01st September 2017
Born in London but brought up in Suffolk aged 14 I started, after school and at weekends, cooking in a small Malaysian restaurant for a bit of pocket money, which was doing some simple but amazing food. It was here that I Instantly fell in love with cooking and all things food as well as being young and really enjoying working in such a fast paced industry. As soon as I could I went back to London and took a job at 1 Michelin starred Windows on the 28th floor of the Park Lane Hilton. After 18 months there I moved on and went to the 1 Michelin starred The Glasshouse in Kew where I stayed for 7 years alongside an 18 month stint at Chez Bruce in Wandsworth. By the time I left I was the youngest senior sous chef to be running any Michelin started kitchen in London (apparently!). From there I worked at The Arts Club in Mayfair for just over a year before I was offered a Head Chef role for a foodie pub in Imperial Wharf called the Sands End (Part of the DM Group). From there I took over as Executive Head Chef and started running their second site as well (The Brown Cow, Fulham) and then opened their third site, The Cross Keys in Chelsea. After 4 years I decided I needed a fresh challenge so moved to the Cityglen Group based in South East London to become their Executive Chef. So far I’ve been here almost a year to the day and run three of their sites, after opening two of them with the aim to open another 4 in the next couple of years.
A couple of dishes that I love and keep going back to are:
- Roast hake with ‘nduja risotto, aioli and salted almonds &
- Confit lamb breast with baby turnips, salsa verde and crispy shallots.
Both super simple dishes but delicious and packed full of bold flavours.
Future plans certainly involve opening somewhere of my own, whether that’s in London or not I still haven’t decided but for the time being, I am really enjoying the group I’m working for and am very excited to get the next few sites open and drive forward South East London’s food scene.
