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Food

Teki Latex Tells Us How to Eat on Tour Like a King

We chatted to the Sound Pellegrino main man about his favorite dining experiences of 2015.

By now, you hopefully all know about the one and only Teki Latex. This year alone, we've given you the lowdown on his

mammoth Overdrive Infinity set, bigged up his Just Jam, been treated to a guest mix by his partner Betty, and chatted to his photographer friend Hélène. We like Teki, if you haven't already gathered.

As he's currently in the middle of an American tour, we thought we'd catch up with him about a subject that DJs are oddly reticent to talk about: food. If you've not had lunch yet, please go out and grab something, anything, or else you'll be absolutely starving by the time you finish reading this. For those of us who've sated our appetites: tuck in!

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THUMP: Now, I know from personal experience that you've got a very good eye for a good restaurant, and I think a lot of other people in the club community could back that up — when did your love of quality dining begin?
Teki Latex: When I found it I could afford it! And it co-incided with a time in my life when I just wanted to take the time to enjoy things more. I think there's just a time in everyone's life when you think to yourself, OK, I've been a music nerd —or replace music with any passion you've been super into— all my life, why wouldn't I start applying this kind of level of demand to other things, like art, cinema, fashion, and maybe also food cause that's something we have to do to ourselves minimum twice a day you know? I first found out about two or three restaurants really near my house and that developed into an obsession.

Is it tricky when you're on the road to eat well, or do you have a network of scouts across the globe ready to fill you in on the best cuisine wherever you are?
I'm lucky to have reliable friends who point me in the direction of great restaurants in every city and I do a bit of research on the net sometimes. But the problem with touring is that you often don't have time to go to places and it's also a bit sad to go to restaurants by yourself. I mean i'll do it in places in my neighborhood I go to regularly…but in places I've never been to in cities I don't know, it's a different story. Sometimes if the recommendation is really strong i'll eventually do it but i'm often too lazy to embark in such an adventure. I like having a guide, a sherpa to take me through the jungle of restaurants. I want to give a shout out to the biggest restaurant recommandation specialist Kalaf from Buraka. I think you should interview him too. We've been talking about writing an international restaurant guide together for such a long time.

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How do you handle the tricky situation that is airport dining? Do you grab a sandwich or are we likely to see you sitting down for something snazzier?
As much as I love fine food and new chefs and bistro cuisine I'm also a sucker for guilty pleasures such as airport fast food, especially chains we don't have in France, so whenever I see a Popeye's or something exotic like that in an airport I'm very likely to get tempted. And the fact it is in an airport somehow takes a little bit away from the guilt. Like once I was starving in the Seoul airport, and without a guide I didn't really know which restaurant to go to until I somehow allowed myself to eat my very first Double Down at KFC. It was delicious. I actually had a dream about airport fast food once. I was in a plane with my girlfriend and they had to do an emergency landing in a country, but weird dreamland air travel laws were forbidding them to tell us which country we were landing in. Somehow we managed to sneak out of the plane for a minute and I told my girlfriend, "don't worry i'll find out which country it is just by looking at the fast food chains in the airport…Oh there's an Nando's! We must be in… AUSTRALIA (!?)"

When you're zipping from city to city to you ever succumb to the odd meal of crisps and fizzy drink?
I never eat crisps and I don't really drink soda anymore but I will tell you this: recently I was starving waiting for a delayed flight in the Oakland airport which doesn't really have many exciting food options. I treated myself with a bag of mini Reeses' peanut butter cups and I have to say it was a near-orgasmic experience.

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What, for you, is the perfect snack for travelling?
Living in France means I often travel by train, and now Gare de Lyon has a Pret à Manger, so I often grab a bag of sliced mango before or after I take the train. Same when I land in Orly where there's this little "Daily Monop" thing right next to the baggage claim where they also sell sliced mango. It's a bit expensive for what it is but it's a relatively healthy treat and a great reward after a tiring trip.

And what makes for a perfect restaurant experience?
When someone really passionate about food takes you to their favourite restaurant and tell you "don't worry about it i'll order for you" and pick their favourite stuff off the menu and you can taste a little bit of everything —that is how it should be done. And then you just stay in that restaurant to talk with your friend(s) for hours, they dim the lights and the chef, who's one of your friend's buddy, keeps bringing you little extra things and specialties which aren't on the menu to impress you every now and then and it's all wonderful stuff and you get dizzy from all the food. That is such a great feeling.

Finally, what's been the food highlight of 2015?
Having the most incredible food and drinks in this restaurant called Carbonara in Rome, notably a crazy slow cooked beef tail, and just globally the whole Rome experience was pretty mind, or rather tastebud-blowing. Also Israel/French fusion gourmet street food joint Miznon in Paris has been KILLING IT constantly with the new stuff on the menu in 2015 namely the Rosebeef pita and the Brussels sprouts. I'm currently having an incredible time in L.A eating at great restaurants like Maximilliano and Good Girl. Buvette and Luz Verde in the south Pigalle neighborhood in Paris have also been incredible sources of intense satisfaction this year, too.

The Teki Latex and DJ Orgasmic mixed SND.PE Vol 05 is released January 8th on Sound Pellegrino.

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