our chef

At the age of sixteen, with less than any real qualifications behind me, it was suggested I went to catering college as I had shown some flare for cooking in Home Economics.  This subsequently turned out to not be not such a bad idea.

I was fortunate enough to have grown up in Bournemouth where they have one of the best catering colleges.  I was interviewed by David Boland who turned out to be my first real inspirational and motivating mentor.

Having got a place on the course, I worked hard and was given truly excellent training which included 6 months in a 2 Michelin starred restaurant in the South West of France working for Michel Trama; what an experience!  16 years old, could barely chop an onion, and was thrust into a busy 2 star restaurant.  I couldn’t even speak the language and didn’t have a clue what to do, but I got through it.  I learnt.  Head down, I listened to a language that I eventually got to grips with, asked questions and worked hard. 

After 2 years at college I was given various opportunities to start my career and chose to go to the Chewton Glen in New Milton, Hampshire but I wasn’t there for long.  As a cocky, know it all 18 year old I did a bunk with a mate from college and was never to return, which is something I now regret - not because I’ve had a bad career as a result of a foolish decision, but because of the way I handled myself.  I, along with my mate Grant, set up Bon Apetite Catering, outside caterers.  Yes we did misspell it, and even on the stationery we had printed!  We referred to ourselves as Bon Ape tit catering!  It didn’t last long, not because we weren’t any good at the operational side, but because as an 18 and 21 year old, we were more interested in spending the money on having a good time.

Realising I needed to get back on track I met a fellow who had a little restaurant in Highcliff, and I worked with him for about a year running the kitchen.  Having learnt a lot at an early stage about just that, I moved on to a country house hotel in Gloucestershire as a Chef de Partie, working mainly in pastry.  

My next move was to Woolly Grange in Bradford on Avon.  Here is where I think I really started to get it, I was working with a bunch of guys led by Colin White, who was the next big influence on me.  This is where I learnt the importance of great produce, seasonality and provenance.  It was just the way things were done, no song and dance, or we buy x% of our produce from here on the menu.  There was a walled garden with two full time gardeners and our menus were derived from early morning trips to the garden to see what was at its best.  There was real passion for flavour and simplicity.  Colin’s love for food and generosity was catching, we would often be a little less than organised, writing dinner menus and mise en place lists after lunch.  Picking crab for crab salad as the first checks start to come on, but the food was sensational.  I learnt more in the 8 months or so with Colin and his team than I have at any other time in my career.  Of that brigade at Woolly, some 16 years ago, I have two real mates whose cooking and ethos like mine were born or strengthened as a result of Colin White.

The first of these friends, Andrew Stephenson, employed me as a Sous chef at the Angel in Midhurst.  Working with Andy was brilliant, a brasserie and an A la Carte menu, changing daily, and a wicked team. Andy is great cook, I recently went to Sussex to cook with him at his restaurant, Halidays in Funtington.  He has had a Wood fired bread oven built in the back garden and we were out Saturday morning to scavenge for wood for the oven so we could cook the bread in it for that night’s service.  When we got back we had a coffee with Andy’s friend the sheep farmer.  It was an inspirational weekend; cooking good food for his guests, enjoying some good wine and food ourselves afterwards, Andy and I have for years been great friends and he is someone I really respect and rate.

It had always been my intention not to rush into the role of head chef, preferring to learn as much as I could in all areas of the kitchen so I felt I could run a kitchen and inspire other chefs to do something worthwhile.  Having worked in a number of well respected country house hotels, I was 28 before I took my first job as a head chef.   With chefs who were passionate about making customers happy, not how many accolades they had. The accolades come as a result of preparing fantastic seasonal produce with care, skill and passion.  This is was what I learnt alongside a lot of the chefs I’ve worked with in my career.

And so to the Abbey, an opportunity arose from an introduction to Michael and Jean Cox, by Grant Nethercott, (Bon Ape Tit Catering, who now is Chef Proprietor of Alba St.Ives) to set up a restaurant in what used to be Penzance’s hippest nightclub!  We, my wife Kinga and I that is, met Michael and Jean, and a great friendship was started.  Over the following 7-8 months we set about transforming the Zero club into the Abbey restaurant.  This was another great time in my career, the Cox’s had set us up in this funky restaurant and Bar, and given us the support required yet the freedom to run with it.  We, all of us, just wanted to offer what we wished we saw more when we went out to eat ourselves.  Real hospitality.  I was also working with fantastic suppliers who’s passion for the produce they grew, caught or reared, was as strong as mine was for giving our guests a great time.  Our little 26 cover restaurant opened in June 2001.  After about 6 months of restricting numbers and cooking pretty much single handed my mate Scott from Wooley and subsequently Esseborne came down to work with me.  It was whilst on holiday with Kinga in January 2003 that I had a call from Grant, in fact it was his girlfriend at the time Julia, I think, to tell me that I was on the cater website listed as being awarded my first Michelin star.  I was speechless; you know when you try to speak but nothing comes out.  We carried on plugging away at the Abbey until, in 2005 after the birth of our son Ollie, having given our notice to the Cox’s we nearly bought a little hotel, but sadly it fell through.  With Kinga and I having left the Abbey, Michael and Jean decided they wanted to sell the lease on the restaurant.  In January 2006 we took over the Restaurant for ourselves and ran it until we sold in January 2008.

Leading up to the sale of the Abbey, Kinga and I had been looking for another hotel, and were close yet again to buying, but ultimately the credit crunch put paid to that.  But at the end of 2007 I received a hand written letter at the restaurant from Simon Baldwin, the development director at the Scarlet, saying that they had heard I was selling the restaurant and wondered whether I might be looking for a new challenge. We are building a new hotel the letter said.  Little did I know.  I met Simon in Jan/Feb 2008 and started on what turned out to be yet another road on this wicked journey called life.  I have been working with the directors of Bedruthan Steps, the sister hotel to the Scarlet over the last 18 months, and in April 2009 I officially started as Head Chef for the Scarlet.  What a trip, I have yet again been involved in the design of my kitchen, and oh what a kitchen. I’ve got some of the latest kit, all induction, no gas with the company’s environmental policies this is by far the most efficient way to cook.  I have a water bath, thermo mix, blast chiller, honestly I’m like a child in a sweet shop. Today (16th July 2009) the kitchen was handed over to us, and it was also the day that we moved from the temporary offices we’ve been in since April to the Hotel.  I am now based in my office in the kitchen.  I’ve recruited what I am sure will be a great team and am just eager to get going.  We are opening on the 1st September and my team start en mass on the 3rd August. I hope the food at the Scarlet will be well regarded, and will go to be a part of what makes the Scarlet such a memorable place to slow down and relax.