So, I’m Tom Brown, from Cornwall originally. I’m a chef in London.
Our Secret List chat with Tom Brown, one of Britain’s most innovative seafood chefs, born in Cornwall.
Tom’s culinary journey took him to London where he headed Outlaw’s at The Capital before striking out on his own in 2018 with Cornerstone in Hackney Wick, which earned a coveted Michelin star in 2021. Known for his creative yet stripped-back approach that lets quality ingredients speak for themselves, Tom has since expanded his restaurant portfolio with Pearly Queen in Spitalfields and Tom Brown at the Capital.
With his distinctive style balancing simplicity and innovation, Tom represents the best of modern British cooking while maintaining strong connections to his Cornish roots and sustainable seafood philosophy.
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Right. Last talk of the day here at the St Ives Food Festival. Very, very, very hot. We’re both wearing black. I’m chatting to an interesting chap that a few of you might know, drinking Veuve Clicquot. So, who are you, where are you from, and what are all the various things that you do?
So, I’m Tom Brown, from Cornwall originally. I’m a chef in London. I’ve got, my restaurant at the Capital Hotel, Tom Brown at the Capital, and I’ve got Pearly Queen, which is an oyster bar in Shoreditch.
Brilliant. And they’re both quite different. I was just watching you doing some cooking, telling us about the place in Knightsbridge, and your oyster bar. One’s a little bit, fancier in some ways, and one’s a bit more… I don’t know what the right word is?
More rock and roll.
I was talking to a friend of mine who’s here with me saying that she was at your first birthday party. You were pouring shots of vodka off oysters…
Tequila…
And it all went kind of crazy. So that sounds like a fun place. And what do you do at the oyster bar apart from oysters?
So, we do all sorts. I mean, it’s predominantly seafood. We just started doing a little bit of meat on the menu as well. So, it’s just nice, delicious dishes, unpretentious. Just food you want to eat, basically.
Amazing. And what, apart from the obvious, got you moving from Cornwall to London?
Well, when I grew up here, I think with Cornwall, sometimes it’s one way or the other. If you grow up here, sometimes you can’t wait to get away. And people that have had it the other way, in that fast paced lifestyle, they want to come down and sort of slow it down. But for me, I had the opportunity to go and work in London and jumped at the chance and I love it.
So, when you’re down here, obviously, you’re visiting for the St. Ives Food Festival. If you’re going out for a drink, where comes to mind where you think, I’ll go and grab a couple of beers with some mates?
Honestly, when I’m down, I’m more on a family one. I come to see my mum.
There’s a pub that I really, really love. It’s a little bit away from here, down in Mousehole, called The Ship Inn. It’s a proper little pub. I love it.
Sitting there, having a nice cozy pint. I think, that’s for me. That’s a great little spot.
It is lovely. It’s properly traditional. I’ve been there when the shanty singers are there, around Christmas time. Mousehole is amazing. They’ve got a lot of lights in the harbour, and it’s vibrant.
And what about if you’re grabbing a bite to eat? Obviously, your mum must be a pretty good cook. But, do you ever take her out?
I’ll try to. Mum’s a great cook. Bless her. So, when I’m going out, Cornwall’s got an unbelievable food scene. And, just for just for balance, I’m going to stay away from all the North Cornwall guys. Like, obviously, there’s Nathan. There’s Paul Ainsworth. There’s all the guys up there in Rock and Padstow. Rick Stein, obviously.
But down here in West Cornwall, there’s unbelievable stuff that goes a bit more under the radar. So, Jude Kereama over in Porthleven. Both of his spots are absolutely unbelievable. Kota and Kota Kai, they’re amazing.
Dorian, over at Ardor is cooking some really, really unbelievable food. I think probably those two would be my recommendations that are not as shouted about as they should be.
I just had some of Dorian’s ribs, right next to your cookery demonstration. Oh my god. They disappeared in two seconds and just fell off the bone. Absolutely lovely.
OK. And so, I’m not going to keep you because I know you want to watch the Arsenal game. There’s not much of it left. Just one last one. So, if you were trying to recommend something that someone should do or see in Cornwall or go to experience, any special tips that you might give?
So, there’s a there’s a place. It’s a little out of the way, but it’s absolutely beautiful. It’s one of my favourite places in Cornwall. I used to go there with my dad a lot. Lamorna Cove, it’s really out of the way.
It’s down on the way to Penzance. And it’s a little bit of a drive and but it’s just so beautiful to see. It’s such a cathartic place. When you go there, you just feel good. It’s so beautiful. So, I would say that.
There’s a lot about Cornwall that’s like that. Like that kind of rugged coastline that people don’t really see. A lot of people from outside of Cornwall just think of the North Cornwall spots, Newquay, Padstow and those sorts of places. And for me, that’s, like, that’s real Cornwall heritage somewhere like Lamorna Cove.
It’s beautiful down there. It’s that little bit further than the North Coast spots like you say. But this end of Cornwall and going further down that way past Penzance, towards Mousehole, down to Sennen, is absolutely stunning.
That’s real Cornwall for me. There was one of my dad’s old mates. We were in a pub one time and he was chatting to someone and he said ‘are you Cornish?’ And he said ‘yeah’. And the guy goes, ‘where are you from?’ He says, ‘I’m from Wadebridge’. And he said, ‘uh, no. You’re not Cornish then. Anything east of Chacewater isn’t Cornwall to me’. And I kind of stand by that, to be honest.
Yes. The further down you get, the more real it gets. Thank you very, very much.