There aren’t many places in the UK where you can get a plate of line-caught mackerel with XO sauce alongside a dish of kid goat with scotch bonnet jam. But it’s that kind of combination that makes James Cochran stand out from the crowd. Since rising to prominence at his eponymous restaurant James Cochran EC3 in the heart of the City of London (which he no longer has any connection to), he’s all set to launch 1251, a new addition to Islington’s food scene which puts Kentish produce centre stage. But rather than rely on the classic fare that’s always going to be popular, he’s going for something a bit more ambitious – distilling his Scottish and Vincentian heritage through what he learnt during his time at Michelin-starred restaurants, taking a bit of inspiration from all over the world and serving them in simple, relaxed surroundings.
‘I grew up in Whitstable in Kent and knew from the age of about nine I wanted to be a chef,’ he says. ‘My dad was all about education – I went to a nunnery which I still wake up in cold sweats about – but instead of becoming a lawyer or a banker or something I was always going to cook. My first job was at Whitstable’s Wheeler’s Oyster Bar when I was fourteen; I worked there until I was nineteen going from pot wash to on the stove, before I decided I wanted to get some Michelin experience and joined Read’s Restaurant, which had a star at the time. It was a great stepping stone for me – I learnt how to cook the French classics.’
The next obvious move for James was to get some experience at the big restaurants in London, so he knocked on the doors of places like The Square and Maze. But after completing a trial at The Ledbury he knew that was where he wanted to be. ‘It was a hard, intense kitchen – sometimes you were doing eighteen-hour days twelve days in a row,’ he explains. ‘But it was the best place I’ve ever worked because of Brett Graham and his attitude. A lot of the top restaurants will have you working like a robot, but Brett would push you, give you more responsibilities and make you think for yourself. I did five very blurry years there, then moved to Brett’s pub The Harwood Arms in Fulham for another four years.’
