The Standard, London: How its Restaurant Blends Food and Culture

Whitewaller spoke with Dimayuga and Sanchez-Iglesias about how food is translated and why heritage cuisine is empowering.

WHITEWALLER: Tell us a bit about your vision for the cuisine for The Standard brand.

ANGELA DIMAYUGA: Pairing food and culture allows for a reverent future. We want to create an empowering platform for luminary chefs and cultural leaders through a multidisciplinary and revisionist approach to our work. We want to story-tell and uplift necessary voices with our food and spaces, while getting the basics right—but in our own distinct and memorable way.

WW: What do you eat at home?

AD: I do a lot of brunches at my place. I’ve moved into a big brownstone with huge kitchen space, so entertaining when I have my weekends is so fun. Since I’m also in nightlife, we can rehash our nights. I’ll do something simple like a frittata and salad, but recently I’ve been testing a lot of Filipinx heritage dishes and reimagining them for a special project. I have tons of Filipinx products in my kitchen right now, so I’ve been casually whipping up dishes from my heritage cuisine.

I like a challenge, too. I invited a guest over who happened to be vegetarian, and I made up a summer salad on the spot that I would make again and again. But getting to have a nice bowl of pasta with a natural, biodynamic wine brings me a lot of joy.

WW: Where do you like to eat in London?

AD: I loved my recent experience at the Japanese-Nigerian restaurant Ikoyi, Japanese breakfast at Koya, Dishoom, Lebanese at Ishbilia.

WW: Peter, how did you and your head chef, Josh Green, initially come up with the concept of Decimo’s cuisine?

PETER SANCHEZ-IGLESIAS: Six years ago, we took a trip to Baja California, Mexico. We took a master class on the food and its culture by Diego Hernández—owner and chef of Corazón de Tierra—immersed with incredible taste and textures. We came back to Bristol massively inspired. When we both spoke about the concept for Decimo, we knew straight away we wanted to create a Mexican influence.

WW: Tell us a bit about the menu.

PSI: The menu reflects my Spanish heritage from my father who is from Seville; the Mexican side is inspired by my travels.

Decimo is all about bringing Spanish and Mexican food together—my Spanish roots combined with my research and fascination with Mexico, where I was massively inspired by the completely new yet familiar flavors. This sparked the concept of bringing Mexican influence and technique into Spanish cuisine and showcasing fantastic British produce to execute the menu, alongside some of the most renowned artisan drinks producers in Spain and Mexico.