Our Chefs and Teachers

Tom Kerridge

The Hand and Flowers in Marlow was opened in March 2005 by Tom and Beth Kerridge.

In less than a year they gained themselves one Michelin star, 6/10 and Buckinghamshire Newcomer of the Year in The Good Food Guide, 3 AA Rosettes and one Egon Ronay star.

Tom was previously head chef at Adlards in Norwich (one Michelin star), and senior sous chef at Monsieur Max in Hampton (which also had one Michelin star). Before then, Tom cooked at London restaurants including Odettes, Rhodes in the Square, Stephen Bull and The Capital.

The entry for The Hand & Flowers in the 2007 AA Restaurant Guide reads:
“This whitewashed pub on the outskirts of town may give a rather unassuming first impression, but the savvy know this place is a class act, and with chef-patron Tom Kerridge at the stove it has a fine pedigree. Tom’s cooking is intelligently simple and elegant, with flavour and high skill top of his agenda.”

Aiden Byrne

Rising star Aiden Byrne was head chef at The Grill at The London Dorchester from late 2006.  He was previously Tom Aiken’s head chef at his Chelsea restaurant and has worked with several high profile chefs such as Paul Rankin and David Adlard.  Aiden has made numerous television appearances including MasterChef and the current series of Great British Menu.

At the age of 22, Aiden became the youngest chef ever to win a Michelin star.  In early 2009 Aiden and his wife Sarah took over The Church Greenat Lymm in Cheshire.

Jay Rayner, The Observer’s restaurant critic wrote: “I am never happier than when eating Aiden Byrne’s clever, playful and – most importantly – delicious food.  He is, without doubt, one of the new stars of Britain’s food world.”

Roger Hickman

Roger Hickman’s eponymous restaurant opened to huge acclaim in Upper St Giles, Norwich on Feb 10th 2010.

Previously head chef at the Victoria at Holkham, Roger was head chef at Adlards in Norwich (one Michelin star), sous chef at Tom Aikens in London (one Michelin star), and before that worked in other Michelin stared restaurants including Pied de Terre in London and Pool court in Leeds.

Mary Kemp

Mary’s cookery career started when she married and became a mum. Marrying a farmer continued that strong link between food, cookery and farming. On a more professional level Mary started working with the Meat and Livestock commission, promoting British meat and farming. Then in 1998 Mary was awarded a Nuffield Scholarship and travelled across the world studying cookery and food politics.

In 2003 Mary started Cookery days at her home, Hill House Farm.  This was a natural progression from giving cookery talks and demonstrations across East Anglia to hosting tailor made days in her beautiful kitchen.

More recently Mary spent four weeks studying advanced cookery at Raymond Blanc’s Cookery School, based at the beautiful La Manoir aux Quat Saisons, and Bread Making at The Panary near Salisbury to continue the learning process.

Mary is a regular guest on local radio talking about cookery and seasonal food, and writes a monthly cookery column for “Exclusive” a Suffolk based magazine. She is also one of a small group of independent demonstrators who work for the Aga-Rayburn Group.

Mary runs the Cookery Theatre at the Royal Norfolk Show, and more recently the Cookery Theatre for the Norwich Food Festival held in the City’s prestigious Forum.

Andy Parle

Andy has worked in a galaxy of the best restaurants, many Michelin starred, in both Norfolk and London.  Head chef for both David Adlard and Alastair Little, Andy also worked in many of Terence Conran’s establishments in the capital including his flagship, ‘Le Pont de la Tour’, and Sir Michael Caine’s Chelsea Harbour eatery, ‘The Canteen’.

After three years running a brigade of 20 chefs at Rhubarb Food Design, a prestigious outside event catering company, Andy returned to Norwich and in 2001 took over the kitchens at The Walpole Arms where he won many awards including a Michelin Bib Gourmand.

Andy has recently completed writing recipes for ‘The Hunters’ Cookbook’, due for release in the spring of 2010, has written many recipes and articles for the local Norfolk press and can frequently be seen performing cookery demonstrations across the county.

His current focus is in event catering using his wealth of experience and knowledge to supply a quality product to the top end of the market. Covering weddings, private dinner parties and boardroom lunches with bespoke menus tailored to his clients’ personal needs.

Alison Yetman

Running a directors’ dining room for a merchant bank in the City of London was the start of Alison’s career.

When husband Peter abandoned his city job, they moved to Norfolk and for 14 years, with Peter looking after the front of house, Alison cooked at their much loved eponymous restaurant in Holt.

Jan Moir in the Telegraph writes:  Alison Yetman is one of those talented, magical cooks who could quite possibly conjure rich flavour from an icy stone and who always manages to somehow make ingredients taste even more of themselves.

Two years ago Alison opened the Wiveton Farm Café to rave reviews and very satisfied customers.

Jamie Guy

Jamie Guy is a Turner Prize winner manqué, having nurtured early ambitions to be a sculptor.  In fact, it was only when working part-time in restaurant kitchens during his time at art school that he realised his vocation lay not with a hammer and chisel, but with a knife and pan.

After working his way up in many of the best restaurants in Norwich, in March 2004 Jamie was head-hunted to join the Michelin-award winning team at The Walpole Arms, as sous-chef.  The opportunity to learn under longstanding and respected head chef Andy Parle was too good to pass up.

Now, as only the second head chef at The Walpole, Jamie has taken on a big responsibility for maintaining the reputation of one of the UK’s most renowned gastropubs.  He’s already gained an entry in The Good Food Guide as well as  retaining the coveted Michelin Bib Gourmand, not to mention the admiration and loyalty of the Walpole’s discerning customers – so it looks like the future of this Norfolk gem is safe in his hands.

Keith Reeves

Keith Reeves is an award winning wine merchant and over the last 15 years has been supplying some of the country’s finest restaurants, wine bars and hotels. More recently he has helped launch the on-line wine resource MyWineClub as well as continuing his journalistic career writing on both food and wine. Additionally, he has participated in numerous radio broadcasts, both in London and Norfolk. He has lectured on wine across the country as well as conducting tutored vineyard visits throughout Europe.