Chef revelations: Julien Baris, 28°-50° Wine Workshop and Kitchen

What was your best subject at school?

 

Science

 

What was your first job in catering?

 

As a trainee at a hotel and restaurant in Mimizan in France during the summer

 

What do you normally have for breakfast?

 

Usually a coffee on the run, but when I have time I have fried eggs, pico de gallo and avocado

 

What do you do to relax?

 

I listen to jazz and blues with a gin and tonic or a glass of good wine

 

Which is your favourite restaurant?

 

Trinity in Clapham, La Dame de Pic by Anne-Sophie Pic in the City, A Wong in Pimlico, Le Petit Commerce in Bordeaux… but I like to try new places all the time

 

What is your favourite cuisine?

 

I do love Asian food, especially dim sum, and, of course, my mum’s homemade pâté

 

Which ingredient do you hate the most?

 

Fake truffle oil. I find it pretty ridiculous

 

What do you always carry with you?

 

An engraved keychain my partner, Emeline Gibert, gave me for our first anniversary

 

If not yourself, who would you rather have been?

 

Probably a physicist, like Richard Feynman

 

Describe your ultimate nightmare?

 

Waking up in a world like in the book 1984 by George Orwell

 

What irritates you most about the industry?

 

The lack of understanding of how much it costs to create a great food and service experience. I’m always shocked to see people queueing to spend £900 on a new iPhone but complaining about restaurant prices. Margin is minimal from the farmer and the fisherman to the table, and I think is time the general public understands what it really costs

 

What’s your favourite film?

 

I love movies, I have an endless list of favourites: The Shining, Stand By Me, Citizen Kane, Blade Runner, The Thing…

 

What’s your favourite book?

 

Again, there’s quite a lot to choose from: Dune by Frank Herbert, L’Esprit de l’athéisme by André Comte-Sponville, any Jules Verne book…

 

What is your favourite prepared product?

 

Crunchy peanut butter