Head Chef | The Feather and Beak @ Brickfields

Meet The Team

My food memories are about the dishes that sustained us as a family! My life was a rural one, my family were farm workers working in the fields and so food was about providing comfort after a hard day...as well as being tasty it needed to be plentiful.

My nan was the central figure in our family when it came to food, she would always make sure grandad had supper after a hard days work and I have memories of roast potatoes, baked beans and warming tomato soup awaiting me (and my friends) after school. For me, food doesn't always need to be sophisticated, as long as it's wholesome, flavoursome and sets you up for the day! These are my food roots...Sunday roasts, carb loaded heaven and the after glow of hard days graft food!

Growing up in the 70's I found freedom to explore different food through the "take aways" popping up in our area, nan would look aghast at my "plate full of worms" from the local Chinese restaurant! My working life gave me the opportunity to experience classic French food and I'm happy to try everything at least once but I've never lost that connection to my roots that food in its simplest form is as good as it gets.

Ian - Managing Partner

My first memories of food revolve around family, my mother and father loved to host our family gatherings attended by aunties and uncles, cousins and grandparents they always involved those simply delightful activities of podding peas, shelling broad beans, peeling potatoes whilst listening to my aunties chatter and infectious laughter.

My father was originally a self employed carpenter and I would love to accompany him on his jobs in the holidays, we'd sneak into some of the restaurants he knew and have a cosmopolitan lunch, he'd say shhh don't tell your mother as we tucked into Peking duck, moules, lobster, tournedos rossini all quite common place now days!

and... through this conspiratorial activity and his eventual involvement in refurbing some of the most well known London hotel restaurants in the 70's which included the Savoy, I also witnessed the dawn of the chain food establishments. Remember Berni Inn, the Texas Pancake Houses, Pizza Land and Wimpy? It's fair to say my appreciation for food is not limited to fine dining!

My love for food grew with me, consuming endless cookery programmes, books, articles whilst my contemporaries read Vogue, Red and She I opted for Delicious, Good Food and Olive! I have dabbled in professional cookery but I am more comfortable photographing and eating food than producing it. I would say that all of my food experiences up to now have given me great knowledge...

Karen - Managing Partner

I didn't set out to be a chef necessarily! Like many a young lad I was open to exploring opportunities as the came up and that's really how it all began. I got a job in a country house hotel kitchen washing pots and it was working with the head chef there sparked my interest in food. He was BTH trained and I guess he saw the potential in me and encouraged me to try for their chef's training programme which was second to none. Back in the day the likes of John Williams MBE, Anton Edelmann and TV chef's Brian Turner and Rick Stein all trained through BTH.

I started my training at The Royal Station York in a kitchen that ran like clockwork, 18 chefs working to produce dishes to a perfect standard; the environment was regimental, disciplined and meticulous!

My first food memories started there, my love for fresh seasonal produce, flavour, texture, colour, creating something a little bit different to bring to the table as well as celebrating those timeless classics. I get my inspiration in different ways, there are chefs I admire because of their skill in balance and simplicity, those for their brave use of bold flavours and those, particularly female chefs, who have come up the ranks and learnt their craft sometimes the hard way! By far the best thing about being a chef is being able to give customers a great experience through the food that I cook, that gives me a real buzz and there's no greater feeling than getting to the end of service with happy customers!

Bryan - Head Chef