The Lowdown: Chef Dave Marrow of Embers

What’s your earliest food memory?
My father used to be a hotelier. I used to go into the kitchen when I was really young and see them all cooking in there and get the buzz in the kitchen. That’s really what made me want to be a chef.

‍What is your favourite comfort food?
In the winter, I’ll always put a stew on. I also like a good noodle soup or a takeaway pizza. I like a New York-style pizza, a freshly made one. Locally, there’s a lot of really good pizza places at the moment, like Tony’s and Pommy’s.

‍Are you a coffee or tea person, and how do you take it?
Coffee, black. I also like an iced caramel latte, but I’m on a bit of a diet at the moment. We use Skylark at the restaurant, and I really like Komodo coffee around the corner from us. We get a lot of coffee from Vios, which is also just around the corner from us; it’s a little Greek cafe in the square.

‍If you weren’t a chef, what else would you do?
I played bass in a band in the 2000s, so I guess if that had worked out, then I probably wouldn’t have been a chef, but we weren’t that good.

‍What is the best thing about being a chef?
Working in a team is really important-that camaraderie. But also getting the reaction from the customers. If you produce something and they’re really happy with it, it’s very rewarding.

‍What’s the worst thing about being a chef?
It’s exhausting, and it’s stressful. It takes a certain kind of animal to get over those things and enjoy it.

‍Who is the person you most admire in the restaurant industry?
Marco Pierre White. He’s been my hero since I was very young. White Heat was probably the first book I bought. I think most chefs say that, but it genuinely was. More recently, Lennox Hastie of Firedoor in Sydney. I watched him on Chef’s Table. To open a fire restaurant was something that I already wanted to do, but it really made me determined to do it.

‍What’s the next restaurant on your hit list?
I definitely want to go and try Stem’s Sunday roast because it looks pretty epic. I still haven’t been to Namo, and I want to go to Mare, that’s quite exciting for the city, I think.

‍What’s your go-to breakfast?
I’m not a massive breakfast guy, but I like a fry-up. When we were planning our breakfast at Embers, we tried pretty much every single one in the city. Lost in the Lanes was good; Mange Tout was really, really good. The Permit Room has a really nice vibe.

‍Tell us about a Brighton hidden gem.
Red Snapper, the Thai restaurant in Seven Dials, is a hidden gem, even though it shouldn’t be. We took the guys there for a staff night out. They really looked after us, and the food was really good.

‍What do you think is the best food destination in the world and why?
New York. Eleven Madison Park is the best restaurant experience that I’ve ever had. It was very expensive, but I felt it was worth it. Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York was really good as well. We also went to Pies and Thighs in Brooklyn and had some old-school chicken and biscuits, and that was probably the best meal we had that week.

‍What’s the best thing you’ve eaten recently in a restaurant?
We took a couple of guys from the kitchen to Fallow in London. They are fairly similar in concept to us. We had the pig’s heads and the mushroom parfait, and it was really good.

‍The details
Embers
42 Meeting House Lane, Brighton, BN1 1HB
01273 869222; embersbrighton.co.uk‍