London


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<p>After working in some of London&#8217;s toughest kitchens,<strong> Chef Charlie Tayler</strong> travelled to Japan to master his skills. He returned to the UK a year later and now leads the kitchen at Simon Rogan&#8217;s bijou 12-seat chef&#8217;s table restaurant, <strong><a href="https://www.aulis.co.uk/aulis-london" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Aulis</a></strong> – which won a Michelin star in 2024. </p>



<p>He lives and breaths cookery, entering the kitchen at 14, getting fine dining experience under Matt Gillan at The Pass at South Lodge, Alyn Williams’ team at The Westbury and Brett Graham at the now three Michelin star restaurant, The Ledbury. His British, sustainable dishes at Aulis, created alongside Simon Rogan and Aulis Exec chef Oli Marlow, are setting London’s foodie scene on fire. Here he shares the behind-the-scenes goss with Muddy – in between services, of course. </p>



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-your-first-job-in-a-kitchen-nbsp">Your first job in a kitchen?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Kitchen Porter, washing pots and pans when I was 14 in Brighton. While my friends were playing basketball after school, I just always wanted to be in restaurant kitchens. I used to wash the pots and pans as quickly as I could, just so I could peel a carrot or wash a potato.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-your-career-highlight-nbsp">What is your career highlight?&nbsp;</h2>



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<p>Being awarded the Michelin star this year is the pinnacle so far. The inspectors posted a couple of images on X so we knew they&#8217;d been in. We then<br>received a call and were invited to the Awards in Manchester, so I had an inkling something was happening, but you never want to assume. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-sum-up-your-food-philosophy">Sum up your food philosophy</h2>



<p>Aulis is very much in the style of the Simon Rogan Company, with British produce from Our Farm in the Lake District. We have an 11 acre farm, next to L&#8217;Enclume [Rogan&#8217;s three star restaurant], that&#8217;s completely organic and we get deliveries every day from these guys – so it&#8217;s always super fresh. It&#8217;s some of the best produce I&#8217;ve worked with in the 12 years I&#8217;ve been in London. It&#8217;s all about sustainability, British produce and making sure we&#8217;re using everything that comes through our door &#8211; 90-95 per cent of my ingredients are from the UK and the British Isles, even down to sourcing British sugar (yes it exists!).</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-do-you-have-a-burning-desire-to-open-your-restaurant">Do you have a burning desire to open your restaurant?</h2>



<p>At some point in the future, yes. As a chef it&#8217;s always the dream to have your own space and the creative freedom that comes with. But I&#8217;m not done here yet. There&#8217;s still a lot I want to achieve before that happens. There&#8217;s a security to knowing you have a full restaurant  because of the company you&#8217;re a part of, and you don&#8217;t have to stress about filling seats.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Most memorable moment at work?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>There were some pretty wild times working and living in Japan – good and bad – but I think my last few months at The Ledbury in Notting Hill were the most memorable. I really got the hang of the kitchen and working on the sauce section. I really felt was a part of something very special. That was pushing eight years ago now. The Ledbury just won their third Michelin star and, even though it was many moons ago I was there, I feel I played a little part in the journey of the restaurant.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Ever cooked for anyone famous?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>We&#8217;ve not had like David Beckham in or anyone like that! We&#8217;re hidden on a Soho side street and you need to book three months in advance to come &#8211; I think celebrities want something now and tonight, right? They also want their privacy as well. At Aulis it&#8217;s very much the Chef&#8217;s Table and it&#8217;s very interactive – every guest ends up chatting with each other. So it&#8217;s probably not going draw a famous crowd.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">You’re tired, starving and impatient: what do you cook for dinner?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>It&#8217;s a no brainer – instant noodles. Yeah. Never a Pot Noodle or a Super Noodle, I&#8217;d grab something from a Chinese supermarket like instant ramen. I&#8217;d cook some pak choi and pop a fried egg on it. I spruce it up a little bit.  </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What would you cook to impress a date?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Sushi. I cooked it for my girlfriend for the first time. It, y&#8217;know, it worked. She&#8217;s my girlfriend now.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-chef-nbsp">Favourite chef?&nbsp;</h2>



<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img decoding="async" src="https://dev.muddystilettos.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/James-Knappett-Kitchen-Table-.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-88026"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">James Knappet, The Kitchen Table <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CHC4j02HIuq/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Instagram</a></figcaption></figure>



<p>Simon Rogan, of course! But I still love everything they&#8217;re doing at <a href="https://www.theledbury.com/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Ledbury</a>, Thomas Spencer is cooking some amazing food. James Knappet at <a href="https://kitchentablelondon.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Kitchen Table </a>is also doing some very cool stuff. Going to restaurants is like homework, I recently went to a Japanese restaurant in Wimbledon called <a href="https://www.takahashi-restaurant.co.uk/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Takahashi</a>. It&#8217;s run but a husband and wife team and one apprentice – and it was just delicious.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite cookbook?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I love cookbooks and read them all the time, it&#8217;s like research. Like <em><a href="https://www.kitchenartsandletters.com/products/frantzen" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Frantzen</a></em> Björn Frantzen – it&#8217;s a big, hefty one, but it&#8217;s good coffee table book you can always flick through and have a little bit of inspiration. Also <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Aska-Fredrik-Berselius/dp/0714875775">ASKA</a> by Fredrik Berselius&nbsp;is incredible. It&#8217;s a restaurant in New York and there&#8217;s plenty of good reading material in that. But I get inspiration from everywhere: books, restaurants, seeing what&#8217;s growing or flick through Instagram and see what cooking on the other side of the world. Plus all the knowledge I have from my 17 years in the industry – different countries and restaurants fuse together to help me create new dishes. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite type of cuisine?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Japanese.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-kitchen-gadget">Favourite kitchen gadget?</h2>



<p>I love a blowtorch. You can&#8217;t go wrong with a blowtorch, can you? People love to see it on the benches as well.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-when-you-re-not-cooking-for-people-where-are-your-local-haunts">When you&#8217;re not cooking for people, where are your local haunts?</h2>



<p>I live in Highbury and Islington. You&#8217;ll find me at <a href="https://www.westernslaundry.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Westerns Laundry</a>, <a href="https://www.trullorestaurant.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Trullo</a>, <br>and Black Axe Mangal – now called <a href="https://www.blackaxemangal.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Formerly Known As Black Axe Mangal</a>. The guy who owns it worked at St John&#8217;s for 10 years. He&#8217;s opened up this space with open fire cooking – it&#8217;s like St John&#8217;s on acid. Bit trippy with loud music and sharing plates. The food is delicious and it&#8217;s really cool. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-favourite-things-to-eat-when-you-re-on-holiday-nbsp">Favourite things to eat when you’re on holiday?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>My last holiday was to Thailand – so popped in to some of my old work colleagues. I tend to book restaurants before booking flights, that&#8217;s what my holidays are based on. It&#8217;s easy to get flights, but harder to get a restaurant reservation sometimes! I&#8217;m annoyingly organised.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What mistake do inexperienced cooks tend to make?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>A lot of people take protein out of the fridge and cook it immediately but if you want to cook a bit of fish or meat, just take it out 2-3 hours before you cook it so that it&#8217;s not being put under aggressive amounts of stress from changing the temperature. Think about it &#8211; to cook steak to a perfect medium rare, you&#8217;re looking at like 48°C-50°C. The fridge is 3°C, room temperature is 20°C, right?  Think about how you react in the a hot to cold shower. You would tense up, whereas if you go from tepid heat to warm you are more relaxed. It&#8217;s the same with meat and fish. By allowing it to warm up first you&#8217;re half way to a good meal already.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Favourite ingredient and why?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>I do love using yuzu – it&#8217;s a little Japanese citrus fruit, kind of halfway between a lemon and satsuma. I always have pak choi in my fridge at home. It&#8217;s simple to cook and delicious. I also love prawns, lobsters – any kind of crustacean.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Most overrated ingredient?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>Bitter melon – it&#8217;s a big crinkly cucumber you get in Asia. I&#8217;m not a fan. I mean, it just doesn&#8217;t sound right. </p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-the-dish-you-re-most-proud-of-nbsp">The dish you’re most proud of?&nbsp;</h2>



<p>We have a classic on the menu &#8211; Tunworth cheese ice cream with honey. Every restaurant in the same Simon Rogan Company has its own version. Tunworth is like a British Camembert style that&#8217;s made in Hampshire, then we drizzle truffle honey on it and add some Crispy Crackers. People go crazy for it. I go crazy for it. It&#8217;s delicious.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-three-dishes-every-home-cook-shout-master">Three dishes every home cook shout master?</h2>



<p>Chilli con carne, lasagne and a stir fry.</p>



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-if-you-re-bored-of-your-own-cooking-what-are-you-top-tips">If you&#8217;re bored of your own cooking, what are you top tips?</h2>



<p>I&#8217;d put it in someone else&#8217;s hands. Go the butcher section in the supermarket or a butcher and fishmonger and ask what I should buy. You&#8217;re automatically forced to cook something different.</p>



<p><em><a href="https://www.aulis.co.uk/aulis-london">Aulis</a>, 16 St Anne&#8217;s Ct, London W1F 0BF</em>.</p>


What’s cooking? Head chef Charlie Tayler of Aulis, Soho

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