FOOD
Perfect venue for new chef Bruce
B
ruce Theobald has taken over the
prestigious role of head chef at
the ever-popular Seaview Hotel.
Bruce brings a wealth of experience to
the Island, having spent the vast majority
of his 21 years in the trade in leading
London hotels and restaurants.
He feels the Island, and the Seaview
Hotel in particular, provides the perfect
venue for him and his kitchen team to
display their culinary skills using all the
best produce that this area has to offer.
He emphasises that the food the Seaview
Hotel kitchen prepares and serves will
be from fully trained chefs and not
‘microwave jockeys with deep fat fryers’.
Bruce said: “Some of the food that
is available on the Island is massively
exciting. There is asparagus and
home-grown tomatoes 20 minutes
down the road, and only recently
we were able to go out and pick wild
garlic. I have also started working very
closely with Newclose Farm, and they
are growing whatever we want, such as
cucamelons, tomatillos, and heritage
tomatoes and carrots. I am trying to use
the local suppliers rather than the bigger
companies.”
Bruce also plans to utilise what he
describes as the ‘stunning fish being
caught from beautiful clear waters
around the Island’. He said: “We can
"We can see the fishing boats
from the front of the hotel,
and I have had skate and bass
coming in that are barely three
hours from water to kitchen"
see the fishing boats from the front of
the hotel, and I have had skate and
bass coming in that are barely three
hours from water to kitchen. A further
half-an-hour and they could be on
someone’s plate, and you simply don’t
get that anywhere else. For a chef that is
very exciting; products do not change, but
having everything so fresh is something
new for me.”
Bruce was born in Cornwall where both
his parents were in the military services,
and later moved to Dorset and then the
Midlands. He said: “I began training in
the Midlands, but my first real job was at
the Grosvenor House Hotel and then the
Capital Hotel in London.”
During his career he has worked
alongside many talented chefs including
Richard Corrigan, Philip Britten and
more recently Billy Reid at Danesfield
House, which he left to join the Seaview
Hotel. A married man with two young
sons, he said: “When I heard the position
at the Seaview was coming up, I did a bit
of research, and felt this was the perfect
opportunity to relocate.”
Bruce says he is not the type of chef
who shouts at his staff to