Hinch from The Holy Grill talks Meat, BBQ's and Recycling!

Hinch from The Holy Grill talks to Phanganist about Meat, BBQ's and Recycling!

What is your Koh Phangan story?
I came here in 1991 for the first time looking for the Full Moon party. I had heard stories of the Full Moon Party in the underground dance scene in Amsterdam. I was not so impressed with the party itself, it was just 300 hippies smoking and eating mushroom omelettes, so I just stayed in my hut for two nights and then travelled around the island. I wanted to see Koh Mah and in that way I got to see the rest of Phangan and thought, one day I want to come back here. Since 1997 I have been here every Winter until I moved here permanently 8 years ago.

Tell us the story of The Holy Grill?
It started three years ago, I had a little beach bar in Chaloklum since 2000 but it was more of a Winter hideaway, not really a business. The time came when I had to start working for money again, my funds were running low so The Holy Grill was born. I wanted to do something with a bbq and in particular the buffet side of things.

What is special about The Holy Grill?
We are the only ones selling western style meat bbq in a fishing village (Chaloklum). Also it’s a place where lots of locals hang out, we do little parties still but we’re getting old, most of us are in our 40s or 50s Haha. There is a nice group of people who hang out there though, the North side of the island has its own vibe, it is more relaxed. I recently started doing catering as I have a knack for recycling, I find and use things from the side of the road. I build my own bbqs out of stainless steel water tanks and even made a hog roast oven that can fit a 70 kg pig inside so this has become popular for bigger events, weddings parties etc.

So tell us about your current and future projects?
The catering is becoming really interesting and also kind of a little show, it’s fun, there’s a good vibe. The Holy Grill is the core of whole thing of course and the restaurant and after three years we have finally found our direction, the right way of doing things. I love to do buffets as I used to make indian buffets that became popular at the old place. These bbq buffets do really well, especially in high season where we can get 60-70 people a night, so we will continue with this for sure.

Tell us more about the food at The Holy Grill?
We focus on western style bbq, ribs, burgers, pork fillet steaks, chicken drumsticks and everything is marinated because we like our spices! We smoke chicken, pork and fish in our homebuilt smoker and last August we did a whole roast pig on every Friday and it was a complete success.

What do you do in your free time?
I build stuff out of things that people throw away. I scrounge around scrap yards and recycling plants for stuff, go to the odd party like Lighthouse, Ritual and sometimes Eden. We really like to eat food as well!

What is your life philosophy?
Be nice and recycle.