insideKENT Magazine Issue 101 - September 2020 | Page 36

FOOD+DRINK
MEET THE CHEF:
JOHN BINGLEY
Executive Chef, Cave Hotel, Nr Canterbury
Photos © Key & Quill
What led you to becoming a chef?
Well to be fair it's all my mum’s fault I became a
chef! She loaded me up with job applications when
I was 16, and luckily enough P&O were the only
ones to come back to me for an interview. I started
my career to become a chef onboard the ships, a
journey that lasted 17 years before I took on my first
head chef role.
Where did you train?
I took a course at Thanet College, but my practical
training was in the kitchens onboard P&O Ferries.
When I was about 24 I started to take my cooking
much more seriously and began to cook for the
ship’s crew that I lived with for 6 months of the year.
They became my guinea pigs whilst I was finding
my feet (apologies to them for the excess use of
garlic!), once I felt more confident and the feedback
from my dishes was improving, I wanted to push
myself more and more, and began my move shoreside
but with the aim of keeping the closeness of the
ship’s team intact.
Where have you worked before Cave?
Following my stint with P&O, it was time to come
back to dry land. Leaving behind 17 years at sea
wasn’t a move I could do by myself. Andy Holden,
my now head chef here at the Cave, followed me
on a crazy journey taking up our first head chef
/sous chef partnership at the Hythe Imperial. We
achieved our first rosette within just 4 months -
which was an even more amazing achievement
considering we had never done any form of fine
dining before. After three years at the helm of the
Imperial, Andy and I met with James Tory and
Johnathan Callister, the owners of the Cave Hotel,
within 6 months we were in the kitchen developing
the firepit menus and getting ready to launch the
hotel in November 2019!
Why The Firepit at the Cave?
When I was approached to launch the Cave, what
instantly appealed to me was that the direction and
vision the owners wanted to achieve for the hotel
was something that I have never seen before, and it
was right up my street regarding the food offering
- especially in Kent. Their approach to investing in
me, and showing me their vision, extended to us
travelling America to some of the most amazing
restaurants to be inspired to develop what is the
Firepit restaurant today.
Tell us about the dishes and menu you have
created at Cave?
The vision for Firepit was to create a contemporary,
fine dining, sharing plate experience. I have been
inspired by both the delicate spices of Asian cuisines
and the most flavoursome, smokey, Texas BBQ
restaurants. The dishes at Firepit are of a sharing
concept, with our menu combining a selection of
smoked meats paired with unique vegetable dishes
- which are also finished in our smokers to give a
unique depth of flavour. We love using Asian produce
to set us apart from the rest. And we like to go against
the grain!
What is your signature/favourite dish?
My favourite dish on the menu is the smoked St
Louis char siu pork ribs - we have spent a lot of time
to be able to blend Asian flavours with the smoked
flavour. Another favourite from our vegetable section
is our flame-grilled, chilli miso sweet potato - which
proves smokey, deep flavours don’t just have to be
in our meat!
What is your guilty pleasure?
Smoked USDA brisket!!!!!!
www.cavehotels.com
cavecanterbury
Firepit-Restaurant
firepitatcave
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