The Inseparable Halves: Tomos Parry on Craft and Commerce

Tomos Parry: Fire, Produce, Plate

Tomos Parry is the chef-owner of Brat and Mountain in London, two of the most talked-about restaurants to open in the capital in recent years. Born in Anglesey and inspired by the rigour and heritage of French, Nordic and Californian cooking, Parry has built a philosophy as elemental as it is uncompromising: produce, fire, plate. Drawing on Basque techniques while remaining firmly rooted in British – and specifically Welsh – produce and identity, Brat opened in Shoreditch in 2018 to immediate international attention, its menu changing daily in response to whatever arrived fresh that morning. A pandemic offshoot, Brat x Climpson’s Arch, followed in Hackney, set under the railway arches near London Fields in Hackney and built around outdoor dining. Mountain came in 2023, on Beak Street in Soho, a larger room that took the same approach into the centre of the city and earned a Michelin star within six months.

We spoke with Parry about the business of cooking with conviction, and what other creative founders can learn from building a restaurant culture entirely on your own terms.

How would you describe your approach to cooking?

I’ve taken huge inspiration from many cuisines, and I admire how closely they stay connected to their heritage. Growing up, I often wondered what a Celtic or specifically Welsh cuisine might look like, and whether I could express that through my own work. When I opened the restaurant, that became the aim. I thought that if I applied the same work ethic, commitment, and no-compromise approach as those leading cuisines, I might be able to cook with real conviction and that would resonate with people.

Fire and wood are your primary materials. Where does a dish actually begin?

The philosophy is quite simple: produce, fire, plate. The way an ingredient interacts with fire is fundamental to how successful the dish will be. I measure success by how well I can use the unique heat and flavour of fire to bring out the best in the produce, without needing to add much else. In many ways, the dish begins long before it reaches the kitchen – in the sourcing, and in the relationships we’ve built with the land and sea through our suppliers. I start with what the land and seas insist upon. If Welsh lobsters are in season and in abundance, then dishes must be written around them. You can’t create in a vacuum.

What are the challenges of running independent restaurants in London?

There are plenty of challenges of running a restaurant in London, but no more than in any other business. One key difference is that, unlike many restaurants in London, we change parts of the menu twice a day, depending on the produce that comes in fresh each day. That’s what makes what we do exciting, but it also means we are constantly at the mercy of external factors – price fluctuations, availability and quality.

What drives your cooking philosophy?

It’s about finding clarity and honesty in cooking – stripping things back to their essence and expressing ingredients in the most direct way possible. It’s a constant process of refinement: understanding what matters, what doesn’t, and how to keep improving without losing that sense of purpose. What I love is that my work is never finished, that there is always a better version possible tomorrow.

How do you think about the relationship between craft and accessibility?

Fine dining, in my view, is there to protect the craft, but the access matters. A restaurant should never gate off a corner of society, and I feel my role is to maintain and not compromise the craft that usually comes with fine dining, but to make it accessible and un-intimidating too. Which requires surrounding yourself with the best people, paying and treating the team properly, and freeing the headspace to think big.

And between creativity and commerce?

I think business and creativity are inseparable halves of the same ambition. Commerce doesn’t dull the work, it focuses it. The goal is a dialogue with guests: exciting and sometimes challenging but unmistakably welcoming. Awards are an honour, but the true excitement is turning a restaurant into a living business and lodging its idea in the public imagination.