Ben Tish

The Climb

London kitchen work shaped a style built on direct flavour and exact handling, with Ben Tish developing a reputation through cooking that is clear without becoming severe. The chef/patron role at Salt Yard Group in London was a formative chapter: flavour there was treated as bright, immediate and produce-led, rather than dependent on excess. The culinary director role at The Stafford in St James, West London (from 2017), carried the same attention to seasonality and depth into another setting. The later chef role at Norma in Charlotte Street, Fitzrovia, central London, gave Sicilian cuisine as the working frame: food with warmth, acidity, richness and grounding, without heaviness or decoration for its own sake. The current Chef Director role at Cubitt House continues the same line of practice: a dish should taste first of what it is made from.

Today

Chef Director at Cubitt House in London is the current position, following named roles across London kitchens. The through-line in Ben Tish’s work remains seasonality first, flavour close behind, and plates that keep the identity of their main materials intact. Simple, seasonal, full-flavoured cooking is the register. Produce is expected to carry the dish, with support from ripeness, smoke, acidity, herbs, careful seasoning and restraint. Richness is not treated as weight by default; generosity can come from balance and timing as much as from abundance. Place, memory and appetite sit inside the cooking, but the practical question remains a craft question: what belongs together on the plate, and what should be left alone.

Signature

The signature dishes show the method in concrete form. Roasted hake with braised borlotti beans and mussels sets fish, beans and shellfish into one register of sea, earth and slow comfort. Pan-fried gnocchi with seasonal mushrooms works through softness and savoury depth. Whipped Nduja, fennel crackers, orange blossom honey & oregano uses heat, sweetness and aromatic lift. Amalfi lemon and almond cake, mascarpone and thyme holds citrus, nut and cream in balance. Sicilia is Ben Tish’s personal expression of Sicilian cooking.

In Their Words “This changed my food philosophy to being completely focused on produce, seasonality, flavour and simplicity – all fairly ubiquitous now but at the time it was a niche view.” “To call Sicilia authentic wouldn’t be right. There are traditional things in there with a tiny tweak, but it is my personal take on Sicilian cooking.”

Recognition

Recognition here is attached to plates and rooms, not to abstraction. At Norma, Sicilian cuisine gave Ben Tish a structure for roasted hake with braised borlotti beans and mussels, and pan-fried gnocchi with seasonal mushrooms. The cooking made its case through texture, warmth and concentrated ingredient flavour. At The Double Red Duke, the Mediterranean-inspired feast put the same produce-led discipline into Whipped Nduja with fennel crackers, orange blossom honey and oregano; grilled Angus beef rump with grape must, Grezzina and Romane courgettes; and Amalfi lemon and almond cake with mascarpone and thyme. The vocabulary stayed direct: smoke, sweetness, citrus, herbs, meat and vegetables handled without overcomplication. The stated philosophy behind the work is plain and trade-readable: "This changed my food philosophy to being completely focused on produce, seasonality, flavour and simplicity – all fairly ubiquitous now but at the time it was a niche view."