Ben Spalding Talks About His Next Venture: John Salt

Late October, Ben Spalding will be starting a 6-month residency at John Salt on Upper Street, Islington. From Tuesday to Saturday evening there will be 25 covers offering a four, six or twelve-serving tasting menu, as well as fun, accessible bar food on offer, and Sunday roasts.

Here, Ben Spalding talks to us about his inspiration and the how the idea of serving ‘chicken on a brick’ came about. Chicken on a brick photos by JP Godwin


When I was at Roganic, I doubted my ability. Simon [Rogan] and I read the reviews, and we spoke about how chuffed we were. There’d be a buzzing dining room of happy people enjoying their meals – but I was still thinking that maybe I should pack it all in and change career because my cooking wasn’t good enough.

Things are a blur when you open a restaurant. You don't have time to think, and I didn’t have time to digest the nice comments. It was only when I left in April that I realised what Simon and I had created. Chefs as far away as Europe and Australia were writing to say they admired my cooking – it was astounding and utterly humbling. Now my focus is on maintaining the standard that people associate me with, constantly learning and refining it.

The John Salt is going to be wild, creative, fun, spontaneous and beautiful to watch. I am done with formal, predictable and tedious cooking.

I pride myself on thinking outside the box and being persistent with ideas which might sound ridiculous at first. Last summer I was having a cigarette outside a pub, using a brick ashtray, and it gave me the idea of serving food off a brick.

The main challenge was making it safe to eat off. I came up with the idea of coating the brick in caramel, leaving it to dry, and then topping it with loose chicken parfait. The warmth of the parfait makes the caramel sweat and release bitter flavours which cuts through the fattiness of the liver.

It’s good to be different. But out-there dishes need to have substance otherwise they can appear very amateur. The ‘chicken on a brick’ dish uses ingredients that a chicken eats like grains and corn, and the parfait is topped with a thin layer of skin for texture. In essence it’s a very simple, logical dish served with a lot of theatre.

International food journalists and bloggers were picking up the bricks and licking them when I trialled the dish. It was hilarious. You know you’re onto something when there’s a table of well-seasoned food lovers round a table licking bricks. This is the feeling associated with eating I really want to get across at John Salt. It’s going to be wild, creative, fun, spontaneous and beautiful to watch. I am done with formal, predictable and tedious cooking.


John Salt
131 Upper Street,
Islington,
London,
N1 1QP
@John__Salt

Ben Spalding at John Salt launches in late October. Email reservations@john-salt.com for bookings. Open Tuesday-Saturday.

Phone line bookings will open on October 17 - all who have made booking requests by e-mail will be contacted before then.



1 comment

  • Ben, Can I ask why the name John Salt?

    John Salt on

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