Island Life Magazine Ltd April/May 2010 | Page 132

food

Island Life - April/May 2010

Sampling the fantastic local seafood! Bali 2009

A small team in the basement kitchen at the grand Cliveden House Hotel

Starting young! Aged 9 and completely focused on the job at hand

his example, getting a job while still at

beating a guy up,” says Robert. “He was

of confidence out of me.” He left and

school, washing up in a hotel kitchen. By

ridiculous. One of us had to iron his apron

began earning money by doing a bit of

the time he’d finished school he’d already

when he showed up!”

lawn mowing and landscape gardening.

been in the kitchen for three years. But

He describes the atmosphere in the

However, getting casual jobs in the

although he was adamant by now that

kitchen which nearly brought his

kitchens where his brother was working

the only thing he wanted to be was a chef

ambitions to an end. The sheer daily toil

kicked off his love of cooking again: he

he still pushed himself to do well in his

of dragging huge bags of flour and sugar

worked in the Falcon Inn in Bedfordshire,

GCSEs. “I knew full well the only way I

down to the cellar caused inflammation

then moved to Chimney’s Restaurant in

was going to get out of going down the A

in his hip. Then there was the aggression:

Doncaster. Then, on September 11th 2001

level route was to show my mum and dad
quite clearly that I’d got good results to
back me up. They’d say: ‘You can count
the top chefs in this country on one hand.
. .“
He went to college in the Thames
Valley, doing a three-year NVQ course –
something he soon realised was a pale
imitation of the City & Guilds qualification

‘It’s special occasion dining,
yes – you’re not going to
have a three course meal
with appetiser and coffee
every night – but that should
mean enjoying your evening,
relaxing, having a right good
laugh’

that his brother had gained. He decided

he had an interview for a pastry chef at
Winteringham Fields in North Lincolnshire.
“That was my way back into Michelin Star
territory,” he says. “I went for six months
and stayed six and a half years!”
The Winteringham Fields was owned by
a Swiss chef patron who was a complete
inspiration to Robert. “He’d owned it
for 18 years and by the time he sold it
it had two Michelin Stars, had 9 out of

he could do the course in two years, and

“One busy night I saw plates ready to

10 in the Good Food Guide and 5 AA

thought he had an agreement that he

go out except for the sauce. So I sauced

rosettes.” When it was sold it lost its

would be fast tracked, but at the start of

them – then sud