The Vineyard is celebrating its 20 year anniversary, and to mark this milestone they have created a culinary festival to celebrate the great talents who have been through their kitchen.
From Monday 25th June to Sunday 1st July, seven fantastic Michelin starred chefs who have previously worked at The Vineyard will be showcasing their culinary excellence which will include:
Shay Cooper, Nathan Outlaw, Matt Gillan, Richard Davies, John Campbell, Daniel Galmiche and Billy Reid.
Why did you want to get involved with Back to the Vine?
It’s the 20th anniversary and all the executive chefs who have worked at The Vineyard are all coming back and are taking part in seven nights cooking at The Vineyard. When I heard about this, I thought that this was great. It’s like a gastronomic week and I thought ‘hey why not!’ and it will be great fun -let’s do it! I think the format of the event is good. One day, one chef – perfect!
Can you tell me a bit more about working at The Vineyard – you were there for almost seven years as Executive Chef. What did you enjoy most about your time there?
I was the last one before Robby Jenks, it has a good reputation with a fabulous wine list. There are a lot of stories attached to The Vineyard. Also, it’s a really good team and we used to do some lovely stuff. The reputation has always been good and I enjoyed that very much. Seven years was a lot of work!
In 2010-11, I was named as Worldwide Relais & Châteaux Chef of the year and this was really good for The Vineyard and very good for us too. Amazing! Great stuff!
Do you have any favourite memories from your time at The Vineyard that you are particularly fond of?
The Relais & Châteaux was one of them, this was really good and interesting. It gave us a good boost in the kitchen and that was really important to everybody as we were working for something. Overall, I enjoyed all of my time (at The Vineyard) I don’t have a specific memory apart from that one! It has a really good reputation and it was on the Relais & Châteaux website and it made a big fuss!
We won ‘Restaurant of the Year’ in Decanter magazine the year after which was really good as well. That was very interesting. We were in the top 100 restaurants as well. Overall, we had done very well and I managed to get a really nice clientele. My followers from the likes of the Cliveden and Harvey’ as well people from Scotland. They all booked! It’s amazing!
What are you most looking forward to about taking part in Back to the Vine?
I did choose the Saturday actually, I was thinking about my customers at that time as they said they couldn’t make it during the week. They all emailed me and tweeted me saying they are coming to my evening at Back to the Vine. I think I am all booked up now and Nathan Outlaw is booked up too. We were the two to be booked up first which was great.
You will be cooking with The Vineyard’s current head chef Robby Jenks and his brigade on Saturday 30th June, how are you planning the menu? How will you decide what to cook?
All done! I planned it weeks ago. Long time! I was thinking of my past customers who have all booked and what they like. The tasting menu will be seasonal of course and all elegant and not heavy because I never use cream or butter for a French guy it’s not too bad is it (laughs!) it will be interesting, lovely and elegant with wines that match.
Are you able to give us any exclusive reveals as to what to expect with regards to your collaboration?
Just that it is all seasonal and I will be using produce from Norwegian Seafood. I always do – I am their ambassador. It should be really interesting yeah! I can’t tell you too much about it I am afraid.
How beneficial do you think these chef collaborations are and what do you enjoy most about it?
I am taking one of my ex-sous chefs with me and he is coming with me for two days so I hope I get a corner of the kitchen on Friday! I would like to see the other chefs, I would like to see Nathan – he is very nice. I like his cooking – it is so simple and straightforward but fabulous! It’s all different (what each chef will do) that’s what I like about it. They all have a different type of style which is interesting. I am looking forward to it tremendously actually. It will be fun. The customers are all looking forward to it too! They are all coming back for each of the chefs that they like. It will be interesting to see the difference in the clientele.
It will also be very interesting to work with Robby. I don’t know him very well so It will be really nice to work with him on that day and his brigade. It’s not an easy task for him he is receiving all of these chefs. The week is all about the chefs that were there in the past. For him, he will have to work with each of the chefs and I think it will be a tremendous experience for him and it will be good for us to work with him -he has been very accommodating and I think it will be amazing to work with him and see what he does and have a beer with him or something! It’s not an easy task to welcome seven chefs in seven days - Ooh la la! All of the ordering and each chef wants different things – no pressure guys!
Find out why Shay Cooper is returning to The Vineyard
Find out why Nathan Outlaw is returning to The Vineyard
Find out why Matt Gillan is returning to The Vineyard
Find out why Richard Davies is returning to The Vineyard
Find out why John Campbell is returning to The Vineyard
Find out why Billy Reid is returning to The Vineyard
