Head Chef Chris Rawlinson

Passion

For me this is the key word in cooking. It is what I try to find in the people that come and work for me. If you do not have a love of ingredients and the methods in which to cook them then your customers can tell when they taste your food. It is why we have stocks that sit on the stove for 24 hours, why we make our own pastry and bread. To do all these things requires a lot of preparation and a long time in the kitchen and unless you have a passion for what you do there's no point being there.

Influences

Training from a good chef is what sets you in the right direction. My old head chef in Manchester, Dave Aspin, introduced me to what cooking is all about with a whack on the head with a spoon, 'taste everything'. Dave is a fantastic chef and achieved Michelin Stars for Paul Heathcote at his Longridge restaurant, a massive influence on my cooking. You learn everywhere you go and after working in London and Sydney I've picked up different techniques and methods which has all helped me to become a better cook.

Style

My style of cooking comes from the different kitchens I've worked in and I try to take the best aspects from each one. The ingredients I use are mostly British and, where possible, locally sourced. We have fantastic produce in Britain and I like to take full advantage of what's around me. Due to the nature of my training the roots of the techniques used are French based and I experiment with a wide variety of different flavours to create what I think people will appreciate.