Tom Harris

Coming Up

At St John and later at St John Hotel restaurant, Tom Harris learned the value of stripping a dish back to what it needs and no more. Those posts shaped a kitchen language built on precision, discipline and a clear read on flavour. The work points toward the style that later defined Marksman Public House: honest cooking, handled cleanly, with no need to overstate itself. Since 2015, Harris has been co-owner and chef there.

Where They Are Now

British pub food is the register at Marksman Public House, where Tom Harris works through menus described as fresh, simple and comforting. The craft sits in patient methods and dependable produce, with cured, smoked and pickled meat and fish among the key techniques in play. The food is measured rather than showy, built to let flavour settle into place. The building’s split identity remains part of the method. Harris has said, “One of the things that we were very determined to do was to maintain the pub, and not change it into a restaurant.” That decision frames the kitchen: this is pub food made to suit the room it inhabits, not a restaurant concept imposed on it. Curing is the technique Harris points to when asked what recipe best represents the work. His answer — “It would be a curing recipe.” — places preservation at the centre of the kitchen’s thinking. In that context, curing is not just one process among many; it is part of how flavour, structure and time are handled across the menu.

Signature

Tom Harris's signature dishes include beef and barley buns with horseradish cream, smoked cod’s roe and devilled pig’s skin, Tamworth haslet with celeriac and beer mustard, native oyster and comice pear, snails, and bone marrow and parsley. The list shows a kitchen working from British tradition, with smoke, sharpness, richness and texture used to keep the food moving.

In Their Words “One of the things that we were very determined to do was to maintain the pub, and not change it into a restaurant.”

Honors

Tom Harris's honors include Michelin Pub of the Year (2017).