About Us

A Question of Taste..

I was labeled a ‘finicky’ eater.. I may have deserved this, as a vivid childhood memory was of me sitting at a my school desk, put outside the classroom door in the corridor with the remains of my lunch on it – boiled cabbage and harricot beans – I was meant to sit there until I had finished it.

Needless to say I sat there all afternoon never touching the offerings on the plate until my exasperated Mother came to collect me.

These were the heady days of children being ’seen but NOT heard’ and sitting at the dinner table and eating everything that was given to you on your plate, without question.

We had to endure meals that had been lovingly destroyed by cooking for hours in the pressure cooker. I swear I can still smell Brussels sprouts which had been given this treatment by a Grandmother and this was before we reached the front door, honestly I can…

My salvation came from an unlikely source, my Grandfather, a formidable man, who one day called me to his side while he was eating his dinner.

I was instructed to stick out my tongue, which I duly did, only to have it liberally smeared with freshly made English mustard, a hot fiery mixture, it was my first taste of what was always thought of as ‘grown up’ food and I loved it.

Well that sealed my fate, I had passed the test and at the tender age of eight was taken under my Grandfather’s wing on a culinary journey to top hotels and restaurants of the day all around the world.

There were strict rules attached:

*You could NEVER order what you could have at home.
*You could NEVER order what you have had before, unless there was no choice.

It was a time that shaped the rest of my life. Now I have an ability to taste and feel food without actually eating it.

I started cooking not long after my induction, and beginning with the basics I watched, asked questions, then tried myself, again and again.

Then I began adapting ideas from any source I could. There is no shame in learning new ways of doing things. Keep an open mind, and most of all.. taste, try and adapt. Before you know it the food you eat will have taken on different depths.

Don’t be afraid to have a go… even the disasters can be a huge learning curve, not a cause for giving up. Just remember to have that can of baked beans on hand in case!!!

I have, it’s sad to admit, spent untold hours reading cookery books, asking butchers about cuts of meat, roaming shops, markets, always feeling and often smelling produce that’s interesting to me. Most of all, asking anybody who will listen how to use the said item. Often I get a blank look so I buy it, then in the privacy of my kitchen, experiment. This has made for some interesting times… that tin of baked beans was worth its weight in gold some days, believe me. Hehe!!