Tom De Keyser, head chef, The Hand and Flowers: ‘It’s like climbing a mountain every day’

Tom Kerridge could not have imagined one tweet would lead him to finding someone who has emerged as one of his key employees, more than a decade later.

But a social media post is exactly what sparked his relationship with Tom De Keyser, now head chef at The Hand and Flowers in Marlow, the only pub in the world to hold two Michelin stars.

Tom De Keyser has spent over 12 years working for Tom Kerridge, with a spell at The Coach in between his two stints at The Hand and Flowers.

early embarrassment

Going right back to the first interactions the two had, Tom De Keyser said: “I was looking for a move out of London, having been there two-and-a-half years. Working in a basement kitchen and being on the tube, I wanted my day-off environment to be a bit more relaxed rather than the hustle and bustle of London.

“My sister-in-law actually saw a tweet. The Hand and Flowers had just got two stars and Tom had taken a picture of a bin and there was an empty beer bottle, empty packet of fags and the caption was something like ‘just got two stars, super busy, this is what the end of the day on Sunday looks like after cleaning down the kitchen, giving it a lick of paint and we’re all off to the pub now’. So I saw that and thought ‘that's a bit me’.

“So straightaway I emailed my CV over to Aaron (Mulliss), head chef at the time. The next day he gave me a call and then I was in for trial the week after.

“That’s when I first met Tom, at the end of June 2012. He was filming that day. So there was a lot of running around, heads down. The atmosphere was amazing. I thrived off it.

“Then Aaron invited me to the staff party two days before I actually started work. Then my first day, when I actually properly spoke to Tom, I was standing at the back door. Beth, his wife, comes through the back door and says, ‘morning Tommy darling’. I didn't even think and went ‘morning, Beth, nice to see you’, thinking why is she calling me Tommy?

“Then all of a sudden, I felt this enormous shadow behind me. Obviously, she was talking to Tom, not the new guy on the larder calling him Tommy darling! I was like, oh no, straightaway. He's tapping me on the shoulder, saying you all right? I’m like ‘yes chef'."

He added: “I've worked for Tom for 12-and-a-half years. I think I'm fourth or fifth on the list of long-standing members, which speaks volumes for how well we are looked after and what a nice environment it is to be.”

to the coach and back

Having left the York & Albany in London, where both Angela Hartnett and Gordon Ramsay worked, Tom, who has a degree in chemistry and forensic science, started out at The Hand and Flowers, then moved down the road to The Coach.

“I was at The Hand and Flowers two-and-a-half years, from just after the pub won two stars,” he explained.

“I was demi chef de partie and then chef de partie. As the team here went from strength to strength, there was Aaron and Nick (Beardshaw), the senior sous chef leading and Jamie (May), junior sous. It got to the point where Tom was like, right, we're strong enough. Jamie's ready to step up, Aaron's ready to step up, Nick's ready to step up, so let's do something.

“They found The Coach. Nick was ready to step into the head chef role there and then himself, Tom and Aaron had a chat and then asked me if I wanted to be the sous chef and open it, in December 2014.

“By about July 2017, Nick went into London to take over Kerridge’s Bar & Grill and I became head chef.”

Given his humble beginnings, working at a Scream pub at university because “I ran out of beer money”, how daunting did Tom find his first role leading a kitchen?

“The step up is massive, because although previously I was head chef two days a week, there was none of the other stuff. So I was like a supply teacher for two days a week,” he said.

“You're never ready to step into a role, you’ve just got to do your best.

“When Nick left, you think, I'm responsible for this seven days a week now, even on my days off. Luckily, I had a good support team around me and that coincided nicely with winning the Michelin star, which came in October 2017.

“That was as Nick was transitioning out, so it was like an extra added pressure as well. We won the star as a team with Nick leading it. But then overnight, we've got this lovely shiny star and Nick's gone, so the step up was huge.

“But it was great. Every day was busy, so good fun there. We don't take ourselves too seriously. As long as everything's nice and we're doing well, especially down there, open kitchen, we had a laugh as well as head down serious work.”

He continued: “I was at The Coach for seven years, senior sous chef for two, head chef for around five. Then the opportunity came to become head chef at The Hand and Flowers.

“Tom spoke to me about it and obviously I jumped to the chance. It was unimaginable. When he asked to speak to me in the office, I thought I was going to get a bollocking for something, to be honest!

“I started back at The Hand and Flowers in July 2021. I’d just had a baby, so I went on paternity leave from The Coach and I started at the Hand and Flowers after those two weeks.

“The step up again was unimaginably enormous. At The Coach I'd run around, put some stuff on the rotisserie, watch the football behind the bar, chat to some guests, 20 members of staff and then come up here, two stars, 110 members of staff. The pressure was a lot, but it was great.

“Obviously the pressure and responsibility are huge, but that's what keeps you motivated, that's what keeps you going. It's like climbing a mountain every day. It’s hard work, to make sure everything's right and the next day do it again. Obviously in our industry, no days are ever the same.

“Looking after staff is the hardest and biggest part of the job. Our chefs are like a bunch of pirates!”

Discussing the balance between holding two Michelin stars but also staying true to the pub ethos, Tom said: “The spine of the menu is a pub menu. But then we elevate everything. We don't try to be too clever, just try to make sure we get the best out of everything and everything's flavoursome.

“We're all big football fans in the kitchen. I'll never forget when my sous chef Brad (Cacela) did a dish up for Tom (Kerridge), a duck pie we’d been playing around with. Tom said 'that's like Millwall away of flavour'. It's always stuck with me, I like that.

“We want guests to walk away with an away game at Millwall of flavour.”