

Robin also took a step back in time when he worked in Don Alfonso 1890 in Naples.

“Don Alfonso had its own farm and beehives and the head chef would spend most of his time on the nearby farm.

He would arrive with a Hiace van filled with produce and that’s where I really learned the importance of seasonality and preservation.

"We might have 50 kilos of artichokes but we only used five in the restaurant. So what do you do with the remaining 45 kilos? Pickle, preserve.

"Everything from tomatoes to aubergines and fennel is pickled, and as it matures in jars, it develops new flavours and it’s really exciting.

All this really influenced my style of cooking and my restaurant. When I set up The Dairy, I wanted to have a real farmhouse experience in central London.

Gill has certainly achieved that and has since set up Sorella, a neighbourhood Italian restaurant as well as Counter Culture, a San Sebastian-style pintxos bar. Hence, all the dots start to join.

Farm to fork to farm again

He is also taking the farm-to-fork journey a bit further than most.

“We, along with another 10 restaurants, are involved in a farm share-out by Gatwick.

"Not only does it mean we have fantastic produce but there are also bins on the farm with an enzyme at the bottom, turning food waste into amazing compost.

"So really, it’s a case of farm to fork and then back to the farm again.

We believe we are bringing things to another level. We don’t bin anything and give the food the respect it deserves.

There is also a WhatsApp group on the farm, detailing to all the restaurants what produce is in abundance at any one time.

“I’m putting what I learned in Italy into practice with my own fermentation.

"We now have a cellar in the restaurant with vinegars, misos, vegetable ferments, fish sauces, even charcuterie, we have six different types of salami.”

Robin Gill. \ Jamie Lau

Robin is keen to share these creations, not just through the plates in his restaurants but through his new book, Larder, which hit shelves in May.

Detailing recipes from pantry to plate, it’s all about going back to basics and rediscovering forgotten techniques.

He starts the book with an introduction to the way his Nanna May cooked, explaining that he wants to make a more traditional cooking method perfectly achievable in any home.

“It’s very reflective of the type of restaurants that I have set up, with some behind-the-scenes descriptions of what we do through recipes and stories.”

Hometown

No doubt this type of cuisine will be reflected in his fourth restaurant, which is due to open next February in a more city centric location.

It’s yet another block of cement in his foundation that is London but that isn’t to say he has ruled out a restaurant return to his hometown of Dublin. He is certainly back and forth enough.

“Dublin means family, and family is always home. My wife Sarah, who has been with me though this whole journey, is also from Dublin, so we are constantly home for family occasions with our three-year-old son.”

However, it is the food scene that also draws him back, this month specifically for his demonstrations at Taste of Dublin.

“The cooking scene in Ireland has changed massively since I started out as a chef.

"We have always had the best ingredients, fantastic diary, quality meat, freshwater fish and impressive seafood.

When I first started cooking in Dublin though, we were using salmon from Norway and tiger prawns from God knows where. Now you’ll see Dublin Bay prawns and Wicklow lamb on the menu. Things have taken many steps in the right direction.

“Would I like to come back and open a restaurant? I’d love to, or certainly a partnership, that’s the dream, not the foreseeable dream at the moment but I am home regularly, keeping in touch with what’s going on, keeping my ear to the ground, getting to know more and more producers.”

Taste of Dublin

Taste of Dublin as a festival has also changed and evolved in recent years.

In the first few years, it was all about getting a taste of those high-end restaurants that you might not visit regularly. These days, it has a more relaxed feel.

“I think this change, this move, is more reflective of the restaurant scene in recent years. It’s now more about fantastic mid-level restaurants, more relaxed and casual dining.

"Taste of Dublin has moved with the times in that sense and it’s really a fun day out for the visitor.”

If Robin could change anything about the event, what would it be?

“More and more producers. I’d like to see more of a nod to the farmer element. It is there but people are becoming increasingly curious about where their food is coming from and would welcome collaborations with farmers and chefs.

“As chefs, we have a responsibility to celebrate these producers in a responsible way. They make us look good,” he says.

Taste of Dublin

Taste of Dublin - inspired by Neff, returns to the Iveagh Gardens, Dublin 2 from the 14-17 June to showcase the very best in Irish food and drinks.

Highlights include The Neff Taste Kitchen, the biggest demo stage ever built at Taste of Dublin, where you will find Robin Gill, amongst others cooking; barbeque cooking with the Big Green Egg; Lazy Chef Simon Lamont who will host ‘The Lazy Basics’, handy hacks such as knife skills and how to make sourdough; the VIP experience with Laurent-Perrier; and the O’Brien’s Wines Experience where you can sample a slice of the south of France.

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