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n his relatively short career, Merlin LabronJohnson has achieved more than many of us can dream of. Aged just 27, he’s worked with celebrated Devon chefs Simon Hulstone and Michael Caines, made waves at Kobe Desramaults’ ground-breaking In de Wulf in Belgium, and achieved his own Michelin star as executive chef at London’s Portland, before opening its sister restaurant, Clipstone. Today, he’s heading up the restaurant at London’s newest members’ club The Conduit, while at the same time devoting his own time to cooking at a centre for the homeless and contributing to the Chef’s Manifesto in support of the UN’s sustainable development goals. Not bad at all for a boy from Buckfastleigh, eh? When we chat, he’s fresh back from a trip to Greece, where he’s been lending his cooking skills to the charity Help Refugees. Like many millennials, Merlin rejects the ‘job for life’ mentality, preferring Merlin Labron-Johnson won to mix things up. What runs through his work, his first Michelin star as head however, is a social conscience. Yes, he admits, chef at London’s Portland the professional recognition is rewarding, but he’s just as concerned with educating people about sustainable food production and driving change. “I achieved a lot at a young age and I had to ask myself, do I want to chase more stars and accolades, “My time at In de Wulf was probably the most influential part of or do I perhaps want to do something that’s a bit more meaningful?” my career to date, as it was a completely different cooking style,” he he says. “I like to look at ways you can use food as a tool to do good. says. “Everything we used was local, within about an hour’s radius That’s something I’ve been exploring a lot recently.” of the restaurant, and it was all about the terroir of Belgium and Merlin grew up in Buckfastleigh, where he says his parents were northern France. We didn’t use lemons, for example, because they interested in food, if not particularly foodie. “We ate well at home weren’t grown in our region. We used a lot of vegetables, very little using organic veg boxes from Riverford, and I grew an appreciation meat and seafood. We used wild herbs, which we foraged for every of cooking simply with fresh ingredients,” says Merlin. “But I didn’t day. There was lots of pickling and curing. Although it was a modern get my first experience in the kitchen until I went to secondary restaurant, a lot of the things we were doing were centuries old – school, where occasionally I’d help the cook to prepare lunches and pickling, curing, preserving, aging, drying.” wash up in exchange for a school meals. I was about 15 at the time, It wasn’t long before word reached London about the talented and didn’t have any plans for my future.” young English sous chef making a name for himself. Merlin was His first job was at Ashburton Cookery School, which he says was approached by restauranteurs Will Lander and Daniel Morgenthau a, “really inspiring environment and where I became obsessed with about running the kitchen at their new restaurant, Portland. food.” He followed that with a summer at The Elephant in Torquay “They got in touch out of the blue, and I was ready to come home. It with Simon Hulstone. “It was my first real job in a regimented wasn’t really a hugely ambitious project. For me, it was about coming kitchen. I was only 16 and it was a bit of a shock.” Feeling slightly back to England and having a job in London, and seeing what it was disillusioned, he left and went to Exeter College to do an access like. I didn’t realise that the restaurant would be as successful as it was.” course in hospitality management. However, the lure of the kitchen Portland opened in 2015 and was an immediate triumph.“This was still there, and he ended up working for Michael Caines at the is all the best of modern eating, with the nonsense, pretension and Royal Clarence in Exeter. snobbery left out,” raved the late Sunday Times critic AA Gill. The “Michael was an absolute hero for me at the time,” says Merlin. Michelin judges agreed, awarding the restaurant its first star within “His repertoire of recipes really formed the foundations of my nine months of opening. cooking. The food I do today still has a strong classical French base, “We had a great group of chefs working in the kitchen, we were where everything is meticulously prepared.” all doing our best. The day we found out we’d won the award was Young and energetic, Merlin was hungry for change, so he went to definitely a shock. We weren’t even aware that the Michelin judge Switzerland to do a ski season but ended up staying abroad for two had been to the restaurant,” reflects Merlin. and a half years. Learning to speak French, he found himself working Portland’s success was followed with the opening of Clipstone in the two Michelin-starred Albert 1er in Chamonix, before going to in 2016, with Merlin as executive chef. This sister restaurant offered In de Wulf. a more casual dining experience, a lower price point, and was again a triumph. Merlin’s approach to food is all about maximising flavour and minimising waste. Committed to sustainability, he favours cooking with vegetables over meat, but hasn’t yet adopted a completely meat-free approach.